39 Milez… Invades!

What had been the normal sounds of a busy street on the weekends, turned into an unnatural silence.

However, this silence did not last long.

"Kyaaaaaah!!!"

"Impossible!! Why is there a 'Space Rift' in the middle of town?!"

"N-no, I don't want to die! I don't want to die!!"

The moment that the crowd noticed the 'Space Rift', pandemonium ensued.

"Kate!"

"Eh!?"

Not wishing to lose Kate into the crazed crowd, I immediately pulled Kate into my embrace to protect her. Kate's body tightened for a moment before relaxing herself in my embrace.

Feeling reassured that Kate is safe, I placed my gaze all around me as the situation gets worse and worse.

Why is there a 'Space Rift' opening in the middle of Luminous? Aren't there measures in place which would prevent such things from happening in the first place? Had something happened to it?

Regardless, there is now an unmistakable 'Space Right' opening right in front of me.

The panicking response from the crowd... it is to be expected.

While this is the 'Isle of the Braves' where most of the population is in fact a System Users, only 50% of them are Battle-Types and only 20% of that 50% is capable of fighting against 'Invaders' in any capacity. The numbers get even lower for finding people on the Isle capable enough to handle a 'Space Rift' by themselves.

In other words, in the event that a 'Space Rift' opens in the middle of town… only a terrible end awaits for all unfortunate to get involved.

What should I do now? According to protocol, I should bring Kate with me to a shelter right away. But with crowd like this...

The chaos around me is about to reach a new height. It was at this moment the sound of static could be heard all over town. As if to smother the crazed crowd, the sound of static drowned out every last person until all of them went silent.

This is… the sound coming from the Emergency Speakers that are placed all over the island.

"Attention! May I have your attention, please? An emergency situation has been detected. A 'Space Rift' has opened in the vicinity of Bright Square. We ask that you remain calm and proceed to the nearest shelter. Only a few minutes have passed since the "Space Rift' was first detected. The remaining time calculated until the 'Space Rift' fully opens is 15 minutes and counting down. We ask you to once again remain calm and proceed to the shelter in an orderly fashion in this time frame. The OERF has been immediately dispatched and should arrive in 10 minutes. I repeat…"

The announcement repeated itself once again before the Emergency Speakers finally turn off.

Once the speakers became silent, the crowd began to make noise once again. But the mood they have now is completely different from before.

Because of the announcement, the crazed mob from before has significantly calmed down from their previous chaotic state.

As for me, I too calmed down quite a bit from what I heard.

I see, so the 'Space Rift' has not actually fully opened yet. We even have 15 minutes of time to find a shelter. That's plenty of time.

Plus, if the OERF is coming we should be in good hands.

The OERF, or Otherworld Emergency Response Force, is a unique tactical force found only in the Isle of the Braves. Their job is to deal with all incidents related to the 'Otherworlds' as quickly as possible. The OERF had a track record dealing with 'Space Rifts' and 'Invaders' with a 100% success rate.

As long as the OERF can get here, the 'Space Rift' is good as gone. This sentiment of mine seems to be shared with everyone else judging from their reactions.

"Kate."

"Dan."

Following the announcement, I immediately called out to Kate who had not left my embrace the entire time.

"You heard that, right?"

"Yeah, I did."

Kate nodded in confirmation.

"Then let's go. Standing around here would be dangerous."

"Yeah, I know…"

Just when I thought we were all in agreement, I had noticed Kate had trailed off her words in the end.

"Is there something the matter?"

"That's not it. It's just…"

Really, what is it? It wasn't until I followed Kate's gaze that I finally knew what she is so worried about.

Right now, Kate is looking into the crowd around us just like me from before. More specifically, she is observing the current situation.

"Move out of the way! You're way too slow!"

"Have you seen where my friend is? We got separated a few minutes ago---"

"Waaa~h… Mommy? Where are you?"

"Can anyone give us a hand? Someone collapsed onto the ground---"

This is… quite horrible, honestly.

