CHAPTER 134: WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE WAVES

Memories buried deep in her mind resurfaced.

She remembered the first night she dreamed of this nightmare.

She was a young child back then, much younger than her new student.

She had just lost her parents to the monsters of the red moon. She was mourning, so she thought it was merely a bad dream.

Her mother had sheltered her from the monsters when they invaded the city, and her father had fought at the frontlines with the people who saved their city.

Back then, losing your parents was a terrible but common experience. The people of the city mourned for the loss of their parents; together with them and the orphans would find new families among the grieving.

She did not have anyone, though. She was the child of a soldier who fought to save the public, she was the child of a mother who died saving many others— a mage.

She was alone, but the city was her home, and she lived in the city by herself, not losing herself to the despair of the recurring nightmare that never stopped.

’It was fighting the creatures at first, and then it was fighting the monsters.’

The battlefield they were in right now was actually situated around the 18th city.

The place was a barren land with no trees in sight. The soil here was red, and unlike the other battlefields that were stained red with blood, this place itself was red.

-Tap. Tap. Tap.

The water from above was slowing down.

The rain was slowing, and it seemed like it would stop soon. The water from the rain was not the one that red-washed the whole land; it was always like this.

She had only seen this land in her dreams, but even after looking through the entire floor, she had never found this place.

The fact that she could recognize the connective areas of this red land meant she was, in fact, in a place that had appeared out of the blue or had been hidden away by an illusion barrier.

The barrier was more likely the answer here, so she looked around herself and waited for what was to come while seeing all the people around her.

"There are enough people."

Throughout her years of experience on this land, she had learned something, a lot of things about how one could win this battle.

She had never really won by herself, but she had always known it would be possible with the right number of people supporting her.

She knew fighting the upcoming beings was no small task. One needed to be strong enough to defeat the monsters that would arrive in the 5th monster wave of the red moon to be eligible.

But all the people present here weren’t here because they knew they would be playing a key role in the mission; it was thanks to their contribution and relationships with the natives.

"To be here, one needs to have a great relationship with any of the natives, and they must have contributed to the waves.

The contribution is counted individually by the system, so it’s not the same for everyone and depends on how much one tries, depending on one’s own strength.

It’s complex, but that’s what makes this gathering unique."

KiRA greeted Dame Althea for the first time as he told her something she must not have known. And she was certainly surprised by his knowledge about this scenario.

"I presume you have played this part?" The Dame asked as she observed the people who had gathered here.

She could recognise a few of them; some had been the talk of the forum chats throughout the waves these past few hours.

’The people from the association.’

Behind her, where Ziggy had just gone, the teams from the association had gathered.

She could recognise the Professor, and she could see the Saintess, who was also a Rank-9 within their ranks.

The two Rank-9 of the association were famous, but both of them were listening closely to the Rank-8 Swordsman who had handled five cities all by himself with the least casualties, be they civilian or player.

In fact, no players had died in the cities that he managed. There were a few unfortunate deaths among the civilians, but they were unavoidable.

There were no deaths in the 30th city, the one that he was directly looking after. He was the only one who had managed to achieve these results, not even the new guild, Trailblaze, that was rising like a hailstorm had achieved such results.

’They aren’t acting superior just because of the rank they are given.’

They know very well that the ranks they received from the association were not something they could trust that much just yet.

The past results were what mattered right now, and if they were talking about the past results, Ziggy had more achievements than any of them. He had simply proven his worth with the performance this time.

"Miss Althea?" She was lost looking in the direction of Ziggy, so KiRA had to call her out. "Ah, apologies."

She apologised, but her expression remained the same. She was curious right now.

"There have been times when I wonder how he is so adept at all these. Perhaps, it is thanks to the two of you?"

She knew the two of them were no ordinary people either.

There might be very few people who could tell; however, she was one of the few who had figured out that the one that the natives of 12th city were calling the heavenly messenger was, in fact, this person before her.

