The next day, the shadows of political tension from the Mayor's dinner banquet seemed to vanish, blown away by the midday wind.
The sun shone fiercely through the gaps in the wooden windows of a bustling tavern in a corner of Wealden. In one of the booths slightly recessed into the shadows, the three core members of Pioneer were having their lunch.
Arcus tossed his deflated leather pouch onto the wooden table with a soft thud. The Sagittarius spread his arms in his signature dramatic flair.
"We are out of coin, Alphonse," Arcus complained, leaning back in his chair. "What are we to do today? How about we head to the Adventurer's Guild and take up some hunting quests to earn our keep?"
Alphonse did not answer immediately. He sliced the roasted meat on his plate with calm, precise movements of his knife.
"Taking on Iron Rank quests that yield but a few copper coins is a waste of time and effort," Alphonse rejected with the efficiency of a master planner. "I can produce Magic Scrolls now. Selling our crafted spell scrolls to the black market or directly to merchants is far more lucrative and efficient."
Hearing the plan, Arcus snorted softly, rolling his eyes. He complained that his leader's idea was incredibly dull and offered none of the combat entertainment he craved.
Vrischil, who had been silently sipping his water, completely ignored Arcus's whining. He set down his wooden cup and looked at Alphonse with sharp emerald eyes.
"Has the time not come for us to make an active move, Alphonse?" the Scorpio asked with a serious tone.
"Several days have passed since our arrival in this world. The other Players from Orion Online might have already begun spreading their influence and moving to conquer territories once they grasped the situation of this realm."
Alphonse set his knife down. He wiped his mouth with a napkin, then looked at his two members in turn. His gaze shifted from that of an aristocrat enjoying lunch to that of a warlord.
"You are correct, Vrischil," Alphonse said calmly. "Our observation period has concluded. It is time we build our own kingdom."
Hearing the word 'kingdom', Arcus's eyes immediately gleamed with feral intent. His slumbering ego instantly erupted. He leaned forward across the table.
"Building a kingdom, huh?" Arcus grinned enthusiastically. "So, what is the grand design? Are we going to find an empty territory and build it from scratch... or should we just invade this Kingdom of Pexora and seize the throne?"
Alphonse had just opened his mouth to answer the barbaric question. "No, we will—"
CLANG!
CLANG!
CLANG!
The tolling of a giant bronze bell suddenly tore through the air violently. Its deafening sound echoed in rapid succession, sweeping across every corner of Wealden from the direction of the eastern gate.
The tavern, which had been peaceful and filled with light chatter, instantly exploded into pandemonium.
Wooden chairs were knocked backward. Plates and glasses shattered to pieces on the floor. Civilians screamed hysterically, their faces pale as sheets. They shoved past one another, stampeding out the tavern doors to seek shelter in their homes or the nearest safe haven.
Alphonse stood. Without needing a command, Arcus and Vrischil immediately followed behind him. They stepped out of the tavern.
The streets of Wealden had turned into a sea of panicked humanity.
Amidst the current of civilians running for their lives in the opposite direction, lines of iron-clad city guards and dozens of adventurers sprinted toward the eastern gate with weapons drawn.
A group of adventurers rushed past Alphonse's position. One of them cursed loudly while drawing his sword.
"I told you there was something wrong with that forest lately!" the adventurer yelled to his comrade. "No wonder the prey and monsters vanished from the outer zones! I never expected them to group up and form a wave to attack the city. Is something controlling them?!"
Hearing the fragment of information from the panicked shout, Alphonse's mind raced. He rapidly calculated the various probabilities of profit and risk from this sudden chaos.
"A monster wave, I see," Alphonse muttered, his golden gaze narrowing sharply toward the east.
Arcus gripped his bow tightly. His blood boiled after days of restraint. "Are we going to help this city, Alphonse?"
"We observe the situation from above first," Alphonse decided coldly, unwilling to make a reckless move without adequate battlefield intelligence. He turned to his comrade. "Vrischil. Hide us."
Without wasting a single second, Vrischil cast [Tier S - Concealment].
The air around the three men rippled softly for a moment. Their figures faded perfectly into nothingness, blending entirely with the empty space amidst the chaotic street.
Utilizing the aerial mobility within their invisible state, Alphonse immediately chanted [Tier B - Fly].
Arcus and Vrischil followed behind their leader. They shot upward, defying gravity, leaving behind the noisy streets of Wealden filled with screams and ringing bells. The three of them flew high, piercing the thin clouds, taking the highest tactical vantage point to survey the battlefield.
