I

When she awoke, Hideki was already gone. Of her group, she was the last to rise.

“Good morning,” Sadiya said.

“'Morning. Where's Hideki?”

“He went around the camp to see if he recognized anyone.”

Eva thought about her family. She rarely spoke to them. She had an older sister and a younger brother. Her parents lived on the other side of the country and were fine last she'd spoken to them—a year before. She doubted she'd know anyone here; but if someone in her family was there, she'd look out for them. Eva wasn't a callous person, she just preferred to do her own thing most of the time if she had the opportunity. She ate breakfast—dried meat and roasted meat of a different sort—in silence.

Hideki returned an hour later. Without her perception, she wouldn't have been able to see the flashes of sadness on his face.

“Are you ok?” she asked.

“I had hoped my parents would be here, but they are not.”

“I'm sure they’re ok.”

“I hope so.”

“I was hoping to talk to you, by the way.”

“Oh?”

“So I was on night watch last night,” she began.

He nodded.

“I went out with a partner to patrol the outside of the wall to look for monsters and more refugees. You know, guard stuff. Well, when we were out there, I heard something coming. When I tried to get him to duck, I was too slow. He was killed by an arrow during the ambush. I killed the fuckers that did him in and noticed that what attacked us had the same format when Observed▲ as when I Observed▲ Boris before knowing his name. Except, instead of 'human', it said 'landwalker'.

“Now, when I was in that dreamland training, there was a warning about invaders that we would have to deal with one way or another. I think these are what fucking Alexandra was going on about in her letters.”

“Alexandra, who’s that?” Hideki asked.

“That’s the asshole who put me into the dreamworld to die while fearing for my life for a month. It pisses me off to know that she was right about everything!”

He hugged her. Her vision blurred and she hugged him back. Just talking about it took away the edge of the pain she’d kept bottled up to stay sane through it all.

“So tell me more about the landwalkers,” he said when Eva let go and wiped her face.

“They’re kind of like mermaids or mermen or whatever, but they walk on two legs. They’ve got fishy features to their faces. They’re definitely intelligent like we are.”

“So we're dealing with aliens,” he said. “We don't know how many there are, and we don't know if those are the only ones. We do know they're hostile and that they have some idea of what is going on. How strong were they?”

“Level 3 or 4, if I remember right.”

“So they know how to level as well, which makes me think they were prepared for this while we weren't. I remember you mentioning looking for dungeons. While I was out, I ran into someone who might have found a dungeon. Follow me and we’ll talk to them.”

Eva nodded. Hideki stood up and beckoned for her to join him. She walked with him through the winding masses of people until they found a group near the front entrance. Sitting by the fire—under a shelter—were several people. Three were men, and two were women. They all appeared to be in their 50s and were of Indian origin.

“Neel,” Hideki said, “I want you to meet Eva. Please tell her what you told me about what you ran into.”

“Nice to meet you, Eva.”

“Likewise, Neel.”

“Before we followed the scouts back to the village, we wandered around looking for water and shelter. Preeti—” he pointed to one of the women “—spotted a cave. We decided to go into it to hide for the night. When I went to go to the bathroom, I went farther into the cave for safety. On my way, I got a message in my eyes that said I could enter a dungeon! I quickly left and let the others know. We didn’t know if something was going to come out of it, so we left as soon as we could. We ended up in the village the next day.”

Eva smiled. This was a stroke of luck, and another piece of evidence that Alexandra had been telling the truth of what was happening. If the dungeons worked like her Training had, that would be a boon to her and to everyone in the village who was willing to fight.

“Where was this cave?” she asked.

“It's a couple of miles east of here, probably.”

“Would you be able to guide us?”

“I do not want to leave the safety of these walls. I am sorry.”

“So, what do you think?” Hideki asked as they started away.

“I’m hopeful their info is good. The question is, when do we go check it out and who do we talk to about it?”

“Let’s make sure it’s really there. Then I think we should talk to the guards and the council since they're the ones handling the defense of the village. If it works out, this might be a good place to train people to fight. Monsters aren't the only things we've got to worry about anymore.”

“Ok, sounds good,” she agreed. “If today is the same as yesterday, we’ll have monsters to fight after lunch, so we should try to find it after that.”

Hideki nodded.

II

Eva spent an hour helping Hideki prepare. She had already gotten her backpack ready earlier. She added some dried meat to the pack so they'd have something to eat. Inside the backpack, she took out the Goblin Lord's Crown✹ she'd received as a reward from Basic Training. She'd not liked how exposed wearing it would have made her head; and without Observe▲, she hadn’t been able to tell what it did. Even now, it didn't tell her much—only that it was Special✹ tier.

Since it wasn't what she wanted from a defensive standpoint, she gave it to Hideki to wear as he had nothing else to protect his head with. It would come with bonuses, and that made it better than wearing nothing. Hideki's Observe had as much trouble determining what it actually did as her own Skill had.

