Chương 465: (458) 6.72. Watch Your Heads

The calm before the storm was always the worst part of any fight, and the knowledge that they'd soon be up to their necks in monsters certainly didn't make that feeling any better. Vin glanced around from atop Terra's main wall, taking in the preparations that had been made one final time. John had managed to pinpoint roughly the hour the monsters would be spawning, allowing everyone to get into position ahead of time for a change, rather than waiting for the alarm bell to ring before making a mad scramble.

Nearly two thousand warriors surrounded Terra in ranks and rows that Mai and Phil had decided on ahead of time. Many of them were clad in protective armor, courtesy of the dwarves from the Crater, and over half of them were in their first prestige at this point. In fact, Vin had been surprised to learn that a few dozen members of the second wave had even managed to reach their second prestige over the last couple of days. That added class ability would presumably be quite useful.

Leading each of these clusters of warriors were members from the first wave who had been through hell and back by now. These grizzled warriors had earned the admiration of their peers without question, having acted as the Earthers' spear since the very first day they'd appeared on Edregon. Despite the fact that he was certain he could ask Linda for an exact count whenever he wanted, Vin was almost scared to check and see just how many people from the first wave were still with them.

The initial hundred people had been whittled down further and further with each passing wave, and he was pretty certain there were only thirty or forty of them left at this point. The fact that he knew nearly a fourth of them by name was more than a little concerning. Atop the walls were a mixture of races. Golden-eyed infernals darted to and fro, performing last-minute checks on their wide array of rituals before the monsters hit them.

Humans, beastkin, orcs, and dwarves alike checked their ranged weaponry, ensuring that bows were strung and ammunition was stockpiled where they could easily reach it. Countless black bands of indestructible metal could be spotted dotting many of the wrists of warriors lining up to defend their new home as the Bands stood strong with the Earthers, ready for whatever Edregon had to throw at them. As he watched the hustle and bustle of activity, Vin blinked as he realized something obvious.

Something he'd known deep down in his heart, but hadn't really given much conscious thought to just yet. Terra wasn't just a refuge for Earthers any longer, and it hadn't been for some time now. What had started as a small campsite for a hundred worried humans from Earth had blossomed into a sprawling town filled with multiple races from countless worlds. All of them had come to call Terra home, and all of them were working together to make sure their home would still be standing come tomorrow.

Terra wasn't filled with Earthers and Bands and a hodgepodge of other people… It was filled with Terrans. And it always had been.

"You like what we've done with the place?" Golrim asked, walking over to him and grinning as he gestured down toward the moat.

"I had Devin fill it with fish that he trained to bite anything that falls into the water, so I wouldn't recommend going for a swim."

"I have got to meet Devin one of these days," Vin muttered, taking in Golrim's new look. The Logistician generally wore simple leather armor and kept one of Myers' customizable crossbows hanging from his hip, but he had a new addition of note. Twin bandoleers covered in vials of varying colors were strapped around his chest, and Vin couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

"Decided to go heavy on the potions, did you?"

"It makes it easier to help out where I'm needed," Golrim shrugged, patting a large pack attached to his hip.

"I also have a lot of different bolts, courtesy of Myers. Hopefully all my recent target practice will be paying off. Anyway, you probably know why I'm here."

"No, still nothing from Epic Monster Slayer," Vin said, getting a sigh out of Golrim at the news.

"I told you and Mai I'd let you know once I felt anything. And she's already sharing the title with the Slayers who don't have it, they'd feel it as well. I don't think we can feel anything because the monsters technically haven't even begun forming yet. It's an annoying loophole to the title."

"Can't fault me for trying," Golrim shrugged, clapping him on the shoulder before turning and heading back the way he came.

"Stay safe out there!"

"You too," Vin nodded, turning back to look for his friends. Shia was off on the south side of town, standing within a miniaturized forest she'd created to maximize the amount of mana she'd get for her Living Giant. Lumel was stationed with Mai at the command center, ready and waiting to utilize her spatial spells at the drop of a hat. Alka, naturally, stood before all the combat classes outside the main entrance, acting as a beacon of strength and hope while being flanked by her three-dozen Slayers.

Scule and Reginald… Well, they were leading an experimental battle tactic that Vin still wasn't sure how he felt about. As for Vin, he was doing what he did best. Standing tall atop the wall with his arms crossed, staring out into the space between Terra's inner and outer walls as he waited for the army of monsters to begin to form. His high focus allowed him to easily pick up on all the whispers being shared around about him as people muttered to one another and pointed, but he did his best to ignore them.

He tried not to think about whether or not his actions during the battle would result in any sort of revival of that terrifying cult that had briefly sprung up. Distractions like that might result in him slipping up and people he could have saved getting killed. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"The waiting really is the worst part," he muttered, half wishing John and his Watcher class had never ended up coming to Terra. Obviously, having time to ensure everything was prepared and ready was for the best, but only being able to narrow down the monsters' arrival to the rough hour was a little awkward. Spur had already given his speech and Alka had rallied the troops, but that had been over thirty minutes ago.

