Inside the topmost floor of the western guard tower, three soldiers sat around a round table playing M.W. card game. It was late afternoon; after lunch, they were relaxing.
All three were Mana Wielders at the early stage of Rank 1.
In Saphleap Town, there were around ten Rank 3 Mana Wielders, with only three at the late stage of Rank 3. Those Rank 3 mana wielders were either big shots or nobles.
Seven days prior, all guards had been ordered to keep tight watch over the western wilderness. Initially, all guards were cautious, but over time, with nothing happening, they had all grown lax.
While these three were fully focused on their game, desperate looks on their faces.
A man wearing full-plate heavy armor, gleaming like silver, with a sword hanging at his waist, walked in.
The moment he noticed their slackness and lack of caution, he grew furious.
"What do you three think you are doing?!" he bellowed like thunder.
All three snapped out of their game and stood up in shock. They had been so focused on beating the other two in the game that they completely forgot their surroundings.
When they recognized it was Guard Captain Ismael, their faces further paled.
This was a big shot! Ismael was one of the three late-stage Rank 3 Mana Wielders in Saphleap Town!
They hurriedly bowed deeply and apologized, "We are sorry, Captain Ismael!"
After a short pause, the guard with a crew cut added respectfully, "Captain, we were also checking the forest occasionally. Please don't be angry with us." They were indeed glancing outside the large window behind them every now and then.
Ismael snorted with irritation. Though he still didn't push these three further, as it was indeed unrealistic for them to continuously look outside and not do anything else.
Ismael was a broad-shouldered man with tanned skin, currently donning his high-grade Tier 1 helmet and armor. He was the leader of all guards and managed all security-related matters within Saphleap Town.
Among the few who knew the truth of the threat from the Beast Tamers criminal group, he was one of them. He had been personally stationed at the western gate for the past seven days for this reason.
One guard with weathered skin, wearing skintight leather armor, noticing that Ismael was not pushing them for punishment, quickly inquired to change the topic: "Captain, it's been seven days since we received the high-alert orders, yet nothing has happened so far. Just what are we guarding against?"
He and the other two guards straightened up and stared at Ismael with curiosity. They had all been very confused about this matter; they had never been informed of the details.
The Western Wilderness was huge, and it stretched all the way to the other kingdoms. Due to this, all those kingdoms made sure no great threat—such as Mana Beasts above newborn-stage Rank 2—ever arrived near their borders. Mana Beasts of even higher ranks would also never come close, as they knew they would be hunted and killed. So, barely ever did they receive any big troubles from the western wilderness. Their Saphleap Town was quite a safe place, with Mossphere City as their neighbor. So, they were all curious as to why they needed to be so cautious as to even close their town gates.
Ismael narrowed his eyes in thought. In the end, he still decided not to reveal the truth, as it would only make these guards and soldiers panic, and it was not yet confirmed they would truly receive an attack. Even though Beast Tamer Sigismund and his small group of criminals could be a threat to the town, they were still far from bringing calamity. At most, they could create some chaos, damage some of the town's property, and kill a few of their guards—which was inevitable.
Ismael shook his head. Just as he was about to sternly warn the three to be cautious and leave the room, there was a commotion.
Their tower suddenly shook a little, and sounds of many things snapping came from afar. They were all confused.
The guard with the crew cut instinctively glanced outside the wide-open window and was shocked.
"W-what the—how?!"
Seeing the startled guard, along with his sudden drain of color from his face, all the guards—along with Ismael—quickly looked outside.
Seeing the sight, their expressions rapidly changed.
"H-how is this possible?! Where did these beasts suddenly appear from?!"
There were over twenty beasts of various sizes and shapes emerging from behind a mountain range some distance away within the forest. All of them seemed to be rushing toward the town, crushing trees and everything in their way. With so many heavy-weight beasts speeding, the ground was shaking violently.
