Chapter 002

Boom! Bang!

Smoke started to rise and the smell of burning wood suddenly filled the air in the village.

Ting!

Bang!

Bang!

Ting!

Chaos can be heard in the eastern part of the village.

“Run! Run!”

“Children run! Towards the Village Hall!”

Several men of the village are guiding the woman and children around towards the Village Hall that is located near the cliff at the northern part of the village.

While the women of the villages embrace the little ones as they run to safety.

“Hurry to the east wall!”

Brand looks at the person who is shouting.

A group of women who work in the alchemy shop are running towards the East Gate carrying a larger than fist size ball with both of their hands.

They are carrying it like it is the most important thing in the world.

“Shell’s!?”

A very volatile item that may explode when not handled carefully.

They are a mixture of different chemicals found on plants and monsters wrapped in a crafted monster's hardshell as its container.

The group of women run along without caring about those that are fleeing.

“I should move too!”

Brand said to himself.

Coming from the west side of the village Brand rushed towards the center plaza where the tower is located.

In case of emergency this also became the village base of operation.

As Brand runs towards the center.

Bang! Bang!

A large explosion happened on the east side of the village once again.

(Damian… Amelia… I hope both of you are alright!)

Brand runs together with the fleeing villagers but when we reach the central plaza.

The women and children move immediately towards the north and Brand moves towards the center where a group of people are huddling.

In front of them, above a small stage, a man shouted towards a group of people.

“Oliver Group move now”

Instead of the Lead Hunter Roger, our village chief, William is taking the lead.

“Roger and the others are keeping the monsters at bay to help them.”

William roared and Oliver and his group nodded and dash towards the east wall.

“Chief! We bought some shells!”

The one who shouted is Grace, a member of the Alchemy group who study Shell Creation.

A group of women carrying the volatile shell put them on the table near the meet up.

Some of the villagers give them space and others who deem those things dangerous move far away as possible from those weapons.

“Good work Grace! Now go and bring those to Roger!”

Grace nodded and they picked up those shells almost immediately just after they put them down.

“Chief! Chief! Chief!”

But just before they left a man came towards the group huffing as he approached our village chief.

“Chief! 3 Horned Boar! 7 Brown Sickles! And a Forest Striker!”

Gasp!

Everyone gasps.

3 Horned Boar is already dangerous enough, they have the height of a regular man and massive body with incredible speed that can kill people almost immediately if they were run into it at full force.

But there are still more.

7 Brown Sickles!

An insect monster that has the same height as a 10-year old kid but has blades type hands. On top of that these monsters are so agile that regular archers might find them difficult to shoot at.

This monster is very evasive and will run around its prey and attack them with a hit and run tactic until their prey loses most of its blood and weakens it before they deliver the killing blow.

But the most dangerous of all is the Forest Striker.

A monster that is twice as human and has whip-like hands that can freely move however it likes.

It also has four legs and the body of a horse that made it more agile and harder to catch.

The villagers look at William immediately after hearing the news.

“Grrrr… “

“We have no choice! Get the reserve shell in the warehouse and use them all! We need to kill these monsters!”

“Yeah!”

The villagers shouted energetically.

Almost immediately a group was formed.

There are no assignments given but the villagers knew each other and formed a team with the people they are close to.

A group immediately runs towards the north side of the village and retrieves the shells.

The others run towards the east side to help defend the wall.

Brand is included in this group of people.

Unfortunately, those people I call ‘close’ are not here.

Cain must be already on the site while Damian must be running for his life.

(I shouldn’t worry about Cain. He already has a lot of experience in hunting, he is also one of the best hunters in this village.)

Brand felt relieved just thinking about his friend Cain, however.

(Tsk! After I reach the east wall I should immediately check on Damian… THAT GUY!)

Instead of relief, Brand felt nervous for his friend.

Brand knew Damian and Cain for a long time.

If Cain is a hard working guy, Damian is the direct opposite of him.

That is why just thinking about Damian's current situation made him feel nervous.

“Hey! Brand stop daydreaming!”

Thomas, one of the villagers Brand am currently with shouted at him.

Brand looks at Thomas.

“We are almost there, don't lose your focus!”

“I understand!”

(Losing focus will lead to death, this is Roger’s constant reminder to us.)

I grip the axe that I am carrying, I felt its weight in my hand.

Bang! Boom!

Bang!

Ting!

As we run towards the east side.

The smell of blood and fire are spreading in the air.

“Hold the line!”

“Throw!”

“Arrrrgghhhh!”

“Attack!”

“Left flank!”

“Need help here!”

Various voices can be heard over the distance and as we approach we can see the current status of the battle field.

When they reach the battlefield Brand looks at the current situation.

Several houses were damaged near the current area they are in.

The village wall is destroyed and there is a big gap in it that 5 Horned Boar can easily pass through without any problem.