While the announcement did have a positive effect in calming down almost everyone, it was not perfect. Even now, some pedestrians all over town still are acting in a disorderly manner. The previously calmed down crowd began to pick up steam once again. Sounds of frustration and other negative emotions could be heard all over the place.

If another announcement could be made, it should be able to calm the crowd down once again. But, in the end, that is merely a stop-gap method.

If nothing else were to be done, who knows what kind of horrible things will happen next.

"…. Kate. You want to do something about this, don't you?"

"… Yeah, I do."

"As expected... that response is very much like you."

I nodded to myself in a knowing manner. Seeing this, Kate pouted in response.

"Are you making fun of me? I know already… it's better to follow the announcement's instructions rather than think about others. But... somehow I just can't seem to let it slide."

"Haha, I'm not making fun of you. I just thought you are very kind, that's all."

It's truly very much like Kate. I could see it in her eyes a streak of stubbornness.

I could see that even if I were to try to stop her, she'll probably try to help out anyway.

"… It can't be helped. So where do you want to start?"

"Eh? You're not going to stop me?

"Of course not. Who do you think I am? I was just thinking I needed something for my daily volunteering quota today."

"… Haha~ What's up with that? 'Daily volunteering quota', huh? Since when?"

Kate let out a huge chuckle at my words.

"…. Thank you. Really."

"No problem."

.

.

"Mommy!"

"My baby!!"

After finally locating the 7-year-old's mother, the child immediately ran to her in joy. The mother, noticing her child is back, immediately held the little girl in her arms and let out tears of joy and relief.

"Thank you so much. Thank you so much. If it weren't for you---"

"Thank you, big bro! For finding mommy?"

"It's okay. Make sure don't leave from each other's sight again, all right? You two should get going to the shelters."

After making sure the mother and child duo finally left my sights, I turned around to run back to where Kate is.

"… That took a bit of time. Hopefully, there is nothing else that would take that much again."

In just a few moments, I finally reached to where Kate was as she is currently talking to an older gentleman in a wheelchair and his caretaker.

"Thank you kindly, young lady."

"I am just happy to help, sir. Make sure you get safety quickly, all right?"

Both the older gentleman and his caretaker left after that, leaving Kate and I together alone.

Noticing that I came back, Kate immediately questioned me.

"Dan? Did you find the mother?"

"Yeah, I did. It seems that you were able to able to almost get everyone to leave safely."

"Fufu~ I had a little help from some of the people. Seems they too want to help."

Kate then waved towards a group of a bunch of young people of similar ages to us helping out the other stragglers. Noticing her wave, a few of them waved back in response.

"I see. That's good."

"There are still some people left, but we should be able to lead everyone to the shelters on time at this rate."

Since we decided to volunteer to help people to get them into the shelters as quickly as possible, 10 minutes had already passed. According to the announcement, there should only be 5 minutes left before the 'Space Rift' fully opens and the 'Invaders' finally come out. We need to hurry.

"Ok. There are a few stragglers over there. Let's go-----tsh!!!"

Just as I was about to say my plan to do next, what sounds like a high-frequency chime bell sounded out behind me, interrupting my words. What is this sound? I turned towards the source only for my gaze to fall upon an unbelievable sight.

… No! That's impossible!! There should be more time left. Why is the 'Space Rift' opening up now!?

That's right. Finishing at a far faster rate than what was predicted, the 'Space Rift' was seen to have open itself up wide, like the jaws of a giant monster. With an opening wide enough that a compact car can pass through without a problem, a mysterious presence could be felt from beyond the Rift just lurking on the other side.

*Thump*

With a sound that I would never have thought a living creature on Earth could possibly ever make, the shape of what appears to be an over-sized praying mantis leg revealed itself from beyond the Rift.

*Thump-Thump*

The sound of what appears to be heavy footsteps of a giant beast continued to ring out through the air. Following behind the appearance of the first leg, the appearance of the entire body connected to that leg showed itself a little at a time.

