CHAPTER 36: CHAOS IN ABERSWAN

"Two of my men died, Raund! What have you done?"

The man called Dorfik was trembling with rage as he pointed his finger at his boss’s face. The boss, Chief Raund, was laughing, holding a cup of wine in his hand.

They were inside the chief’s tent, in the middle of the forest. Despite being a tent, the interior was quite wealthy, and three servants tended to him, wearing revealing and provocative clothes.

"Relax... They did their job well. Now that the beast has awakened, we only need to sit and wait."

"What do you mean, sit and wait? Helsa and Marnok were my friends! You simply sent them to death!"

"Hahahahaha. I sent them on a mission. If they didn’t survive, even though they were successful, it’s just because they weren’t skilled enough."

"You knew... You knew all along what beast would be summoned when they completed the task you gave them. Yet you never told us anything!"

Dorfik unsheathed his sword, ready to strike at his boss. Yet, the man just laughed again.

"I wouldn’t do that if I were you... Brünna, bring her in."

"Yes, Master!"

One of the girls shouted some commands, and soon two muscular guards entered the tent, carrying a tied-up fox beastkin woman.

"Liska..."

Chief Raund stood up and walked to Dorfik’s side.

"You see, Dorfik. It would be really sad to kill this girl. She is too beautiful to be wasted like that. Instead, I would kill you and take her in as mine... I’m just waiting eagerly for you to swing that blade against me."

Dorfik’s hands were shaking when he sheathed his sword back.

"Good, good. Now, be a good boy and do your job properly. If you behave, I might consider handing you your little fox toy back."

Dorfik lowered his head.

"She’s not a toy, though..."

He muttered, but the chief was already too far to hear it.

:::

Cecilia rushed towards Aberswan as fast as possible, without even changing into battle gear.

It took her less than five minutes to rush the distance between the capital and the village, and she noticed something was amiss the moment she arrived.

The village was surrounded by monsters, who kept lashing at the wall that circled it.

Some villagers were throwing rocks and shooting arrows from the tops of the houses, but to little effect. Two of them even were wearing military armor and seemed to have better weapons, but it was too little against the waves of monsters.

The wall was extremely hard, built by players, but it wasn’t very tall, so some villagers were scattered on the ground with spears, attacking any monster that managed to jump over it.

"Fuck..."

The cursing priestess was looking at the scene from the top of a nearby hill. She quickly took out her clothes, withdrew her equipment from the inventory, and wore it.

The feel of the staff in her hand made her remember the effect of the spell she cast in the battle with the grattaks. For that reason, she decided to use single-target attacks only until she learned the actual limits of her spells.

She didn’t want to catch a villager in the area of effect of a spell, after all.

She closed the distance to the village in three jumps and was already chanting a spell before landing the last jump.

"Anthyra doryon. Phaneros es epistrepho!"

(Spear of Rebirth. Light Returns to Me.)

A spear of light was launched from her staff to a nearby mutated stag. She kept chanting without stopping, and after each phrase, another monster fell.

((Tsk. There are too many of them. If I could at least use an area attack...))

She jumped onto the top of the wall. It was large enough for a person to walk comfortably, so she just kept shooting spell after spell as she ran along its line, focusing on destroying every monster that got too close from jumping over it.

"It’s Miss Cecilia! Miss Cecilia’s here!!!"

The villagers noticed her and started to shout, but she didn’t have the leeway to salute back. She just kept spewing divine syllables like a rapper as flashes of light crossed the air, cutting into monster flesh.

((Think, Cecilia, think!!! What can I use in a situation like this?))

Her mind was racing, thinking of powerful spells that could be used in a situation like this.

The core of her combat experience was as a solo player, with her follower NPCs, or with her guild companions, who were all considered ’allies’ by the system, thus avoiding friendly fire. She had no way to know how that would work in this world.

((Ohh... the Veil!!!))

She remembered something, then jumped away from the wall and into the village. She took three smaller jumps to land gracefully on the top of the mayor’s house, the tallest building in the village.

Cecilia took one deep breath, drawing a small sigil in the air with her hand.

"Thyra Eireneth; lytha hushai. Ephemar skelos, anaplia ou."

("Veil of Stillness; let silence pass. Soul rending, presence undone.")

The air inside the village walls became still, muting all sound. She then took a second deep breath, drawing another sigil.

"Nythea kai Anthyra, prosphora phema. Anapaodosi, telos parousia."

("Death and Rebirth, gift of absence. No one returns, the end of being seen.")

A jolt of energy passed through every living being inside the circle, as if something was soothing them. Cecilia took a third deep breath, then held the staff high over her head.

"Lytha hushai. Anaplia ou. Telos parousia."

("Let silence pass. Presence undone. The end of being seen.")

A sigil appeared, encompassing the whole village. It shone for an instant, then burst into the air, dissolving.

As a result, the sound that the monsters outside made changed. They stopped attacking the village and started to wander around, as if confused about why they were even there.

Seeing that, Cecilia finally allowed herself to sigh and smile.

She jumped down from the top of the house, and soon Mayor Otmar and Mutt ran towards her.

"Hello again, Miss Cecilia! Does your presence here mean that my son arrived safely at Drakenhof?"

"And what did you just do? It seems that the monsters aren’t so intent on attacking the village anymore..."

Mutt asked first about his son, Orion, while the mayor was more interested in knowing what she did.

"Yes, he did. I came here as fast as possible. And about what I did... Well, I made the mana signature of everyone here look like we’re all dead. Dead people are not prey, so they will just ignore us as long as we don’t leave the village.

But, most importantly. Would you please inform me about what has happened here? Why are those monsters attacking?"

The mayor looked at Mutt, as if expecting him to explain.

"Well, I don’t know why. They just started becoming more and more numerous, and the animals dwindled in numbers. Three days ago, the morning began with an ominous dark fog coming out of the forest, and the first monsters began to come. That’s when I sent my son to fetch the knights and you."

"Oh, right. The knights. Haven’t they arrived yet? I didn’t see any..."

This time, it was the mayor who answered.

"They dispatched a squad from Elenwacht, but they were intercepted by monsters right in front of our gates. The only two who are still in combat condition are with the more able villagers on the roofs, shooting at the monsters. The others are in Marya’s care."

((It seems that the spell I taught Marya is coming in handy earlier than I expected... Wait, what’s that?))

A deafening roar came from the direction of the center of the forest, to the southeast. Cecilia looked in that direction, and her blood fled from her face.

In the distance, a colossal monstrosity was walking towards the village. It was a quadruped more than ten meters tall. Its body was formed from wood and bone, as if the skeletons of the dead animals of the forest had fused and wrapped in bark.

It pulsed with a green bioluminescence, dripping orangey-yellow sap. In its chest, barely visible below its grotesque elk-like head, glowed a red orb that seemed to be ’glitching’ in space.