CHAPTER 23: DEFEND THE CITY (2)

Everyone here was fighting to keep this city from falling since we’ve already lost so much since the collapse happened. Even if hunters from other cities don’t help, we will make sure that the city stands.

A lot of monsters have come here today but I haven’t seen any of the ones that I dealt with so far. No whisperspawns and not even one like I saw in the dungeon.

I’ve only seen husks and Ashreavers since we arrived here today so why is it that no other monsters have appeared?

"Don’t go spacing out now Rokuro." Lilly says as she appears next to me.

"This feels off though Lilly." I respond with a bit of concern in my voice.

The confusion was evident on her face, she didn’t seem to understand why it felt off but I know something is. Quickly I glanced around, trying to catch even the slightest change in the environment.

This feeling was a lot like the one I had back when I first encountered a monster during the beginning of the collapse. Yet, why couldn’t I find anything that seemed out of place here.

My eyes were darting around left and right trying to find out where this monster could be. Trusting my instincts with this power was the best way to go about it.

"This is only the first wave, of course it’s going to feel off." Lilly says with more of a serious tone.

First Wave. Surely you heard it right.

First Wave. First Wave. I’ve never heard of them coming in waves before so why the hell are they coming like this now?!? I’ve never heard hunters talk about such a thing before either....

"This never happened before. Why is it happening now?!" I ask Lilly with a bit of panic starting to show in my voice.

I steady my breathing as I wait for Lilly to answer since I’m better than this. Calm. I felt the panic slowly drifting away as Lilly started to speak.

"I don’t have all the answers Rokuro. We’ll know it’s almost over once the boss arrives, that’s the best I got for you." She responds before disappearing.

I felt my body freeze up as I thought about the words that just came out from her mouth.

Boss. Games always had boss monsters in them so it should’ve been obvious that we would have to deal with that first.

There wasn’t much else to do until the boss showed up so I went to help the other hunters with the current monsters that remain. Utilizing my strength as much as possible while avoiding attacks like they were nothing.

I’m still a newbie at the end of the day compared to most of the hunters here so I’ll have to up my game somehow. This power is compensating for a lot... Especially my lack of combat experience.

SWOOSH! A punch from a Ashreaver goes right past my face as I just barely manage to dodge it. A giant monster like that almost got a hit off on me and I could barely understand how I dodged it.

"You really are a rookie hunter, huh." Lukas interrupts as he hits the monster with a flurry of lightning attacks.

I watched as lighting bursted out from various points on the Ashreavers body before it tumbled over.

"I’ve taken out monsters... Just a bit new to proper combat you could say." I say while looking down at the Ashreaver.

I don’t understand how I struggled all of a sudden when I just took down quite a few of them myself. Was it because of what Lilly told me about a boss monster showing up?

That would have to be it since I didn’t have any problems before we talked a few moments ago.

"Everyone learns differently. Just don’t get distracted during the fight here, these are strong monsters." Lukas replies before rushing off.

A couple of hours went by and the monsters seem to be handled for the time being. No sign of the boss monster yet but there was already a count for the ones we dealt with.

A total of 50 monsters had rushed the city, yet we managed to hold them off with the hunters here.

"Rokuro I’m glad you’re okay." Ghost speaks with a bit of relief in her voice.

I turned around to speak with her since she had spoke from behind me. I could see the blood all over her from the monsters she killed.

"Of course. I’m glad you’re okay as well, good job on the hunting." I respond with a bit of praise.

Seeing the smile form on her face was pretty satisfying but I meant what I said, she did a good job. Her fear held her back when I dealt with the whisperspawns in the junkyard and again in the dungeon.

She’s slowly coming along but I’m sure that fear will strike again since even I have fear within me.

"Where’d Lilly?" Ghost asks with a curious tone.

"Right here!" She shouts while appearing before us both.

Her ability to teleport is definitely quite strong or is it speed? Definitely feels like she is teleporting around but I don’t know much about her abilities.

That’ll be a good conversation to have with her at some point so I know what to expect from her. Especially if she’s going to be traveling with us throughout the entirety of the journey.

I’d prefer to keep the group small since it’s a pain to look after a lot of people.

"The casualties seem low which is good, but do we know where to expect this boss from?" I ask while looking at Lilly with a serious tone in my voice.

"Hahaha. You seem to think I’ll know everything but I don’t. It can come from anywhere Rokuro, just look around." Lilly answers after laughing.

Why bother asking dumb questions?

I don’t know why I keep asking her these things... Maybe it’s the horns on her head that throw me off so much. Looking around is probably the smartest thing to do in this situation.

I’ll have to stop being dumb about this if I plan to save the world from anything.