Outside the village walls, Sara stood in the middle of the dusty road leading out from the outer settlement. The warning horn kept sounding from the village, long and urgent. People moved around her in a messy crowd. Some carried heavy bundles on their backs. Others held onto their family or helped older members of their settlement walk. The atmosphere here felt thick with fear. Voices rose and fell as people argued or cried.
"Leave the big furniture!" Sara called out, her voice was firm but clear. "Take only food, water, or warm clothes. We don't have time for anything else. Keep moving toward the village walls. Stay together!"
She waved her arms to direct a group of elderly people toward the main path. A woman in her sixties struggled with a large sack. Sara stepped over quickly and took one side of it. "Here, let me help you carry this part of the way. We are almost there, see!"
The woman nodded, her eyes wide with worry. "Thank you, Miss. That horn…! Are the monsters really coming here anytime?"
Sara kept her face calm, not letting the woman see her own worry in this situation. "We are not sure how fast it will come, ma'am, but we need to move now, just in case. The guild and adventurers are ready inside the walls. Just keep walking."
Behind her, Maya worked with another small group. Some adventurers directed a family with an injured middle-aged man on a makeshift stretcher; Maya was helping them. Her voice stayed steady as she spoke to them. "Lift it carefully. Two people stay on each side. We will get him to safety, don't worry." She said it to some women who were flocking to the man like he was their lifeline or something. They all seemed not to want to leave his side all the way here.
The evacuation itself had started too slowly from the beginning, which is the reason they still hadn't reached the village walls yet.
People kept going back to their lean-tos for one more thing. Some stood frozen, staring toward the forest. And then the sudden horn shocked everyone on top of all that.
Sara managed to come out here the moment she heard the news at the guild, but still they were moving more slowly than she wanted. She knew the outer settlement people had almost no protection. So, if the monsters broke through, they would be the first ones to get wiped out for sure. And she couldn't let it happen with her conscience intact.
She wiped sweat from her forehead and kept directing people. Her council experience helped here. She had organized land deals and village meetings before. This felt similar, just much more urgent. She moved from group to group, giving clear orders and helping where she could.
"Form lines of five," she shouted to a larger group ahead. "Hold hands with the person next to you if you have children. Do not break the line!"
An old man near her dropped his bag and started shouting. "My tools! My tools! I need my tools for work later!" He turned back toward his shelter, almost ignoring Sara's shouting.
Before he could leave the line, Sara grabbed his arm gently but firmly. "Your life is more important than tools, mister. Leave it. The guild will help with new ones later. Move forward now."
The man hesitated, as if considering whether those tools really were worth his life, then nodded and joined the line. Sara let out a small breath. She had done this kind of work before, but never with monsters on the loose, coming at them at any moment.
Maya came up beside her after helping the stretcher group. Her tribe members had already taken the first batch of people toward the village walls at her orders, and she stayed behind to help with the rest.
As she was walking while keeping sight of their surroundings, looking ahead, she spotted something, a little far from the road. She spoke quietly, almost right in Sara's ear. "Sara… I think I'm spotting something."
Sara turned her head. "What?"
Maya pointed toward the edge of the road, closer to the forest line.
As Sara looked in the direction Maya pointed, a beat of silence passed. Sara gulped down her saliva, seeing what was coming in their direction.
There it was.
A creature about 100 metres away, half-covered by some bushes. It looked like a bird but stayed on the ground. Feathers covered its back and wings, but its body was thick and muscular. Sharp claws dug into the dirt, and it grabbed to rush forward. Its head moved side to side, eyes glowing with a strange yellow light, reflecting the sunlight weirdly. It did not fly. As it kept advancing, it was also watching the crowd of people like it was choosing its target.
Sara's heart beat faster. She had never seen a dungeon monster before. And seeing the reaction of her, neither had Maya. So, seeing a dungeon creature for the first time, in this situation, made things much worse for them.
Suddenly, the creature stopped advancing just 50 metres from them.
"Be ready for impact; it will attack any moment now," Maya said loudly, shocking and getting everyone around her's attention. She pulled out her own weapon, a short sword from her roughly made waistband, and pointed it at that creature.
But hearing her say it out loud and getting their attention to the creature did no good for some of them. People started to shout in panic and kept running in whichever direction they could, in fear of getting killed by a creature like that.
Seeing the situation was getting out of hand, Sara also reached into the small bag at her waist and drew her wand. She had tucked it there before leaving the village, knowing it might come in handy if things came to this somehow.
She started shouting in her loud voice to keep people from panicking. "Everyone, don't run. Keep the line intact. And keep walking toward the village's direction. Don't panic!"
Some listened to her, and some didn't. Most people ran toward the village's direction, while some stayed behind Sara and Maya.
The wand in Sara's hand felt familiar in her hand, as she had practised with it countless times before. But still, using it like this in real danger was different.
She was wearing her full mage robe now, and her hair hung loose down her back. As she took out her small wand and got ready for battle, people who stuck behind her started to notice. A few adventurers nearby stopped shouting for people to panic and stared at her, too.
Whispers spread quickly around her.
"Huh, isn't that wand too small? Can it even work in a creature like that?"
"But, I heard rumors she was good at magic… though never saw her cast anything."
"Can she even actually fight?"
Sara ignored the looks, as her focus stayed on the creature, which she and Maya kept in front of them from going at the running and standing people behind them.
This was the first time most people here would see her use real combat magic. She had managed to stay out of fights until now.
But from the way it turned out, not anymore.
"What kind of creature is this?" Sara asked Maya, keeping her voice steady. "I haven't read anything about it in my academy books."
Maya shook her head, eyes still locked on the monster, who was still surprisingly docile and stood its ground for some reason. "Who knows. I haven't been inside any dungeons yet either. But I can tell for certain that this is not like any creature found in other dungeons. I'm afraid this must be a new breed."
Before Maya finished her words, as if it understood her voice, the creature took a step forward. Its claws scraped against the ground. It opened its beak and let out a sharp, screeching sound, so suddenly that it made several people in the crowd behind Sara and Maya scream. A few even dropped their things and started running toward the village, leaving Sara and Maya behind.
Sara raised her wand. She felt the mana inside her move. She was a Tier-4 Earth Mage.
Though she had trained it quietly for years, she rarely used it in front of others. Now that the moment had come for which she had trained almost half her age, it seemed like not wanting to flow through her naturally.
Still, she grabbed the wand as tightly as she could and kept chanting spells. The ground near the creature started to shift slightly as she prepared her spell.
But before she finished her spell, the monster lowered its head. Its yellow eyes were fixed on the crowd behind her.
Then, without giving her the opportunity to cast the spell fully, it charged.
Its powerful legs pushed it forward fast. Dust flew up behind it. The claws on its feet looked ready to tear into anyone in its path.
Sara's grip tightened on the wand. She stepped forward, positioning herself between the creature and the group of evacuees behind her.
The new breed monster kept coming straight at them.
And when it was just 5 meters in front of her, it lunged at her.