Chapter 21 Retreat!

Nicholas POV

A sudden chill was felt running through my spine when I heard that sound.

Nicholas: "Multiple dungeons crumble."

I mumbled with a hushed tone under my voice, quickly thinking of possible solutions to this predicament. A few seconds had passed, and I still couldn't think of anything, so I just instinctually yelled something. 

Nicholas: "QUUICCKLY!!! SOMEONE INFORM THIS TO THE TOWN AND ADVENTURERS GUILD. AND LET'S GET OUT OF HEAR QUICKLY!!!"

With my yell, some people, especially the high-level awakeners, came out of their dumbfounded expression. Then, almost immediately, the main assault team, which was led by a muscular man, barked orders to his teammates.

Leader: "Salvi, you're the fastest one here. Go inform the guild about this situation and warn them about the incoming horde!"

He said loudly to the person beside him, while another member of the assault team followed up his instruction with a statement to calm the other panicking awakeners.

Leal: "Everyone, don't panic! My name is Leal, a member of the main assault team! Don't panic, we will slowly retreat from our current positions! But first we need to slow down the advances of these monsters to buy some time for the messenger return before we fully retreat! I wish your full cooperation! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!" 

After that, the leader of the main assault squad briefly introduced himself and began to commence their operation.

Strafe: "MY NAME IS STRAFE! We will follow Leal's plan and slowly retreat to the direction of the town; however, we need to buy some time before fully disengaging with the enemy! My team and I will hold the front line for a while! All the other front lines will go to the side and serve as an impromptu front line there! Let's go; we don't have much time!" The leader barked in a loud voice.

After that voice, the formation of the battle underwent a drastic change. The main assault team was still in front. The frontline team's quickly went to the sides to help the sidelines. My team also wants more challenge, so I nudged Maria and Clarice in the direction of the east. They both nodded, and we proceeded to go there.

We went there since it was the place with the least protection, which would allow us to kill more monsters. The east was the least protected spot since most of the low-leveled awakeners were located here earlier, so when the formation changed, most of them left this spot and went to the backlines.

After a few minutes, monsters began gathering. Different types of monsters were attacking from each side. Good thing there are a lot of participants that came to this event, making them hold their position for a decent time.

After 10 minutes, the main assault team noticed that the monsters were slowly accumulating. 

????: "Hold your position for a couple of minutes! Hold your current position; don't get surrounded; then let's retreat before we get thoroughly overwhelmed!"

Strafe: "Don't worry, our mage will create a large-scale magic to cover our retreat. Don't panic and continue fighting!"

By the looks of it, they are waiting for a large clump of monsters to accumulate so that the mage can eliminate a large amount of monsters, which might hinder our escape if not killed.

However, due to the accumulated fatigue of fighting non-stop, some teams finally had their last straws and decided to retreat immediately, despite the instructions of the main assault team. With the sudden decrease in numbers, I also considered backing away immediately. Maria and Clarice, however, had a determined face to see through this incident. So I said to them

Nicholas: "Let's slowly back away; some of the teams are choosing to retreat now. Let's move to a safer position. I know you guys still want to fight; there will be an opportunity later. So, let's back off first so we don't get overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of monsters around us."

He began to quickly explain his plans to the two girls.

Nicholas: "Clarice, focus on protecting us. We will be focusing on long-range magic to reduce the numbers. We'll be counting on you for our backs."

Maria: "Roger"

Thankfully, even if some of the teams immediately retreated, the ones left behind still managed to maintain their foothold. Which allowed them to slowly retreat successfully, following the orders of the main assault team.

Fighting monsters had been exponentially exhausting; monsters coming from all directions had been grueling tasks to face when they were already exhausted. I on the other hand, I have been putting in twice as much effort creating [Stone Dagger] to throw at the enemy. Slowly, as time passed, my kill count on the quest panel went up. 45.. 50.. 53.. 57.. 62..65.. 67.. kills before a yell from the frontline was heard.

By now, most of the teams have been nearly overwhelmed by the monster wave coming to them. Seeing this, the captain realized they needed to end their operation and retreat immediately.

