+ + + + +

In the dungeon hours after Ian and his group left Nareña, Antonius, Adelfonse, and the remaining knights woke up and found themselves laying on the dungeon floor together with several dead knights. Antonius was the first one to stand up, albeit staggeringly.

He clutched his head and used his staff as a support, “Urgh, what the hell happened? Where are the summoned otherworlders!?”

“AAAAAHH, I CAN’T FEEL MY ARM.” Adelfonse cried out as he touched his left arm.

"YOU'RE TOO LOUD, GET THE HELL OUT OF MY PLACE.." he complained before smacking Adelfonse with his staff, "AND WHERE THE HELL ARE THE OTHERWORLDERS!!?"

The other knights slowly got up to their feet, but when they saw that most of their fellow knights were lying on dried up pools of blood, they fell down again. They suddenly remembered the battle that occured. No, that wasn't a battle, what occurred was a one sided massacre. Mysterious magic that can kill a knight decked in enchanted armor and the people that wielded them.

Antonius started to walk towards the stairs going up, "Come on now, we must get back to town and catch that damn merchant."

No matter how loud Antonius’ shout is, the knights refused to move from their places. Adelfonse also stood up and kicked at the knight closest to him, "Dammit, stand up you fucker."

The knight who was being kicked suddenly stood up and unsheathed his sword, "SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU PIG." He shouted as he swung his sword at Adelfonse's arm.

"You stop right there!" Antonius ordered, but the knight didn't care and his sword chopped Adelfonse's arm near the elbow.

Adelfonse watched as his arm fell to the ground and let out an animalistic yell, "AAAAAAARGH."

"Dammit, spirits of fire heed my call, form a ball of flame and let mine enemy burn, Fireball." A fireball the size of a basketball was launched from Antonius’ staff to the knight that attacked Adelfonse.

As the fireball hit the knight’s armor it visibly got smaller and the knight only received a few burns. So the enchantments do work, then it means that whatever weapons those things are, they are not magical.

"Damn old man, you'll pay for this." The knight shouted as he charged at Antonius. But before he could even reach the old sorcerer, a spear made from bones suddenly burst out of his throat. The knight fell to his knees as he clutched his throat, "Guuurgg- He… me… "

As the knight fell, a small humanoid silhouette could be seen holding a bloody spear. Antonius cast another Light Orb to illuminate the surroundings, what he saw afterwards sent chills up his spine. Why did they decide to appear now!?

Goblins, orcs, ogres, and other types of monster filled the hall, “GAAAH GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!?” Adelfonse fell to his back as he tried to shove the goblins, but to no avail as the goblins pounced at him and stabbed him, “GRUUUGK… SEM ME… “

The knights who have given up a while ago now found new resolve, to escape the dungeon alive. All of the remaining knights ran with their tails between their legs, not even caring about their pride as knights. Even Antonius had no choice but to run away, Damn it, if only my mana wasn’t drained from using the barrier. Antonius still managed to cast some basic spells here and there in an effort to stall the monster swarm.

The swarm of monsters gave chase with the small but nimble goblins at the lead. The knights who were already wounded from their previous encounter were the first ones to fall victim to the goblins. Not even their superior training and equipment could do anything to save them from their certain demise.

The knights fell one by one until only a handful managed to reach the dungeon’s exit, but as soon as they got out of the dungeon, most of them collapsed immediately. Their adrenaline was the only thing that kept them going, and as soon as they were out of danger their adrenaline rush ended. They were so exhausted that they even failed to notice their surroundings, only Antonius was able to feel that something was amiss.

Where are the damn guards? He asked himself as he looked around. He squinted his eyes at something that had caught his eye. What is that thing? Antonius moved closer to the silhouette he saw and casted a light orb. What the!?

What Antonius saw was a pile of dead guards, “What happened to these guards!?” He poured more mana into his Light Orb until it was bright enough to illuminate the dungeon entrance and the walls surrounding it, it was bright enough that anyone would’ve thought that it’s still daytime.

As the surroundings became brighter, Antonius finally saw how damaged the gatehouse and parts of the wall were. The gatehouse and the walls look like they were hit by siege weapons, with chunks of stone scattered here and there. Did someone lay siege to the town? No, that’s impossible, they would still need to go through the royal capital before they get here. What in the nine hells happened? Antonius, who grew anxious, ran up the gatehouse in order to see the state of the town. And as he reached the top of the gatehouse, he was rendered speechless by what he saw.

A plume of smoke could be seen from the direction of the southern gate, bodies of dead town guards litter the thoroughfare, and small fires we’re spreading in a few places.

Did someone really besiege this place? If that;s the case, then I need to hurry to the roya-

His thoughts were interrupted by a bloodcurdling roar coming from the dungeon followed by several men shouting. “DAMMIT, THE MONSTERS ARE COMING OUT OF THE DUNGEO- GAAAAAH”

Antonius turned around only to find out that the knights have all died already and monsters are steadily pouring out of the dungeon.

+ + + + +

Half an hour after the monsters have come out of the dungeon, adventurers, civilians, and the remaining town guards were fighting side by side, trying to protect their homes.

“Why did the monsters choose to pour out of the dungeon at a time like this?” Maria complained as she battled with a group of goblins with her other two party members backing her up.

