The red ax

It was 8:30 in the night so it was practically dark, however, the city was still quite lively and would most likely continue to be so for a couple of hours.

At the entrance to the city, on the south side of the wall, the evening shift guards were still patrolling in a rather monotonous manner. Look at the horizon, walk a couple of meters along the wall, stop, look at the horizon, walk along the wall, stop, and so on.

Some of the guards were so bored that they simply stayed inside the watchtowers on the wall where they got to drinking, chatting, playing dice or cards. None of them were too worried that an attack might occur.

After all, their kingdom had not been at war for decades, so they enjoyed a long and lasting peace. The only thing that posed a threat to the city were the jungle monsters, but this didn't worry the guards either.

The wall surrounding the city was 6 meters (19.68ft) high and 7 meters(23ft) thick. One of its sides was next to a river so the monsters could not attack from there. In addition, all the monsters living in the outlying areas of the jungle were too weak to even break through the city's defenses.

Even if the monsters would attack, the city had plenty of people capable of exterminating them. So everyone guarding the wall was very relaxed. Well, all except one.

Astor was leaning against the parapet of the wall with his eyes fixed on the horizon as he was deep in thought. Something had been bothering him for quite some time.

About a month ago the Giant Clan had found the corpse of a horned Basilisk, a monster listed as a threat capable of wiping out a small town on its own. Although the citizens believed the monster was killed by the mercenaries, Astor was among the few who knew the truth.

To prevent people from knowing that the monster had been killed by another creature, the city leaders and the Syndicate administrators had agreed to keep the matter secret. After that, the number of soldiers on the night shift on the wall increased, and groups were organized to explore the surrounding areas of the jungle. That's when things started to get strange.

First, the Giant Clan's warehouse had been raided. This created quite a commotion, causing patrols within the city to become more rigorous and there was a total inspection of the slums. The number of arrests in recent weeks had increased so much that the city jail was overcrowded.

Secondly, although several scouting parties were sent out, none of them could find anything. But not only was there no sign of the monster that killed the basilisk but there was also no sign of any creature in the proximity of the city. For some reason, all the monsters in the area had disappeared and there had been no sightings of them in almost a month.

This had caused many low-level mercenary groups to lose their source of income and many industrial sectors that depended on the monsters to function to lose large sums of money. If things continued this way the city would suffer an unprecedented economic disaster.

Under these circumstances, the city government and the Syndicate provided financial assistance to the low-level mercenaries and promised that they would do everything possible to solve this problem as soon as possible.

Under these circumstances, Astor believed that the most sensible thing to do would be to increase the number of night shift guards and had even proposed a curfew. But instead, the city leaders reduced the number of soldiers on the walls with the excuse that they needed to worry about internal security.

But while the order had been given more than a week ago, the number of internal patrols did not undergo much change and the arrest rate became almost nil and not because there would be no more people left to arrest or no more crime.

"SIGH..."

"Damn it, Peter! If you want to talk about your problems just do it and don't be sighing near me every 20 seconds like a poor wretch!" shouted Astor.

Next to Astor stood a young guard who looked no more than 17 years old. The young man was 1.68 m (5.51ft) and had a slim build. To tell the truth, he didn't look like the type of person who should be working as a guard.

"I'm sorry Sr. Astor, it's just..." Peter hesitated a little.

"Let me guess, you have problems with your girlfriend, again." Astor said in exasperation.

Peter said nothing and just nodded his head.

Peter wasn't exactly the most athletic and to tell the truth the boy had little self-esteem. How he had managed to get into the city guard had been a miracle. But he was a good person and was quite a hard worker, which was why he had endeared himself to many of his peers.

But despite all the affection he had for him, Astor had enough of listening to Peter's complaints about their love affair. But perhaps because he had nothing better to do he always listened to him.

"Well, what's the matter?"

Peter hesitated a bit before finally answering. "Well, it's just that...Jenna's been being a little "active aggressive" these days...and she wants me to be a little more...how shall I put it... "Dominant" in that sense...But I don't think I can."

"Oooh...I see."

An awkward silence formed between the two.

"Uuum... So... Aaah... What exactly is the problem?" asked Astor while trying not to make eye contact with the boy. The situation was a little weird.

"I think it's my physique... I have low stamina... sir."

"Oh, right." This didn't surprise Astor in the least. But he knew that the problem was not the boy's lack of stamina. It was the girl's excessive stamina.

Jenna, Peter's girlfriend, was an 18-year-old girl who worked in a small mercenary group. But unlike Peter, who had a very slim build, Jenna was 1.80 m (6ft) tall and had a much more developed physique than Peter. How they had ended up together was a mystery.

"Okay... Look I can't help you with your problem, but..." Astor pulled a small notebook out of his pocket, tore a page from it, and handed it to Peter, without making eye contact. " There's an apothecary on Fourth Street in the business district. Give this to a guy named Jonas and don't say I gave it to you."

"Thank you... Sir." Peter took the paper, put it in his pocket, and said goodbye to Astor.

*Tremble...Tremble...Tremble...Tremble*.

"Wait."

Peter stopped in his tracks and looked at Astor.

*Tremble...Tremble...Tremble...Tremble*

Astor rested his hands on the parapet. He felt the wall vibrate. Soon after, noises were heard coming from the jungle, as if a large horse army was charging at full speed.

" Do you feel that?"

*Tremble...Tremble...Tremble...Tremble*.

The trembles were getting stronger by the second and the sound that started as a soft whisper of the wind grew into a great storm.

*Tremble...Tremble...Trem.*

Suddenly, both the vibrations and the sound stopped as if they had never existed.

"Wh-what was that?!" Peter asked. Astor noticed that there was anxiety and fear in the young guard's voice.