"There’s no need to give us any credits, haha. He has always been amazing. He’s my Hero, in fact." KiRA answered her with a smile, but anyone other than this Holy swordsman would have overlooked the words he had used to describe his brother.

"A Hero, huh?" But she caught on.

She could not deny it after thinking about it. He had the qualities to be called a hero... but then again, he was not the only one who had those qualities.

"Hmmm..." She looked into KiRA’s deep red eyes.

They were no simple eyes. She could tell there was far more to those deep eyes than what met the eye.

It almost seemed like he could look past her very soul, that those red, demon-like eyes could see everything there was to see about her.

"Do you have some kind of appraisal skill?"

"Huh? I don’t have any appraisal skills, Dame. Is there something wrong?" KiRA spoke the truth. He had no skill... but an Authority.

[Ding!]

===Status===

ID: Artheria Althea Alaric De Ambrosia

Age: 33

Title: The Holy Swordsman (C)

Class: -

Level: 31

IX: 111,222

_–_–_–

Strength: 33

Dexterity: 27

Stamina: 30

Aura: 27

Holy Power: 30

(Stat points: 0)

_–_–_–

Authorities: -

Blessings: Attention of Holy Pantheon, Attention of Divine Pantheon, Attention of Celestial Pantheon, Attention of Eastern Gods, Attention of Western Gods, Attention of Demonic forces, (+6).

Skills: Traditional swordplay (Lv.2), Counter kick (Lv.1), Weapon Aura (Lv.1), Holy power integration (Lv.1), Movement technique (Lv.2), Hope (Lv.1), Individual analysis (Lv.1), Win ratio (Lv.1), True leadership (Lv.1), Formation tactics (Lv.1), Lie detection (Lv.1),

============

She was strong. Pretty strong. And thanks to her skill, KiRA knew she must have figured out that he wasn’t lying about not having any such skill.

But she was different from the players that KiRA could read and understand.

"Hmmm. This is exactly why you’re unique, I see." The Dame nodded, and with a simple greeting, went on her way to the frontline, to meet the person who, unaware of her own self, carried a golden arrow above her head.

[{ "She’s quite something, huh?" }]

[{ "You wanted to meet her for so long, yet you’re not going to do anything now that she’s here?" }]

[{ "There are a lot of people here, Izzy. This isn’t the best place for private stuff." }]

For the time being, KiRA put away ’accessing’ her skills and focused on the people around them.

[Ding!]

[The Final Monster Wave will now begin. Please defend the target.]

[Death of the target will mean instant defeat.]

[Death of more than 50% of the natives will mean instant defeat.]

[Death of more than 10% of the players will mean instant defeat.]

[Once defeated, all players will be transferred outside the tower, and the 3rd floor special mission will be deemed as a failure.]

[As the players have finished the general mission, the following floor will be opened. However, access to the 3rd floor will be limited.]

[Final Objective: Survive against the Curse: Lament of a Beloved.]

The objective was pretty much the same as it was when they were defending against the waves. The only difference here... was the setting.

The previous floor quest was a Tower-defense type quest. They had powerful weapons, planned out tactics, and forces that were decentralised.

However, what would happen on this battlefield was a blood-spilling war fought with weapons and magic.

They did not have the big guns anymore, and the monsters that would arrive this time would not be mad either.

This time, the war was going to be fought against monsters that would be far superior to the crazed monsters that were tainted by the red rain.

It would not be an easy battle... the Dame knew that the best.

"You must be Zyon’s master, Captain Rose." She approached the common target that the players needed to protect, the person who had fought on this very battlefield the most.

"You’re... Dame Althea, right? The one my good student was talking about?" She was not aware of the mark that was present above her.

All the natives were the same in this aspect; however, that was not because they were natives, but rather that they could not see the mark.

It was because they had already fought this battle, this exact battle.

Which meant this was not their first time on this battlefield...