The monsters and some villagers are fighting inside the village wall and some villagers made small wooden fences made out of small trunks that block the monsters from moving forward.

They are positioned in a semi-circle pattern.

(Roger taught this to us.)

Brand remembers Roger's teachings of the ‘What if?’ scenario that may happen to our village and the things that we should do just in case these ‘What if?’ scenario really happened.

Right now, Brand is seeing the culmination of those preparations and training.

The villagers are slowly and surely taking back the village area by pushing the wooden wall forward one step at a time.

The monsters' movements are becoming limited and some of them are moving outside the  village walls already.

“HAAAA!”

“YEEEEEAAAAAHHH!”

Boooom!

Boom!

Bang!

Brand notices Roger fighting the Forest Striker just outside the village wall and half of the monsters are inside the village and the other half are being pushed outside the village.

We charge towards the battlefield to help out controlling the chaos and pushing the monster outside the village wall however…

Brand notices that a Horned Boar glances in his direction and after a bit it charges towards us.

“Get away! Get away!”

Someone shouted.

The boar charges and destroys a makeshift wall.

Bam!

BANG!

One of the villagers flew back and hit the debris.

After he landed he slowly raised his hand.

He might be heavily injured but luckily he didn’t die.

Brand immediately jumped to the side when he noticed that the monster charged towards their direction and the monster barely hit me.

The boar continued to charge and hit one of the villagers again.

The villager flew and this time I didn’t know what happened to him.

“Prepare to attack!”

Someone shouted from our group.

This time Brand didn’t have time to look around instead he needed to focus on helping in taking down this monster.

He is located on the rear left side of the monster.

Several villagers act as bait and try to gain the attention of the monster by waving their weapons in front of it.

Just like how they teach us in combat training.

(Now what!)

I look around.

Roger taught us how to capture and take down a Horned Boar.

First we need to disable it by tying it down.

So…

I look around the area and notice several vines in the rummage.

These vines were used on houses to tie up the logs but those houses were damaged in what might be an initial attack from the monster.

Before we arrived in the encirclement, some houses were already damaged.

Which suggests that the fight enters past the encirclement but the villagers manage to control it and push them back.

That is the reason why some of the houses were damaged greatly but this kind of damage didn’t come from Horned Boar or Brown Sickles.

Most probably the Forest Striker led the charge and Roger attracted it outside the village.

“Arrrgggh!”

“Take this monster!”

“Hurry up!”

Some of my team attacked the side of the boar and continued to inflict wounds on it while the others continued to distract it.

Brand gathered up several vines and tied them up together.

When Brand looks around to check on the other villagers he notices that two groups are also preparing the same thing that he is preparing.

He was not bothered by it but in fact he felt relieved that their training under Roger paid off and even though they are not really a ‘team’ he just felt synchronized with them.

Brand tied the vines carefully, he made a big loop and threw it in the ground.

When he did that several of the group also did the same.

There are now 3 big circular loops in the middle of our battlefield.

“We are ready!”

“We are ready!”

“We are ready!”

Brand shouted together with the other group.

Just like on que.

The group that is attracting the Horned Boar made a move.

They run towards the side of Horned Boar and dash forward using all their might.

The Horned Boar turned slowly and it even looked right and left, it felt confused for a moment but after a while it turned around.

Pang! Pang! Pang!

The group made a noise to attract the monster once again.

The Horned Boar lowered a part of its front body.

The monster then taps its right foot twice in the ground and then shakes its head.

Everyone was looking at the monster.

Then finally the monster did ‘it’.

The monster charged with all its might.

The monster is so focused on the group that is making the noise that it didn’t notice the big loop on the ground.

When the monster get inside ‘loops’.

I raise the rope with all my might and pull it with everything I have.

Ziiiip!

The loop tightens.

My rope took the right back leg while the other loop took the left front leg and the same right back leg.

“PUUULLLL!”

Everyone pulled with all their might.

Shhhhhh!

The rope in my hand is slipping away and I can feel the rough texture in my hand.

A hot sensation penetrated my hand but I didn’t let go.

I grab the rope, tie it in my hand and pull it hard.

“Ahhh!”

Bang!

We stop the monster charge but the monster is struggling with all its might and we are having a hard time holding it.

Bang! Bang!

Some people fall down.

But that didn’t stop us.

Some of the villagers started to attack the Horned Boar.

“Get him!’

“Now attack!”

Puck! Puck! Slash!

The monster took a lot of damage and it is struggling so much that I can feel that my arm is turning numb.

(Faster! Please! I cannot hold it anymore!)

Puck! Puck! Puck!

Then the monster positioned himself and struggled so hard that I felt that my arm is going to tear up.

“Ahhhhh!”

I cannot hold it anymore.

And the rope left my hand.