"Stormclaw Raptor, Rustpaw Wolves, Frostmaw, Raging Rhino, Bramblehide..." The weathered-skin guard muttered with wide eyes filled with dread. He could see that almost all were at the young stage, with a few at the adult stage Rank 1! This number of beasts could flatten their entire town if not stopped.
"These beasts... Many of them don't even exist within our kingdom or in this wilderness!" The crew-cut guard also noticed the strangeness. He couldn't even recognize many of the beasts or their types. Just how were they supposed to defend against such a massive horde of unknown Mana Beasts?
"Just what happened to our scouts? Why was there no warning?!" The last guard, a bald-headed man, cried out in shock and complaint.
Ismael's expression was extremely grim. He knew the western gate—or even the walls—wouldn't be able to stop this number of pure physical-type Mana Beasts.
He didn't bother explaining to the terrified guards and rushed out, ordering them loudly: "Go, ring the bell! Then support the others in delaying the beasts as long as possible. I will go report to Lord Preston." By the time he finished, his shadow was no longer seen. He hopped off the tall tower and used the nearby buildings as footholds to rush toward the town center.
The guards were terrified hearing the order. No number of their soldiers could stop or delay this number of beasts, and if there were any elemental or other types of beasts among them, they would die in packs!
Despite the panic and dread, they still rushed out to sound the alarm, then proceeded to support the other soldiers in bracing for impact and delaying the beasts as long as possible.
---
Preston Craig was chatting leisurely with his wife and two children in his office when he suddenly heard the loud, continuous bell noise coming from the western wall.
He immediately knew the thing he feared had occurred!
Previously, after receiving no response or reaction from Sigismund for the past seven days, he had relaxed somewhat, guessing that Sigismund and his thugs had given up and retreated. It was not odd to think so, as no Apprentice-Rank group would dare to attack an entire town head-on.
Yet, who would have thought that Sigismund would truly take action after staying silent for an entire week? Just what had he been waiting for?
Preston had a terrible feeling about this. He looked at his wife, whose face had gone pale, clearly understanding the urgent situation. Meanwhile, both Kiely and Herman looked confused and were trying to see outside the wide-open window.
Preston took a deep breath. Just as he was about to speak some reassuring words to his wife, right then, his door was slammed open, and Ismael, the captain of the guards, barged straight in.
"Lord, they are here! And this is beyond what we expected." His tone was urgent as he explained everything he saw from the guard tower.
When Preston heard the number of beasts charging toward the town, his expression completely collapsed. He sprang up from his seat.
This number and power of beasts were enough to wipe out their entire town! They must first evacuate the town's people fast!
"Cleodana, take both Kiely and Herman and escape east!" he quickly instructed.
The alert bell had only rung from the western side, which meant the other directions were safe—at least for now. West was the only direction that had wilderness, thus it was also reasonable for beasts to hide there, while the other sides had roads traveled almost every single day. Since there had been no reports from those directions until this day, it meant no ambushes had been prepared there.
"B-but—" Cleodana had tears in her eyes. She would prefer dying with her husband than leaving him behind. And despite not being a fighter, she was still an early-stage Rank 3 Mage.
"No buts. Go!" Preston thundered. His only personal wish now was to ensure his family survived; the rest, he didn't care—even if he perished this day. He absolutely could not abandon his town's people and flee.
Kiely and Herman hadn't yet grasped the severity of the situation, but with both their parents emotional, they also teared up.
After saying that, Preston bolted out the window with Ismael chasing behind. He didn't even look back at his family, as he knew if he saw them further, even his own determination would falter.
Cleodana sniffled. However, she knew now was not the time to hesitate, so she quickly grabbed both her children and rushed out of the manor, then dashed eastward, glancing backward every now and then, hoping the danger would not escalate and Preston—along with the town—would be safe.
However, just after running a few hundred meters away, she suddenly paused and instinctively glanced behind. What she saw made her gasp in horror.
Not only her—everyone on the wide street who was panicking and coming out of their houses to check what the commotion was about—was shocked, gazing at the skies toward the town's center.
Their faces turned deadly pale when they understood what it was.