Different Monster Wave! (1)

Defense against the Monster Wave had gone smoothly since day one.

The north had 27 Rebound Legion members, 649 intermediate-or-higher mages from the five magic towers, and 1,081 representatives—1,757 in total.

The west had 7,112 representatives including Violentia, and 121 mages affiliated with the Black Tower—7,233 in total.

The east had 10,709 representatives including Benialis, and 501 temple priests and paladins—11,210 in total.

The south consisted of all mercenaries and guards from the Mercenary Guild—eleven transcendent.

Day 1 of the Monster Wave.

Goblin-type monsters appeared, but their numbers were embarrassingly small; they were easily repelled.

Day 2.

Goblins and kobolds arrived. Their numbers reached roughly a thousand, but under overwhelming fire they vanished in less than three hours.

Day 3.

A goblin lord appeared. Hobgoblins and goblin shamans, including goblin priests, showed up and were wiped out by large-scale magic.

Day 4.

A kobold king arrived riding gray wolves. They might have been dangerous on open ground, but against the walls the mounted kobolds could not show their strength.

Day 10.

No monsters came; as if told to take a full day’s rest, the day was quiet.

Day 11 of the Monster Wave.

Large monsters had begun to appear sporadically a few days ago, and today those watching from the walls toward the Monster Belt were filled with horror.

“Th-How many of them are there?”

“Even by rough count that’s over 300……”

Those who saw the monsters from the west and east walls were terrified.

Four hundred elder trolls had assembled before the east wall, accompanied by various smaller monsters.

Seeing kobolds, goblins, and orcs mixed in suggested the troll tribe had passed through, eaten many, and left the rest.

Elder troll.

About one and a half times larger than a normal troll, this creature possessed uncanny regenerative power—perhaps amplified by the pure divine energy of the Battlefield of the Gods—and its healing was extraordinary.

Limbs could be severed and would Regenerate in less than ten seconds. They were also clever, not the mindless berserkers of before.

Even now they stood before the east wall like an army in formation, keeping their distance and watching the situation.

No matter how many elder trolls, ten thousand representatives could handle them easily.

The problem was that the representatives and continentals assigned to the east were mostly cleric types.

Benialis’s camp was composed mainly of priest-type representatives who—unless facing undead—couldn’t land one-shot kills proportional to the divine power involved.

Even the top officers, known to be the strongest, were clerics or paladins.

Intercepting from the walls was awkward; it had become a zombie-versus-zombie standoff.

The situation on the west wall was the same.

Before the west wall appeared at least 400 Shade Knights—an unbelievable number.

This peculiar monster was one wizards dreaded: vulnerable to physical attacks using force but resistant or even immune to mana-based magic, often reflecting or absorbed it.

Shades melted like snow before holy magic, yet they uniquely resisted mana-based assaults.

Unfortunately, Violentia’s camp had only a handful of high-class priests capable of handling the Shade Knights at the west wall.

The occupational imbalance in both camps stemmed from the nature of their stronghold regions and the dispositions of their patron deities, and because they tended to hate the other side blindly.

In any case, both camps were effectively facing their natural enemies.

Both Benialis and Violentia had an easy fix: order the warrior-type representatives in their camps to go out beyond the walls and sweep through.

But what kind of beings were those representatives? Except for a few, most had sunk into indulgence for at least two years.

Would they go out to fight the monsters if told to?

Some might be forced to go, of course, but more would probably quit their camp in protest.

This was the harm of quantitative expansion.

In any case, both camps felt today would be hard.

Both Benialis and Violentia, who had underestimated the Monster Wave, felt like giving up just eleven days after it began.

How was the north wall?

At dawn, Shade Knights similar to those in the west appeared outside the north wall.

While the tower lord and elders of the five magic towers looked troubled at the Shade Knights, Kim Han climbed the wall with Rebound Legion members.

“Hm?”

At first Kim Han glanced around, puzzled by the mages’ confusion, then, seeing the monsters outside the wall, his expression shifted to understanding.

“Shade?”

“Shade Knights, Mr. Kim Han.”

