Northwest of the village.
The guild Ian had entrusted with defending that area could see the army of monsters charging ferociously from atop the watchtower.
Adrian gave a bitter smile and clicked his tongue.
“Insane. How the hell did you stop that last time?”
“We just held them off with sheer spite and grit.”
Ian’s expression, however, was not bright.
She could feel it in her bones: there were far more monsters approaching from the distance than there had been in the previous defensive battle.
‘This really won’t be easy, will it?’
And the northwestern sector they were in was, comparatively speaking, one of the places with fewer monsters.
She couldn’t even guess how many monsters had gathered in the other sectors.
‘No, get a grip.’
Shaking her head to clear away her idle thoughts, Ian checked the monsters’ line-up.
‘Most of them are Level 21 Blood-Horn Bulls. There are some Level 22 Red-Hide Bison mixed in here and there, and a few Level 23 Shadow Black Horses too.’
Relieved that, unlike before, there were no minotaurs mixed in, Ian called out to Adrian beside her.
“It’d be better to stay together instead of spreading out, right?”
“Probably. I feel a little bad saying this, but those girls over there are kind of low-level.”
The average level of Adrian’s party was 24. As expected of people who fought on the front lines, they were fairly high.
Compared to them, however, Priya’s party was on the level of playing house.
Still, Adrian’s expression was brighter than expected.
“At least their eyes look good. Their weapon composition isn’t bad either.”
“I agree with that.”
Adrian’s party consisted of Adrian the axe warrior, Kenji the swordsman, Kaan the spearman, and Para the archer.
They did have an archer, but overall, the party was somewhat skewed toward close-range damage.
Priya’s party, on the other hand, had a more defensive composition.
With Gaeun, the shield warrior, at the forefront, they had Claire the martial artist, as well as Priya and Carmen, two mages.
So if the two parties cooperated properly, the two of them believed they could create good synergy both offensively and defensively.
And Ian could fill in whatever they lacked in the process.
As Adrian was considering the formation for the defensive battle, Ian threw him a question.
“By the way, didn’t you say you were going to make a guild? Why did you give up on the quest?”
Adrian pressed his fingers against his brow and sighed.
“It got stolen at the last moment. By that guy named Alexandro.”
“What? What kind of quest was it for it to get stolen?”
“We had to kill a certain monster and bring back its token, but he suddenly showed up and stole the last hit. So it got taken.”
“Isn’t that bad manners?”
“It is. It is, but…”
Adrian’s face twisted as he recalled that moment.
“He actually turned it around on me. Said it was my fault for getting it stolen. I wanted to fight him, but… you don’t avoid shit because you’re scared of it. You avoid it because it’s filthy. So I just let him have it.”
“And you just gave it to him?”
“You’ll understand when you see him. You’d better be careful during this defensive battle.”
He was the kind of person who would shamelessly wait for an opportunity and stab someone in the back.
He would probably run wild on this battlefield as well, desperate to claim merit.
Having experienced that temperament firsthand, Adrian warned Ian, and Ian reluctantly nodded.
Still, not all her questions had been answered.
“Then wouldn’t it be better to aim for the last one?”
“It’s already too late. And it’d be a bit of a waste to miss out on the defensive battle rewards.”
He had been unable to participate in today’s defensive battle, but the last flag had already fallen into someone else’s hands.
Because of that, Adrian had no choice but to join Ian’s guild.
“But why our guild, of all places? You could go to Shaura’s side.”
“Don’t even get me started. That place’s rules are crazy strict too. We prefer a laid-back guild like this.”
That was also the reason Adrian had wanted to create a guild.
He had wanted to make a place where they could move freely in this cruel world.
But when Ian heard that, she glared at Adrian.
“Then you could’ve made one yourself when I said I’d give it to you back then.”
Adrian, however, smiled slyly.
“That’s no fun. Rewards taste best when you win them yourself.”
“Right, right. Of course they do.”
While the two were talking, the monster army had already come right up in front of them.
Adrian loosened up as he watched the sight.
“Well, that’s enough chatter. Let’s start moving.”
“I can leave command to you, right?”
“Yeah. Go wild to your heart’s content.”
“You’re making me sound like some kind of beast.”
