Chapter 60: To the Front Lines (2/2)

She felt a chill creep down her spine. Something was watching her. From above.

Sera looked up, but couldn't see anything of note. Still, the feeling remained.

Deciding that she didn't have time to worry about it, she hurried on her way, only dimly taking note of the quiet drone of insect wings flying overhead.

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The milling adventurers were given a quick rundown of the circumstances. Mike was not surprised to learn that demons existed in this world, but the idea of hordes of these malformed lesser demons disturbed him a little. He could tell by the faces of the other adventurers nearby, that they were also feeling uncertain. They had joined the guild for the economic prospects, but few had thought about what sort of civic responsibilities entailed thereafter.

With quick and efficient commands the guild official had broken off the adventurers in groups by rank. Rank 1s were told to remain at the guild hall to defend it and provide support for the wounded and civilians they were expecting to arrive.

Rank 2, 3, and 4 adventurers made up the bulk of the Guild's forces. As such they were directed to defend the major thoroughfares on the eastern half of the city.

Apparently, the Wyrport guard and the Graveston house soldiers would be working on the western half.

The majority of rank 5 and 6 adventurers would work as a mobile strike force, to begin pushing back against the invaders. The remaining ones would serve as commanders for the defense forces.

The handful of rank 7s and 8s currently in the city, would lead the strike force, and provide it with a core of heavy fire power. Two would be held back to be used as a sort of reserve team, to shore up any issues in the defense forces.

The guildmaster, a rank 9 herself, would be operating independently.

As Mike headed to his assigned spot along with Tal and Brenden, he couldn't help but wonder at the strangely organized nature of the whole event.

It would be one thing, if the Guild ran drills on this sort of scenario, but after talking with a few of the other adventurers, it became clear that while emergency request did happen every so often, it rarely went this smoothly.

[Evidently someone in the Guild, or perhaps in the local government had been expecting this. Hopefully that means that there are forces working to halt this invasion.]

He was feeling a little out of his depth. Despite the fact that he had acquired the Hero title, defending an entire city seemed far beyond his capabilities. He could only hope that whoever was in charge knew what they were doing.

James (a.k.a. The Defender of Severn's Moore), the rank 6 who had been placed in charge of the roughly 80 adventurers that made up the group Mike was a part of, waved for a halt.

The lithe man, looking to be in his early forties, readied a longbow while directing the adventurers into a defensive formation at the crossroads they had been told to defend.

”Anyone skilled with a bow or magic, come over here. The rest of you, find whatever cover you can, and make a barricade across the road there.” He said while pointing. ”Leave a gap in the middle for now, we'll have refugees coming through for a while yet.”

Indeed, scrambling groups of civilians had been passing through the intersection on a semi-regular basis. Their abject terror only further dampened the mood among the adventurers.

Mike and Tal joined a collection of about 15 people surrounding James. He surveyed the crew briefly before pointing again with his free hand. ”I want mages to stay here. The rest of you, come with me.”

He then proceeded to place the archers in the surrounding buildings to provide covering fire for the adventurers battling below. Mike was surprised to learn that he and Tal were left with just one other person.

[Are mages really that rare? I know that I have a number of advantages when it comes to picking up skills, but it couldn't be that hard to learn.]

Unfortunately Mike had yet to understand the value of spell casters in this world. True magic skills could only be acquired from a relatively small number of classes.

There were a fair number that gave some magic-like skills, but true spell casting was relatively rare.

While it was not uncommon for some adventurers to have access to magic skills, the vast majority of potential mages ended up in either the Mage's Guild, one of the Temples, or one of the knightly orders that were a bit more magically inclined. The few that remained often found service in noble houses or in craftsman guilds.

As a result, people capable of using magic of any kind were a rare sight in both the Adventurer's Guild, and the kingdom in general.

The third adventurer, in their little collection, was a thin, older man, probably in his fifties. He had a mix of gray and black hair that had all but vanished from his scalp. Dressed in elaborate dark purple robes, embroidered with silver, and sporting a long wispy beard, he was one pointy hat away from being a stereotypical wizard.

This mage remained aloof from the pair of younger adventurers, studiously avoiding interacting with them while waiting for James to return.

Mike took some time to consider their position. They were on the eastern Fringe of the defensive line, supposedly far from the worst of the fighting. As a result, his group was mostly composed of rank 2s. This worried him a little.

[Why do I get the feeling, that this is going to be a whole lot more difficult than the guild is planning for?]