Chapter 5: Raid

Zaine roams around the safe zone, placed located inside a department store. There he can see a lot of people staying, young and old. They are all still very much shaken up by the situation that they are in.

Zaine tried not to bother them every time he walked by, not even exchanging eye contact. People did stare at him. The white lizard hanging out on his head isn't something a person sees very often.

Zaine notices the unusual appearance of his newborn dragon and decides to take a nearby jacket to cover Albus up, making it less visible from an outside perspective.

Zaine travels around the mall and manages to locate an Adventurer's Guild that contains quests that every safe zone has. Upon entering, he was met by a normal-looking human, with female features, seemingly with emotions on her face.

"Umm, hello, is this the town hall?" Zaine wanted to make sure he was really in the right place.

The female receptionist took notice of Zaine's.

"Yes, welcome to the town hall. Are you looking for quests?" The woman smiled at Zaine.

"So, uh, can I ask you a question? What are you? Are you a human or an NPC?" Zaine asks cautiously to the person.

"What's an NPC? I am a receptionist here. You can call me Amy. Can you elaborate more on what you mean by game?" The person replies as she does not understand the meaning behind the question. For her, this world has been like this for god knows how long, so she had been living there since birth.

"Uhmm, never mind, sorry for asking such weird questions..." Zaine took a pause.

The receptionist became uncomfortable after hearing Zaine's question. Zaine tried to change the topic.

"For today, umm, Amy... Can I see the list of quests available?"

"Here are the quests for today! Please look at them carefully and pick the one that you like." Amy's tone changed as she showed the quests to Zaine.

{Defeat Orc Lord X1}

Requirements: Lv.40

Availability: One time

Rewards: Artifact (Mythical)

{Defeat Goblin X5}

Requirements: Lv.5

Availability: Unlimited

Rewards: Artifact (Common-Uncommon)

{Collect Herbs X10}

Requirements: None

Availability: Unlimited

Rewards: Canned Foods X2

{Defeat Giant X5}

Requirements: Lv.15

Availability: Unlimited

Rewards: Artifact (Uncommon-Rare)

{Defeat Hound X3}

Requirements: Lv.5

Availability: Unlimited

Rewards: Canned Foods X2

Zaine looks around at the abundance of quests available. He decides to take the quests to defeat the giant. However, before he could accept it, a notification popped up.

{Raid Incoming}

Other people could also see the notification. Seeing as this is a first, even for them. None of them thought much about it. After a few moments, hordes of different monsters could be seen approaching the safe zone.

The people realize that a horde is coming and starts panicking while running.

Soon, the sound of screaming could be heard coming from the entrance.

"They are coming!" Shouted a man while trying to block the front entrance.

The receptionist heard the screams of the people and rang a bell, signaling attacks from monsters. The bell is so loud. People outside of the mall must have been able to hear it.

Though the Safe Zone can fend off the monsters from coming in, it does not prevent objects like stone and other inanimate objects from entering the place.

"Everyone, please come inside the safe zone and close every gap from the outside." The receptionist, oddly calm, warned everyone.

Zaine looked at the receptionist, "Maybe she had prepared for this for a long time?" he mumbled to himself.

Amid the chaos, the receptionist also added a couple of messages to the safe zone civilians.

"We also have an event going on. If anyone manages to defeat more than 50 of the monsters outside will be rewarded with a special artifact. A magical bag containing almost infinite spaces to put anything of your personal needs." Declared Amy.

The people there heard about the event, but fifty is too much for them to handle, so most of them decide to stay cooped up inside the mall until the raid outside finishes.

Zaine, however, had experience in dealing with the event. He knew that the monsters would not be such a threat to him. Being the summoner that he is, he can fight from far away, with his summons fighting for him.

Zaine spawns all of his available summons, one by one, while considering the amount of mana and monster core he had. He made a plan to fight the horde.

The plan was simple. Amy informed Zaine that the horde coming would consists of goblins, zombies, giant spiders, hounds, and the occasional giant.

The only thing worrying him is the chance of a boss monster spawning, which are ents, a living tree monster capable of throwing wooden logs and stones. Though having a small probability of occurring, the chance of it happening is not zero.

With a well-thought-out plan, he decided to head to the balcony of the mall and fight the incoming monsters from a distance while observing with a binocular.

As the monsters come closer, the number of monsters Zaine has summoned increases.

The goal for Zaine is to fend off the place and get as many monsters as possible. With this in mind, Zaine commands the group of goblins he summoned on the balcony to jump the enemy, surprising them.