Before he could answer, a column of smoke, coming from the farms surrounding the city, rose into the sky and fire began to spread across the wheat fields. Soon the screams of people could be heard, along with strange shrieks and noises that would make anyone's skin crawl.

Astor's face turned pale and a shiver ran through his body.

"Oh no. PETER, RING THE BE...!!"

*BOOM*

Peter didn't get to hear the whole sentence when suddenly something hit the wall right where Astor was standing and caused an explosion.

The shockwave from the explosion hit Peter and pushed him several meters down the wall walk, until he finally crashed into the floor of the wall. He tried to get up from the ground but the shockwave had left him very disoriented. His ears were ringing, his vision was blurred and he could feel the blood flowing from his head wound that stained his face.

When he finally recovered, Peter could barely understand what was happening. In the place where the explosion had occurred, there was a cloud of dust, the product of the destroyed rock. Alarmed guards rushed from place to place, sounds of swords being drawn, the unintelligible screams of his companions, and the pungent smell of blood flooded his nose.

A few seconds later the cloud of dust vanished and Peter watched in horror the scene unfolding before his eyes. The part of the wall where the explosion occurred was destroyed and there was a large hole, 2 meters (6.56ft)long and wide by 3 meters (10ft) deep, separating the wall walk in two.

On the other side of the wall walk, Peter watched as his fellow guards fought desperately against spiders as big as a horse, ants the size of ponies, and other large insects.

At the edge of the hole that separated him from his companions, Peter saw a man wearing his same armor leaning against the parapet of the wall. The man was missing an arm and his left leg. His breastplate had been destroyed and his abdomen had been ripped open revealing his internal organs as his blood formed a puddle that trickled over the edge of the hole.

Peter got up from the ground and ran to Astor who despite his severe injuries was still alive.

Unlike ordinary people, the experienced guard had undergone severe physical and mental training, which had pushed his body to its limits and eventually endowed him with abilities superior to those of a normal human. But despite his superhuman abilities, he could not survive much longer with those injuries.

"S-Sir Astor!" Peter bent down and saw the mangled body of the man he had spoken to only moments before.

Astor still conscious grabbed Peter by the arm and used his last strength to speak "Cough cough...Peter...Cough...The bell...Cough" Astor coughed up blood, moved his arm, pulled out a 20 cm(7.8 inches) long red cylindrical staff, and handed it to Peter. "The wall array...the key is...Cough...Nabstok..."

As the life drained from his eyes, Astor finally took his last breath and succumbed to his wounds, causing his soul to return to the cycle of reincarnation.

With no time to mourn the man's death and with tears in his eyes, Peter ran along the wall walk until he finally reached the tower of the wall where the bell stood.

Peter grabbed the thick rope hanging from the ceiling and pulled it with all his might.

*Clang! Clang! Clang!*

The bell rang again and again. Peter kept pulling on the rope, praying that reinforcements would arrive in time. But at that moment...

*BOOM!*

An energy projectile hit the bell tower, generating an explosion that destroyed the tower and toppled the bell, which fell from the other side of the wall, crushing and killing two guards in the process.

Fortunately, Peter had managed to get out of the tower before it collapsed and was almost unharmed.

Just as Peter struggled to get to his feet, a large tarantula the size of a full-grown man scaled the wall and reached the wall walk a few steps away from where he was standing.

Upon seeing the young guard, the tarantula did not hesitate and immediately charged towards the boy. The wall walk was very narrow, so Peter could not dodge when the enormous tarantula charged him.

The monster's fangs flashed with a cold light as it raised its fangs to drive them into its prey. But Peter was faster. Before the tarantula could sink its fangs into him, the young guard unsheathed his short sword and pierced the arachnid's head from the bottom up.

The tarantula didn't even have time to scream when Peter pulled out the sword that was embedded in it and, with all his strength, pierced the monster right in the face. The tarantula's repulsive internal liquid flowed from its wound and stained the young guard.

A few seconds later, the creature fell dead. Peter used all his strength to pull the creature's corpse off his back and stand up.

"AAAH!"

"AAARGh....!!!"

"NO, NO, WAIT waaaaaa...!!!"

Just as he managed to remove the tarantula's corpse from on top of his body, the sound of his companions' screams reached his ears. When the boy saw what it was about, his knees began to shake like two pieces of jelly.

Several meters on the other side of the rampart from where he stood, Peter saw a gigantic centipede, 1.5 meters (5 ft) wide and at least 8 meters (26.24ft) long. The centipede was holding one of the guards with its huge jaws.

*CRACK! CRUNCH!*

Without much effort, the centipede monster closed its jaws and split the guard's body in half, spreading his blood and intestines all over the wall. The metal armor hadn't done the poor guy much good, as the centipede's jaws had destroyed it as if it were paper-mâché.

*Woosh!*

Despite its large size, the centipede was agile and with a movement that lasted as long as a blink of an eye, the creature pounced on another soldier and had devoured his head on the spot. At that instant, the monster's eyes focused on Peter.

The young guard wanted to run, but his legs did not respond. He was paralyzed with fear.

"BRAT, GET DOWN!!!"

Before the centipede rammed him, a voice charged with power, made Peter drop to the ground in a second.

*Woosh CRASH!*

A huge ax passed over Peter and flew towards the creature's head. The centipede hadn't even been able to react when the battle-ax sliced its head and part of its body in half, killing it instantly.

*THUD*

The creature's body slumped over the adjoining ridge with a thud and stopped moving. At that moment Peter finally saw the weapon that had finished off the creature. It was a large double-bladed battle-ax, as big as half a door.

The most striking thing, however, was not its large size, but the blades of the ax, of a glistening ruby red. As if the weapon had been forged in blood.