With preparations completed, they made their way outside the front gate to see if there would be a monster wave. As soon as they left the village, two boxes appeared in her vision.

There are 27 days remaining

8190/10000 are still alive

New Quest: Defeat a monster wave. 0/1131 killed

“Well, shit,” she cursed. “That's a lot. Hideki, get ready to fight. I'll kill what I can, but I'll need a place to rest if I run out of mana and stamina. I hope the guards are organized enough to make a defensive line.”

As she spoke to him, Martin—the man in charge of the guards during the day—barked orders to those on duty. Some were sent to fetch more fighters, while the rest were told to defend the gate. Anyone nearby—including Eva and Hideki—were also ordered to help. Lines rapidly began to form as a disjointed semicircle with the gate at its center. Eva stood next to Hideki towards one end of the lines.

In under thirty seconds from the notification, enemies started to come through the trees and underbrush. Goblins. Among the goblins she could see a hobgoblin. That was worrying since they were pretty strong. Strong enough to kill most people that were even somewhat experienced in combat. Compared to goblins that had the strength of a ten year old, hobgoblins were like a club bouncer. They also had experience in fighting that the average person didn't. They'd fuck you up if they could. That made the hobgoblin Eva's target.

“Hideki,” she said while pointing her sword at the hobgoblin, “That’s gotta die. I'll be right back.”

She Charged✦ through the goblins. Though she wasn’t struck by any blows, she was hit with the distinct smell of goblins who had no understanding of personal hygiene. As she ran, she would strike a goblin down when an opportunity presented itself and keep going. The goblins were thick, and the underbrush served to funnel them into groups. Despite this, she was able to kill a handful on her way to the hobgoblin.

The hobgoblin wore light armor and had a cleaver in its hand. It had the look of a barbarian with how exposed it was and how large of a weapon it used. A large weapon only meant it was slow; and to Eva a slow unprotected foe was just asking to get stabbed to death. It swung at her, and she Dodged✦ to the right and sliced its head off with an air Infused★ strike.

When she turned around to return to the lines, she saw another hobgoblin come out of the forest from farther down the wall and make its way towards the humans. The goblins were just reaching the defenders, spears destroying the early birds. Eva made the decision to go after the next hobgoblin when it got closer, and focused on any goblins nearby while she waited.

The stream of goblins from around the walls just seemed endless. She knew it wasn't from what the quest had said, but it felt that way. There were roughly 1100 of them, so this battle would go on for a while. Even if they were suicidal monsters, it would take time to kill all of them. She hoped there would be reinforcements from inside the wall to relieve the defenders so they could rotate in and out instead of depleting their stamina and ending up dead.

Eva sliced and slashed any goblin that strayed too close. The goblins, strangely enough, were not focused on her. They were intent on rushing past for whatever reason, so she had an easy time massacring them. It took about a minute for the hobgoblin to reach her. When it did, it met a quick end like the first had.

She looked around and saw yet another incoming. This battle was going to be one hell of a slog. Even with the advantage of not having to defend herself from the goblins, Eva was going to run out of mana and stamina long before the battle would be over. Still, she kept going. Even if she had to Meditate▲ for a couple of minutes, she would do her best to lighten the load on the front lines. It probably wouldn't do too much, but any amount would help.

Three minutes later—and another three hobgoblins killed—Eva made her way back to the lines to rest. The trip was gruesome. The goblin bodies were piled like the county dump with the occasional human body amongst them. In the five minutes since the announcement, there had been another hundred or so people that had come to reinforce the line defending the gate. Hideki was currently resting at the back when she crossed through the defenders’ lines.

Eva Meditated▲ next to Hideki while she waited for her reserves to grow again. She knew there were more hobgoblins coming. There had been one a minute like clockwork. With how many of the goblins still remained, it was just a matter of time until the line was breached. She gave herself four minutes. She hoped the hobgoblins wouldn't make it to the defenders in that amount of time with how many goblins would be in the way.

Eva needed as much juice as she could get to make it through the fight. Without the potions she'd used in the Training, keeping up a fight for a long period was quite difficult. While she waited, Hideki cycled through to the front twice. The fighters were in rows three deep, and they all needed rest after about thirty seconds of fighting.

Just as she canceled her Skill, she heard the roar of a challenge. She turned towards the sound and saw a hobgoblin in heavy armor stand out from the masses. His armor shone in the sunlight unlike the crappy stuff the other hobgoblins had worn. In his hands was a two-handed sword. Eva Observed▲ the monster.

Hobgoblin Champion Lv ?

“Well, that's one nasty fucker,” she said under her breath.

The champion bellowed its challenge again. She pushed her way through the line and hacked her way towards the champion. Eva knew it was dangerous since it was above the level she could see from Observe▲. In spite of her hesitation, she knew that she was the only one who stood a chance against him. The others could bring him down, probably, but it would cost too many lives.

Eva only had a quarter of her stamina and mana remaining when she finally made it to the champion. He looked in the direction of the defenders then back to the idiot who had taken the challenge.

