[Meditation] is now level 37. You have gained 1 Path point. Increases mana regeneration by 37% while the skill is active.

[Detect Presence] is now level 23. Actively sends a pulse of mana to check the user’s surroundings for living beings. Range 72 meters. Uses 8 mana per minute.

[Prey’s Flight] is now level 3. You have gained 1 Path point. Increases speed and decreases stamina use while running away from the enemy by 3%.

[Path of Dexterity 25/25] Oh. Humans have only two hands, poor things. Dexterity increased by 1. [Grace] perk gained. Decreases stamina use by 10%. Increases efficiency of body movement. [Path of Greater Dexterity] opened.

I was wary all the time, ever since we left the city behind. Everytime we got close to a place with some sort of visual obstruction I used briefly [Detect Presence]. It took two seconds to make the wave travel over sixty meters so mana use was miniscule as long as I didn't leave it activated.

We didn't simply walk where we wished to anymore, we had a planned path to patrol, usually the path followed the road. Our orders were to thin the monsters, before enough spawned that could endanger the city.

"At our nine, four dogs. Two hundred meters away." Warren whispered, we got a bit closer and waited while watching for any sign of a trap. Not that we knew how a trap would look like.

"The usual." Warren said and we readied our bows yet again. It was easier hunting on the open, there might still be some trees, shrubs, buildings or high grass but it gave us a possibility of picking better shooting positions allowing us to shoot from further away. The forests that we were in before, were old and thick.

None of the dogs came close to us, with Garry killing two of them thanks to his [Bow Mastery]. Warren was our scout, with high Wisdom and [Advanced Detect Presence]. I on the other took a place that I would rather not, a tank. I had the highest Endurance from the team, allowing me to take in more hits. People with Endurance of ten got their arms bones crushed by the monster dogs if bitten, my twenty Endurance provided me with harder skin, thicker body and sturdier bones.

Of course, I wasn’t supposed to get bitten, I was supposed to make sure that dogs follow me rather than Garry and Warren when I run. It suited me somewhat, and it worked really well. We managed to take care of thirteen dogs on our own that way before. It allowed us to farm small cores quite fast, which increased our levels in mana related skills.

“Wait.” Warren said as Garry was collecting the small cores. “There are more, and something bigger as well. That way.” He pointed to the wheat field not far from us.

“We leave, then.” I said, already moving away the opposite way, thankfully we were between whatever Warren detected and the city.

“It’s moving slowly towards us, let's go down the road so that we can see what it is once it walks into plains.” I could accept that, we had military binoculars as part of our gear. We could easily see what the monster is from a kilometer away.

“Let’s move quickly, I would rather not have it chase us.” I said and we started running down the road towards the city and stopped two minutes later, it was easy to run that distance so quickly for me, it was more of a jog. Garry and Warren were a bit tired by the speed I set, they didn’t have the necessary Endurance to keep fast pace for long.

We hid behind some bushes, not knowing how good eyesight the monster had and waited.

It was much smaller than the one that we fought three days before, being the size of a grown bear. Behind it through, a swarm of dogs and slightly bigger variants followed.

“At least two hundred, gods only know if there are any more behind them.” Warren said, making a quick calculation. “They are heading towards the city.” I nodded, knowing it as well.

“Garry, call the military and inform them.” He did so quickly, we moved away from the small swarm slowly, keeping an eye on it as Garry spoke through his cellphone.

“We are to head back, they have our location by GPS and we are to bolster city defenses. It’s probably not the only monster group moving towards the city. They released the drones.” Fuck, that didn’t bode well.

Warren added soon after. “I will set up the pace, we have only three kilometers towards the city and we need stamina for the fight as well.” We headed towards the city, my Endurance and stamina reduction costs to running made it easy to keep up and preserve stamina.

Stamina: 184/220 Stamina Regeneration: 24,2/hour

-

“There are two hordes of a thousand monsters each, one from the east, the other from the north.” Warren said as we geared up, eight magazines and an assault rifle was distributed to each Association member. There were over eight hundred people under the Association and barely two hundred soldiers that manned higher caliber weapons like machine guns, rpgs and grenade launchers. Police, which numbered four hundred people were mobilized to patrol south and west of the city.

