I awaken to an extremely distant roar.

‘What was that?’

I jump out of bed, my eyes blurry.

I go to the window and see people running about, and the hunters sprinting in the direction of the association.

Seeing what the city is like, I definitely need to find out what’s happening.

Since I keep all my hunting equipment in my inventory, I decide to leave immediately. Once I am out the door, I jog to the nearest person.

“Hey! What’s happening?”

His face is one of adrenaline fueled panic.

“The monsters inside the wall broke through! They’re on their way here now!”

I leave as soon as I hear that. My shoes clap along the backstreet. I soon arrive at the lamp-lit main street, and I see that it is packed with people hurrying about. If I want to get to the association with any haste, I can’t go on foot.

I lift myself with Matter Control, and fly in the direction of the association at top speed. With about 90kg of constant force counteracting the force of gravity on my body, I can use the remaining 148kg of force to accelerate, and control my movements in the air.

While speeding through the skies of the chaotic city, I can observe what’s happening throughout. Everywhere I look, people are running around. Some look as though they are preparing supplies to evacuate as quickly as possible. Some seem as though they are just panicking. Either way, this situation isn’t good.

From above the shingled rooftops, I can see the hunters gathered at the association. There are two people standing just in front of the heavy wooden door, addressing the hunters.

As I land on the asphalt, I hear what they are saying.

“From the reconnaissance provided by scouts, we know that there are thousands of monsters of various levels. There are three Guardian class monsters, and one creature of a previously unseen class, which seems to be the one who created a hole in a section of the wall. Its level is estimated to be greater than 100.”

This statement recieves a collection of gasps. Several of the gathered hunters speak up to this.

“What?!”

“How can we handle a monster of that level?!”

“We’re all gonna die!”

The chaos continues for over a minute until the speakers try to calm them.

“Everyone! Please! Let us explain the plan!”

Some of the cries cease, while others lower in volume.

“We all recognize the strength of that monster. It isn’t something anyone here can handle on their own. Even if Squad 1 were to face it, the outcome would likely not be good.” He spots me in the crowd.

He pauses, and the other man explains what they will do.

“Since that is so, the best we can hope for is to escape with our lives. Since it is our duty to protect the people of the town, our aim will be to hold on until the non-hunter citizens finish preparing supplies and complete their evacuation. Once that is done, we will retreat from the front line, and join up with them. That is, assuming we aren’t able to defeat the horde.”

I nod at this. This seems like the best plan. If we were to all evacuate immediately, we would not be able to bring many supplies, or be able to excape from the oncoming storm of monsters. However, we cannot just wait to gather supplies since the monsters will arrive soon. The only way to have enough time to properly prepare for evacuation is for the hunters to hold off the monsters. If we can succeed at holding the monsters at one side of the city, then once the preparations are complete, the citizens can leave. After that, if we find an opportunity to fall back, we can join up with the citizens, and act as guards for the group.

“If there are no questions, then we will move out. Our destination is just outside the wall on the west side. We have to hold the monsters there in order to evacuate out the east side. If we are encircled, then we will not be able to escape. If that happens, our chances of survival will be extremely slim.” He says with a grim look on his face.

No one says anything since they all understand the plan.

“Alright. Let’s move!”

…………………………………………………………………

“Hunter!”

A familiar female voice calls out from the crowd of hunters moving through the city, and I stop walking. I look around, then I see who it is.

“Lys! I was looking for you!”

“So have I! Have you seen any other members of Squad 1?”

“No. You’re the first.”

“I tried to message them with my phone, but no one’s responded yet.”

At that moment, her phone buzzes multiple times. Several messages all came in at once.

“Maybe the cell network is running behind from everyone trying to use it at once?” I suggest.

Lys looks down at her phone, and we start to move along the crowded street with all the other hunters again.

She looks up at me.

“Brighton, Ron, and Charlie are at the front of the group.”

“Okay.”

We start pushing through the crowd, making our way to the vanguard. The sea of hunters try to let us by, but there are so many people that it is hard to make a lot of headway.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going!”

“Sorry!”

It looks like Lys tripped into someone accidentally.

It takes several minutes, but we finally get to the front, and join up with the other members of Squad 1.

