When the Aphelion Phase began, it was like the thin, flimsy barrier that covered the portals suddenly weakened and snapped, allowing thousands and thousands of monsters to pour out.
The alarms sounded across the world, especially in territories near the border.
In one border town in the west, the bells rang wildly as they alerted everyone to get into position, the fighters, adventurers, mercenaries, and the like ready to fight, while the non-fighting commoners hurried to hide and defend themselves. They would be responsible for their own safety.
People gasped when they saw the large and dense line of monsters that quickly filled their horizon. Obviously, they went through this every few years, but they would never get used to this horror.
ROOOOOAARRR!
The thunderous roars of hundreds of thousands of monsters reverberated across the land, causing tremors both on the ground and in people's hearts.
The monsters soon reached their area, less than a hundred meters from their walls.
"ATTACK!!" the captains yelled, and soon thousands of arrows and magical projectiles flew down, hitting a lot of monsters. However, most had thick skins, and their weak spots were not hit by the indiscriminate attacks, so not every monster hit died from the shower alone.
ROOAAARR!
The fighters used various skills and met the monsters head-on. The best performers were adventurers, who handled these monsters often, but the others were also fighting and doing their best.
It was part of the mercenary and adventurer's oaths to defend their respective territories during disasters like this. It was their duty, and was formulated hundreds of years ago, to prevent desertification.
It was only after they killed a certain number of monsters, which increased as they leveled up, that they were free to hide and recover. If they ran away before the set number of monsters was killed and the Aphelion phase ended like this, they could very well lose their license.
These were all recorded in their status gems, and in case of things like accidents and unavoidable circumstances, then it was up to the panel to judge them.
If anyone deserts, more people would, then would they just let their territory fall? Of course not.
The sound of roars, swords, and metallic sounds echoed all over. This was combined with some explosions as well as the sight of the flashes of skills and the mages' attacks.
It wasn't the first time people had gone through this, so they naturally managed to hold on for a few hours. People wore full equipment and had excess, and even the territory's battlements had built-in shields and corners to cover people as needed.
However, as much experience as people had, and as much preparation as they did, death was simply inevitable against such overwhelming forces.
"AHHHH!"
"HELP!"
"NOOOO!"
In some areas, one or two people fighting in the battlement would fail to avoid a monster's bite or its claw, and then they would get dragged down, to be divided by the monsters.
And in other areas, breaches formed, and several monsters had entered the walls, directly biting people. The damage might be small if the monster was at a lower level, but if it was at the same level, and if the fighter was surrounded and they were unable to defend themselves from the start, then it was a guaranteed injury, if not death.
"AHHH!"
"KILL THEM! KILL THEM!"
Blood continued to splatter all over. Sometimes it was monsters', sometimes it was a person's.
It was a tragedy that happened every time, but people had to keep fighting, right? Otherwise, there would be no place to go.
Each portion of their walls was being attacked continuously by monsters. The monsters didn't feel tired, unlike them, so the monsters could barrage the walls with attacks over and over as if they had endless energy..
The rest of the hundreds of thousands of monsters went past them, as their place was full, heading deeper into the safe zone. Historically speaking, the mobs could go hundreds of kilometers into the safe zone.
Despite this, each territory still had to handle tens of thousands of monsters each, more if they were on the borders, and people just had to continue fighting.
The Aphelion phase typically lasted two to three weeks. Fortunately, the bursts that happened weren't continuous, and most of the succeeding bursts was lesser than the first.
It was much like a broken tailpipe trying to puff out the smoke stuck due to ash, except the 'smoke' was the monsters, and the facemask would be the walls.
It was the same every few years; they would lose thousands of people in a single territory, no matter how much they prepared.
Many people wondered: Would things ever change? When?
…
Meanwhile, at the Wanderer's Refuge, the fight had been ongoing for a few hours now.
Unlike those in the other places, the fighters in the Refuge were much more balanced. It had only been a few hours, and they were alright, balancing their use of skills, which was doable thanks to the barrier.
At this time, the inn (and the extension) was absolutely surrounded by hundreds of thousands of beasts, a portion of which passed by and headed further out to the safe zones.
At this time, there were still tens of thousands completely enveloping them, with more coming, and this amount certainly reduced the burden on the safe zones behind them.
From the sky, one might see the 'dark' scenery created by the monsters, and then the unusual patch of land that the monsters seemed to avoid automatically.
People here also employed various strategies, many of which adjusted according to the barrier, and most of them had been working together even before the aphelion phase.
They had all been through this, but this was the first time they had been on ground level and surrounded so densely that one could not see a gap!
But they held strong. Not to mention, none had been injured yet so far!
It had already been a few hours. How miraculous could this be?