“What, you’re not?”
“…Let’s have a long talk about that later.”
“Mm… I’ll pass.”
“That’s an order from the guild master.”
“Man, this place is hopeless too. Guess I’ll leave once this defensive battle is over.”
Yet in front of the playfully smiling Adrian, a faint smile had formed on Ian’s lips.
The defensive battle begins.
The monsters swarm in.
And then.
A blue flash of light fell toward the monster army.
***
Two hours had passed since the defensive battle began.
Countless monster corpses had piled into mountains, and those defending the fence were panting heavily.
However.
-Rumble, rumble…
“Just how long are they going to keep coming?”
Before they could even rest properly, another monster wave began rushing toward them.
“Everyone, stay focused.”
Adrian, who was in command, gripped his axe with trembling hands as he urged the others on.
“You all know the method by now without me telling you, right?”
At his words, the others nodded.
After hunting monsters continuously for two hours while maintaining the same formation, their bodies were moving on their own by now.
Arrows and magic from Para the archer and Priya and Carmen the mages fell into the monster army.
-Boom, boom, boom!
Monsters collapsed under the barrage of attacks.
At the same time, a wall of flame created by the two mages rose before the people.
-Gwooooh!
As the monsters passed through the wall, their bodies, which had been charging fiercely, caught fire.
However, despite the arrows and magic, many monsters broke through the defense and arrived in front of the people.
The monsters raised their front legs high and stomped down toward them.
-Bang!
Adrian and Gaeun blocked the monsters’ attacks with an axe and shield, then forced them back.
Seizing the moment they were defenseless, Kenji, Kaan, and Claire’s sword, spear, and fists struck the monsters.
The monsters that had approached breathed their last.
And as for the monsters that had tried to circle around the wall the players had made and attack from behind—
“Shooting Blade!”
A skill unlocked when her swordsmanship proficiency reached 400.
They failed to reach the rear and died beneath the pouring sword energy.
Ian immediately plunged deep into the monsters’ ranks once more.
To reduce any potential damage, she had to thin their numbers even a little.
Area-of-effect skill, Top Blade.
A sword blade spinning like a top slaughtered the monsters.
Dodging the charging monsters, Ian launched herself into the air and aimed her staff.
First Circle Magic: Fireball, Ice Spear, Wind Cutter.
A baptism of magic rained down from the sky, burning, freezing, and shredding the monsters.
Ian landed and looked around.
‘They’re doing pretty well over there too.’
Though she had helped from time to time, Ian felt relieved at the sight of the guild members steadily reducing the monsters’ numbers.
But then.
-Boom!
A roar and screams rang out from the north.
There, two enormous minotaurs, large enough to judge their size even from afar, were swinging their weapons at the people.
Ian’s guild’s duty was to defend the northwest and provide combat support.
After briefly checking the condition of her guild members, Ian ran toward the north, where the hunters were.
The place had become a chaotic mess from the minotaurs’ and monsters’ trampling, and the hunters were barely maintaining the defensive line.
Cutting down a charging monster, Ian rushed toward the minotaurs.
Buff skill: Sword Enchant.
Charge skill: Sword Rush.
And stats that had nearly reached Level 30.
-Slash!
Before the minotaur could notice, Ian’s sword cut off its leg.
The minotaur collapsed after losing its leg.
Ian struck its head down as it fell.
-Splatter!
Drops of blood scattered in every direction.
At the same time, another minotaur behind it brought its axe down toward Ian.
Ian dodged it by running forward.
Then, as she twisted her body and swung, sword energy fired from Ian’s blade and struck the minotaur in the eye.
-Graaaaah!
The minotaur thrashed in pain.
Taking advantage of that opening, Ian climbed up its body and drew her sword across its neck.
“Thank you. I’ve been helped by you once again.”
As Ian landed from the minotaur, William the hunter approached her.
“Ah, so you were here.”
“I ended up being put in charge of the northern defense, you see. Thanks to you, we survived. Had you been even a little later, it would have been disastrous.”
Catching her breath for a moment, Ian asked,
“How’s the battle situation?”
“Of course it isn’t good, but… thanks to you, benefactor, taking down the minotaurs, we can handle the rest ourselves now. So please, go to the west—”
It was then.