At the White Tower Lord’s reply behind him, something brightened on Kim Han’s face—the gaze of a mage who’d spotted a rare monster.

Watching the wraith-like masses of shade with shining eyes, Kim Han took a white crystal from his clothes.

“Everyone, assemble on the wall above the north gate.”

Within five minutes of the message not only the Rebound Legion but all 981 representatives—excluding the 100 who had secretly fled during the ten days of the Monster Wave—had gathered on the wall.

This was a brief example of Kim Han’s commanding presence.

The space was wide and long, but with over a thousand people they inevitably stretched along the wall.

After confirming everyone had come up, Kim Han pointed toward the Monster Belt and spoke.

“Those smoke-like monsters are called Shade Knights. In case anyone’s seeing them for the first time I’ll explain once: they have high magic resistance and use short-range teleportation, so if mages handle them you could see casualties.”

“……”

“Time to earn your keep. Anyone of the warrior type—excluding Rebound Legion—who’s going down there, raise your hand and come here. Volunteers, make a path.”

At first nobody stepped forward. But unable to bear the silence, one by one people began to volunteer.

Twenty-two came forward. Out of 981, only 22 volunteered.

If counting only true warriors the number would be even smaller; in any case it was well under ten percent.

Faced with this dismal result Kim Han said nothing, simply turned to the Rebound Legion and asked briefly.

“Who’ll go?”

A rush of people stepped forward. Not only nine warriors but four priests volunteered, along with spirit-wielder Soria and druid Cheong.

Amazoness Liru stayed on the wall to provide support, and Arun stepped forward but, after receiving scowls, quietly stepped back.

“Why are priests stepping forward?”

“Mr. Kim Han, I know those things melt easily under divine power.”

At Apher’s words Kim Han glanced at the White Tower Lord, who nodded slightly.

When Kim Han gave permission, the four priests high-fived each other with pleased smiles.

It was the other representatives who were surprised: some of the 22 warrior volunteers scowled.

Kim Han noticed them but showed no reaction.

They finished preparations quickly and descended the wall before sunrise. They didn’t open the gate and go out; they climbed down the wall.

Two ropes were dropped and the representatives who went down first waited, clinging to the wall for those following.

“Lead: Hugo and Inex. The rest form a defensive line until the first clash. Naruan, free role. Sweep them away.”

Kim Han’s low, calm voice sank into the ears of those on and below the wall.

The one most delighted by Kim Han’s words was Naruan.

Naruan darted straight into the Shade Knights. In her hand she already wielded a sickle that glowed red.

Tiny Naruan’s movements were like a butterfly.

Sliding across the ground was nothing; at her strange movements—propelling through empty air—the Shade Knights truly dispersed like smoke.

Moreover, her force attribute had been forcibly imbued with the fire element.

The death god Mors’s attribute is close to annihilation. Naruan, granted his power, didn’t need to swing twice to deliver a fire-attributed force attack.

“Heh? What are these things? There’s no slicing satisfaction!”

Naruan grumbled but kept swinging her sickle.

The Shade Knights, avoiding the threatening Naruan, surged toward Hugo and Inex.

Those on the wall watching the movement of hundreds of shadowy Shade Knights gasped.

A tide of Shade Knights crashed forward like a black wave.

Hugo’s expression remained calm as he held his relatively small shield steadfastly and murmured in a low voice.

“Cry of the Iron Wall. Attribute: Light.”

Force began to resonate from Hugo’s shield as he slowly extended it forward, as if the shield were trembling and weeping.

When Hugo’s arm finally straightened as if lifting a heavy weight, dazzling light poured from the shield.

Kraaaaah―!

Kyaaaah―!

The waves of force and light from the shield expanded until they covered the entire area before the party.

The Shade Knights that had been pouring down were repelled even faster than they had surged in.

Wigo groaned under the strain but managed to hold.

The Shade Knights screamed as they flew and crashed into the ground. And Wigo was not alone here.

“Hugo! Good job.”

“Thanks for the trouble.”

“Oh! Finally earning your pay?”

