There was a small church in the village. It was the very church where the father of the man who had been invited to Mabelwood's dinner served as pastor. That church, used more like a village hall than a religious facility, was located at the center of the village and was spacious enough to accommodate all the villagers. Above all, it was sturdy, built with brick.
Thud. Thud.
That was why the villagers who couldn't escape to Mabelwood mansion in ti had gathered at the church.
"Shh, it's okay."
The man holding his whimpering daughter frantically soothed the child. Whether his wife and other children had evacuated safely, what had happened to other people, whether those monsters would storm into this church. Even while his head was spinning, he held the crying child. Sharp stares poured from all directions.
"Be quiet! What if the monsters hear and co this way!"
The person who snapped nervously was actually trembling with fear too.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Shh. Shh!"
The tone of the man trying to coax his child not to cry also beca pleading. The child hiccupped while reading the room.
The crumpled floor resonated with sound. The monsters' cries mixed together into an unidentifiable roar.
"Is it really okay to just sit here like this? Shouldn't we be doing sothing?"
"Do what? You're not suggesting we fight those monsters outside, are you?"
The person who had spoken up closed their mouth. Though they had spoken up because it felt pitiful to just sit and blankly hope for the monsters to pass by, the army of monsters pouring from the sky was too nurous and too threatening to face with their old farm tools or hunting rifles.
"How about we go to the mansion now and join the people there?"
"How?"
Every suggestion was blocked as soon as it was made. It had to be that way. The increasingly strong vibrations under their feet ant the monsters outside were approaching. All they could do now was hope there was an underground bunker in the church where they could protect themselves until all the monsters disappeared. Though there was no way such a thing existed.
"Then what are we supposed to do, just sit here staring blankly out the window until we die?"
"If you want to go out, then go! That would be a dog's death!"
People who had been quiet at first gradually got swept up in the fervor. Children sensed the adults' anxiety and began to whimper.
"Be quiet!"
"Why are you being like that to a child? Who's being loudest right now!"
The families holding children spoke defensively. The atmosphere grew increasingly hostile. Half of the people who had been sitting quietly were now standing. Anxiety quickly spread into resentnt. Fear sprouted selfishness.
"If you're going to be like that, get out, everyone get out! Yeah, perfect. If you go out and beco monster food, maybe the rest of us can live a little longer!"
A religious artifact hanging on one side of the wall shook and fell. As if reproaching those words. People all closed their mouths at once. They were all neighbors who had shared joys and sorrows in the sa village for decades. They awkwardly avoided each other's eyes, feeling guilty about saying harsh things to each other in a mont of emotion.
"......The idea of trying sothing isn't wrong either."
"I was too harsh too."
However, disaster didn't give humans any reprieve. Before humans could reflect and unite, rough vibrations shook the entire building. This one was different from before. The windows letting in no light proved it.
Hundreds of pale faces looked toward the windows. Through the windows blocked by massive black bodies, the monsters could no longer be seen.
Thud again. Cracks began forming in the ceiling.
"Everyone get away!"
"Aaah!"
The ceiling light fell. People burned by fire scread. Soon stone fragnts hit heads, and pillars began to shake. The vibrations beca so strong they couldn't stand.
"I'm trapped! Save !"
"Mom, it hurts, it hurts......"
Finally the window broke. Along with the sound of glass shards pouring onto the floor, a monster's face with giant red irises appeared where the window had been.
The monster licked its lips and reached its three-fingered hand through the window fra. People backed away and away, but the monster freely waved its hand. And soone who couldn't escape in ti was caught in its grasp.
"Sa, sa, save, save . Help ! Soone please help!"
No one dared to move as if their feet were tied to the collapsed church floor. The monster opened its mouth wide. When the abyss-like interior was revealed, minds went completely blank.
However, what greeted him the next mont wasn't the monster's innards. It was a bright blue beam of light. Along with a strong impact, his back hit the ground, but he couldn't even feel pain.
'What happened?'
As if finally freed from a spell, people approached and supported him. The monster's arm that had grabbed him was sprawled on the floor. Shortly after, with the sound of fluid splattering, the red-irised monster's head also fell right where the arm had dropped.
All of this ant one thing. He was alive.
He slowly raised his head. In the sky pouring with monsters, on the earth where even the sun had faded, a figure standing on the corpse of a headless monster drew all the world's attention.
A black skirt billowed in the wind. The hair pinned up was unmistakably that of a lady. Except for the fact that she carried a giant rifle on her shoulder. His mind, paralyzed by fear and awe, slowly turned.
