Chapter 416 (2/2)
An entrance.
Everyone turned when the giant bear arrived. Calmly, The Ghosthound stepped off of Chrysanthemum's back and the crowd parted for him as he walked forward to meet Cyndra. No one casually stopped someone who was fresh off a 3-meter tall bear. Although these people were more tall and willowy than people, which meant the height difference wasn't so pronounced, they were just as skinny as people, and the weight that Chrysanthemum shook the ground with her passing. Albeit less so than the crashed comet.
”We heard the commotion. Is something wrong?” The Ghosthound said calmly, looking directly at Cindra, ignoring the few other figures gathered around, reporting to her.
Her mouth thinned into a line, but after several seconds, she grudgingly admitted. ”...it has arrived early, but this is a relatively known occurrence. That stone that descended to the ground will incite the nearby monsters. They won't all attack us, but... they will be thrown into a rampage.”
”It's only a distraction,” A rather pudgy, for this strange race of people, man said, ”I wonder if-”
”Yes,” Cyndra said, cutting him off and giving him a glare. ”...we believe that the Death Cultists instigated the stone to fall as a distraction. Since you are here... we want to stop the Death Cultists from accomplishing their goals, so there will only be a barebones crew staying here at the village. If you could handle the monsters... I would owe you a favor, Mr. Ghosthound.”
Before the Ghosthound could answer, a notification popped up in front of Thea.
Defend the Village! You have received a quest from the Village War Leader, Cindra. She has tasked you with defeating the monster horde forming to the East. Prevent the monsters from breaching the village wall to succeed. Reward: A favor from Cindra to the Ghosthound, as well as an addition quest. Plus 30% of the experience towards your next level. Failure: You will be disdained and chased out of the Village.
Thea blinked. She hadn't much experience with quests, but she knew that more and more quests were being offered to people in Donnyton from the Adventurer's Guild Building. One reason that more and more people in Donnyton were being tempted to trying it was that quite a few of the Quests provided experience as rewards, giving people incentive to look for harder quests. It had never been a high enough amount for anyone over Level 35 to bother with it, but they were very useful for getting to that point.
On the other hand... this 30% boost... if this was offered back in Donnyton, the upper tiered people would go mad. Although some of them might wait until right after a level up to get the most efficiency, 30% was a big deal for someone who struggled for every percent. It meant less for low-level people, who might prefer receiving a flat amount of experience, but for people like Alana...
Sweetening the deal further was the fact that the reward section seemed to imply that succeeding here would lead to further quests. Now that the antagonists in the dungeon seemed to have revealed themselves, the Death Cultists, the Ghosthound might prefer forgoing the village, and simply crushing them directly, but if he chose to instead stay and pursue a questline...
Thea tried to put a damper on her excitement. Who knew whether this was like a video game in that regard, but if so, the rewards on each progressive quest should get higher, along with the difficulty...
But to Thea's surprise, she found the Ghosthound frowning, just looking at Cyndra. As this drew out longer, Cyndra's smile grew superficial and thin. Right before the moment where Thea expected Cindra to explode with fury, the Ghosthound nodded, accepting the quest. Cyndra very quickly selected 10 of the villagers to assist their group, before the bulk of the villages forces shifted off for... somewhere. Thea frowned. Cindra hadn't been very clear what they were doing when they went to deal with the Death Cultist's main forces...
In the group chat, a notification flicked up as the Ghosthound posted something.
Annie?
On it, Annie's swift reply came, and she slipped into the shadows while none of their helpers were looking.
Careful, there are at least 2 of them that are as strong as us, the Ghosthound added. No answer came.
At that time, the rest of the group arrived. While the Ghosthound, Clarissa, and Rose would stay on the wall to make sure nothing got through, the rest of them were to go out, find the monsters, and kill them.
Thea tightened her grip on her hammers, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. She certainly appreciated simpler goals now that her Skill had evolved and the fury took her.