Chapter 28: Monster Stampede

"Strength, it determines everything in this world ruled by magic."

"I had experienced being one such powerless person myself. The authorities hunted me for my inability to awaken, which undermined the image of the most powerful person in our town at that time."

I survived the hunt while hunting others in the process. 

"Those were the days."

I was standing in front of the Guild Hall thinking about these things. I had arrived here for about five minutes but hadn't entered as I was still preoccupied with my thoughts. 

"Gotta go."

I broke out of my reverie before entering the guild. My purpose here was clear: to sell every monster core I had collected from the Dungeon and stock up on dry rations and various other tools that could prove useful during future dungeon raids.

'Light Bombs' were my go-to choice as they offered the best value for the price. Additionally, I kept some basic healing potions on hand, which could come in handy if I faced opponents that were able to overpower me, not giving the chance for my Accelerated Natural Healing to kick in.

After selling and stocking everything I needed for my future dungeon raids, I returned to my home as I was not in the mood to fight any monsters today. I just wanted to relax my whole being as I hadn't recovered from the fatigue that had gripped me when I was battling the monsters, nonstop in the dungeon.

The fatigue I was feeling wasn't from my body, it was in perfect condition to battle for hours without stopping after being retreated by the Legacy yesterday. My mind was feeling lethargic from all the rollercoaster of emotion it went through while obtaining the artifacts yesterday.

I had literally seen my heart getting devoured before being replaced by the crystalline heart. The rupturing of every vein and artery within my body. The rampaging mana that was destroying everything in its way. It was all more impactful than my brain could really handle.

___________________________________________

I only woke up late at night when everyone living in the neighborhood was sleeping.

Grrrrr.....Grrrr....

Yup, I was woken up by my hungry stomach that hadn't eaten anything properly today. 

For breakfast, I didn't have any mood to prepare nor did I have the energy to go outside my house to eat from the vendors.

 I only ate some light lunch at the guild while I was there.

As for dinner, I just woke up.

I had to go to my kitchen to prepare a sumptuous meal since the vendors outside had all returned to their places.

It was unsafe for normal mortals to roam outside their homes during nighttime. It was due to the concentration of Dark mana that could corrupt normal people outside their place, giving them nightmares if they were in the presence of such energy. 

Even adventurers would not leave the town and venture outside the border protecting it because the monsters outside were enhanced by the dark form of mana pervading in the atmosphere. They weren't affected by the dark mana pervading the atmosphere but the monsters enhanced by the mana were something even powerful adventurers couldn't deal with by themselves.

Those monsters, stimulated by the dark mana in the environment go wild, their powers increasing by several times. Only someone who was confident in their strength dared to exit the town during nighttime.

——————————

"It was an amazing meal," I thought looking at the table filled with plates that had been licked clean by me. The monster rib with some brown bread at its side, it was the meal I had prepared for dinner today.

After completing with the work here, I entered my bedroom and took out the stack of paper made by Monster Hide. I was going to scribble the outline of my runes for now as I wasn't feeling sleepy right now.

I practiced scribbling the outline for around one hour before finally stopping. The stack of paper I had purchased was all used, forcing me to stop the process. After that, I started practicing with my Combat arts while also making Nightmare glide around me.

The longsword was slicing the air, a slashing sound echoing my ear. My movement was smooth, my back straight, and my gait was firm. The slashing noise of my blade was exciting me, my movement became even faster with a hint of chaos imbued in it. The sensation of Strength filling my body was otherworldly.

Crack….

But I wasn't able to reel in the sensation of slashing my blade for longer because the only used furniture in the entire room cracked, getting slashed by my chaotic blade. The only bed in my room was split into two.

"Nooo!!" 

I couldn't help but scream in anguish as it had been my emotional support for several sleepless nights. It had absorbed my tears of pain and hopelessness, granting me with solace when needed, listening to my monologues that I couldn't open up to others.

The little bed was my world, the pillar of my emotional support, but looking at it get destroyed by the blade I had been slashing and using while I was training, it reminded me of the progress I've made as an awakener. The bed that once had been my strongest pillar of support has become weak enough to split into two by my blade.

Looking at the bed in front of me with emotion for some time, I thought of moving ahead with my life. 

"Life is all about moving ahead, trying to cope with anything it throws towards you."

"And if you couldn't cope with your life, the problem it spams towards you."

Just go die already!!

" Thank you my bed for the support you have given me till now." I thanked the bed before taking it out of my room and resting it near the tree in front of my house.

———————————

ROAR…. ROAR….

I heard the roars of the monsters coming from a distance.

The echoing roar of the monsters shocked me.

"Was my mind still affected by the events from yesterday??"

As I was mulling over the roars of the monsters, trying to know whether it was a hallucination or not, the alarm fitted in the town to aware us of the monster stampede started ringing.

[ Alert!! Alert!!! We have detected a monster stampede rushing toward our city from the 'Forest of Grimness'.]

[ The monster stampede will be nearing the town in around two hours.]

[ All the residents are requested to hide inside the Bunker and wait till we are able to deal with the stampede.]

[ All the adventurers that are active within our town are requested to help us in eliminating the monsters. The town will reward those courageous adventurers partaking in the hunt according to their contribution.]

Haiz… 

Monster Stampede...

"It was once again that time of the year."

I clicked my tongue in annoyance because Monster Horde was a normal occurrence in this town for it was settled at the outskirts of ' Forest of Grimness' which housed several monsters ranging from Tier-1 to tier-3. 

______________________________________________________

Their equivalents in terms of human warriors were 'Awakened' for tier 1, 'Transcendent' for tier 2, and 'Elite' for tier 3. Although this was a normal occurrence, the damage dealt by the monsters within this stampede was devastating to say the very least.

Several brave adventurers were forced to fend off against the monster horde several times in number than they were. The only reason this town was even able to fend off against such stampede was, the towering enchanted walls that protected the town from wild monsters.

"And the reason for such a stampede was."

It was the time of year when monsters' urge to mate and give birth to their offspring, and maintain their bloodline was at its peak. Stronger monsters would hunt any other monsters of their race to ensure the survival and dominance of their bloodline. This period was marked by intense territorial conflicts and brutal battles among the creatures of the wilderness. Only the strongest would ensure the continuation of their lineage, while weaker monsters were forced to leave the depths of the forest and live in the outskirts without enough food for their survival.

This resulted in those monsters attacking any town that came across the territory they had retreated to, which resulted in Monster Stampede on any town that was settled on the outskirts of the forest.

___________________________________________________

The main reason for my annoyance was spending time in the Bunker along with other citizens of this town. I was always irritated by the presence of other people around me, it was something I had developed as the only time someone had thought of me as a person worth loving and protecting was the old couple who were later killed for the same reason. 

I had actually developed adverse disgust towards people when I was in Lumia. But had been able to slowly lower the feeling of disgust after living in this town and working as a laborer in the guild. Being forced to work regularly with the people I had started loathing helped me slowly adjust to living with people.

Also being a mortal made it so that I wasn't even able to leave the town and live in the areas filled with monsters because I wasn't strong enough to fend off against the monsters that were out for the blood.

"Basically I was forced to control my feelings towards people since I was weak."

Nothing more, Nothing less.