“Squad Leader! Hunter!” Brighton yells out.

The three members walk through the crowded path from where they were in the moving group to where Lys and I are.

“Hey.” I respond.

“This is crazy, isn’t it?” Ron asks.

“Yeah."

“It’s good that we met up.” Lys says calmly before pausing and then continuing, “Were you all there when Horlen was speaking to us?”

Both Ron and Charlie shake their heads.

“He said that our goal is just to buy time for the evacuation supplies to be gathered, and the non-combatants to escape. It seems as though we are going to form a front just outside the city, and block the monsters from coming in. If they do get into the city, or even get past us, and encircle the city, then the situation will quickly go from bad to worse.”

At this moment, the hunters turn a corner, and the wall of the city can be seen in front of the large group.

Looking at the wall, I think, ‘That wall may help against a horde of weak monsters, but it won’t do much against the Guardian class ones. The creature that broke the wall of the Nightmare Zone could probably break it down with a single breath.’

The flood of hunters funnel through the gate of the reinforced cement wall, and travel another several hundred meters.

Mr. Kane, who I now know as Horlen, walks forward to address the group.

“The monsters will be here within the hour! We will use this time to spread out, and form a 3-tiered defense line spanning at least 500 meters! Tanks and damage dealers will form the first two lines! The moment a front line hunter is out of energy, a member of the second line will take their place! The third line will consist of supporters and long-range attackers!” He takes a breath, and continues. “We may not all survive this, but if we are to protect the people of this city, and have a chance at survival ourselves, then we must fight!”

He finishes talking, and the hunters spring to action, running across the grassy flatland to form the lines.

He walks in our direction, making eye contact.

“Mr. Kane.” Lys greets.

“Squad Leader.” He greets her back. “With the situation what it is, I believe that your team will be best suited to being part of the line, along with the other hunters. I believe that we can take down the Guardians, but we’ll need everyone to work together to even have a small chance against the Commander class.”

“Commander class?” I ask.

“That’s the classification above Guardian Class.” He responds quickly.

“I see.”

“Good luck.” With a nod, he walks away to guide the hunters’ preparations.

…………………………………………………………………

It’s been about 40 minutes since we arrived and formed the line. Now, we can see the horde of monsters in the distance. The Commander class monster can now be seen. It looks as though it is a giant winged lion. It even has a scorpion's tail!

‘Appraisal.’

[Command Received.]

[Activating Skill – Appraisal.]

[Appraisal has increased in level. Lv. 3 to Lv. 4]

Name: Myccysk the Doombringer

Race: Manticore

Gender: Male

Level: 131

Age: 63

HP: 2040/2040

MP: 140/140

Strength: 251

Intelligence: 140

Wisdom: 61

Dexterity: 94

Constitution: 255

‘It’s level 131, but I can see its level?’

[Higher levels of appraisal allows viewing of stats for higher level targets.]

‘Ah. That’s good. But in this situation, it is only helping me to estimate how fast we’d die if we fought it.’

Minutes later, the monsters close in on the defense lines.

50 meters… 30… 15… 10…

The various monsters, including Giant Ants, Hyenaraptors, demonized wolves, and many other species that I haven't ever seen or heard of before all throw themselves at the hunters.

The supporters in the third layer cast buff skills on both the tanks and damage dealers, and they also create magic shields in front, to slow the advance of some monsters.

As the tanks use their shields to block the attacks, the dealers work alongside them to take down the monsters.

The bodies start to stack on the ground.

In our group, Ron is in front, with a large, body-sized shield. I stand just behind him with my knife, killing every monster that dares to come near me.

Brighton stands in the second layer near me with metal gauntlets on his fists. I don’t think I’ve seen them before. Maybe they’re new?

Lys is in the back row with Charlie. Both are providing cover fire from the back.

…………………………………………………………………

[Level has increased by 2.]

[Instant Movement has increased in level. Lv. 21 to Lv. 22]

[Swiftness has increased in level. Lv. 28 to Lv. 30]

…………………………………………………………………

My blade is slick with blood, ants' haemolymph, and assorted pieces of flesh.

Even with my high constitution, this is difficult. The battle has been raging for at least two hours. Even after all this time of slashing the monsters, their numbers have only been cut down by 60 percent.