“Tsk, they decided to show up right after those people with fire staves killed off most of the town guards.” Martha added.

“Do you think those people planned for this to happen?” Marga said.

Maria and her group continued fighting until every last one of the goblins had either been killed or fled away. Maria’s party could be considered lucky since they only faced goblins, while other adventurer parties weren’t as lucky. “Maria, let’s get out of this town before it gets totally overrun by monsters.” Martha suggested.

“Dammit, do you think I want to stay around here?” Maria retorted.

“Then let’s get going.” Martha said.

“Uuuurgh, then go leave.” Maria retorted in irritation.

Marga who was staying silent until now finally spoke, “H-hey guys, I don’t think now’s the right time to fight amongst ourselves.”

As they bickered among themselves, a merchant approached them on his wagon, “Uhmm, you're adventurers right?” he asked.

“Yeah, what do you want, go away if you’re just here to pester us.” Maria replied in annoyance.

“I actually want to hire you as an escort, if you don’t mind.” The merchant said.

“” Eh? “”

Maria and her party were shocked after hearing what the merchant had to say, “Wait, are you serious?” Maria asked.

“Yeah, I’ve already hired another party but they suggested that I should hire your party too, so here I am.” he said.

“Huh? What party did you hire?” Maria asked curiously.

“I think it was the Sword’s Edge or something.” The merchant replied.

“Wait, Tristan did?” Maria said.

The merchant put his hand on his chin, “Yeah, I think the leader’s name is Tristan.”

“Then we’ll be glad to take on your escort request.” Maria said with a smile.

“Thanks for accepting my request. My name is Johan.” The merchant introduced himself, “I’m headed to the Royal Capital, we leave once you’re ready.”

“We can leave now.” Maria replied.

“Okay, hop on so we can get going.” Johan said to them.

Maria’s party boarded Johan’s wagon and off they went. Along the thoroughfare, they could hear and see signs of battle everywhere; clashing of weapons, screams of women and children, and the stench of blood. Never could they have imagined that there was just a festival to celebrate the arrival of the heroes to town just the other day.

Johan’s wagon arrived at the central plaza after a few minutes of navigating the battle-scarred townscape. There they saw the adventurer party Sword’s Edge who appear to be arguing with another adventurer party.

Martha, who was the first to notice the commotion, pointed at them and said, “Hey Maria, ain’t that Ogag and his party arguing with Tristan?”

Maria squinted her eyes, “Huh!? Dammit what’s gotten into Ogag now.”

As their cart got near the Sword’s Edge, Ogag and his group suddenly pulled out their swords and attacked the members of Sword’s Edge. Two out of four members of Sword’s Edge fell to the surprise attack. But after the initial success of the surprise attack, the remaining two members of Sword’s Edge retaliated and took down Ogag’s other companions. “Damn you Tristaaaan!” Ogag yelled as he charged at Tristan.

Maria jumped off the wagon and parried Ogag’s strike, “No you won’t, Marga cast something to knock him out.”

“U-uh, okay.” Marga replied, “Veil of darkness, shroud my enemy and put them into a deep sleep, Sleepy Mist.”

Mist came out of Marga’s staff and headed straight to Ogag. Once he was enveloped by the mist, Ogag immediately fell down.

"Maria, what're you doing here?" Tristan asked.

"Well, we got hired as escorts by that merchant." Maria replied as she pointed at Johan.

Johan stopped his wagon in front of Tristan, "Hello again Mr. Tristan."

"Sir Johan? Where’d you find those girls?” Tristan asked.

“Them? Well, you told me to look for a trio of girls so I went around town and found them.” Johan replied.

“WAIT YOU WHAT!?” Tristan let out a surprised reply.

“Nevermind that, we should get going now.” Johan said.

“Yes sir.” Tristan replied, but before boarding the wagon he took the guild cards of his deceased comrades, “We’ll need to take that scumbag with us though.”

“Fine by me, just make sure you restrain him when he wakes up.” Johan said.

“Of course sir.” Tristan replied and carried the unconscious Ogag onto the wagon. “We can go now.”

Everyone boarded the wagon and Johan made the horses move. The closer they got to the southern gate, the thicker the crowds of evacuees became which made it harder for their wagon to move forward.

As they were stuck amidst the crowds, “MOOOVE!! GET OUT OF THE WAY!!” A group of knights plowed through the crowds of evacuees, cutting down anyone who dared to block the way.

“WHAT IN THE-” Johan exclaimed as he tried to move his wagon out of the way.

Johan managed to move his wagon out of the way before the group of knights arrived, the evacuees around them weren’t as lucky as they got mowed down indiscriminately by the knights. “MOVE OUT OF THE WAY YOU DAMN PEASANTS.” the lead knight yelled.

As the knights passed through the crowds a wide path was created. Johan didn’t hesitate to make use of the path to get through the crowds, “Tsk, it makes my stomach churn making use of the path created by those knights.”

Maria who was at the back couldn’t believe what she was witnessing. The knights who were supposed to protect the people were actually the ones who were killing them. Why? I even became an adventurer because I admired the knights. If they are actua;;y like this, then what have I been trying to achieve all this time!?