A literal tidal wave of staff poured into the dungeon, enough to where the sea of bodies quickly began forming a wriggling mound around the portal before completely covering the portal as more and more staff teleported into the dungeon.

The Humans on the walls quickly shouted and began throwing, firing, and using their skills against the literal tide of Staff that flowed towards the walls, soon crashing into them.

Each fireball, arrow, bolt, and spear thrown into the tide did so little to stop it that I had no choice but to interfere, once again, as the Staff began slamming into the walls.

Having no choice, I summoned the Guardian.

The Obelisk above the Settlement pulsed, and streams of white and gray materials flowed from within out into the open air, quickly forming the Diamond shape of the Guardian that was based on the Overseer of the Island ARK station.

A strange sphere of energy formed around the Guardian before it floated towards the portal.

From the underside of the Guardian, a beam of energy shot out, turning scores upon scores of Staff to nothing but ash. 

The Staff, however, proved to be unrelenting as they continued to flood through the portal into the Dungeon. With every Staff member turned into dust, four more took their place. 

As if they were zombies from World War Z, they swarmed the walls, climbing one another to try and climb over and grab the Guards.

Throwing everything they had, even with the help of the Guardian, the tide seemed to be too much.

With no choice, I scrapped some of the terrain of the ruins outside the biomes and focused on the Guardian and the Obelisk.

With one thought, a flash of light erupted from the Obelisk, and countless streams of material flowed out and down toward the ground.

They were Enforcers and were planned to be one of the main hostiles that would be found within the Ruins of Invictus.

Enforcers look a lot like thin robotic lizards with a featureless head and an implant in the middle of the face. Their limbs are armored like a robot’s. They have a red ring around them when they are aggravated. A pulsating red ring or outline around the implant on their head indicates that they are in pursuit of a threat to the Obelisk of Citizen, while if they were passive, the ring would be blue.

As of this moment, all of the Enforcers' and their Implants pulsed red.

With one mental command, all of the Enforcers charged, weaving past the Humans at the speed of a speeding card, where they leaped over the walls, and with all of their weight, they pierced directly into the horde of Staff.

The bodies of the Enforcers rammed right into the horde, crushing and spearing through dozens of staff before they rolled and climbed back onto their feet at an insane speed before turning right back around and leaping back into the horde of Staff.

Having something in reach to attack, the Staff climbing the walls charged in both directions, half heading into the Settlement while the other half and the ones still rushing into the Dungeon turned on the Enforcers and began pilling on them.

The Staff were like mindless zombies as they flailed and struck the metal chassis of the Enforcers, doing little to no damage to the smaller Guardians.

However, while they did little to no damage to the Enforcers, the sheer weight of the staff immobilized a few of the Enforcers.

Knowing this situation was quickly getting even more out of hand, I took direct control of Guardian, sweeping its lasers over the Enforcers, freeing them of the Staff that piled upon them.

As small amounts of mana funneled into my Dungeon from each Staff death, within half an hour of this, I had farmed 14 points! That was 2,800 Staff that my Enforcers and Guardian killed!

It was absurd. Did the IKEA really feel that I was some kind of parasite? Were the Staff acting as White Blood cells attempting to destroy the bacteria before it could become an infection? If so, then that would explain why the Staff continued to gather around the portal in greater numbers and siege my Dungeon on an almost weekly basis now.

While I was lost in thought, the Humans, who had all awoken to help fight back against the Staff, warily stared at the Enforcers who were surrounded by the misshapen limbs and torn-apart bodies of staff.

Thinking for a few moments, I reached out and controlled a group of Enforcers and decided to send them through the Portal to the other side while the rest remained in my Dungeon, guarding the portal.

Once they were outside, I looked through their eyes, finding the area too barren of any Staff but also completely pitch black for human eyes.

Stationing the Enforcers around the portal as a vanguard against any future attacks, I pulled back the other Enforcers and Guardian, dematerializing them and returning them back to the Obelisk.

Once the Humans saw my Machines return to the Obeleiks, they all visibly relaxed and let out sighs of relief.

The Council of the Settlement immediately got to work. However, they were clearly wise enough to realize that it was still 'Night' within the IKEA, meaning that an attack could happen at any time.

Guards were posted around the gate, shifts and Guard rotations were established, and all of the Humans were prepared to fight if need be, as all were given weapons and taught how to fight the Staff.

There was a cautious yet fearful aura over the settlement as the Humans came to realize something. The attacks were getting worse, and perhaps this was the push they needed to grow and become strong.

...

The Council of the Ark Settlement quickly gathered in the newly built town hall, and it was the first of many buildings made of wood and stone, with more that were under construction.

The Council members were quiet, as they were all clearly tired from being awoken so suddenly in the middle of the night, having not received even a few hour's rest.

Floating above each human's head were their 'Markers,' as the floating text was called.

[Clair Higgins - Aspiring Leader Level 8 - Human (Female)]

[Jay Barnes- Aspiring Warrior Level 18 - (Male)]

[Jack Bright - Aspiring Mage Level 14 - Human(Male)]

[Jake Cobbet - Aspiring Guard Level 12 - Human (Male)]

[Vernon Wilkinson - Aspiring Chef Level 18 - Human (Male)]

[Sarah Carter - Quartermaster Level 13 - Human (Female)]

Everyone was leaving quite nicely, with both the 'Lifestyle' and 'Combat' classes seemingly leveling up at roughly the same speed.

However, it was noted those who faced hard challenges leveled up much faster than others, such as Vernon, the resident and only Chef of the entire Settlement, who cooked and prepared most of the food for the Settlement, having to work nearly all night and day and Jay who was always volunteering to fight the Staff when they attack and journeying into the biomes to search for some kind of path that would allow them to escape and search for help.

And yet, for all the work they had done, it seemed not to be nearly enough, as the dangers within the biomes were still far too dangerous for any group sent off to the Biomes, while the Staff's attacks were starting to become more than they could handle. If not for the Guardian and the newly revealed Enforcers, they would have most likely all died tonight. They needed to get better, or they were certainly doomed.

What they needed, was to get stronger. Strong enough to escape. Strong enough to fight back the Staff. Strong enough to survive.