“How did they show up so suddenly?” I asked, the military patrolled the ‘hot zone’ with drones daily, surely they would notice a horde of such size.

“Jake said that they don’t have enough drones to check every piece of land, they were distributed equally between the cities and towns.” Warren said. “How equally?” I continued, to which he sighed.

“Most went to the capital, some say it’s the population that draws monsters to attack.” I looked at Warren with a raised eyebrow. Surely he knew it wasn’t the true reason. “Politics might play a role in it as well. The capital is well defended, with the nations ‘elite’ being there and funding the Army. You know how it works.” He finished gearing up and left the armory.

“Don’t think too much about that, William.” It was Garry speaking who was also finished gearing up. Only I took my time while lost in thoughts. “There are things better left unsaid. See you on the eastern superfence.” He left as well.

I had a bad feeling about this attack. Few minutes later I finished gearing up and left to catch up to my teammates.

-

Sounds of explosion travelled through the city, they started barely two minutes ago but streets were already abandoned with citizens hiding in their homes. At least it was like this at the eastern edge of the city where I stood.

"Gunships, two of them." Jake said, he stood next to us. "If we are lucky they will leave some for us." He smiled. The sounds of miniguns and cannons shot from two circling massive planes could be heard despite being at least a kilometer away.

"Did you think that the Army would let few hundred untrained men face over two thousand enemies?" The asshole knew that the Army would send heavy air support and kept quiet about it. Jake's face was full. "Not to mention the half a million souls that are behind us." The number of the city's residents grew fast in the past month. Gavensburg used to be a home to only two hundred thousand souls.

"They are leaving." Garry motioned his hand toward the planes. They indeed were.

"It's our time to kill some dogs." Jake said and we focused on the horizon. We waited for any movement, the five meter tall building that we were on allowed us to see a bit better.

The atmosphere was tense with worry, the clearing that the city hall created was only two hundred meters from the parts of the 'superfence' that was completed.

Any moment now, hundreds of bloodthirsty dogs, capable of tearing away a normal human's arm with their bite alone will charge into the clearing. All I could do is wait and pray that this mob with guns and nice military outfits won't panic at the sight of the charging horde.

All we could was wait. What if the dogs were only meant to keep us on the edge of the city? What if there are monsters digging below us to burst from the ground in the middle of the city? What if one of these titans are near? Thousands of thoughts raced in my mind as we waited.

-

"Commander says that the rest of the dogs dispersed, there are none coming this way." Jake said after we waited for almost two hours for any of the dogs to show up. All this buildup was for nothing? Just to watch two gunships do all the work for us?

One of the officers in charge of the eastern 'front' started shouting. "Members of the association!" All the attention was on him. "You are free to leave and rest! Great work!" Was he mocking us? People started leaving soon after, most with relief on their faces.

"Today drinks are on me." Jake said, I would rather not go. "There is some interesting news I have to share." He winked at me. Damn, he got me with that news bait.

"See you at the bar, William." Garry said and left, Warren just nodded as he left.

-

"You are getting married?!" Garry exclaimed outloud. "Yeah, in two weeks. I am moving to the capital soon, just wanted to ask you guys if you wanna come with the convoy." Jake answered as he sipped his beer.

It was something that Garry and Warren talked about a lot. The Capital was an opportunity to many, the Association's most members were there. There were more and better paying jobs than just to go on patrols and kill a few dogs. Riches and power could be found at the Capital, for a price of course. It was located on the coast. "No thanks." I answered quickly, I swore to never get close to the water.

Jake's face twisted a bit but he looked on my teammates expectantly. "We will go." Warren answered, Garry nodded to that.

"It is a goodbye then." I said to the somewhat grim atmosphere now. "With Jake paying I feel like I have the need to drink." Garry smiled at that and added. "I always wanted to taste that whiskey from the top shelf."

"Fine." Jake said and stood up to get new bottles. Perhaps I could start going solo hunting, in case anything happens I could easily run away.

Jake came back a minute later with an expensive bottle of whiskey. We drank deep into the night.