A minute later, another notification sounded inside Alex’s head, and the corners of his lips rose up in happiness.
"Just stay put, Alex," Cairo said. "We’ll handle the rest."
"That’s right, Oathkeeper!" a Catkin Warrior added, laughing. "Focus on protecting that shelter. We assure you, nothing will go past us!"
"Got it." Alex nodded without hesitation.
Turning down free experience points out of pride?
Pride? What was that? Could that be eaten?
’I hope more monsters come here,’ Alex thought. ’That way, my experience points will rise faster.’
As if someone heard his prayer, dozens of Orcs and Hobgoblins turned toward the Catkins and Alex.
Seeing their vanguard lying on the ground, all dead, these monsters were enraged and charged at the Catkins with fury.
"Begone, you vile beasts!" A Catkin with prayer beads on his hands stomped his foot, creating countless Earth Spikes that jutted out of the ground, impaling the monsters that had charged in their direction.
’Wow!’ Alex’s eyes widened in shock, impressed with the monk-like Catkin’s power.
Although he couldn’t appraise people and see their stats, he could roughly tell that the monk-like Catkin was at least a Rank 4 or Rank 5 Martial Expert.
The young man’s guess was rather accurate. As one of Ramza’s strongest subordinates, the monk-like Catkin had been specifically asked by the Patriarch to accompany Cairo and Alex to the Town of Thaloria and assist them if they were in danger.
That said, Cairo was no weakling. He was a genius and had a vast amount of combat experience. Despite being only a year older than Alex, he was already a Rank 3 Demon Slayer, who became more powerful whenever he fought against Demon-Type Monsters.
Given that Cairo’s Rank was already that high at the tender age of eighteen years old, the Catkin was hailed as one of the prodigies of the Kingdom of Avalon.
However, Alex had undergone an explosive growth as of late.
He might still be far from becoming a Rank 3 prodigy like his master, but the way things were going, it would only be a matter of time before he reached Rank 2 without even doing anything!
As the young man closely watched his experience bar fill up thanks to his accidental party unknowingly carrying him, a shout from a distance grabbed his attention.
"Alex!" Efa shouted the moment she saw the young man standing near the gate of one of the town’s shelters.
"Efa!" Alex exclaimed, relieved that his friend was safe and sound.
He also saw Dim Dim leaping from rooftop to rooftop until it finally landed on top of his head, feeling proud of itself for accomplishing its mission.
"I’m glad you’re safe, Efa," Alex said when he saw the Scout, who had several scratches and bruises on her body.
"I had a very close call earlier," Efa replied. "If not for Dim Dim, I might have already died or suffered a fate worse than death."
The Scout glanced in her surroundings before frowning.
"Where’s Elaine?" Efa asked. "Is she not with you?"
"Don’t worry, Elaine is safe," Alex assured. "She’s just resting for a bit. I’m sure she’ll be here soon."
As if waiting for that moment, the Swordswoman appeared in their field of vision as she ran toward them with a relieved expression on her face.
Elaine had been worried about Efa, knowing that the Scout had been assigned to defend the South Gate, where the battle was more intense than the one at the north.
"I’m glad you’re safe, Efa," Elaine said. "Since you’re here, I assume the South Gate has also fallen?"
Efa nodded. "Captain Santino and Guild Master Darius are employing guerrilla tactics to whittle down the enemy’s numbers. Earlier, I felt like there’s no hope of winning, but now, I have changed my mind."
After seeing how strong the Catkins were, the young lady was starting to think that there was a way to overcome the invasion.
Suddenly, they heard screams coming from the other side of the street.
When they looked at the direction of those voices, they saw dozens of Adventurers with pale faces twisted by fear running toward them.
"Everyone, be careful!" one of the Adventurers shouted. "There’s an Orc Juggernaut behind us!"
A roar filled with bestial fury reverberated through he air as the house at the side of the street collapsed, as if demolished by a force of nature.
Standing nearly four-meters tall, with a body as hard as iron, the Orc Juggernaut roared at the Catkins. "Prepare to be annihilated," it seemed to say.
The Catkins hadn’t had any trouble dealing with the Orcs and Hobgoblins earlier.
But this time, all of them became serious because the monster in front of them was no ordinary foe.
Alex looked at the monster and, just as he expected, several rows of text appeared in front of him.
This gave him a rough understanding of what kind of monster they were about to face.
Monster Rank: Rank 4 Field Boss
Monster Grade: Super Rare
Attribute: Earth / Demonic.
Health: 10,500/10,500
Active Skill: Juggernaut Rush, Body Slam, Savage Blow
Passive Skill: Iron Skin, Demon’s Rage
— This monster’s body is as hard as iron.
— This monster becomes more powerful when fighting against many enemies at once.
Note: The Orc Juggernaut doesn’t see enemies. It sees obstacles, and obstacles are meant to be crushed or turned into meat paste!
’Oh sh*t...’ Alex was so utterly distracted by the numbers in the monster’s stats that he momentarily failed to notice the upgrade to his monster encyclopedia. The encyclopedia was now able to show the monster’s skill, which only made Alex realize how deadly the Orc Juggernaut was.
When he had been playing ELO, he hadn’t gotten the chance to encounter an Orc Juggernaut in the wild since they were really rare monsters to begin with.
Although he had seen its pictures online, seeing it in the flesh made the monster more domineering and formidable in his eyes.
’If I get a direct hit of even one of its attacks, I’ll probably die instantly,’ Alex thought.
Elaine’s and Efa’s expressions turned grim. Even so, they did not waver, and both of them braced themselves to fight the monster they were seeing for the first time in their lives.
"Elder, I need your help to deal with this monster," Cairo said to the monk-like Catkin before glancing at the others around him. "The rest of you, stand back. This monster becomes stronger whenever many people attack it at once."
The Catkins hesitated a bit, but they still followed Cairo’s order in the end.
He then gave Alex the ’do not interfere’ look, which prompted Alex to nod his head in acknowledgement.
"Be careful, Cairo," said the monk-like Catkin. "Even I can’t take this battle lightly."
The Orc Juggernaut no longer planned to wait and rushed at the two Catkins, whom it recognized had decided to challenge it head on.
The monk-like Catkin stomped his right foot down and sent Earth Spikes at the charging monster.
However, just like its name, the Juggernaut simply bulldozed through the Earth Spikes, shattering them head-on through brute strength.
Cairo didn’t want it to continue charging toward the other Catkins, so he took the initiative to lunge in the monster’s direction.
He then executed three quick slashes on its right calf, hoping that it would be enough to render it immobile.
Sparks flew as Cairo’s sword slashed through the monster’s skin.
But, to his surprise, his sword only managed to leave shallow cuts on the monster’s calf, which were obviously not enough to bring it down.