He even knew that lady.
"Miss... Hunter?"
That lady who was said to be Miss Cordelia's friend, who had visited Mabelwood with so count. He had seen her riding out with a blonde gentleman when he went to the mansion to make deliveries.
The woman who had been looking up at the sky turned her gaze toward the church. Her white face seed to glow with its own light, making it difficult to make out her features, but her violet eyes were vividly etched in his mind.
At that mont, he recalled the religious artifact that had fallen on the church floor. The woman's shadow, standing tall like a spire as if it were her rightful place, left a deep afterimage over the broken church like a new religious artifact.
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A real monster dealt with after a long ti. Lowering the rifle with its heated muzzle, Esperanza kicked at the corpse at her feet and raised her voice toward the people huddled together under the relatively intact ceiling of the half-destroyed church.
"People are coming from the mansion, so everyone follow their lead to the mansion."
"But......"
"It's too far from here to the mansion!"
"What if those monsters co in the anti?"
Esperanza swept her hair back with a helpless expression. There was no ti to explain one by one why doing this was good.
Still, work had to be done.
"Lady Cordelia is protecting the territory residents at the mansion. Your families will be there too, and there are weapons and food—it's much safer than this completely collapsed place. There's no ti."
Most of the monsters were still staying in the forest, but Esperanza had already dealt with several on her way here.
Even then, a giant bird of prey plumted like lightning from the sky, trying to snatch a child who had strayed from their parents' embrace. Esperanza's gun was just a little faster. The vertically diving bird had its neck pierced by the beam. Its body convulsed a few more tis, but when Esperanza pressed down with her muzzle, it stopped breathing.
She was a skilled hunter incarnate. Among the territory residents watching the corpse of the bird-shaped monster with feathers sharp as spears, one person spoke up.
"If we go, will you protect us, miss?"
"......For now, yes. I can't guarantee I'll get everyone to the mansion without exception. Since you never know when or what kind of monster might appear. But I'll do my best."
From when she first started the ga, Esperanza hadn't devoted energy to rescue operations. The goal of this ga was to beco stronger through grueling battles and the byproducts of combat.
She had focused on dungeon conquest instead of saving people, and had left behind groups of civilians who might die if she left the base camp. By doing so, she had ultimately saved many people, but perhaps more people could have lived if she had stayed to guard the base camp.
She knew but didn't do it. Coaxing and soothing people trembling with fear to listen wasn't sothing she wanted to do even in a ga.
Except when rescue quests appeared, she had never once placed significance on saving people caught in dungeons and getting them out alive. Because it was a ga. No matter how realistically they clung, cried, and were terrified, they were just NPCs in the ga. The kind you forget once you turn away.
But this was the real world. Esperanza had no choice but to do her best. Even if it was botherso and inconvenient, she didn't want to watch people die before her eyes.
"Those who want to go, get ready and stand up. The injured will be taken by people from the mansion, so wait. It would be best if everyone went, but I won't force those who say they want to stay."
As soon as she finished speaking, she raised her rifle and shot at the opposite wall. People leaning against the wall scread and ran away. A large round hole was punched through the li-painted wall, and beyond it lay a monster dripping green fluid.
"Look at this. They're already gathering. If we keep delaying, I won't be able to stop them by myself."
"How can we trust what you say, miss? If we go out, those monsters will follow us!"
"That's right. There are many of us, and we'll be discovered quickly. It would be better to slip out little by little......"
In general terms, it wasn't wrong. It was sothing they wouldn't have said if they had been just a little more familiar with dungeon chanics. But what could be done? This was their first dungeon. Esperanza sighed.
"It's a waste of ti. If you want to do it that way, you can, but I'm leaving you behind."
There's no ti limit for dungeon conquest, but the longer ti passes, the higher the probability of special terrain manifestation. She had deliberately waited for special terrain or sought out dungeons where special terrain had manifested, but it wasn't sothing to hope for at a ti like this.
"How can you leave when people might die!"
"That's why you should listen. Look over there, they're really coming."
About fifteen people selected by Cordelia—strong and capable of so combat—were coming down the hill pulling stretchers and carts. Seeing familiar faces, the villagers' anxiety subsided a little.
"I'm saying this for the last ti—we're all going at once. I won't co back for stragglers, and I won't take responsibility for what happens if you don't follow instructions. But if you follow my words, I can get most of you safely to the mansion. If we're lucky, everyone will be safe."
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