The Monster Horde Approaches

I explained everything about the system to Afenos and Rain. Upon looking at their statistical power and their status window, the two siblings were both level 1. However, they had more status points than me, despite being the Descendant's Hero. Rain and Afenos still did not understand what levels do to their body, so I left those parts as something that experience would also teach them. After countless explanations, they finally understood the meaning behind levels.

And as soon as they got the hang of it, Afenos tried using his ice shards multiple times before completely destroying the target. Afenos blasted it away, using the spells that he received.

That kid told me that [Icicle] were the ice shards and [Tundra] was the one that covers the surface with ice. All the spells had their own arcane usage, and Afenos could not use them more than twice within an hour.

Rain had an aptitude for mages. She could do what the two of us could with the added mana pool. It meant that Rain could use these abilities multiple times before she runs out of juice. As long as Rain could understand the meaning behind the spell, mages could copy it and use it as they understood.

I was the one who explained Rain about the elements. Rain and Afenos only knew one thing about ice and that these two give out cold energy that makes their bodies shiver. I told them everything that they needed to know, including temperatures and matter.

It was a lesson about Science for beginners. Rain got it first and learned everything I taught. Afenos took him long enough before understanding the temperatures.

The night had finally grown old, and it was time for us to leave this place. The three of us returned to the shack and continued conversing about magic spells and ways to open their system. However, I should not give them the golden spoon and teach them everything about this. I knew these two needed to fiddle with their system and understand the descriptions upon their judgement.

It was the mode that all players do to learn something inside the game.

But as we set foot on the familiar gates, some villagers up ahead formed a circle on something. Those people gathered around the hill, with their torch radiating the way. It took us some distance before arriving at the place. We could not see the event up ahead because of the heads blocking the view, so we had to advance in the middle of the crowd.

Upon inspecting, two hands pulled the two siblings out from the mob. A voice of a man accompanied afterwards.

"Rain and Afenos. You two are coming with me." Aferous, their father, said, and dragged the two away from the group.

The two siblings tried unlatching themselves from their father's grip. However, despite their efforts, they could not free themselves from their father's hands. Afenos, who had more will than his sister, opened his mouth.

"Why does Arthur get the chance to see that!" Afenos cried while meeting my eyes.

Rain, who wanted to retort, shut her mouth tight. She probably thought that her father's actions were for the best of the two of them.

A whisper escaped from Aferous' mouth. "Because he's an adventurer. He needs to see it. You kids should huddle here and avoid getting into trouble…"

"... I don't want to lose you too," Afenos continued, and mumbled to himself before exiting the place.

I did not know what to say. I could tell Aferous to let Rain and Afenos slip through, but that was their father. It was a family matter, and I had no right to intervene in their problems. And besides, it was not like those three were fighting with each other. Aferous was just worried about the situation in front of me.

Dozens of roars entered through my ears as I went inside the group of people circling the site. I squeezed my body at the narrow spaces of these absurd numbers of villagers watching from afar. Now I understand the life of a sardine squished inside their cans. I had never expected to be this horrifying up close!

"No way…"

A sea of corpses welcomed my eyes as the stench of rotting meat entered my nostrils. I jerked backwards as soon as I entered that acrid realm, making the cells inside my body flinch in disgust.

Those dead bodies belonged to various classes of people. Some of them had uniforms as knights, while others were mercenaries. Despite their differences, these people died the same.

Upon averting my gaze, hundreds of make-shift weapons piercing through the ground greeted my sight. Those arsenals came from goblins, since the handles were the size of a baby's foot. With those sharpened twigs and rocks glued together, I knew a monster horde attacked the soldiers.

All of this happened during our training session. Nobody inside the village alerted us about this event, considering that the hill obstructed the view. By the time that the farmers ventured near the mountains, they were too late.

The soldier, cladded with heavy plate-armour, stared at me with glittering eyes. I could only guess that this man died while weeping for his life. He was the farthest knight from the army, trying to alert the villagers about the horde of monsters they had encountered.

"We are lucky that the monster horde did not attack the village after killing these soldiers…"

"Do you think we would survive if the monsters attacked our village?"

"I hope we can defend ourselves when that happens, no?"

"The attack will happen in three days, right? Why are these monsters attacking us right now?!"

"Idiot! Do you think these monsters would follow the rules? The chief and the adventurers from before approximating the monster's movements. They were the ones who said that the horde would attack around seven days!"

"We need to move to another town! There's a village near here. Come on, kids. We're leaving this place."

"WHERE IS OUR CHIEF? HE MUST HAVE A PLAN TO STOP THIS ASSAULT!"

Those were the few concerns of the people living in this place. After seeing such a gruesome event, most of the townspeople planned on moving away from this neighbourhood. If I remembered this map correctly, only two towns lived adjacent to each other.

The cliff that Afenos and I pushed the ogre was the one that separates the two. There was a bridge that joined the two villages. However, because of their different beliefs, the chiefs ordered the hanging bridge to be cut down for further notice.

The game also included this information, but none of the players cared much about these lores. I did, since these villages gave extra bounties while waiting for the dungeons to appear. It was my pastime, saving the town's ass every time they needed me.

"Please stay calm, everyone. I will issue another party of soldiers from the Empire of Camelot. The king might share some of his trusty knights to our aid."

The chief of the village finally showed up and walked in front of the crowd. That guy waved his hand and silenced everyone from murmuring any further.

"As the chief of the town, I advise everyone to stay in their homes. Each of you should have a pitchfork or a pan as a weapon to fend off these monsters… I'm afraid that the monsters will attack sooner than what I had expected."

"THEN WHY CAN'T WE MOVE OUT OF THIS PLACE?! THIS TOWN IS NOT SAFE FOR MY KIDS!" a father shouted, while hugging his five children.

"We can't… if monsters ambushed these trained warriors, how would we, civilians, survive in the forest with no experience of fighting! Those creatures swarmed the pavements. I have seen those friends with my own eyes… Those monsters killed the love of my life… "

Even the chief had his eyes twitching in madness as he glared at the dead monsters beside the corpses of the soldiers and adventurers. He stepped on the cut off appendages and splattered slime-looking blood that came out from the distorted hand.

"To those who want to move from this village, you may do so. I will never stop you. But what I saw is only for the best of this village."

All the kids watching the scene had their eyes widened in fright. I can't blame them for their feelings of dread, since this was their first time seeing a mountain of dead bodies. Even I-who people considered me living the prime of my age would want to vomit in front of these corpses.

No human being would feel pleasure seeing these dead bodies in front of them. If there was someone that could prove me wrong, that person had left all humanity inside of him.

This scene became a reminder that once I die in this world, I die for eternity. I won't have any more chances of reincarnation… I was sure of it.

... There was no turning back now.