“Let's do this you ugly fucker!”

He yelled something back at her in the rough tongue goblins used. He Charged her and swung at her with a surprisingly swift strike. She Dodged✦ and used the amplified Stats to Pierce✦ the hobgoblin champion with an air Infused★ stab. Blood leaked from the deep wound to his stomach. It was probably fatal, but only from infection rather than her actually hitting anything vital.

The monster bellowed in pain, and its sword glowed red. Eva didn’t want to find out what Skill the monster was trying to use. The attack came swiftly. She found it hard to evade the strike and took it on her shield instead. The reverberation of the impact numbed her left arm. In response, she Charged✦ the monster and scored a hit against one of his arms. It wasn't deep enough to fully disable the appendage, but it was enough to weaken any further attacks.

As the hobgoblin champion turned to face her, she kept running to his side to stay out of reach. It wasn't a good long term strategy—it burned stamina like crazy—but it did enable her to get one more solid strike against the monster. She Pierced✦ him through the armpit and into his heart. The monster paused on its feet for an instant before dropping to the ground.

Hobgoblin Champion killed, 20 Experience awarded

With what resources she had left, Eva went about killing the remaining hobgoblins. In the time she'd fought the champion, another had shown up to add to the five already on the battlefield. It took her a couple of minutes to accomplish, but the second she lopped the head off of the last one, the scene of the battle changed instantly. All of the goblins left alive kneeled down and bowed towards one section of the line. It was the area where Hideki had been fighting.

“What the fuck is going on?” she wondered.

She jogged back to Hideki. The look on his face was priceless. The other defenders were looking at him for answers as well. He yelled something in the goblin tongue. The goblins dropped their weapons and stood up. They formed a group to the side of the area in front of the gate. When she looked at him, it finally struck her what was going on. It was the crown! Somehow that gave him the ability to speak with the goblins, and they were treating him as their leader!

“What's your name?” Martin asked when he came over.

“I'm Hideki, sir.”

“What the hell is going on? How can you talk to them?”

“I think it's the crown I’m wearing. When the champion yelled for me to come out and fight, I had an idea of what might be happening. When the goblins stopped and bowed, I was sure. They see me as their lord while I wear the crown.”

“Have them line up, so we can kill them all.”

“But sir—”

“The quest says we have to kill them all, and the quest hasn't ended.”

“Yes, sir.”

Hideki said more words and the goblins started walking in a line to their deaths. Despite the ten minute fight, there were a good two hundred goblins still living when the last of the hobgoblins had been killed. When the last was dead, the System let Eva know that the fight was over.

Congratulations on completing the quest!

Top contributors:

Eva Greene

Bryan Pierce

Takemoto Hideki

Mo Fan

Wu Guanyu

Martin Bragg

Om Munshi

Alexei Michailovich

Sumit Nandi

Li Po

Fang Min

Reward: Double experience to the top contributors, 114 experience to all others. First place receives a Shortsword★.

The Shortsword★ appeared in her hands. Observe▲ couldn't tell her much about it since it was Journeyman★ level and Observe▲ could only identify Basic▲ items for the moment.

Her gains from the fight were massive as well. The double experience totaled nearly 1500! On her way to the wall near the gate to wait for Hideki to finish speaking to Martin, she added to her Stats with the experience she’d gained. Even some of her Skills finally leveled up, but there were no breakthroughs in tier that would have necessitated choosing new benefits. Eva looked at her Status before Meditating▲.

Name: Eva Greene

Species: Human I (Modified)

Class: None

Level: 2

Experience: 28

Health: 323

Regen: 3.4/min

Stamina: 42

Regen: 35/min

Mana: 51

Regen: 34/min

Strength: 40.5

Cost: 36 Exp

Dexterity: 35.5

Cost: 36 Exp

Agility: 35.2

Cost: 33 Exp

Endurance: 35

Cost: 36 Exp

Wisdom: 35

Cost: 34 Exp

Acuity: 34

Cost: 35 Exp

Intelligence: 34

Cost: 34 Exp

Willpower: 34

Cost: 35 Exp

Vitality: 34

Cost: 35 Exp

Perception: 34

Cost: 35 Exp

Skills/Spells: Throwing▲: 3, Polearms▲: 6, Unarmed▲: 4, Swords★: 4, Shields★: 2, Charge✦: 6, Infuse Weapon★: 3, Medium Armor✦: 1, Pierce✦: 4, Air Resistance★: 3, Fire Resistance★: 2, Earth Resistance★: 2, Water Resistance★: 3, Dodge✦: 9, Poison Resistance★: 4, Meditation▲: 3, Observe▲: 7, Human Language✹, First Aid▲: 1

Titles:

Equipment: Chain Hauberk▲ (Medium Armor), Steel Helmet▲, Shortsword★, Shield▲, Magister's Emerald Ring✹, Boots of the Traveler✦