*Thump-Thump*

Eventually, the entirety of the mysterious creature could finally be seen. My first impression of the creature is that it reminds me of a giant arthropod with its three pairs of legs, a segmented body, and an extremely hard-looking exoskeleton. However, compared to arthropods found on Earth, like ants or bees, the body of the creature seemed much more compact in comparison. The portion of its body that makes up the thorax takes what seems to be 20% of the body while its head and abdomen makes the majority of its body.

With a face that could only be found in your darkest nightmares, the creature's head looks as if what you would find if you put an ant's head under a microscope. Instead of mandibles, the creature's mouth is filled with rows and rows of teeth like those of a shark.

There is no mistake… this is the rumored an 'Invader'!

This is the first time I ever saw one… and it's even an up-close look.

Goosebumps are raised all over my body. My body can't help but shiver in reaction from the silent pressure the Invader gives off.

I understand it through my instinct…

'We can't win.'

We will just be massacred if any one of us still left behind were to challenge it. Completely and utterly.

While gazing at the Invader absentmindedly from the shock, I suddenly recalled something I had learned randomly at school.

Written within one of my textbooks, the history of how humanity had clashed with the 'Invaders' time and time again was detailed completely in all of its glory. Once I had flipped through that textbook until I landed on a page which showed illustrations of the many types of 'Invaders' which cross through the 'Space Rifts' into our side. Of course, the Invader in front of me is no exception.

The name of this arthropod-like 'Invader' is called Pawn-Class Invader: 'Milez'.

In other words, this is one of the weakest types of 'Invader',

Not all 'Invaders' look the same. In fact, many 'Invaders' can look so different from each other it would be more understandable to label them as a completely different species. Along with the difference of types of 'Invaders', the strength of each different 'species' possess can also differ greatly from each other. As each different type of 'Invader' is given a specific name for their 'species', they are also further separated in different classes representing their strength.

To make it easy, the Earth Union opted to categorize the strengths of the 'Invaders' using a class system based on chess pieces. They are from weakest to strongest: Pawn-Class, Knight-Class, Bishop-Class, Rook-Class, Queen-Class, and King-Class. Inversely to their strength, the number of 'species' fitting in each class gets smaller as the class gets stronger. As such Pawn-Class has the most while the number of King-Class can be counted in one hand.

As such, this 'Invader', I'll call it Milez from now on, is considered one of the weaker species.

But even to the weakest species, no one here is any match to it. If a Knight-Class were to actually appear instead, wouldn't we have all died instantly from shock?

"U-uwaaaaaah!!?"

"I-it came out!!!"

"I don't want to die. I don't want to die!!"

"No!! Save me!"

As if broken from a spell, the remaining stragglers that have not gone to the shelter began to spontaneously move around in panic. With all their might, all of them ran the best the can towards where the shelters are. Even some of the volunteers that were helping out are now running, not caring for anyone else anymore. However, from all the possible options they could have made, they chose the worst one when dealing with an 'Invader'.

"….!!! Tch…. This is bad! It's gonna…..!!"

"SCREEEEEEE~~~!!!!!"

Seeing the sight of moving prey, the previously unmoving Milez sprung into action.

With surprising speed, the Milez charged straight towards the runnings, completely ignoring both Kate and me who were still standing still.

The Milez got closer and closer to it's nearest prey at an alarming rate. If nothing were to be done, the fate of the poor victim is to be imagined.

"No!!"

"Eh? Kate!? Wait….!!"

Before I could even react, Kate was running towards the Milez. If I were to continue to run after her, with my AGI Stat I will be unable to reach her in time.

Running as hard as she can, the results of her efforts did not betray her. Kate was able to reach and stand between the Milez and it's chosen victim.

"Scree? SCKRAAAW!!"

Surprised by the new arrival, the Milez paused for just a split second. But that moment of reprieve did not last long. The next moment, I can see the sight of the Milez raising one of its front legs extending like an expandable pole before raising itself up high.

….!! If the Milez were to slam its legs down onto Kate, there will be nothing left.

"Kate, get out of the way!!"