Randolph sipped some tea as he gazed in the distance. From time to time, he would casually pick up a cookie from the plate beside him and eat it while thinking of his Disciple who had disappeared for several months.
Lux had told him in advance that he planned to go sight-seeing in the territory of Norria, but the blacksmith of Leaf Village didn’t buy his bullsh*t.
“I’d greatly appreciate it if you don’t scowl while eating in front of my shop,” Grandma Annie said in a reprimanding voice. “You are scaring away my customers.”
Randolph gave the old lady Dwarf a side-long glance before snorting.
“I am not scowling,” Randolph replied. “I was born with this face.”
Grandma Annie chuckled as she sat on the chair beside the Dwarf Smith, who was always looking in the direction of the village’s entrance.
“It has been almost six months since Lux left the village,” Grandma Annie said softly. Many foreigners have already left for the other towns after they stepped into the Apostle Rank, but that Half-Elf was still staying in the land of Norria.
“Sometimes, I wonder if there is something that is holding him back. Are you perhaps blackmailing him to prevent him from leaving this place?”
Randolph shot an angry glare towards the old woman, who had been one of his party members when he was still young and foolish. Together with Cedwyn and a few others, they traveled the Kingdom of Gweliven, facing dangers together while watching each other’s backs.
Even if Annie and him bickered from time to time, it was at most a playful banter and nothing too serious.
“I’m not blackmailing him, okay?” Randolph answered. “Even I feel that his stay in the Territory of Norria is long overdue. He had already mastered the basics of Smithing, and it is now time for him to set out on a new journey to see the world. When I see him next time, I’ll make sure to clobber him and talk some sense into him.”
“Violence is never the answer. How many times should I tell you that?”
“And I’m sick and tired of you telling me to stop being violent!”
Grandma Annie chuckled as she bit into one of the cookies she baked earlier. For her, Lux was a fascinating young man. She often wondered if Fate had brought him to Leaf Village in order to bring a change that the local populace had never seen before.
“Well, if you see Lux, tell him that he should pack up and leave,” Grandma Annie said softly. “Although I will miss him, the territory of Norria is too small a place for him to spread his wings.”
“I will do that even if you don’t tell me to!” Randolph replied grumpily. Follow current novels on NovlFir(.)nt
The old Smith was about to pick up another cookie when the bells located on the watchtower near the entrances of the village started to make noise.
Grandma Annie and him exchanged a glance of surprise before the two of them summoned their weapons.
The guards of the village were already shouting and telling everyone, including the Foreigners, to evacuate to the underground shelters.
The adults herded the children to a safe place as they prepared themselves to fight.
“We will stay and fight!” a dwarf boy said as he held his mace with both hands. “We can beat them!”
“”Yes!””
His party members shouted in unison as they prepared to help the villagers to fight the Monster Outbreak that was upon them.
“Oi! You dumb kids! What do you think you are doing?!” Cedwyn, the Village Head of Leaf Village grabbed the Dwarf boy and pulled him back. “Go to the shelters! Even if you are a foreigner, you are no match against what we are about to face!”
“No! We can beat them,” the Dwarf boy struggled as he tried to break free from Cedwyn’s grip. “I have come to Elysium to fight, and not to hide in some underground shelter!”
“Foolish boy!” Cedwyn smacked the boy’s head making the Dwarf boy cry out in pain. “You’ve just arrived here for a week and you’re already mumbling a bunch of crap! Go to the shelter now, or I’ll kick you until you get there!”
“Waaaaah! Mommy! This old man is bullying me!” the Dwarf boy cried out as Cedwyn kicked his bum several times to make him go away.
The boy’s party members could only watch helplessly. In the end, they followed their leader to the Shelter, but they had only taken a dozen steps when a giant Mantis descended from the sky and eyed the Dwarf children as if they were food.
“Red-Eyed Terror Mantis,” Cedwyn said as he stood between the Dwarf children and the Alpha Monster. “So, it’s an insect monster outbreak this time?”
However, before Cedwyn could even chant a spell to fight against the Alpha Monster, he heard a scream behind him.
As the Village Head turned his head to where the scream came from, he saw several Berserked Horned Rabbits charging towards the children, who were quickly put under the protection of the adults. Not far from the rabbits was the Alpha Monster, Carbuncle, which made Cedwyn’s expression turn grim.
“You brats, run in that direction, now!” Cedwyn ordered as he cast a barrier around him and the Dwarf children. He quickly herded them to the narrow passages between the Dwarves’ houses.
The houses were built this way in order to serve as a strategic path for escape in case of pursuit by big monsters, who couldn’t fit through narrow places.
As soon as they emerged on the other side of the street, he saw a scene that made him wonder if he was just seeing things.
“By the Gods, Undead Monsters in broad daylight!” Cedwyn cried out in shock when he saw several Skeletons, Ghouls, and Draugrs in the surroundings.
Just as the Village Head thought that things couldn’t get any worse, he saw a three-meter tall monster in the distance. It had a long tail coming from its backside which was similar to that of a scorpion, which made Cedwyn slap himself to make sure that he wasn’t dreaming.
“Ghoul Beast!” Cedwyn cried out in alarm. “Just what in the world is happening?!”
Usually during Monster Outbreaks, Leaf Village would just be fighting against one type of enemy. It would either be an Insect Outbreak, Undead Outbreak, or a Beast Outbreak. But right now, all three outbreaks were happening at the same time, which made the old Dwarf wonder if he was just having a nightmare.
Just as Cedwyn was wondering on how to get out of this desperate situation, he heard a loud and dominating wolf howl thay made all the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
The Village Head then looked in the distance and saw a five-meter tall monster, whom he had only seen once in his life.
The first time he saw the Monster, he, along with Grandma Annie and Randolph, almost lost their lives.
Now, he was seeing the same creature again, and this time, Cedwyn had a feeling that he wouldn’t be able to survive this second encounter against a creature whose strength was only a step away from the Deimos Rank.
“Mutated Thunder Wolf King!” Cedwyn’s face had been drained of all color when he looked at the Monster who could single-handedly destroy the entirety of Leaf Village.
The foreigner Dwarves that he had saved earlier all started crying out of fear of the strong monsters that had appeared out of nowhere. They thought that they were just going to fight normal monsters, so they weren’t too afraid earlier.
However, right now, they wished they had listened to Cedwyn right away and hid themselves in the underground shelters. If they did, perhaps they would have been able to live another day.
But they no longer had this opportunity.
It was far too late.
“May the Gods have mercy on us all,” Cedwyn muttered as he tried his best to keep standing, despite the fact that his legs felt like they could collapse under him at any given moment.
Cedwyn knew that even before this day was over, there would no longer be a Leaf Village in the Territory of Norria. Although the bells of the village continued to ring endlessly, telling the Stronghold of Norria to send reinforcements, Cedwyn knew that it would be of no use.
Perhaps, not even their corpses would be spared, leaving nothing behind but a faint memory that their village had once existed in the world of Elysium.
Even if by some great miracle the reinforcements arrived in time, they would still have to pay a hefty price to win against an opponent this powerful. Only by sacrificing hundreds of lives could the Mutated Thunder Wolf King be slain.
Cedwyn had no idea if the Riders of Norria would be willing to pay such a price just to kill the Mutated Thunder Wolf King. The monster was leagues above the rank of their strongest fighter