BXBX NOVEL Chapter 264 Imminent Attack I
Hobha
March 21st
Year 1052
A few hours before Laurene\'s meeting with the bigwigs of the Great Western Empire began, our Second new-generation hero was in a meeting with the Vice guild master of Osto\'s adventurer\'s guild.
However, the boy\'s mind wasn\'t on whatever the man was saying, but on one of the skills he recently acquired.
\'Collapse is more of a structure weakening type skill, so its full potential should be realised when fighting inside buildings and similarly large structures.
It does have a huge drawback, considering I\'d end up buried under the debris of whatever structure I\'m. In the game, I only used it when I was playing as the \'Third\', since their power was quite handy in reducing the damage coming to me.
I can also use Elemental Shield to avoid it.\'
Evan was thinking about how to properly use the skill that allowed its users to crumble and destroy their surroundings or objects around them, when he heard the vice guild master ask him the same question for the fifth time this morning.
"For the love of all that is right and just, your \'concerns\' are very unnecessary, Mr Vice Guild Master. Tell that to the merchant guild master who was too much of a chicken to ask me in person and had to send you to do it."
He rolled his eyes and stood up, walking out of the vice guild master\'s office and going downstairs into the main hall of the adventurer\'s guild building.
Among the rowdy adventurers, Evan caught sight of a familiar face in front of the reception desk and found that his bad mood was slowly getting better.
Perhaps sensing his gaze, the person in question, Eliza, turned towards the boy who was coming down from the stairs with slight surprise.
"Hmm? What are you doing here? And what\'s got you in a bad mood this early in the morning?"
The girl asked as she collected her guild card from the receptionist who was surprised upon seeing her being so familiar with Evan who everyone knew was responsible for Terence\'s defeat.
"Stupid merchant guild guys are pissing me off. I understand their concerns but they have to understand that their concerns are very unnecessary."
"And exactly what is it they were concerned about?"
"That I\'d become the next Terence and try to take over Osto as he did. As if I don\'t have between things to do with my life."
"Although it is a pointless endeavour from your point of view, you can\'t blame them though.
You were able to defeat the person who killed the strongest of the adventurers currently in the city and no one knows when the others would be returning so it\'s normal for them to be wary of the possibility that you might take after Terence.
Even more so when it looks like the Viscount is acquiescing to you."
Eliza replied to him as she placed her guild card in her pouch, before moving towards the quest board to pick up new quests.
The adventurers present there parted the way for the duo, something that Eliza thanked them for before picking a few high-level C-rank quests to attempt.
"Yeah. I understand why they\'re scared of that possibility, but again, I don\'t have such intentions and I\'ve made it clear multiple times.
I\'m a high noble from the Great Western Empire, you know?
Doesn\'t my last name ring a bell in their heads?
The Viscount\'s daughter realised who I was the moment she heard my name and saw my insignia, so why on Aidos do merchants who should be Up To Date on international information still don\'t know?
Besides, even if I wanted to play \'Lord\' over somewhere, why would I settle for just one city when I can just go back home and ask the Duke to give me a territory easily twice the size of the Viscount\'s to rule over?
Being from a Ducal family guarantees me a noble rank of at least, Count, by the time I come of age. So even if I succeed in passing over my position as heir to Arnold, I\'d still end up as a high rank titled noble with territory to rule over.
With all that, it makes no sense for me to want to stay here and be the \'Next Terence\'."
The young hero wasn\'t being particularly loud, but in a hall filled with beings of at least level 50, who had enhanced hearing, it was kinda hard for them to miss his words.
Especially when although it wasn\'t completely quiet, the hall was less noisy than usual due to various reasons.
Even the Vice guild master who had just come down after Evan, heard the boy\'s words and was slightly surprised.
Although he knew Evan was a noble from another country, he didn\'t think that the boy would be from a Ducal Family at all. He instantly figured out who Evan was after putting all the things the boy said and what he already knew together.
\'Ducal family + Great Western Empire + Last Name; Eris = Prime Minister\'s son!\'
However, just when he was about to speak, someone burst out of the operations room and was about to run up the stairs, only to catch sight of the vice guild master and stop before running towards the man.
"Sir!
I just received an advance notice from the Guild Master!
They\'ve cleared the dungeon and are set to return today! ETA, Two Hours!"
The sudden news turned the hall noisy once more, as the guild master who had been gone since the end of the previous year was finally returning.
It was good news for the adventurer\'s guild as it meant that its true elites, the B rankers, would be returning too.
"He also said to tell the Viscount to immediately declare a state of emergency. He was saying something about an imminent attack but the connection was breaking."
