Kill The Old Ones!

--

Ren had seen the change before others did...

This isn’t surprising. His sensory network is active, and it has spread far. It’d be a waste of chakra to keep it up if he couldn’t even do this.

The announcement said that monsters in this realm will enter a berserk state come high noon. But that isn’t exactly the case.

He had seen signs of agitation from the monsters about an hour and half before high noon. He saw them being restless and becoming active by then, but not really aggressive just yet.

The aggression came at the time mentioned by the announcement.

He saw the monsters go still for a whole minute the moment high noon broke, as if their consciousness was seized by something unseen and incredibly powerful. Then, they all collectively let out roars of defiance and rage before making their way towards the human camps nearest to them.

They marched with confidence. Never doubting the location they had in mind. It’s like somebody personally carved the coordinates of human settlements in their brains and planted the idea that all humans in the secret realm should die.

Ren took a deep breath.

He looked at his group—his fellow representatives whom he forced to rest for a whole hour before high noon came so that they’d have enough energy to fight—and told them:

"They’re coming. As expected, most of them are grounded. No avian monsters. The ones leading the charge are the weaker ones; they’re fast but stupid. Most of them should funnel into the winding paths of the walls. Fair warning, some of them might be able to climb the walls; if you see those, prioritize killing them."

"The highest volume of monsters are coming from the east. This isn’t surprising, as many of the lairs are concentrated inside the rainforest. The lowest volume is in the south; only a couple dozen weak monsters are in there, and they’re slow."

"Diana will have you guys in rotation as we planned; don’t try to be a hero. Manage your chakra, and try to stay alive. Remember, this will last for more or less six hours. A lot of things could happen, so do not be careless of overconfidence."

Ren looked at Diana after saying all of this, and they nodded at each other.

Diana then began stationing people in the areas where they might be needed. She had profiled everybody at this point and roughly knew how to optimize their positions according to the strengths they’ve shown so far.

Nobody complained...well, not loudly at least. Most of the people are still groaning and feeling uncertain about this because they still have no proper weapons. Only a select few does.

It’s the downside of specializing in the ’Path of Arms.’ Take away their weapons and they’re essentially crippled.

Alas, there’s nothing they could do about that for now.

"Don’t be too pessimistic, guys. The system shouldn’t be too stingy. Killing monsters from the horde should earn us points; the more we kill, the sooner we can buy weapons."

Somebody mentioned out loud as they marched to their positions.

Whether that’s just to ease up the tension of the group and lessen the pressure everybody’s feeling or just to be truly optimistic. It was enough for people to look forward to.

Ren didn’t speak. He didn’t want to or have to. They will know the truth soon anyway.

That man’s right, by the way. The system wouldn’t be stingy. In fact, opportunity lies amidst the danger, because it’s a crisis; the points earned from killing monsters are doubled through the duration of this event.

In the canon story, it’s after this event that truly kicks off the ranking war.

A couple of minutes passed in tensed silence, and soon everybody felt the ground beneath them shaking slightly.

Nobody said a word; everybody knows why this was happening.

They’ve heard the hoard before they saw them. The roars, grunts, and growls were carried far by the wind.

The monsters emerged as a tide spilling out of the dense foliage of the rainforest in the east. They came in various sizes and shapes. Some were pounced and yowled on fours; others walked in their hind legs. Some had tails, others had numerous horns...

Even the normally docile and timid monsters were marching along with the horde.

Regardless of what they looked like, there’s a single characteristic that united all of them, and that is their shared hatred of humans and the desire to wipe them out.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

This didn’t come from the monster’s attack from afar. It was coming from Ren, who’s in the middle of the camp.

Everybody saw him hurling thick wooden stakes with sharpened edges—the same ones they used as walls for the camp—at the horde from here.

Each throw he did broke the sound barrier, leaving the ground beneath him cracked. They also saw him reinforcing the wooden stakes with his chakra to make sure that they would be sturdy enough to handle the force of his throw and the speed they had to travel.

He’s not throwing aimlessly. At least, it doesn’t seem like it. But those who were following the wooden stakes he threw were puzzled because none of them were landing on the monsters ahead.

"Who are you aiming at?" Diana asked curiously.

"The ones that look troublesome at the back," Ren casually answered before hurling three more stakes in quick succession. "I’m targetting the monsters way bigger than the walls we made."

Nobody could confirm if he’s telling the truth or not; most people guessed that they’d figure it out soon, anyway.

But Ren wasn’t lying.

There were some real scary monsters hanging at the back of the horde. They moved slowly and were way bigger than the walls he made, especially the reinforced wooden walls at the center of the camp.

If he waited until those things were at the wall, it’d already be too late to deal with them then. With the sizes of those things and their strength, they could easily topple any wall they come across.

Sure, Ren could charge out and deal with those big guys ahead of time, but that would be stupid. And since he couldn’t just wait until they’re close enough, he used another option to deal with them for now.

Throwing stakes at them wouldn’t be enough to kill them. But that wasn’t his aim. What he wanted was to slow them down and cripple them if he could.

Ren’s aim was good. He’s targetting the legs and the vulnerability of those huge monsters in each throw.

Some of them managed to defend themselves, while others couldn’t. Those who were unfortunate went down hard and were trampled by those behind them. Some were even pinned to the ground by the stakes, alive but unable to move a single muscle.

Only Ren could confirm that he was, indeed, killing some monsters already. He knows this because he saw their endings and his merit points were rising.

Eventually, the first wave of monsters arrived at the walls.

And as expected, most of them were stupid and were funneled into the winding paths.

"Brothers and sisters! Kill! Kill! Kill!"

The roars of his fellow representatives echoed in the camp, fusing with the roars of the monsters.

The defense of the camp had begun in earnest.

When the first batch of monsters was dealt with, someone screamed, "Guys! Killing monsters during this event rewards double the merit points! Take advantage! Yaaaa!!!"

"Holy crap! Monsters? What monsters? These are leeks and wild chives that need harvesting! Leave some for me!"

"Move it! I need to kill to get a sword ASAP!"

"Oh, system, you are too kind! Thanks for the points!"

That takes care of morale. It only took one guy discovering that and telling everybody.

Now, even if Diana were to pull them out of this, they’d probably resist it. How can they not? They’ve seen the list of items they can buy in the shop, and there’s too much to be desired in their pitiful situations.

The chance to prosper was right in front of them; as martial artists, how can they not risk it?

Seeing this unfold, Ren wore a small and amused smile on his face.

He didn’t instigate this. He didn’t even say a thing. The situation handled itself without needing his or Diana’s output or support.

As for him, he continued hurling wooden stakes. Sometimes, he’d even sharpen boulders and rocks instead.

Ren was like a ballista, and this camp was the territory that he needed to defend. He didn’t feel tired even after hurling so many things at this point.

He did pause to tell Diana, "The wave in the south is approaching in less than two minutes."

Diana didn’t say a word; she just nodded and began walking.

She didn’t call for anybody nor delegate any personnel. She jumped and hopped on the walls to see what they have to deal with in this area.

The range of her senses might not be as exaggerated as Ren’s, but it still covered far.

Once she saw the volume, a sneer appeared on her lips as she said,

"Just a bunch of small fry. I’ll handle this quickly."

As soon as she said that, Diana’s whole temperament and appearance changed...