Chapter 10: Chapter 9: Beast Tide 2

As a Rank C archer, I was stationed on the wall directly above the gate, the weakest point of the wall. Thus, I was able to overhear the conversation the Guild Master, who was standing next to me, had with the scouts.

{This beast tide contains Goblin Assassins. Out of the entire team one, only John survived. We are unable to scout with the Goblin Assassins around, do we have permission to retreat?}

The Guild Master frowned and answered:

{Granted, stick together in a group and retreat back to town.}

Goblin Assassins! I have read about them before. With their presence in the beast tide, I couldn't help but worry about John. After all, two of the scouts have already died. Thinking till this point, I quickly walked towards the Guild Master:

{Sir! Permission to leave the town to escort the scouts back? I'm afraid that there may be too many Goblin Assassins for them to handle.}

{Eren, is it? I am afraid but I have to deny your request.}

{But Sir-}

{No buts.}

The Guild Master sighed before continuing:

{I know you are worried about your friend, but you have to trust him. John is one of the best scouts I have ever seen, and I believe that with his abilities, he will be able to escort everyone safely back to the town. He is currently doing his job of escorting the scouts back, while your job is to shoot any monster that comes close to the town. Do you understand?}

{Yes Sir...}

I had to calm down. I know that with John instincts and fighting skills, the Goblin Assassins should not be much of a threat to him. But hearing that two scouts had already died allowed the current situation to dawn on me. This isn't some cheesy beast tide meant to show off the power of the protagonist, it is a real threat to the people who live in this town.

I unwillingly decided to remain on the wall, but the least I could do is to increase my attack range so that I can help John as soon as possible, even if he is still far away from the wall. There's nothing worse than looking at a situation unfold and being incapable of doing anything about it.

Looking at my bow, I thought about how to improve it. Increasing its range is simple. Using a stronger drawstring would allow my bow to store more elastic potential energy, allowing my arrow to travel further, but accuracy would become a problem at longer ranges. I quickly came up with a solution and after imagining the design of my new bow, I hid myself in a corner before dispersing my current bow. Then, while limiting the light emerging from my hands, I created a new, more powerful bow.

My new bow looks the same as my previous bow, a polished, wooden bow with no decorations, but the bow now has a scope attached to its side. I tried pulling back on the strings, finding that it is a lot harder to pull, but still manageable. My previous bow was getting too weak for me anyways. Satisfied with my new bow, I returned to my station on the wall. Taking a deep breath, I waited.

Half an hour later, John and the rest of the scouts appeared as predicted.

{Phew!}

I released a sigh of relief, but quickly realized that I shouldn't let my guard down and began looking out for any signs of monsters. Goblin Assassins are capable of going invisible, so I couldn't relax before they reached the town. Damn it! Now that I think of it, I should have added a thermal scope or something, but I suppose some people will question how I can see the invisible Goblins.

Getting rid of unnecessary thoughts, I placed my focus on the scouts. Suddenly, John did a roll forward. A Goblin Assassin appeared in his previous location, his dagger barely missing John. I pulled the drawstring back and aimed at the Goblin Assassin, but I noticed even more movements from John. He deflected an invisible attack from his left, then dove towards his side as a third attack was launched at him.

Due to the large movements, I couldn't fire my bow temporarily as I may end up hitting John. However, instead of panicking, I felt an unprecedented sense of calmness. I decided to wait until the situation had stabilized before making my move.

Two scouts separated from the main group to help John, but were killed almost instantaneously by two still-invisible Goblin Assassins, increasing the number of Goblin Assassins to five. Believing that John's fate is to be sealed if I missed my shot, I released my arrow. Without waiting to see if my shot lands true, I nocked another arrow, aimed and shot at another Goblin. I repeated this process two more times, only to find that there were no more Goblins left standing.

I killed three and injured one Goblin, while John killed two of them. Exhausted, John made his way towards the town while I kept a careful lookout for any more Goblins. When John finally entered the gate, I came out of my trance-like focus and realized that everyone was cheering.

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People were patting both John's and my back, as they praised his braveness and my accuracy. I was tired due to the state of extreme concentration I was in, but I managed to give everyone a slight smile. Alright, let's go down the wall to meet John. At this moment, the Guild Master suddenly shouted at the top of his voice:

{Incoming beast tide!}

Deathly silence. The adventurers all turned their head slowly towards the direction of the forest. I could make out a line of figures in the distance. I quickly looked through the scope of my bow before releasing a soft gasp. A massive army of Goblin had formed, but the issue was that a large portion of the Goblins were Hobgoblins, which were Rank D.

Of the 300ish adventurers in this town, 50 are Rank F, who are mostly 10 to 14 years old trainee adventurers. 225 of them are full-fledged Rank E adventurers, and other than the 5 Rank C adventurers, the rest are Rank D adventurers. An adventurer can solo a monster on the same rank as him, while around 5 adventurers of the same rank are needed to fight a monster one rank higher. In other words, we don't have enough manpower to fight this beast tide.

An especially tall figure among the monsters caught my eye. It had grey skin, a hunchback and a massive club, clearly capable of crushing any of the lesser monsters around it. Since the Guild Master was beside me, I asked him the question I had in my mind:

{Is that Troll the Rank B+ monster?}

The Guild Master squinted his eyes before speaking:

{It's most likely the leader of the tide. If we kill him, the tide should naturally start falling apart. Still, how did they gather such a massive tide so quickly?}

I see, the Troll is the goal then. I really wanted to create a sniper rifle and headshot it, but thinking about God's words, I instinctively felt that it isn't a good idea to showcase my power and canned that idea. Maybe I will do that if the walls do get breach, and everyone is too distracted.

Instead, since the melee adventurers won't engage with the monsters until the walls are breached, I decided to start throwing dynamites the moment the monster come into range.

{Graaar!}

{Squeal!}

{Gyuk!}

The Troll roared loudly, which was followed by an assortment of noises released by every monster in the tide. Their war cry could even be heard all the way from our town even though they were more than a kilometer (0.62 mile) away. With one final roar, they began marching towards the town. 

{Oh God...}

An adventurer beside me whispered under his breath. Oh God indeed. Pushing down my fear, I readied my bow and aimed for a Rank C Goblin Shaman. Goblin Shamans are Goblins capable of using magic to boost the strength of other Goblins. Alone, they are weak with their paper-thin defense, but if they are supporting an army such as this, their threat level goes up significantly, so I had to take it out now.

Glancing at the Guild Master, who gave me a nod, I released my arrow. The monsters probably didn't expect my arrow to be able to reach so far, and the arrow successfully pierced the head of the shaman, killing the vulnerable monster instantly. I tried to kill another Shaman, but it created a shield with magic to block my arrow.

Aiming to sow disorder and waste mana instead of killing, I targeted the mages and ranged monsters within the beast tide. After a few more deaths and injuries, the raging beast tide was ready to charge at our walls, which will only benefit us. Not only would that tire them, forcing them to charge would also separate the faster Goblins and slower Orcs, reducing the number of monsters we have to face at a time.

However, with a roar from the Troll, the beast tide actually calmed down. The melee monsters quickly formed up in front of the ranged monsters to act as a shield, as humans would to defend their archers and mages. With a newfound understanding of the Troll's intelligence, I realized O can't underestimate a Rank B+ monster's intelligence. Soon, both parties entered each other's range. Shields made with magic were immediately put up as spells and projectiles were launched at each other.

{Boom! Zap! Swish!}

The battle for the town has finally began.