Immediately, the leader of the assault team yelled

Strafe: "GOOD JOB EVERYONE! We had bought some time for the town to ready themselves! PREPARE TO RETREAT!!"

Strafe: "TANASHA AND LINK! Are the spells ready?!? Use them now!!"

Strafe: "Everyone, we will cover the front and sides! Please focus all your power on retreating and also try to kill the monster behind us." Last orders yelled before everyone retreated.

After the captain of the main assault team issued orders, the mages immediately cast their advanced magic with large-scale devastation.

TANASHA: "METEOR SHOWER!"

LINK: "LIGHTING CRASH!"

Both the mage summoned devastating spells, covering a large area and decimating monsters inside that area. Following that event, the teams quickly retreated towards the town. Some were battered and bruised. Some severely injure, like losing an arm or leg. But luckily, no one had died yet.

Immediately after the last order of the leader of the main assault squad, my team also retreats with most of the awakeners. Me and Maria just continued killing the monster who was blocking our way while we were retreating. It was a good thing that I have an excessive amount of mana and Maria can store mana in her accessories, or else we would have already exhausted their mana pool long ago with the number of spells they are casting.

After some time running for our lives, the teams that participated in the dungeon break event finally arrived in town safely(not). Seeing the town preparing for the monster horde, this greatly alleviate the burden of a lot of people who stayed to buy some time. After coming inside the town, they saw a lot of people busy scrambling around preparing for a huge battle. 

My team was not minding the crowd and immediately returned to the inn to rest and grab something to eat. This will serve as their final time to recover before the final battle that will definitely happen on the outskirts of town.

Nicholas: "Based on the movement of monsters, it will take them about an hour or two to arrive. We should prepare and focus on recuperating for a while."

So, they had spent their hour to rest and recuperate; this was also the plan most of the opted teams that went to the dungeon break who still wanted to participate in this town defense opted for, including the main assault team. Looking at the faces of the main assault team, who also returned to the same inn to rest, feels depressing; they are the most battered and worn, taking most of the brunt to help the awakeners escape.

Although I felt thankful for their help, I didn't do much since we are still in a state of emergency. The best thing for now is to wait for information on the dungeon break and to rest.

After a while, the scouting report from the guild was released. The scouts estimated that there were six dungeon breaks that occurred almost simultaneously; one of those was another large-scale dungeon. So there are a total of 3 large-scale dungeons and 3 normal ones that have broken down.

After hearing the news, I immediately went out to check out information about the other large-scale dungeon, which had broken. So those who failed after eating went immediately to the guild and started asking for some information from the guild staff about the large-scale dungeon.

He got the information immediately, including the other three normal fluctuated dungeon that broke mysteriously since he used his noble crest. The dungeons that broke also came from the same side of the previous dungeon break. Honestly, I didn't care about the information about the dungeons; I only needed their directions.

I sigh a breath of relief; it is still feasible to win since the defense will be led by the adventurer's guild head in Marchelle town, who was rumored to be level 52. If not, we can still escape in the other direction. 

Nicholas: "I should at least prepare a way to escape if ever things go to sh*t."

So I returned to the inn and relayed the information I got from the guild about the situation.

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After an hour, the monsters were already within sight of the town walls. Every awakenee who was still capable of fighting for the town was ready to defend and clash head-on with the monster. As the monster wave drew close, the long-range spells of different awakeners were released.

This move greatly diminished the number of monsters within the area. It was followed by a frontal clash of melee weapons, trying to slow down the march of the monsters.

This was quite effective for a few hours at first, but as the monsters in the wave got stronger and increased in number, the less impact of a delay the melee fighter could provide. When the exhausted melee fighters could no longer slow down their march, they all went inside the town.

After a moment, when the monsters arrived near the town walls, all the long-range attacks poured most of their mana into a single final attack. With the attack of dozens of long-range skills, it effectively reduced the monsters attacking the town significantly. With this significant effect, the adventurer's guild master led the final attack on the monster.

It took several hours of battle; many were injured in battle. Several people perished this night, but the glory most people achieved was astronomical. By the end of the battle, the sun was already peeking at the tired and weary warriors that had survived this nightmare. Litters of monster corpses and dozens of casualties were strewn on the outskirts of town.