From the skies above Wealden, Alphonse finally witnessed the true horror threatening the city.
A pitch-black tide was creeping out from the treeline of the Eastern Forest. Thousands of feral beasts crushed the trees in their path, marching fearlessly toward the city's defensive walls.
Arcus focused his vision. A faint blue light ignited in his eyes as he activated his ability.
"A lot of trash crawling down there," Arcus reported after scanning from afar. "I see a horde of Goblins at the vanguard, Dire Wolves, mace-wielding Hobgoblins, a pack of Orcs, and... about twenty Ogres. Their total force hovers around one thousand and five hundred monsters."
However, mid-report, Arcus narrowed his eyes even sharper. A deadly anomaly had caught the Sagittarius's attention.
"Wait... Boss. Look at the very rear of their formation," Arcus pointed.
Far behind the rear guard of the ferocious monster army, a truly terrifying entity marched slowly.
It stood five meters tall, towering over the other monsters. The creature's form resembled a Gargoyle, its anatomy forged from a fusion of brawny humanoid muscles and the texture of pitch-black obsidian stone. A pair of stone wings resembling those of a dragon were folded sturdily on its back. Its head was crowned by a natural formation of jagged stone horns.
Through the fissures of its obsidian muscles, dark purple energy pulsed and radiated like toxic magma on the verge of erupting.
The behemoth took heavy steps, one of its hands dragging a massive stone sword across the ground, cleaving the earth and leaving a long trench in its wake with every step forward.
From behind the thin veil of clouds, Arcus narrowed his eyes. The faint blue light glowed once more in his irises as he studied the towering boss monster at the rear.
"It seems that creature is native to this world, Alphonse," Arcus reported, his tone shifting from tense to slightly dismissive. "I do not recall such a monster variant in the game. All I remember are the slow, brainless stone Gargoyles."
Arcus tilted his head, measuring the density of the energy flow radiating from the creature's obsidian muscles. The archer general clicked his tongue in boredom.
"Its strength is perhaps only equivalent to Level 60," the archer complained, crossing his arms over his chest. "Tch, how weak. I thought there would be a formidable opponent to finally entertain me today."
Hearing the unyielding arrogance of Pioneer's grand general, Alphonse turned and looked at Arcus calmly.
"Calm yourself, Arcus," the leader said with a flat tone. "In your eyes, that creature is indeed weak. But to the fragile denizens of Wealden City, that giant Gargoyle is likely the strongest and deadliest monster that has ever threatened their lives."
Vrischil, hovering silently beside them, stared straight at Wealden's defensive walls encircling the city.
"What is your plan, Alphonse?" Vrischil asked, his analytical mind already formulating scenarios. "If left unchecked, this city could be leveled to the ground."
"But," the Elf continued, "I refuse to believe Wealden lacks a trump card to defend itself. Considering the Magic Tower faction is stationed here, they must at least be hiding mana cannons or a city barrier. Look down there; the garrison has assembled atop the walls. It seems they have a defensive strategy in place."
However, before Alphonse could answer, Arcus interrupted Vrischil's analysis by pointing toward the forest.
In the distance, the Giant Gargoyle suddenly halted its heavy steps.
The monster raised its massive stone sword high, challenging the heavens. A hoarse, earth-shattering roar tore through the sky, issuing the command that triggered the thousands of monsters before it to sprint madly toward the city walls.
Right after issuing the attack order, an anomaly occurred.
The purple energy that had been pulsing wildly through the Gargoyle's muscles dimmed drastically until it extinguished entirely. The giant creature turned completely still, tucked its dragon wings in tight, and literally transformed into a solid statue of stone, blending into the darkness beneath the forest shadows.
Alphonse furrowed his brow behind his monocle. His gaze turned sharp. Is that monster intentionally concealing its presence to ambush them when they let their guard down? he thought, realizing the monsters of this world possessed tactical intelligence.
However, the true surprise came from the human side.
Suddenly, Wealden's main gates, forged from thick ironwood and steel, were hoisted wide open.
Instead of holding the line using their geographical advantage, hundreds of adventurers poured out from the safety of the city walls with weapons drawn, charging to meet the thousands of monsters on the open plains.
Alphonse stared at the scene below in absolute disbelief. His composure cracked.
"Oi... you've got to be kidding me," Alphonse muttered, letting out a rough sigh. "What kind of folly are they committing down there?"
