“Did you get a bit of sleep at the very least?” Making their way through the Astarto Village gates, a young woman and a man in his late twenties, both of which were donning a full set of armor, appeared in the outskirts, their expressions that of slight awe as they took in the surprising number of people that decided to participate in the current monster tide.

“Look at my face and tell me.” Once the awe the two felt had eventually disappeared, Tristan looked at the young woman beside him as the expression on his face became solemn. “Do you really think I got even a wink of sleep if my face looks like this?”

“You tell me.” In response, Myst shrugged her shoulders as the two of them weaved their way through the crowd, eventually appearing at the frontlines. “Because that thin layer of soot on your face is definitely not helping you out here.”

Hearing the young woman’s words, Tristan stopped in his tracks as he lightly rubbed his face, only to see that his hands had taken on a slight dark gray color after doing so. Sucking in a bit of cold air through his teeth, Tristan took out the cloth he took with him, which he was supposed to use to polish the metal gloves he currently wore from time to time, and used it to wipe off the soot away from his face.

In the meantime, Myst had made her way to where Damian and Valyr stood, noticing that the two of them were discussing about something related to the monster tide from what she could hear. Deciding to let them finish their topic, she stood behind them in silence before eventually letting her presence be known to the two, causing them to shift their attention to her as slight smiles appeared on their faces.

“Got enough rest, I presume?” Valyr posed the question to Myst, who flashed a bitter smile in response.

“Enough rest to not mess up at the very least,” said Myst before letting out a wry chuckle. “The journey back here definitely drained a lot more energy out of me than I thought it would. If anything, I want to sleep in bed for a couple more hours, but alas, I am the village’s guardian.”

“And I’m the village’s Tidebreaker.” Seeing that the young woman before him had referenced the title she had been given, Valyr decided to take the opportunity to reference one of his own titles as well. “But you haven’t seen me in the village for the past month or so.”

“I mean…” Hearing Valyr’s words, Myst let out a bit of laughter, with Tristan finally appearing in front of the trio. “You’re here to help the village out during its monster tide, so I can say without a doubt that you’re following the name of your title pretty well.”

“I forgot to ask you this when you returned to the village yesterday.” Letting out a peal of laughter in response to Myst’s words, Valyr shifted the topic to something he thought he should have asked the young woman yesterday. “Since you’ve gone through the Experience Pit and all that, what level are you currently on at the moment?”

“I could only get to Level 25,” said Myst in response, a wry smile adorning her face. “I’m still not fully used to the skills the subclass gave me, that’s why I could only reach the peak of Rank 1. If I had a bit more time to grind in the Experience Pit, or if I had better control over the skills the subclass gave me, I would definitely be Rank 2 right now.”

“Anyways, how do you know about the Experience Pit?” Once she was done answering Valyr’s question, Myst decided to throw back a question of her own to the man. “Did Damian or Tristan tell you about it?”

“Found them myself while I was outside the village, actually.” As he responded to the question, a relaxed smile adorned Valyr’s face. “Consider my surprise when I found out from the two that you were grinding XP in an Experience Pit.”𝑜𝚟𝗅xt.𝗇𝓔t

“Well, banter aside, shall we talk about the monster tide that we’re up against?” Feeling that they had already spent too much time talking about things that were not related to the monster tide, Valyr went ahead and shifted the topic once more. “While we’ve been waiting for the two of you to come, the volunteer reconnaissance team has gathered enough information regarding the strength of the various waves making up the monster tide.”

“We’re all ears.” Hearing these words come out of Tristan’s mouth in response, Myst nodded in agreement as the two waited for either Damian or Valyr to start talking.

“The general level of the monsters making up the first wave is Level 10, basically the peak of Rank 0.” Nodding back in response to Tristan’s words, Valyr proceeded to go over what he, Damian, and the reconnaissance team had collected so far. “There would be no problem for the village to defend against this wave, actually.”

“Sadly, that’s the only wave where there’s no problem,” said Damian as he continued where Valyr had left off. “The second to fourth wave quickly ramp up in terms of strength, with each wave being made up of monsters five levels higher than the monsters from the wave that came before it.”

“So, Level 15, Level 20, and Level 25?” Frowning at the information he had heard from the two, Tristan looked at the people that had participated in the monster tide, instantly coming to the conclusion that they would only be able to clear the fourth wave if they were willing to ignore a few casualties. “Is that all of the waves making up the tide?”

In response to the question, Damian and Valyr shook their heads as a bitter smile appeared on the latter’s face. However, just as Damian was about to tell them the answer…

Rumble…

“It seems the monster tide has finally sent its first wave out.” Letting out a low sigh, Damian quickly turned around to look at the large horde of monsters heading their way, rapidly closing the distance between the two sides in a span of seconds.

Infusing mana into his voice, Damian’s voice boomed throughout the field, causing everyone to look in the direction of the voice as they followed the orders he gave them.

“Men! Get into position!”

“Leaders! Deputy leaders! Command your members to get into defensive formation!”

“Make sure to stand your ground no matter what!”

“Alright.” Taking in a deep breath after giving out orders, Damian’s voice returned to normal as he let out a soft sigh. Patting Valyr on the shoulder, the man looked at him directly in the eye and said, “I’ve done everything on my end.”

“Now give ’em hell.”

“With pleasure.” Grinning in response, Valyr nodded as he looked at the three before nodding once more. Then, bending his knees, he utilized the entirety of his AGI stat as he dashed towards the horde of monsters that were continuing to near the frontlines.

Whoosh!

Noticing that one of the people participating in the defense against the monster tide had decided to dive in headfirst into the horde out of nowhere, all of their attention was fixated on the young man who decided to move on his own, wondering what was going on in the young man’s head for him to make such a rash move.

However, it wouldn’t be long until they found out that this move…

…was not rash at all.

“Limit Break.”

“Offense Aura.”

“Rage of the Nascent Wyvern.”

…

…

…

“Shadow Serpent Style.”

“Tide of the Dark Night.”