-Boom!
With a roar that shook the earth, thick smoke rose from the west.
Ian smiled bitterly.
“There really isn’t a moment to rest.”
“Still, the end should be in sight soon. I wish you good fortune.”
Ian immediately headed west.
After roughly checking on her guild members’ condition, she arrived where the mercenaries were and came face to face with it.
[Lv 25. Orthrus]
Orthrus, a giant wolf with two heads.
It was sweeping through the mercenaries in every direction.
“Stop it! If we can just stop this thing, we can seize victory!”
A man who appeared to be the mercenaries’ commander shouted at the panicking mercenaries.
As he said, the way to win the defensive battle was to subjugate the elite monster that appeared once the waves had progressed significantly.
The reason the monsters had retreated as soon as the minotaur was subjugated on the day Ian first experienced a defensive battle was the same.
Having lost their focal point, the monsters lost their will to attack.
But if they simply stood by like this, it was obvious they would be hunted instead of subjugating it.
Letting her sword hang low, Ian stamped her foot.
The distance between her and Orthrus closed rapidly.
Before it could notice, Ian’s sword was swung with all her might.
-Slash!
Blood spurted from Orthrus’s head.
Orthrus roared and noticed Ian’s presence.
The wolf swung its claws, cutting through the wind.
A paw larger than her entire body came rushing at Ian.
Ian swung her sword toward the paw.
Though she canceled out the damage, she could not cancel out the impact, and Ian’s body was sent flying far away.
Ian immediately raised her staff.
Area control skill: Strike Air.
A fierce wind whipped around Orthrus.
At the same time, she used Haste.
Her form shot forward as swiftly as a gust of wind.
Closing the distance, Ian launched sword energy.
Wounds multiplied across Orthrus’s body.
Ignoring its injuries, Orthrus raised its paw high and stomped down at Ian.
But its sharp claws could not catch up to Ian’s movements.
Ian leaped high.
The trajectory of her sword as it spun and fell left a massive wound across Orthrus’s body.
Orthrus let out a scream-filled roar, and its body tilted heavily.
Its two heads hurriedly bared their teeth, but Ian was already swinging her sword toward its head.
-Thud!
One of Orthrus’s heads fell to the ground.
Now, only one remained.
Just as Ian was about to leap into the sky again, countless arrows and spells flew toward Orthrus.
“Everyone, charge! Finish off that monster!”
Alexandro and his guild members, who had been in charge of the southwest defense.
Without even caring whether Ian would be caught up in it, they poured out attacks to kill Orthrus, whose health was almost gone.
Ian’s expression twisted.
‘Is that bastard completely insane?’
She could somehow accept the act of trying to get a free ride on something that was already as good as caught.
But obsessing over rewards to the point of harming others was, especially in this world, difficult to tolerate.
‘Like hell I’ll let you have it, even if I die.’
Before the arrows and magic could hit Orthrus, Ian lifted her sword.
Two-hit strike: Double Accel.
The moment the two slashes cut off the remaining head, the arrows and magic battered Orthrus’s body.
A thick cloud of dust rose.
Using that gap, Ian dragged the two heads and ran toward the west, where her guild members were.
Alexandro, who belatedly discovered Ian, shouted.
“C-Catch her! Don’t let her get away!”
With everyone having witnessed Ian’s performance, the only things that could prove their own contribution were the heads she was taking with her.
Even to claim the spoils, they had to get their hands on Orthrus’s heads.
However.
“W-Why is she so fast?”
“Don’t waste time being impressed! Chase her!”
Even though she was dragging two heads, Alexandro’s guild members could not catch up to Ian.
Because the effect of Haste still remained, her speed did not drop even while she was moving with the heavy heads in tow.
Meanwhile, with their elite monsters lost in the north and west, the monster army began to retreat.
And with the guilds of Emily and Shaura succeeding in subjugating the elite monsters in the east and south as well—
Cheers filled with the joy of victory rang out across the entire village.
At the same time, windows appeared before the players’ eyes.
[Objective achieved.]
[You have succeeded in the defensive battle.]
Alexandro stood there, devastated.
From a distance, Ian looked at him and said,
“Eat this.”
And kindly flipped him off.