Those remarks were passed as they brushed past Hugo—members of the Rebound Legion.

Their weapons produced honed blades of force with no waste.

Those who hadn’t moved yet were the 22 volunteers behind Hugo, mouths agape in astonishment.

“Tsk. What are you doing? Stand beside Hugo and kill whatever’s flailing on the ground!”

At Inex’s shout, the representatives hurriedly lined up beside Hugo and began attacking the Shade Knights.

But the others were so flustered by the Shade Knights’ attacks that Hugo, holding his shield, had the most impressive record.

Already four had been struck by attacks that teleported using shadows and stabbed from behind.

They wouldn’t die in training, but with the Monster Wave and the ‘Setting’ set to ‘critical wound’, those four might, at worst, be unable to participate in future Monster Waves.

After watching for a while, apparently frustrated, Wigo spoke up.

“Ah, you lot worse than Naruan. Just two or four of you back to back will do!!”

“Hugo, you wanna die?!”

From ahead Naruan yelled at Hugo, and the Rebound Legion members chuckled as they slaughtered the Shade Knights.

The Rebound Legion members cut down the Shade Knights with the delighted expressions of people at play.

Only the 22 representatives, including the four wounded, scrambled and finally found partners to stand back to back and face the Shade Knights.

At first glance it looked like they were properly handling it. But standing back to back in pairs and coordinating to face an unfamiliar monster is not easy.

When Shade Knights appeared on the outskirts, those stuck back to back couldn’t move to attack or reposition, causing formations to break and people to be wounded.

“Ah, those guys, seriously.”

Hugo, with the typical temperament of a defensive knight, instinctively turned to the representatives as if it were a professional tic.

He attacked and defended with his shield as well as his sword to protect them, but there were many representatives and even more shades.

“Form a circular formation!”

At Hugo’s command the representatives hurriedly formed a double circle.

Receiving Hugo’s directions, their flustered looks vanished and they began to properly deal with the Shade Knights.

Meanwhile the Rebound Legion members ran wild with excitement.

Naruan was, of course, unstoppable, and the half-orc Ostum swung a massive blade like a windmill.

Most attacks were shrugged off by their natural defenses, and watching Ostum recklessly butcher Shade Knights one couldn’t tell who the monster was and who the representative was.

Kitas’ movements were like a gentle breeze drifting through a flower meadow.

Using her bow as one with her body and cutting at unseen speed, the Shade Knights fell to blades of force without knowing when they died.

However, their exploits failed to astonish those watching from the wall—because of the movements of the four priests and the druid.

“P-priests, you say……”

“Aren’t they monks?”

“No. Those women are indeed priests with tremendous Healing abilities.”

As testimony from those healed by Mae Young-ryeong, Apher, and the other priests spread, the misunderstanding that they were monks or paladins vanished instantly.

If Mae Young-ryeong moved like wind as Kitas did, Apher moved with the same forcefulness as Ostum.

But both women shared the trait of melting Shade Knights as effectively as warriors.

And Cheong simply walked about planting a tree into the ground, and Shade Knights in the area would become unable to move or simply dissolve and drift away like smoke.

“Huh… Is the Rebound Legion only made of monsters…?”

“Indeed……”

The representatives nodded in agreement at the murmured remark.

Those on the wall no longer looked at the same kind of representatives; they eyed the Rebound Legion members with the reverent gaze of novices meeting masters.

The Rebound Legion was not all monsters. The 981 gathered here had, after all, passed the conditions set by Kim Han.

If these people would go down there without worrying about injury and hold nothing back, they could emulate at least half of what the Rebound Legion members did.

But why couldn’t those 22 do the same? Lack of experience? No.

The difference lay in a combat style that spared no body.

Trusting comrades, treating a wound or two as nothing, and going for the enemy’s throat—that isn’t easy.

Even if some among them had that mindset, there was no guarantee their neighbors would, so no one could afford to act recklessly.

That difference made the Rebound Legion feel like monsters of a different caliber.

That small shift in mindset changes the nature of battle.

This could be called the first step of the Thirty-Party Band.