Endless Leveling Done Right!

Chapter 69: Monster Stampede

Town of Thaloria...

Everyone had solemn expressions on their faces, as they looked in the direction of the forest.

”Sh*t!” Elaine cursed.

From where she stood, she saw the faint outline of the hordes of Goblins marching out of the Floating Forest a distance away.

”You can say that again.” Efa tapped the Swordwoman’s shoulder before running away. ”Let’s go!”

For the incoming monster stampede, adventurers had formed teams, each of which was assigned a role.

Theirs was to monitor the periphery of the forest, and the moment they saw the monster stampede was about to start, they were to hurry back to the town to inform everyone of the situation.

The South Gate facing the forest had already raised its drawbridge, preventing the monsters from entering.

Elaine, Efa, and the rest of the Adventurers, who were hurrying to return to the town, circled to the North Gate, which was the only entrance the Town of Thaloria had left open.

”To the ramparts!” the captain of the guard, Santino, shouted. ”Prepare the crossbows! Archers to the east wing!”

The west wing was meant for the Crossbowmen, while the east was prepared for the Archers.

Everyone who had decided to remain in the town were committed to defending it even though many of them did not really have any experience in battle.

The teenagers were responsible for bringing ammunition up the ramparts, ensuring that the range attackers wouldn’t run out of bolts and arrows.

The rest of the townspeople would also do what they could to protect the town where they had lived all their lives.

Nearly half of the townsfolk had already chosen to evacuate, opting to stay with their relatives in other towns or cities until the calamity was over.

Likewise, some Adventurers, who didn’t have strong ties with the Town of Thaloria, chose not to participate in its defense.

A monster stampede was no joke, and those who underestimated its danger would find themselves dying very horrible and painful deaths.

”The Orcs have really joined hands with the Goblins,” Santino said through gritted teeth.

”Can we really do this, Captain?” one of his subordinates asked fearfully.

”Soldier, we are here to do only one thing,” Santino replied. ”To defend this town with all of our might. You ask me if we can really do this, then the answer is really simple. Of course, we can! Now stop talking if you don’t have anything helpful to say!”

The last thing he wanted to do was to lower the morale of the defenders before the battle even started.

The Branch Guildmaster of the Adventurer’s Guild, Darius, nodded at the captain in satisfaction.

”Captain Santino is right,” Darius said. ”We will win this fight!”

””Yes!””

The soldiers and the Adventurers looked at the middle-aged man with a scar on his right cheek, feeling inspired.

Darius had been part of a Rank A Adventurer Party during his prime.

He had achieved many amazing feats, which allowed him to become the Branch Guildmaster of the Adventurer’s Guild in the Town of Thaloria after his retirement as an Adventurer.

With him working side by side with the town’s guards, everyone felt a little more confident in the upcoming battle.

’Still, we are greatly outnumbered.’ Darius frowned. ’If we can prevent them from climbing the walls, then we might have a chance.’

Nearly five hundred defenders had remained to defend the Town of Thaloria, but the monster army numbered past four thousand.

If the monsters managed to enter the city, then the chances of reversing the tide were very low.

’No matter what happens, we must prevent them from getting inside the city!’

This was the collective thought of everyone who was looking at the monster army fast approaching the city gates.

’Goblins, Hobgoblins, Orcs, and High Orcs,’ Efa noted, furrowing her brows. ’Rank 1 up to Rank 4 Monsters have come. This is really bad.’

A quarter of the Hobgoblins were riding on dire wolves, and this group eyed the South Gate with gleeful smiles on their faces.

”Grakka-mak!” The Captain of the Hobgoblin Riders raised its sword and urged its dire wolf to circle the city.

Santino and Darius cursed internally when the rest of the Hobgoblin Riders followed suit.

The majority of their forces were concentrated on the South Gate, and only a few dozen guarded the North.

But before either men could give any order, the Goblins and the Orcs shouted their war cries.

”Steady, men!” Santino ordered.

He wanted to keep everyone as calm as possible. The monsters were still outside of their strike range, and he knew that if everyone panicked while the enemies were still far, the situation would be much worse once the distance was closed.

