Huh?

"Wait! The West Gate!?" Priest Ryan's eyes widened in shock.

Ramanque City had been built against Vulture Dragon Mountain, backed by mountains and facing water. Cliffs lay to the north and south, the east connected to Ramanque Plateau, while the west led into the mountain range.

It was precisely because the city could receive grain from the eastern plateau and mine iron ore from the western mountains that it had prospered.

In fact, the capitals of most Earl's territories only had populations of three to five thousand.

The West Gate connected to the mines. Trouble at the West Gate meant the entire vein was unsafe. This was a major crisis!

The warning bells in the distance rang sharp and shrill, throwing the entire city into turmoil.

If the alarm bells had been sounded, it meant everyone in the city had to fight.

With the young priests' help, Old Ryan quickly donned an old suit of chainmail, fastened the buckles at his waist, grabbed a spiked mace that weighed at least ten pounds, and charged out of the temple with seven or eight priests in leather armor.

As he hurried along, Old Ryan cast a divine spell.

Golden radiance emerged from his right palm and spread over all the priests. Only then did Old Ryan secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

[Divine Luck] had worked.

The more frequent the Demon Tide became, the greater the chance that divine spells would fail. Failing at a critical moment could truly break the believers' hearts.

With his group at the center, more citizens grabbed all kinds of "weapons" and followed.

Kitchen knives, rolling pins, pitchforks...

There was no helping it. Although the city had six thousand residents, once those under fourteen, the elderly, the weak, women, and children were excluded, fewer than three thousand could truly fight. Among them, fewer than five hundred were professionals with extraordinary powers or trained soldiers.

"What's happening at the West Gate?" Old Ryan spotted a City Guard galloping past on horseback, blowing a military horn everywhere. He recognized him as Messenger Peng Ke.

"Damn it! Goblins! So many Goblins—and more importantly, there are over a dozen Goblin Bears!"

Goblins were goblinoids.

These green-skinned Monsters, usually only around sixty centimeters tall, were evil, cruel, and vile by nature. They usually moved in packs.

Generally speaking, they rarely took the initiative to attack human cities, because they were naturally rather cowardly.

Humans usually fought Goblins when they entered Goblin territory. In that case, the creatures would even attack organized human forces.

Goblins themselves were not much to fear. In a frontal battle, a properly formed and fully armed human soldier could easily kill a dozen Goblins.

What people truly feared was being ambushed by Goblins in complex terrain.

However, Goblins combined with Goblin Bears were another matter entirely.

Goblin Bears were the largest and strongest variety among goblinoid creatures, and far more aggressive than their kin.

Goblin Bears were huge, imposing, and powerful. Standing upright, they reached around seven feet tall—more than two meters—and could easily weigh over three hundred pounds, capable of unleashing more than a ton of destructive force.

Old Ryan immediately knew how serious the situation was.

If they could not stop the Goblin Bears' charge, the emboldened Goblins would flood into the city like spilled mercury and begin indiscriminate slaughter. Even if the city did not fall, its losses would be catastrophic.

"Anyone with guts, come with me—"

"Our Family members are behind us. There's no retreat!"

Golden light bloomed from the Old Priest's body. He raised his spiked mace high, and his lead-from-the-front action instilled the people with a force called [Confidence]. In a human world that had broadly lost magic and could only fight, flesh against flesh, against Monsters more powerfully built than themselves, confidence was absolutely essential.

Confidence did not guarantee victory, but without it, death was certain!

Clerics were like banners on the battlefield. Wherever they stood was where humanity's will to survive pointed—

Hundreds of citizens joined this torrent and rushed toward the West Gate.

When they arrived, the horrific scene immediately stunned them.

Many people might never see such a Monster in their entire lives:

A humanoid Monster over two meters tall, its skin ranging from pale yellow to yellowish brown and covered in thick, coarse fur. Its greenish-white eyes had red pupils, and it had a pair of large, shovel-shaped ears.

The Goblin Bear's mouth was full of sharp fangs, its nose resembled a bear's, and its tough hide and sharp Claws were bear-like as well. Yet it was far more agile than a bear.

One Goblin Bear swung a massive stone axe over a meter long and smashed it viciously into the City Guard's battle line.

This was not a battle at all. It was more like a speeding carriage crashing headlong into a row of hard, stick-shaped Black Bread.

With one swing of its axe, a crescent-shaped gleam sent four City Guards holding iron-plated wooden shields flying.

The City Guard who had taken the first blow head-on had the muscles in his forearm, along with the radius and ulna inside, crushed to powder. Then his Ribs caved in and broke, followed by his organs and spine. Finally, his entire body flew backward and upward—while he was still in midair, the ghastly sight of his unnaturally broken and twisted body had already been seared into the retinas of the arriving citizens.

Several City Guards in the second rank gathered their courage and thrust their spears forward together.

It was not ineffective, merely inadequate.

This terrifying Goblin Bear wore a large iron plate over the Vital Point of its chest and abdomen. A closer look revealed that it was actually a human knight's armor, brutally hammered flat into a large chunk of iron, then tied onto the Goblin Bear with leather straps by the Goblins.

Even though large areas around its waist remained unprotected, one had to remember that the Goblin Bear's thick hide was as protective as the City Guard's iron-plated wooden shields.

Five or six spears struck it. Half merely scraped sparks across its armor plates, while the two that truly hit only pierced a few centimeters deep.

All superficial wounds.

It was not as though no crossbowmen had tried to snipe the Goblin Bear, but this guy kept moving at high speed and possessed impressive natural defenses. How could it be so easy to land a Headshot?

Instead, the human attacks provoked the Goblin Bear's ferocity. Its left Claws, fitted with a wooden shield, swept out fiercely, sending another City Guard's entire body flying and knocking down two more beside him.

One bold young City Guard used some trick he had heard about somewhere, sliding forward in an attempt to attack the Goblin Bear from below its abdomen.

Then there was no then...

Fortunately, a [Warrior] professional desperately stepped in. Only then did the Goblin Bear fail to rip open the defensive line like rotten wood. Otherwise, the Goblins would have poured in and smashed through the defense. That would have become the worst kind of melee.

Behind them lay an open plaza with nothing defensible.

Dead and wounded City Guards littered the battlefield. The entire defensive line was on the verge of collapse.

The Old Priest hesitated no longer and raised an arm, shouting, "Get up there!"

He knew that sending untrained citizens in as cannon fodder would inevitably result in horrific casualties, but the Old Priest had no choice.

To protect the city, the first person to fill that gap would be himself.

At that critical moment, everyone on the battlefield suddenly heard thunder.

What a joke.

Half the western district lay beneath the mountain's belly. Even rain could not reach it under normal circumstances, so how could there possibly be thunder?

Yet the thunder grew clearer and clearer.

The people on the outskirts turned around one after another, and saw the Brown-haired Youth, dressed in cheap Hemp cloth and riding a donkey, surrounded by brilliant arcs of electricity.

The next instant, a violet-blue radiance streaked across the entire battlefield, passing over the heads of the City Guards on the front line.

The light was not only burned into their retinas, but also etched into their hearts.

When they recalled this scene many years later, they would surely still feel their blood surge...

And then...

"Crack!"

The head of the Goblin Bear charging at the very front burst like a smashed watermelon, spraying blood across the faces of several City Guards ahead of it.

On the battlefield, both sides inexplicably stopped fighting at the same time.

Everyone's minds went blank.

If some transmigrator had been here, he would have loved everyone's reaction next:

Huh?