"OPEN THE GATES!!!" Marcus suddenly bellows, and immediately the guards swing open the town’s massive gates. All the adventurers pour outside in a flash. There are hundreds of them, if not thousands at this point, as more people keep joining.

"Archers! Start firing!!" Marcus roars again, and instantly the soldiers stationed atop the towers begin raining arrows down on the incoming horde of goblins.

TWOOSH. TWOOSH. TWOOSH.

Several arrows streak toward the approaching horde, cutting down wave after wave of goblins. However, the monsters don’t look fazed in the slightest and continue charging forward.

Seeing this, fear grips me as I realize the goblins number in the thousands, and some of them can even cast magic.

Boom!

Boom!

BOOOM!

The mages move to the frontlines and begin raining a hail of fireballs down on the goblins. Within a minute, the smell of burnt flesh fills the air, and for a moment it looks like we’re winning. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. There are endless streams of monsters approaching rapidly, and some of them begin casting spells back at us.

"What should we do now? Should we charge in yet?" Marcus asks Tiriana, who looks surprisingly calm and composed.

Suddenly, she steps forward, closes her eyes, and the next moment, a staff materializes in her hand. She raises it into the air, chanting something in a low voice barely above a whisper. Immediately, the sky darkens above the incoming horde, and a massive red magic formation manifests overhead.

With a thunderous boom, a huge pillar of fire erupts from the formation as though hell itself had burst open, incinerating every goblin at the frontline.

"Gaaaaaaa!"

"Guvigeh!"

"Iaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

The cries of the goblins fill the air as the stream of fire continues pouring down. Within seconds, nearly a thousand goblins are reduced to ash. The frontline shrinks significantly, and their advance slows as though they’re afraid to approach, yet they continue charging forward regardless.

Still in awe, I look over at Tiriana, who is panting heavily. It’s obvious she’s poured almost all her Mana into that single spell. She staggers backward, but I quickly catch her, my hand resting on her backside.

Damn, my mother-in-law is loaded.

Suddenly, Maya rushes forward and removes my hand from Tiriana’s waist.

"Mom! Are you okay?" she asks in a slightly panicked voice.

"Yeah, I just feel a bit dizzy," Tiriana replies softly.

Without saying anything, I pull out a low-grade potion from my inventory, uncork it, and pour the liquid into Tiriana’s mouth. While I do this, Maya keeps looking at me strangely.

It feels a little weird, almost judgmental, but I can’t exactly accuse her of staring at me. Still, it makes me wonder if I’ve done something to annoy her.

"Thank you, Jacob. I’m fine now," Tiriana says as she gets back on her feet.

I glance over at Marcus. He’s talking with a group of adventurers who also look pretty strong, and this time, a massive broadsword rests in his hand. The thing is about 1.7 meters long and nearly a foot wide.

Soon after, he turns toward us and rushes over.

"I am sorry, my lady. I am directing the warriors on how we will charge in. I think it’s about time. The mages are already running out of Mana, and the reserve group is still recovering theirs," Marcus says in a hurried voice, panic etched across his face.

I understand his concern. If those monsters reach the gate, even its sturdiness won’t be enough to stop them. Once they break through, they’ll wreak havoc throughout the town.

"You can charge now. Help should arrive anytime soon," Tiriana says while peering through her binoculars.

Marcus nods and turns back to the other adventurers. Some are trembling on their feet, while others wear determined expressions. A halfling holding a large fork tosses it to the ground and sprints back through the gate, fear completely crippling him.

I don’t blame the little guy.

"We charge now! Mages and archers, cover us!" Marcus shouts.

Thunderous roars erupt from everyone, and it feels as though the ground itself is trembling. Pico comes to stand beside me, gripping her dual blades tightly with a determined look on her face.

Maya, on the other hand, looks terrified and clings closer to her mom.

Despite the high-grade armor, she’s chickening out, heh.

I also pull a long dagger from my inventory. In a fight like this, you either wield a massive sword like Marcus’s that can clear dozens of goblins with a single swing, or you use daggers for speed and agility. A normal-sized sword would only hold you back here.

"HIYAAAA!!" Marcus lets out a battle cry, and instantly everyone follows behind him, shouting their own war cries.

Marcus and I are at the forefront alongside a bunch of adventurers who look like they haven’t had a bath in days. They reek so badly that someone could almost gag from getting too close.

SWOOSH.

Marcus swings his enormous sword, beheading several F-Rank goblins in a single sweep. The larger and more developed the goblin, the higher its rank.

Average F-Rank goblins stand around three feet tall with green skin, yellow eyes, and elongated ears. Drool constantly leaks from their mouths whenever they spot something they perceive as prey. They also possess exceptionally low intelligence.

E-Rank goblins, on the other hand, are slightly larger and can form crude words that sound like gibberish. They’re also capable of basic reasoning and better combat ability compared to F-Rank goblins, which act purely on instinct and impulse.

"Grghhaaaaaaaa!!" a goblin lets out a loud cry as I slit its throat, moving to the next one in a blur. I don’t even need to cast Magic to deal with these low-level F-Rank goblins. Even E-Rank goblins are easy to kill with my daggers.

When I glance over at Pico, she has a crazed expression on her face and looks completely deranged. Her daggers are no longer in her hands. Instead, sharp claws protrude from her fingertips, and she uses them to rip through several goblins, covering herself in green blood.

We continue carving through the waves, and slowly we begin encountering stronger goblins. Apparently, they had been using the weaker ones as meat shields.

"Gaga vuga!" A hobo-goblin nearly five feet tall curses loudly and charges toward me with venom in its eyes, a spear gripped tightly in its hand. Just as it closes the distance, it casts a basic fireball and hurls it straight at me. I casually dodge the spell and drive my daggers into its abdomen before dragging them downward, spilling its guts across the ground.

Just as I turn around, I see a massive mace flying toward me. Before I can dodge, it crashes squarely into the back of my neck.

Instantly, my vision blurs.

The face of a large hobo-goblin—probably around C-Rank—comes into view. It’s grinning at me while raising its mace for another strike.

Fuck...