Chapter 29: Monster Stampede, Arrival of the monsters

Creak….

Creak….

" Let's go."

"Hurry up. Carry the children and come with me."

" Hurry …. We don't have much time left."

All the houses that had once been still silent started getting lively with people leaving the houses with anything they could carry in their tow.

Some were carrying their children who were sobbing in their arms, asking for the reason for the panic in their parent's eyes. Some were carrying valuable ornaments in their hands, not bothering about the greedy eyes of several people who were also with them.

Some were carrying their old parents, trying to save them if by any chance the monster was able to infiltrate the town.

I even saw several people thrashing their children on the ground, trying to outrun other people. They were showing another side of humans that I was already familiar with.

The cries of those children, looking at their parents leaving them in their time of need. The sobbing noises coming from several houses with old parents, it was all heard by me.

I couldn't help but feel remorseful for those children and old people.

" Was I going to help them?"

Nope!

I was already fed up with these two-faced people who have been trying to show their fake side to the world for a long time. It wasn't because I was some psychopath who loved the painful cries of others.

I just didn't deem them as important as they think they are.

They are monsters with the ability to hide their true self, not some intelligent beings that rule over magic in this world. They are cunning and ruthless monsters that can even beat the bloodiest monsters if they were given the chance to go wild. 

I had seen people kill each other for petty reasons, indulge in acts of debauchery, and destroy the lives of several others for their own pleasure. I had seen them scheme against each other, destroy each other's lives, kill each other's families, commit atrocious crimes, and sell their children to work as slaves to the nobles—who are individuals with power.

I was standing in front of the tree, looking at people running without any care in the world. Many passed by me, but no one even looked at my general direction. It felt like I was invisible to these people.

But I wasn't even putting on my equipment right now. So, I wasn't even in my stealth mode for these people to not know about my presence. 

" What could I even expect from those who didn't even bother to save their own blood, their loved ones when needed?" 

I was just a character in their life, the type who had no impact on their life whatsoever. I was like a side character in texts that only talked about the strongest ones, but those who helped them reach their position, nobody knew those people. And I wasn't even such a character in their life.

" Truly fascinating creatures we are, Aren't we?"

——————————————-

Beep!! Beep!!

I was woken up from my reverie by the vibration of the ' Identification ring' on my hand.

[ All the adventurers registered in the guild and present within the town are requested to gather within the guild hall and accept the mission related to monster subjugation. Those without the mission will not be able to obtain the rewards for killing the monsters.]

[ The prices of anything purchased in the guild have been halved for those adventurers that have accepted the mission.]

[ Those adventurers with the highest contribution will be granted with extra rewards provided by the guild.]

The guild was basically asking for the adventurers to join the fray with riches. It was awesome tactics to make greedy adventurers work their asses off, battling with monsters and putting their lives at risk.

I wasn't interested in such riches but. I was interested in the monsters that were ready to attack the town at any time.

It was going to be the best opportunity to hone my skills and test my strength after obtaining the 'Legacy artifacts' from the dungeon. I believe this monster horde will give me an idea about my combat ability while also reminding me about the weaknesses I had, if there were any.

Making up my mind, I returned back to my house, equipped myself with my equipment, and put on a mask before exiting my house. I had already activated the 'Rune of Stealth' before exiting. Although no one would have noticed me, I wasn't going to have even a bit of a chance for these people to remember me exiting the house that belonged to me.

Chaos… the whole street in front of my house was in utter chaos. People were running, trying to enter the bunker before others. This resulted in a situation where people were literally stepping over each other, injuring each other in the process.

The monster stampede hadn't even reached near our town, but the number of people who were injured was in the hundreds. 

Ahh…

One person just died in front of my house, killed by the people who were stepping over his body to rush towards the bunker. 

Although everyone heard this cry of pain, nobody stopped to check the condition of the person who had just been killed because everyone was trying to save themselves even though the bunker they were trying to reach was only half an hour's walking distance from the outskirts where this neighborhood was settled in.

He was unlucky enough to fall to the ground while running towards the bunker. Well, he would also have not stopped if others were to be in the same situation, getting stepped on by others. 

" Such was the nature of people."

[ One hour raining till the monster stampede]

This alert intensified the chaos, many people were brutally killed by getting stepped on by other people who were now using their strength to run.

" The chaos in front of me felt more like a stampede than the one that we were being alerted about."

I waited till the people passed this street before walking towards the guild. The street was littered with blood, injured people who had heavy injuries stopping them from walking, and there were even dead bodies littered in the streets along with injured ones.

There were about fifty people dead in the street I followed while going towards the guild. It was a miserable scene depicting the nature of humans who deem themselves as all-powerful because of their intelligence which somewhat gives us an edge over monsters rampaging around the world.

[ Thirty minutes before the monster stampede.]

This was the alert that reached my ear just after I reached the guild hall, waiting to accept the mission.

The atmosphere within the hall was heavy, everyone was discussing regarding the monster stampede. Even the lively atmosphere that accentuated this guild was not present, the unruly adventurers were minding their own business without picking up a fight against each other, trying to dominate other parties that were active in the same area.

Some were purchasing supplies, and stocking themselves for the upcoming battle. Some were purchasing new and durable equipment to enhance their survival chances in the upcoming battle. Some were even forming battle plans, talking with each other while brainstorming their team synergy.

I also purchased several healing potions, increasing their number in my storage ring. As for other tools, I didn't think they would be of any use for the upcoming battle. Unlike dungeons with almost the same number and types of monsters, the monster stampede consisted of several kinds of monsters with their own unique skills and abilities.

As for accepting the mission, it was easy. I just had to present them with my identification which was my ring before I was able to accept the mission. As for the reward, they were providing everyone with a small device to store the monster cores which was going to count the number while also differentiating it on the basis of The type and strength of the monster the core belonged to.

I readily accepted it as I was going to use this device to fake my death in this town before moving to another town and live there as an adventurer. I had taken this decision because having to hide my strength wasn't something I wanted to live with. Also, this town wasn't big enough to handle me as I was already as strong as the lord ruling over this town.

And the main reason was, I didn't have any suitable reason to describe my growth in such a short period of time.

"I wasn't going to live in desperation after getting the Legacy."

[Five minutes till the stampede]

Roar…

Roar...

The ferocious roars belonging to monsters started echoing in the town along with the alert from the authorities.

[ Thank you to the brave adventurers who accepted our request and registered your names for the upcoming battle.]

I could see a horde of monsters running towards The town. Their ferocious red eyes were exuding extreme levels of blood lust, that could shake the heart of anyone that saw them.