Suddenly, a terrifying screech sounds across the battlefield.

“HHRREEAAGHHH!!!”

The roar is coming from the Commander class manticore. With its mouth opened wide, it spews a green liquid towards the right side of the defense line.

“AAGHHGHH!”

Screams ring out from the other side of the flatland. Every person that the liquid touches immediately starts to melt. Before anyone could even process what exactly had happened, the ranks of the hunters on that side had already been completely decimated. What remains of the hunters that were melted by the acid is piles of bloody, bubbling flesh and melting bone. The pungent smell of poison and liquified bodies wafts into the noses of all the hunters present nearby. They start coughing and retching blood. Even the vapors of the poison are fatal.

In the next moment, the manticore flexes its ragged wings, and launches another volley of the deadly liquid towards the left side. Our side.

Although the area that the liquid is thrown across is tens of meters wide, I can still protect the area from the attack.

Using Matter Control, I push all the green liquid away, and back to the enemy’s side. I make sure to distribute it across all the enemies.

The screams of the monsters echo in the ears of those who hear them.

This one attack melts through the remaining lower level monsters on the battlefield.

A chilling gaze from the manticore freezes me on the spot.

“That’s not good.” Lys says what everyone in the squad is thinking.

Even though the plan was to buy time to prepare for evacuation, the monsters have been unrelenting, and not a single hunter has been able to retreat thus far, except for the occasional coward that runs away in a panic.

Although the enemy forces have been demolished, and only the Guardians and the Commander class remain, we can’t leave. This is because the Guardian class monsters have locked on to the remaining few hundred hunters.

All three Guardians started moving at the same time.

“Hold your positions! Hold the line! If we run, we die!” A female voice yells out.

The hunters all move to form the line once again.

I use appraisal on all three monsters.

[Command Received.]

[Activating Skill – Appraisal.]

Name: None

Race: Croco-lion

Gender: Female

Level: 53

Age: 63

[...]

Name: None

Race: Ant-lion

Gender: Male

Level: 48

Age: 63

[...]

Name: None

Race: Shark-lion

Gender: Male

Level: 63

Age: 63

[…]

All three monsters are similar to a lion, but they have different heads.

‘This’ll be interesting.’

…………………………………………………………………

[ALERT: Memory loss. Full Status cannot be displayed.]

Name:

Age: 20

Race: Human

Title: Old One

Title Effect: Grants Skill Set – Mind Over Matter

Level: 67

Experience: 5.72%

Condition: Damaged (Missing Arm [L]), Memory Loss (Severe).

Condition Effects: None.

HP: 1600/1600

MP: 63/63

Strength: 119

Intelligence: 63

Wisdom: 68

Dexterity: 116 (+30% Move Speed) (-22% Inertia)

Constitution: 200 (60+140)

Unassigned Stat Points: 10

Skills

Swiftness (Passive) [F] – Lv. 30

Increases movement speed.

Sturdy (Passive) [E] – Lv. 14

Increases constitution.

Dismantling (Active) [E] – Lv. 5

Dismantles the target corpse. Higher levels increase chance for bonus materials.

Regeneration (Active) [D] – Lv. 9

Regenerate HP at the cost of MP.

Appraisal (Active) [A] – Lv. 4

Appraises the target.

Mana Blade (Active) [A] – Lv. 5

Create a blade of pure mana. Increases damage and cutting ability.

Cartography (Passive) [A]

Maps the area which can be sensed.

Mental Influence Immunity (Passive) [S]

Grants complete immunity to mental influences from external sources.

Instant Movement (Passive) [S] – Lv. 22

Reduces inertia, allowing you to alter your movements much quicker.

Inventory [Special] – Lv. 5

Grants an extra-dimensional space for the storage of allowed items.

Mind Over Matter [Special]

Matter Control (Active):

Control physical matter that you can sense with Mind Sense and physical matter you can see.

Skill Strength: 238 kg of force

Expert Proficiency (18.24%)

Mind Sense (Passive):

Allows you to sense your surrounding at all times. Focus on an area to sense greater detail.

Skill Range: 6.8 meters

Expert Proficiency (98.18%)

Unassigned Skill Points: 56