Every couple of minutes someone started a cheer that was quickly picked up by all the other defenders scattered throughout Terra, but it would die down before long, and the waiting would resume until someone inevitably started up the cheer again. Honestly— Vin froze, his eyes going wide as he sensed the fluctuations in the mana before he saw it. It was like a rough, tingling wind blowing against his skin, drawing his attention toward what was coming.

Only a few seconds later, the mana began bubbling up, slowly coming into existence to his eyes as it formed clumps and clusters all across the land. Vin heard a handful of gasps, and he turned to spot a few of the infernals pausing in their last-minute checks, staring with hard faces at what was to come. He wasn't the only one with the ability to see mana, and in fact, the command center had a pair of eyes with them already.

"They're coming!" Spur roared, startling everyone out of their idle waiting as Lumel informed him of what she could see. She was too far away for Vin to see her face, but he knew better than anyone just what her glowing violet eyes looked like when she used her Magic Eyes passive.

"Remember your stations and make us proud! Terra stands strong as one!"

"One Terra!" came the powerful, answering cry from over two thousand lips, loud enough that Vin winced in pain at the roar. Even with almost half of Terra's population waiting the battle out in their reinforced homes or the shelters dug underground, they had enough people shouting together that their cries practically turned into a physical blow. Knowing he had his own role to play, Vin raised his glowing, grand artifact high into the air.

Despite not saying a single word, the cheering nearly doubled in volume, and Vin rolled his eyes as he spotted Golrim giving him a subtle thumbs up from farther down the wall. Doing his best to ignore the loud shouting as each of the officers decided now was the time to give a quick speech to their own personal units, Vin kept his focus on the growing mana signatures, not wanting to be caught off-guard again like they had been during the battle for wave five.

Thankfully, it didn't seem as though the mana signatures were converging to create some freaky abomination this time around. However, that didn't mean they were out of the woods just yet. While a few thousand smaller mana signatures were nearing their final forms, a rather large one located farther from the others was slowly forming as well. A concerningly large one.

"Confirmed, an epic monster is starting to form," Vin said, throwing his voice to the command station with Whispering Wind.

"It looks like we've got a few minutes though, it won't finish until after most of the other monsters have."

"Well isn't that nice of it. Maybe we can finish off the chaff before the final boss decides to rear its ugly head," Spur answered, relaying what he'd told them to the others.

"How does the battlefield look?"

"Mostly elite monsters, and a hell of a lot of them. I know we say this every wave, but this one is going to be even worse than the last," Vin sighed. He and he alone knew that the Gods were shoving most of the magical residue and monsters their way because they were the only ones who could physically handle it. The other Earthers scattered across Edregon, taken from different countries, hadn't had such a lucky start as they had.

If it hadn't been for the grand artifact from the citadel pulling in the monsters from that first wave, most of their own would have perished that very first day.

"It's alright, that just means more leveling for our troops," Spur said, flashing Vin a wide grin from across the wall.

"Just do what you can, we'll handle the rest. Don't forget, we managed to survive the battle for wave six without you or your friends. Now that you're back? We got this in the bag. Terra's got a few fun surprises for you that I think you'll enjoy."

"Let's hope so," Vin said, watching as the first couple hundred monsters started to appear out of thin air. In typical fashion, many of them were kinds he'd never seen before. He did his best to ignore all the notification messages that were popping up for witnessing new elite and regular monsters, not wanting to let himself get distracted.

He had a pretty good feeling that was one of the methods he had of earning experience that was going to get stripped from him with his next class upgrade, but he still had a good few levels before that happened.

"Does that mean I should let you take the first shot?"

"Are you kidding? We're trying to save our strongest stuff for the epic monster," Spur snorted.

"Go nuts!"

"If you say so." With that, Vin canceled his spell. As the first wave of monsters fell to their feet and oriented themselves toward Terra, letting out a wide range of howls, screeches, and screams that sounded far too close to human, he held up a finger as he quickly wove together his newest combat spell within his mana. A large, flaming ball of fire and rock that burned so brightly it hurt the eyes to look at appeared twenty feet over his head.

More rock and flame manifested out of thin air as the initial chunk compacted, spinning together to make the sphere larger and more dense. Within only a few seconds, Vin had a mass of flaming stone floating above him nearly half the size of his own body and easily a few magnitudes his own weight. Just as the monsters began their charge, he picked out the closest ones and pointed his finger, making no effort to keep his voice low as he cast." Meteor."

The flaming rock blasted forward, going from hovering motionlessly in the air to rocketing toward the earth like its namesake. A number of combat classes shouted and ducked as the projectile screamed over their head, and Vin thought he distinctly heard the telltale sound of Alka loudly laughing as it shot over her Slayers as well.

Before the leading pack of elite monsters could get within even a few hundred feet of the gathered Terrans, Vin's spell struck them dead on, utterly annihilating them and blasting them to bits as rocks, fire, and monster parts went everywhere.