Pandemonium

As the alarm bells continued to ring, they were soon drowned out with screams of terror.

Gust stood up quickly and dashed towards his armor and weapons, yet before he could finish preparing himself, a bloodied man bust through our door.

It was Brand, one of the forward scouts that were on patrol tonight.

As he stuttered to speak, I ran up to him and began to invoke my healing spell.

"I call upon the holy spirits of light and life, heal this man and restore his might, return his condition and erase his plight. Replenish." As the mana began to flow out of my palms, the now sitting man was now able to speak.

"Monsters. Tens, no hundreds of monsters. Not a swarm of them, a horde. Monsters of all types, rushing in the direction of the village. Prepare all warriors and mages who can fight, if they breach the walls, it's over." He said, still gasping as his wounds continued to close.

"Calm down, where is the rest of the unit, and are you sure? Monsters rarely get along, let alone multiple types of monsters." Gust says, calmly arming himself. He does have remarkable composure, and I understand why.

After training every day for the last two years with him and the rest of the warriors, I can say with utmost certainty, Gust and the warriors of this village are strong.

Very, very strong.

In the two years, I've been following along and training with the hunters, we've encountered at one point three Carnivoro, or as I now know them as, Obsidian Cerva.

Gust alone was able to take down two solo whilst the rest of the hunters took it as light work, even using it as what amounted to a training dummy for me to practice aiming spells.

So I'm not worried, even if it's a hundred of the same wolves or even a mix of wolves, boars, monkey demons, and obsidian cerva, I doubt their numbers are going to be such an amount that the small fries will make such a difference.

At most, they have to worry about a large amount of Obsidian Cerva, but even then the village shouldn't fall.

"It's alright Antonio, there's no need to have that concerned face. Even if it's a horde of one hundred monsters, if we all work together we should get through this with minimal casualties." Gust says in a very calm voice, patting me on the head and helping Brand up.

"Come on now Brand, we've got to get going. I need to command the guards from the front, so I can't leave you behind." He says, remaining calm, yet before he and Brand can stand up straight, Brand breaks from him and steadies himself.

It seems my healing has finally taken effect, but he's still out of stamina.

"Cap, you don't understand. I'm the only one left of the forward scouts. You-" Before he could continue, Gust gave him a stern look, and I could feel the hairs begin to stand up on the back of my neck. The feeling coming from him was palpable, and I could almost see icicles beginning to form on the windowsill.

"Brand. We're going. We can and will protect the village, with minimal casualties." Gust says with a stern voice and expression, forcing him and Brand to leave silently.

As they take their leave, Marble and Surge break off from the living room, Marble heading to the kitchen and Surge sitting on the couch, reading a thick leather book.

I decide instead to sit on the chair closest to the front window, allowing myself to see the people preparing in the middle of the village, as well as the warriors and mages heading to and over the walls.

The warriors clear it in one jump, whilst the mages each have their own ways to get over.

Not long after the first warrior jumps, the sounds of battle begin.

///

After about ten minutes of echoing screams and sounds of battle, a loud crack could be heard.

Instantly, Marble dashed out into the village and Surge ran to her room.

Looking out the window, I was met with a scene of horror.

The warriors and mages of the village were pushed back behind the walls, as the horde seemed to breach a part of it.

Calling them a horde was an understatement, as it was more similar to a flood out of a certain popular movie back on Earth.

However, something strange was occurring as well.

As the horde flooded into the village, aside from the ones that ran straight at the warriors, the rest seemed to either scatter throughout the village or run straight through it.

Why?

Why would a monster, a beast of low intelligence, not attack on sight?

Monsters are known for their ferocity. They're known and documented to be untamable beasts, hence why they're classified as monsters.

Magic animals that are feral, noncommunicable, and untameable.

So these beasts should attack on sight, yet they aren't.

There has to be something behind this.

But before I can finish thinking about it, the scene before me makes my heart drop to the floor, and an abyss opens in my stomach.

Lying on the ground, pulling a jet black horn out of his chest, is Gust.

Next to him, is Marble, a non-healing mage desperately chanting a healing spell and trying to restore him.

Blaze stands next to Gust, along with four other warriors, encircling them and fighting off the countless monsters. Thankfully, a good amount of the monsters are ignoring them and running elsewhere.

That's it.

The monsters aren't 𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 them.

The monsters are running from something, and they're just in the 𝘸𝘢𝘺.

What are the monsters running from?

Just as that thought crosses my mind, the horde begins to stop pouring into the village. No one else notices as they're too busy fighting or healing, yet I can see it.

I can see the hole in the wall, and standing on the other end of the hole, I can see 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮.

There's a group, five large, staring through the hole with wicked grins.

Some in leather armor and others in robes, the leader appears to be in a blazer. At least who I assume is the leader, as he stands in the back.

Humans. Human adventurers.

Why?