However, the good news didn\'t last long, as the guild official delivered the latter half of the guild master\'s message, a second before a sudden alarm rang out across the entirety of Osto.
The next moment, one of the knights of Perhorn burst into the adventurer\'s guild building, breathing heavily as he screamed out.
"INCOMING STAMPEDE!!"
The sudden shout of the knight that came right after the city-wide alarm instantly sent the guild into an uproar.
The vice guild master tossed Evan\'s matter to the back of his mind and instantly issued an Emergency (Order) Quest for all the adventurers present.
Meanwhile, Evan frowned deeply and asked out loud.
"Hey Liz, what are the chances of this stampede being natural?"
"Assuming what you said previously about that duo is true, less than 10%."
"Thought so."
Evan replied as he dashed towards the knight who brought the news and asked what direction the monsters were coming from.
"T-the west g-gate!\'
"West, huh?"
Evan sunk into his thoughts temporarily, working his brain as fast as he could to analyse the current situation.
"Vice Guild master, can you block the entrance to the tower of Avarice and apprehend anyone who goes there while the monsters are being repelled?"
"Normally the dungeons are closed during stampedes, that\'s protocol. We can\'t have an adventurer\'s going in there and reducing the manpower for fighting against the stampede."
"Good. Now, there are definitely some individuals who aren\'t adventurers and would try to enter the dungeon. Please catch them all.
If my guess is correct, then the guild master isn\'t returning only because he\'s done with the dungeon, but because he\'s chasing after the people responsible for the \'stampede\'."
The vice guild master stared at Evan with narrowed eyes and asked.
"How do you know this? What proof do you have that your words are the truth?"
"There\'s not much time for a full explanation. Just think about the guild master\'s message; he warned about the monsters, showing that he knew that they were coming already.
As for the reason, I believe the stampede is artificial, it\'s because I know the ones responsible for the stampede, and they are definitely targeting Osto for the same reason I came here in the first place.
If you don\'t wanna send people to man the dungeon, then I\'d just tell the Viscount to do so."
"...
...I\'d inform the dungeon officials."
As soon as he heard the Vice guild master\'s reply, Evan told Eliza he was going ahead, before dashing out of the guild building and heading towards the west gate.
On the way, he contacted Pride via his connection with her and told the high demon about the situation, along with what he assumed was the reason for the sudden stampede.
\'If my guess is correct, then the guy that can control monsters got chased out of the artificial dungeon and redirected all his monsters towards Osto as a last-ditch effort to mess up the city.
He most likely isn\'t alone, given that they are Senior members of the demonic hand with subordinates.
As for their goal, it\'s most likely Greed. He\'s the only reason the Demonic Hand has to send two senior members to Osto.
Of course, this is all on the assumption that the one responsible for the stampede is the person I think is responsible.\'
Evan jumped across rooftops, making his way towards the west gate while avoiding the panicking civilians on the ground.
He arrived in ten minutes, popping a stamina potion bottle as he landed on the city wall battlement beside the Viscount who had already arrived on the scene.
\'That was fast, considering the distance between the gate and his estate.\'
The boy put that issue at the back of his mind and gazed into the distance, calling out to the nearby ambient spirits that he usually tuned out and asking them to scout the situation for him.
[I told you he could see us; he was just ignoring us all this while.]
[He was ignoring us and now he wants us to help?]
[But if we don\'t, it might be bad for the people.]
[Yeah, I don\'t want anything to happen to the bakery boy\'s hometown! I like the cakes he gives me every day!]
[Then get going already, you stupid wind spirit! You\'re faster than all of us.]
The small conversation between the spirits caused Evan\'s brow to twitch repeatedly, but he held it in and politely asked the spirits for help once more.
With their \'reluctant\' agreement, they zoomed off into the distance, contacting multiple other spirits along the way who joined the horde of spirits who went to scout the horde of monsters.
The result of their scouting came back in about ten minutes, just when adventurers, knights, mages and mercenaries were beginning to gather at the gate side.
[It\'s bad!]
[Very Bad!]
[Shut it, it\'s not that bad. It\'s only a few hundred monsters.]
[Few hundred? Sure, you didn\'t miss a digit?]
While the group of spirits were arguing, a member of the original group of spirits that usually followed him since before Geto, floated to his shoulder and sat there before speaking.
[The monsters are a lot.
Estimating roughly, they are more than six or seven thousand. Most are as strong as the average person in what you guys call the D rank, with a bit over a thousand of them being in the C rank level.
The real issue is that I could sense a few stronger monsters among those C-rank-level ones.]
Hearing the spirit\'s analysis of the situation, Evan spoke words that shocked the Viscount beside him.
"So, basically...we\'re kinda fucked."