Chapter 21: There's an onslaught.

They were strolling through the forest path when a man started running their way. Justin stepped in front of the girls, fearing it to be a threat but the man fell flat in front of them.

He had blood all over his body and he was mumbling a few things.

"Stay back." Justin said to the girls and lowered his head to hear what he was saying. "What happened to you?"

"Manti…manti…"

"Manti what? What happened to you?"

"Manti… " before having the chance to finish his words, the man died. His eyes dilated but his pupils were shrunk deep.

"He's dead." Attica said and he nodded.

He got over his fear and stared at the path.

"Something is going on in the capital." Justin said and he looked back at the girls. He couldn't take them with him. What if something were to happen to them?

"Brother." Alexia muttered. She seemed scared, seeing the dead man on the floor.

'System.' Justin called.

(I'm here!)

'How much longer can I have them stay in the simulation space?'

(Not much longer. They've already spent hours there.)

Justin clicked his tongue. If he had known that something dangerous would happen, he wouldn't have let them in yet.

This was why he thought it best to clear the backyard for future training purposes.

"Brother." Alicia muttered as well, holding onto his shirt.

"You girls, you'll have to stay back." He said. "I'll see what's going on and come back with delicious food, okay?"

"But brother, what if it's dangerous?" Alexia asked.

"Then I'll be more dangerous!" Justin grinned and rubbed her head. "Besides, your brother is amazing, there's no way anything will harm me, okay?"

He said this but they were still worried. In any case, he had to make sure they were okay even if he wasn't with them. He'd never be able to concentrate if anything happened to them.

'System, open the store.' The store window opened up in front of him and he swiped, searching for a useful communication device. 'Ah, this will do.'

[Danger waves: A device that connects the thoughts of both the user and the recipient when the recipient is in danger.]

'In other words, I'll be able to know when they're in danger.' he clenched it. 'But I can only buy one but since they'll be together, I guess it'll do.'

He pinned it on Alexia's hair. He was giving it to her because she was younger and her danger senses were seemingly higher than Alicia.

"I'll go now. Whatever happens, do not take this off, okay?" He instructed and she nodded and to Alicia, he said, "Make sure it doesn't fall off and you two stay in the room, okay? If anything happens, I'll be there in the blink of an eye, okay?"

"But brother… "

"I'll be back." He said

"Do you promise?" Alicia asked and though it was a bit surprising since that was usually Alexia's line, he nodded and smiled.

"I promise to come back with delicious food."

Justin watched the girls leave and as soon as he was sure they were back in the house, he looked down at the dead man.

"System, what the hell is going on? That startled me. Why is there a dead man here?"

(Technically, he died in front of you.)

"The same thing." He covered his face. "God, I tried so hard to look calm in front of them because I didn't want them to be scared but this is too much." He claimed.

(There's an onslaught going on.)

"Now you tell me. That really has nothing to do with me but I can't let those demons get to the girls. How can I make sure they don't harm the girls?" He paced around and sat on a tree bark.

(You could kill the demons.)

"I knew you'd say something like that." He lowered his head. "Don't they have guards to do that? Adventurers and the mages. They do this stuff so why are they slacking off now?"

(.....)

"You not answering is suspicious." Justin said but the system still didn't respond. "I guess I'll have to check it out in the end." He got up from the tree bark. "I'm going to walk. Don't want a lizard getting to the house."

Like he suspected, there were demons headed in the direction of his house and they were lizard demons that were the size of goblins.

They charged at him while he used his sword to cut them in half from time to time. It was not a big deal and he could finish them with one swoop but they were delaying his movement. He wanted to get to the main cause of this.

The demons weren't just lizards, there were demon wolves, spiders as big as a human, ants even. And they were all demons mutated.

The moment he encountered a new breed, he'd get a new mission and until that mission was completed, he wouldn't meet any new breed. It was almost like the system was calculating how many they demons were and how long it would take him to kill them.

"What in the world is going on?"

There had never been a time where the demons gathered so much. They usually came in through different gates and different times. If the horde of weak demons heading his way were this much then he had cause to believe that there were bigger and stronger demons ahead.

Justin finally got to the centre of the capital and the onslaught he found was massive. The demons… There were one-eyed manticores with big horns sticking out of their head and big green orcs killing and slaughtering people like they were ants.

Even the knights, mages and guards that were present weren't able to inflict much damage.

Justin's eyes widened as he remembered his bitter experience with manticores.

A demon gate had opened up in the centre of the slums and manticores emerged from that demon gate. They were killing the kids and the starved civilians that lived in the slums like they were insects.

Justin was already at the feet of the manticore. It was his first time facing demons and he didn't know what to do. He was sure there was no way out for him till a hooded man appeared and stabbed the manticore in the head. The moment he pulled out his sword, green blood splattered everywhere. But Justin couldn't stop staring at him.

He was such a mystery!

It wasn't an easy job to kill a manticore but he killed one so effortlessly.

Now, that same situation… no! It was a much worse situation as there weren't just manticores.

(Ding! Quest triggered)