[Moments Earlier - Wealden's Eastern Gate]
The atmosphere behind the city walls was gripped by organized panic. At the very front, near the gate-drawing mechanism, Lorien Caldwell and the members of The Gilded Falcons stood alongside the captains of other adventurer groups.
In the center of the crowd, Guildmaster Thorne stood with a pale, sweat-drenched face.
Beside him was Captain Cedric—a stern man in silver armor with a claw scar on his neck, who had just replaced his late father as the captain of the Wealden city guard a few days ago.
"What is the defensive strategy, Captain?" Lorien demanded without pleasantries.
Captain Cedric unrolled his parchment map and answered firmly. "We will employ standard defensive tactics. The entire garrison and the adventurers will hold the line behind Wealden's walls. We will utilize this high ground so our archers and mages can bombard the enemy safely from above, while the infantry secures the gates if they manage to get close."
"What is the number of the approaching enemy?" Lorien asked, his eyes narrowing with calculation.
Cedric relayed the latest report from his scouts. "Roughly a thousand Goblins, two hundred Dire Wolf-riding Hobgoblins, dozens of armored Orcs, and twenty giant Ogres acting as siege rams."
The man made no mention of the Obsidian Commander. Wealden's ground-based scouts had completely failed to detect the massive Gargoyle that Arcus had spotted from the sky.
Hearing the breakdown of those numbers, a faint smile began to form in Lorien's mind.
Only a horde of low and mid-tier wild monsters, Lorien monologued inwardly, his brain spinning to weave a scheme amidst the crisis. The two hundred Wealden adventurers gathered here were more than enough to slaughter that enemy on the open field.
The noble's dark ambition was ignited.
If he managed to lead this massacre on the front lines without cowering behind a wall, the kill count and participation points would amount to a massive achievement. It would be more than enough to elevate The Gilded Falcons to the Mithril Rank.
With the Mithril title, Lorien would possess the legitimacy and independent strength to protect Aeliana from the Magic Tower's grasp, without needing to rely on the family name that so often degraded him. Furthermore, it would serve as incredibly potent political capital to rival and eliminate his older brothers in the succession war for the Duke Caldwell seat in the capital.
This opportunity was far too precious to let slip away just to hide behind stones.
Lorien took a step forward, openly defying the captain's tactics.
"Your tactics are too cowardly, Cedric. Let us adventurers handle this wave outside the walls. If we hole up inside and let the Ogres batter our defenses, the city walls will sustain severe damage that will only result in repair costs that will choke the citizens of Wealden with taxes."
Cedric vehemently rejected the mad proposition. "That is far too dangerous, Lorien! Fighting on the open plains against a monster wave is suicide. And you have no right to speak for the lives of every adventurer here!"
Yet, Lorien completely ignored the captain.
He turned around, facing the sea of adventurers behind him. Armed with his aristocratic charisma, Lorien began to stoke the flames of their avarice.
"Listen to me, my fellow adventurers!" Lorien shouted, his voice echoing. "The enemies approaching are nothing but a horde of lowly Goblins and Orcs! We have many powerful adventurers here. Why must we cower like rats? My faction and I will bear the greatest risk by standing at the very vanguard to hold off the Ogres!"
Four adventurer captains wearing Gold Rank tags immediately realized the danger of the idea. They stepped forward in fierce protest, reminding everyone that abandoning the walls during a wave was the greatest taboo.
But Lorien already had the masses under his control. He turned and shot Thorne a threatening glare.
"All the loot and Monster Cores fall into the hands of those who manage to slay them on the battlefield, do they not?" Lorien pressed. "And you will record participation outside these walls as full merit points for rank advancement, isn't that right, Guildmaster?"
Under the pressure of the Caldwell reputation and the expectant gazes of hundreds of adventurers awaiting confirmation, Thorne, whose neck was drenched in cold sweat, could only swallow hard and nod in agreement. "Y-yes... the Guild rules stand."
Hearing the absolute guarantee of wealth and accelerated rank promotion, all sanity evaporated from the minds of the adventurers.
Hundreds of adventurers cheered in jubilation, blinded entirely by greed and the promise of glory. They drew their swords, axes, and magic staffs, then surged forward, pressing against the line of city guards. They forced the main gate mechanism open right then and there.
Amidst the chaos, Captain Cedric screamed hysterically until the veins in his neck bulged, ordering them to stand down and hold the defensive formation.
Yet, the commander's voice was completely drowned out by the roaring enthusiasm of hundreds of adventurers stampeding out of the gates.