Chapter 15: Horn

Kennen was sleeping when he was woken up by the horn.

He noticed it was still in the middle of the night but he couldn't tell which hour it was since his phone was already out of batteries without any electricity to charge it.

The horn resounded for another whole minute before it stopped.

Kennen left his room and saw in the corridors that his goblins were still standing guard over this floor.

Seeing would be an overstatement as he could barely see their outline and that all thanks to the little moonlight shining through the window.

His friends also came out of their rooms due to the sound as they looked at each other in confusion.

"Where did that sound come from?" Enzo asked.

"It sounded like a horn, but I can't tell in which direction it's from." Frank answered to him.

"I looked out the window and there was nothing." Evan said and went over to the window in the corridor too, "Still can't see anything."

"I'm going back to sleep. It's probably a degenerate upstairs who blew a horn." Rafael said and went back to his room.

This was a possibility but Kennen felt that the sound was quite unique and didn't seem to be coming from upstairs. Moreover, who could blow a horn a minute straight and so loudly?

However, even if the sound itself was weird, nothing was happening so what should they even do?

"I guess we're going back to sleep then." Evan said after they looked at each other to see if anyone had another suggestion.

Since everyone was going back to their room, Kennen did the same even though his gut was telling that something was definitely not right.

Although there was nothing to do since he didn't even know what the horn meant, Kennen still watched outside of his windows for a couple minutes.

He got a beachside view but without any functioning lamppost, he was only able to see outlines of the things on the streets.

With the beach and streets being as normal as it could be, Kennen returned to bed.

Only around five minutes passed and he was having a hard time falling back asleep.

It was probably because his gut was acting up and was probably getting worried for nothing.

Just as he was about to fall asleep, he heard thumping sounds and this time, he was able to hear where the sound came off.

Kennen immediately got up from his bed and went to his window.

At first, it was normal just like before but after a few minutes, he could see some figures coming over.

Although he couldn't see clearly, he was sure that it was a group of pig orcs as nothing else was two meters tall and that big.

He wasn't sure where they were doing or going but it bode nothing good.

After a quick dress up, he left his room for the second time that night to see he was the second person out with Enzo being the first.

"Did you see those pigs?" Enzo quickly.

"Yeah…"

Frank and Evan came out in turns.

"Jesus, there are monsters coming on our side too!" Evan said.

"I saw them too, it was those orcs." Frank collaborated.

"What's with all the noise?" Rafael asked groggily. It seemed that he wasn't fully awake yet.

"Monsters are roaming close by." Frank gave him a quick run down of the situation.

"What are they doing in the middle of night?" Rafael asked.

"Maybe they are patrolling?"

"In groups of twenty pigs? That number is like a squadron going for war, not patrol."

Enzo and Evan bounced their ideas of what was going on.

"The point to focus on is that they seem to be coming toward where we are." Kennen said.

"I mean, maybe they are just passing by, it's not like they know we are here, right?" Evan reasoned out.

Kennen also thought Evan was right but he was still having a bad feeling about this, especially with those pig orcs acting so coordinated as if they knew where they were going and with the horn that sounded just a moment ago on top of it, his bad feeling only increased further.

"I think we should still be careful and watch over those orcs in case they do anything unexpected." Kennen advised.

"Ken is right." Frank agreed, "Enzo keep a lookout outside and tell us if anything happens."

Enzo nodded and went back to his room.

"I hope nothing happens tonight, I'm tired and can't see shit at night." Rafael groaned.

"Yeah… It would be really bad to fight at night." Frank shook his head.

"Well, it's not like those pigs have night vision so they can't be any better, right?" Evan pointed out that it was a two way disadvantage.

"I don't think they do… otherwise we are truly done for." Kennen sighed.

It would already be hard for them if a fight erupted since they were outnumbered but if they were also handicapped by not being able to see clearly, it would be a one-way street to six-foot under.

And with the lack of a good night's sleep, Kennen doubted that his friends were in peak conditions for a battle.

As for himself, it wouldn't matter much since he never participated in a fight directly as he would stay at a safe distance from the battle. With his lack of fitness, it was best he conserved any energy he had for running in case anything went south.

A few minutes later, some people came down to the first floor.

It was the couple Jordan and Nina, Amelia's and her two friends along with some other people such as the man with glass that Kennen learned was called Julio and was one of the people who got powers from the 14 crystals Kennen gave Michael.

Julio's powers were from the crowd control category as he could conjure bandages on a target of his choice and that target would get wrapped up like a patient in a mental hospital.

Well, Kennen had never seen that skill in action so he wouldn't know how good it actually was.

Michael's group also didn't even start going out in expedition although they planned to do it tomorrow or this morning.

He wasn't sure of the time.

They already got six people with fighting powers on the fifth day and Kennen planned to stop giving them any crystals from that day but Michael insisted that they had at least 8 people that could fight before they could set out outside to get their own crystals.

Kennen was very tempted to tell him to go off himself that day but relented in the end.

So they finally got eight people with fighting powers after 14 crystals so it meant there were six others that received powers that weren't fighting oriented.

In their fighting team, they had someone quite interesting as the power that person had fit a new category, buffing category.

That person could augment the speed of two people of his choice.

As for the other six people who got 'production' powers, there were only two whose power could be used in their little community.

Michael's girlfriend, Mia, who could create three sweets per day that could double a person's strength, recovery or wash away all fatigue for 2 hours.

Not that Kennen and his friend ever got any of those sweets.

The second was a man named Victor who could leak telepathically with two people within a range of 50 meters from him.

"Did you guys see what's happening outside?" Amelia asked them.

"Yeah… there are a crazy amount of pigs outside." Evan said.

"What's going on?"

"What are they doing here?"

Nina and Jordan asked in complete confusion.

"Don't know, we can only wait until they leave." Frank said.

"Just wait?" James seemed to be unconvinced.

"What? Want us to follow them?" Rafael chuckled.

"I don't fancy our chances if we fight them either." Evan added.

Kennen wasn't sure what James hoped they did.

"Waiting is the way, we don't know what's the situation." He cautioned them.

"Let's just keep an out and wait for them to pass by." Frank said.

Everyone nodded and discreetly watched the two streets via the windows in the rooms.

The pig orcs were marching like soldiers, except that they would occasionally roar like beasts.

They certainly weren't in a hurry as they took their sweet time to advance.

"God… is this how outside is now? Filled with dangerous monsters?" Julio muttered.

"Should we even go outside?"

"What is the military doing?"

These people hid their rooms from the beginning and stayed in the safe haven that was the hotel.

They didn't know how dangerous outside was unlike Kennen and his friends.

At least it was better they realize it now than when they eventually went out to hunt.

Kennen saw the pig orcs walk by and then take the left road.

"The orcs took a left toward the south." Kennen heard Enzo say to him and his friends after he came out of his room.

Enzo's room faced the same direction as him, a beachside view.

"The one from our side took a right." Evan said.

Kennen started to frown when he heard that.

"Isn't that…" Enzo seemed to realize the same thing as him.

"They seem to be converging at the same point." Frank noticed.

"It's our front… where the entrance of the hotel is." Kennen informed everyone.