Chapter 21 Monster Outbreak [Part 2]
“W-Wait! Stop!” Lux cried out as he waved his hands toward the Dwarven Defenders. “We are on the same side! This is my Summon!”
The Dwarves looked at Lux with doubtful expressions, but they no longer shot the White Skeleton that had suddenly appeared on the ramparts.
The Half-Elf ran to pick up Diablo’s head that was chattering on the ground. For a brief moment, the red-headed boy thought that he heard Diablo complain about getting hit by friendly fire.
As soon as Lux returned the Skeleton’s Head from its body, Diablo faced the Dwarven Defenders and raised its middle finger at them.
The Half-Elf subconsciously covered Colette’s eyes, to prevent her from seeing something that a twelve-year-old shouldn’t see.
Lux had never tried to communicate with Diablo in the past, but now he could confirm that his Named Creature was an intelligent being.
Because of this, he decided to tell him exactly what he had in mind.
“Diablo, stay close to me at all times,” Lux ordered. “We will defend the village with everything we have. Do you understand?”
Diablo nodded its head once. He then stood behind Lux like a bodyguard that would strike anyone who dared to threaten his life.
“Wow! Mr. Skeleton looks cool!” Colette said.
“Just call him Diablo.”
“Okay. From now on, I will call him Mr. Diablo. Nice to meet you Mr. Diablo.”
The White Skeleton looked down at the little Dwarf before chattering its teeth in greeting. Diablo then patted Colette’s head as if telling her that she was a good girl.
It was at this moment when the sword-bearing Dwarf approached and dragged Colette away from Lux.
“Hey, Matty, what do you think you’re doing?!” Colette complained as she turned around to glare at the Dwarven boy who always got in the way of her discussions with Lux.-.
“The battle is about to start,” Matty explained. “You are the leader of our group, so your place is here and not there! He is older than us, so he can fend for himself.”
Matty then glared at Lux. “You don’t need a little girl to protect you, right?”
“Yes, I don’t need her protection,” Lux replied. “My intention is to protect all of you.”
Lux’s declaration made Colette’s party look at him as if he had a loose screw in his head.
“We don’t need your protection,” Matty snorted. “Just focus on yourself. Looking at you, I bet you’ll die during the first wave of the outbreak. Colette, let’s go!”
“Fine,” Colette snappily replied at Matty. “Big Brother, just do your best! I will keep an eye on you, so don’t worry. I will come running if you need help!”
“Haha, okay.” Lux nodded. He then shifted his attention to the young Dwarf who was staring daggers at him. “Oi, Matty.”
“What?”
“Keep Colette safe. You can do that, can’t you?”
Matty scoffed at Lux as he raised his short sword towards the Undead Army.
“The only way they are going to hurt her is through my dead body,” Matty declared. “Let’s go, Colette.”
The little girl no longer resisted as she allowed Matty to drag her back to their party members.
Lux only smirked at the little boy who seemed to be suffering from puppy love. In Lux’s eyes, all of them were children, so he didn’t intend to quarrel with them about every little thing.
He shifted his gaze back to the Undead Swarm that was only a hundred meter away from the village’s defensive wall.
Lux held a fist-sized rock in his right hand, while he held the Elysium Compendium in his left.
—–
< Undead Skeleton >
Health: 15
Attack: 3 – 10
< Skeleton Warrior >
Health: 30
Attack: 5 – 15
< Zombie >
Health: 20
Attack: 5 – 8
< Ghoul >
Health: 50
Attack: 8 – 15
—-
‘Fortunately, they don’t have any range type Undead,’ Lux thought. ‘Their numbers are the problem. There are too many of them.’
In a battle of attrition, there was no doubt that the one who would come out on top was the Undead Swarm.
Lux scanned his surroundings and estimated that there were over seven hundred defenders protecting Leaf Village.
Three hundred of those were the village’s Guards and the other adults who were capable of fighting.
The rest were the Dwarven children who were here in the Beginner’s area to train themselves in order to advance to the Apostle Rank.
Lux then pointed the Elysium Compendium towards the Undead Swarm in order to get an accurate count of how many undead they were about to face.
—–
Undead Army: 9,889
—–
“Sh*t!” Lux cursed out loud after seeing the results. “Almost ten thousand. Can we really survive this?”
As if waiting for that moment, a row of text appeared in front of Lux, which made his expression turn grim.
—–
< Survive the Monster Outbreak >
– A monster outbreak is threatening to destroy the village of Leaf Gate.
– Quest Objective: Survive for one hour.
– You are unable to teleport outside of or leave the village at this time.
– Mission will automatically fail when you die.
– Outbreak Duration: 59:46
< Rewards >
– 10 Free Stat Points
– 100 Skill Points
– 50 Body Constitution Points
– 20 Elysium Silver Coins
—–
Lux gritted his teeth because the quest was clearly telling him that this was going to be a very hard battle.
Although the rewards were good, he knew that needed to survive first, before he could enjoy its benefits.
The bells in the village continued to ring without stopping. It was at this moment when Lux heard the distinct sound of another bell that didn’t originate from the village.
The Half-Elf narrowed his eyes as he extended his senses to pick up the direction of the bell that seemed to be answering their village’s request for aid.
‘It’s coming from the North,’ Lux thought as the sound of the bell in the North intensified.
Suddenly a dawn of realization descended on him.
‘I get it now!’ Lux clenched his fist in determination. ‘Reinforcements will arrive in an hour. We just need to hold out until then!’
The Half-Elf didn’t know if his hunch was correct or not. But, he would like to believe that he was right. If there really was help coming from the North then that explained why they needed to endure the Monster Outbreak for an hour.
“Everyone listen to me!” a Dwarf wearing full body armor shouted as loud as he could. “My name is Aron, and I am the Captain of the Guards here in Leaf Village. Our reinforcements will arrive in an hour, so do everything in your power to protect the village until then! One last thing, none of you are allowed to die! Now, brace yourselves! They are almost here!”
The sound of a blow horn reverberated in the night, heralding the battle that was about to start.
“Archers, take aim!” Aron ordered.
All the archers, and crossbowmen loaded their bows, and crossbows with bolts and arrows and took aim at the approaching army.
Lux took out a deep breath as he held the fist-sized rock in his hand and aimed at the nearest undead in front of him.
“Fire at will!” Aron ordered.
Soon, a barrage of projectiles rained down on the Undead Swarm, destroying the Undead at the forefront of the battlefield.
This was how Lux’s first Monster Outbreak started…
But, the red-haired boy had no idea how it was going to end.