A tense standoff ensued between the defenders and the invaders.

However, this delicate balance was broken when one of the Orcs roared and charged forward, raising a metal shield to protect its body.

”Mages kill him!” Darius ordered.

Since the arrows and cross bolts wouldn’t be able to penetrate the monster’s shield, only the spellcasters had a chance to stop the Orc’s advance.

Spells rained down on the Orc. Although it was strong, it was no match against the magical bombardment that led to its demise.

Its death seemed to have sparked something in its comrades.

Suddenly, all the remaining Orcs howled in fury. Soon, dozens of them, carrying similar shields, began their charge.

The moment the Orcs moved, the Goblins followed suit. Like the Orcs, a quarter of the Goblins also had smaller round shields to protect themselves.

”Open fire!” Santino shouted.

”Mages! Prioritize those with shields!” Darius ordered. ”Archers, focus on those without them!”

Santino and Darius knew that something was terribly wrong with this particular monster stampede.

Orcs didn’t really use shields, for they preferred to bash everyone with their clubs or bare fists.

Goblins occasionally use shields, so there was nothing surprising about that.

However, their shields were usually quite crude. The ones they were using right now... A single glance was enough to tell that they were of good quality.

Seeing dozens of monsters equipped with shields, the two leaders of their respective factions believed that someone or something might be orchestrating this stampede from behind the scenes.

Complete chaos descended on the battlefield as the Goblin Shamans and Goblin Mages unleashed their own barrage of spells to attack those at the ramparts.

The Goblin Archers also returned fire, applying more pressure on the defenders.

One of the Goblin Mages heard a faint whistle in the wind. Before it could register what the sound was, an arrow struck its forehead, instantly killing it.

Efa, who had shot the arrow from the ramparts, once again aimed at the Goblin Mages and Goblin Shamans, who posed the greatest threats on the battlefield.

Screams of the injured and the dying defenders reached her ears, but she couldn’t pay them any heed.

”Kid, keep your head low and your shield raised high,” Efa said to the teenage boy who had handed her a quiver of arrows. ”Go back and tell the others to be careful!”

”Yes!” the youth replied with conviction.

But just a second later, a cry of pain escaped his lips as a fireball exploded a few meters away from him and Efa. The force of the explosion nearly made the two of them fall off the ramparts.

”Here, drink this!” Efa swiftly handed the teen a healing potion, which allowed him to recover from his minor injuries. ”Go back to the city. Now!”

”Yes!” The teenager no longer stayed and ran away in haste.

His near brush with death had left him shaken, and he was no longer in the right state of mind to continue providing support to the people defending the city walls.

As she looked around her, Efa realized that a third of the defenders on the walls had already been injured by the Goblins’ counterattack.

Several minutes passed as the battle grew more intense.

Efa, who was on top of the walls, had suffered several injuries from stray spells that had almost hit her directly.

She no longer knew where Elaine was. They were now grouped according to their class, and the Swordswoman and other close combatants had a different task.

The constant banging sound of the Orcs trying to break the gate made her feel more anxious.

They had done their best to attack the monsters from on top of the walls. However, the monsters had formed some kind of formation with their shields raised high to block the defenders’ attempts to stop them.

This looked more like an organized army rather than a monster stampede.

Just like Efa, many thought that something wasn’t right with this situation.

The monsters were already difficult to deal with, but they would be incredibly dangerous to fight against if they were also using human strategies.

Just as she thought things couldn’t possibly get any worse, she saw five Hobgoblin Riders running through the streets.

’They are coming from the north!’ Efa almost screamed out loud when she realized that the North Gate had already been breached.

It was only a matter of time before the South Gate fell as well.

Santino and Darius, who also saw the Hobgoblin Riders heading in their direction, immediately cried out in anger as they headed down from the ramparts in order to engage the five monsters and their mounts in battle.

The North Gate had already fallen.

If the South Gate fell as well, the monsters would fully invade the Town of Thaloria, and they would no longer have any place to run.