The Village Plagued By Monsters

Ragnar the Blood Fist, leader of the mountain bandits and a merciless plunderer, was responsible for more than 40% of the total thefts in the Avalon kingdom. Theft during long-distance travel was their specialty.

Most mid-level players had tried taking him down, but he was too strong, considering he could plunder from the king himself.

Such a man was a force to be reckoned with. Reed, hearing those words, already knew this, but when it came to bringing titans to their knees, that was Reed's specialty.

Reed was cooking up a devious plan with Vince. A smirk played on his lips as he got close to Vince and whispered in his ear, "Thanks for the info."

Then he proceeded to slice off his head, killing the last bandit.

The system prompted: [Player has leveled up and has reached level 14]

Reed, turning back to the carriage, saw Dan back on his feet, dusting his hat.

"Are you okay?" Reed asked.

"Yeah, don't worry about me," Dan replied with a smile on his face.

"Hmm, I see," Reed muttered, continuing to make his way back to the carriage.

"Thanks for helping me again. Honestly, if you weren't here, I don't know what I could have done," Dan said.

Dan wasn't a fan of Reed's methods, but he understood sacrifices must be made to ensure his village's survival.

"Okay then, let's get going," Reed uttered, leaping back into the carriage and sitting back in his corner.

Dan went back to his driving seat. Luckily, they didn't scare the horse enough to make it flee. He whipped the horse once more, and they continued on their journey to Dorian.

Shortly after, they finally reached Dorian. The village was desolate; everyone stayed inside their homes and shut the doors.

In the tutorial village Reed stayed in during his single-digit levels, it was nothing like this. The players were joyous and full of life, and you could often see kids running around, but here, there was nothing like that.

It was like something came here and sucked out the light from the lives of everyone who lived here.

A heavy sense of bad omen hung in the air.

Reed stared at the outside from his corner in the carriage, wondering how their condition became this bad.

So he asked Dan himself, "Hey, what happened to this place?" Dan couldn't help but sigh. "It's been quite some time now since we started living like this." He paused shortly.

"Ever since those monsters showed up, women and children started to go missing, and as such, we told Count Cassel. He tried his best, but once he saw it was too much for him to handle, he decided to give up."

Dan, riding the carriage, decided to stop in front of the village's storehouse. "We are here," he muttered, then he came down from the wagon.

Reed came down as well, asking why he stopped here. Dan explained that he couldn't stop at the center of the village; he needed to arrive at a place where he could secure the village's resources.

Dan, wearing a horn on his neck, decided to blow it, calling the other villagers. Shortly after, the male villagers arrived, coming from their homes, and quickly they offloaded the goods from the wagon.

Reed, resting his back against the side of the wagon, observed them, noticing they were skinny and malnourished as they continuously offloaded the goods into the storehouse.

Reed, seeing it was already evening and the sun was about to set, knew it was time. He started his quest.

Walking up to Dan, he asked him to take him to the nearest sewer tunnel. Dan turned and looked at Reed seriously.

He knew he was strong, but could he really be the one to kill all those terrible monsters and save their village?

Before the quest was labeled as 'not worth the effort,' many other players arrived at the village. Most of the time, they came as a party and still failed.

"What made this guy think he could do it all on his own?" Dan pondered.

"Hey! Stop wasting my time and take me there," Reed said seriously.

"Hey, watch your tone, that's our chief you're talking to," John said, upset by Reed's disrespect.

Reed turned to look at him, narrowing his gaze. Dan immediately intervened, "John, please, calm down. He's here to help us."

Dan turned to Reed, "This way, sir."

Reed followed him from behind. Eventually, they reached the place. Here, he saw the small hole in the floor leading to the sewer.

Reed placed his feet into the hole and began to descend using the handle once he reached halfway into the hole.

Dan offered him support. "Here, take this." He stretched out his hand, giving him a torch made out of wood.

"It should help you see where you are going." Reed grabbed the torch, holding it tightly as he began to descend again.

"Oh, and also take this," Dan said.

Reed paused, looking up at Dan.

Dan pulled the horn from his neck and stretched out his hand, lending it to Reed.

"It doesn't do much, but once you blow this horn, we will be sure to come and lend you some help."

"I don't need it."

"What?"

Reed pushed the horn back to Dan. "You have given me more than enough. Let me handle the rest."

Dan nodded with a smile on his face. "Thanks, thank you so much."

Reed nodded back; he could see he was a good guy, just like Quinn and Bron. Then he let go of the handle and fell into the sewer.

John, resting his back next to a wall, walked up to Dan. "Hey, you know how important this thing is to the village, right?" he said, pointing at the horn.

"I know," Dan replied.

"Then what made you give it to him that easily?" John asked seriously.

"I don't know, man. There is something different about this guy. When I'm around him, it feels like..."

"Feels like what?"

"It feels like he could do anything," Dan replied.

Reed landed inside the sewer, the splash soaking his clothing. Everywhere was pitch black, and the darkness seemed to thicken around him.

From his inventory, he pulled out a fire magic scroll and used it to ignite the torch.

Raising the torch to see the tunnel, he saw that dozens of kobolds had already circled around him.

Reed was shocked they were already this close. Then one of them close to the torch blew it out, leaving Reed in total darkness.