The NPC man burst into the room shouting that monsters were coming and they needed to get up NOW, his voice cracking with panic.

A system notification appeared above his head in green text: [CAPTAIN ALDRIC - VILLAGE GUARD COMMANDER].

The team scrambled out of bed in confusion, disoriented by their surroundings. They were in a medieval village room with stone walls and wooden floor, and through the single window they could see early morning light filtering in. Outside, screaming echoed through the air along with combat sounds and something massive hitting wood repeatedly with thunderous impacts.

The System chimed in their vision.

[FLOOR 5 — SUBJUGATION MISSION]

[OBJECTIVE: ELIMINATE ALL HOSTILE ENTITIES]

[ENEMY COUNT: 500]

[PROGRESS: 0/500]

[TIME ELAPSED: 00:00]

The timer started counting up while they stared at the numbers.

Finn pulled his B-rank armor from his System inventory and the black metal materialized over his body in sections, covering him from head to toe. The others followed his lead, grabbing their new gear from storage while trying to process what was happening. James equipped his B-rank leather armor and drew his sword, the weight familiar in his hand. Kael summoned his staff and the wood appeared in his hands with a flash of light. Aria grabbed her Windpiercer spear and spun it once to test the balance. Elliot nocked an arrow in his Frostcaller’s Arc with shaking hands.

Captain Aldric gestured wildly toward the door, his face pale with fear. "They’re at the gates! Move now or we’re all dead!"

Finn pushed past him and ran outside without waiting for the others. The team followed close behind, their boots hitting stone as they rushed into the morning air. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

They emerged into a medieval village that spread out before them with maybe two hundred buildings scattered across dirt roads. Thatched roofs covered most structures, wooden walls separated properties, and smoke rose from morning fires that people had lit before the attack began. The village was surrounded by a wooden palisade wall that stood fifteen feet tall and was reinforced with iron bands running horizontally across the timber. At the far end, the main gates shook violently from something massive slamming into them from outside, and with each impact the wood splintered while metal groaned under the tremendous strain.

NPC soldiers were everywhere around them, maybe two hundred men rushing toward the gates with swords and spears and shields gripped in white-knuckled hands. They wore leather and chainmail armor that looked worn from use, carried iron weapons that had seen better days, and had terrified expressions on their faces that said they knew what was coming. Captain Aldric was shouting orders at them in a hoarse voice, trying desperately to organize a defense line before it was too late.

The team could see over the walls to the field beyond, and what they saw made James’s stomach drop.

Five hundred monsters massed outside the gates in a seething horde.

Goblins were short and vicious with crude weapons clutched in their clawed hands, their red eyes gleaming with bloodlust. Dire wolves stood the size of horses with fangs as long as daggers that dripped with saliva. Venomous spiders were as big as carts, crawling over each other with legs that scraped against stone and made horrible clicking sounds. All of them were attacking at once instead of in waves, and the entire horde charged the gates simultaneously like a living tide of death.

The gates exploded inward with a sound like thunder.

Wood and metal shrapnel flew through the air like deadly projectiles, and the monster horde poured through the breach like water bursting through a broken dam. Goblins screamed in high-pitched voices, wolves howled with rage, spiders screeched in a sound that made James’s ears ring. The noise was deafening and chaotic.

The NPC soldiers at the gate tried to form a shield wall to hold back the tide, but the sheer mass of monsters crushed their formation within seconds. Bodies flew backward through the air, blood sprayed across the dirt in arterial arcs, and men screamed as claws and fangs tore them apart.

Finn didn’t wait to see what happened next.

He charged straight into the breach with his berserker class activating in a surge of power, and his B-rank battleaxe cleaved through the first goblin from shoulder to hip in a spray of dark blood. The second goblin lunged at him with a rusty blade and he caught it mid-air with his axe, but the impact jarred his arms more than he expected and he had to plant his feet to absorb the force. He cut the creature in half and immediately spun to face the next threat. The third goblin tried to dodge to the side but Finn’s follow-through caught it in the neck, though the blade stuck in bone for a moment and he had to wrench it free.

[GOBLIN DEFEATED]

[+50 XP]

[GOBLIN DEFEATED]

[+50 XP]

[GOBLIN DEFEATED]

[+50 XP]

A goblin blade slashed across his exposed calf where the armor plates didn’t cover, cutting deep into muscle. Finn grunted and kicked the goblin away before splitting its skull with his axe.

Kael planted his staff in the ground twenty feet behind Finn’s position, and totems erupted around him in a circle while glowing with healing aura that washed over the nearby NPC soldiers. He activated his support abilities and his tribal tattoos started glowing with spiritual energy that flowed outward in visible waves. Three goblins broke through the line and rushed him directly. He swung his staff at the first one but missed because it ducked under the swing, and its clawed hand raked across his forearm before an NPC soldier tackled it from the side. Blood ran down Kael’s arm but he gritted his teeth and slammed his staff into the second goblin’s chest, caving in its ribs.

Aria darted forward with her new spear moving fast in practiced patterns. She killed a goblin with a thrust through its throat, but when she tried to pull the spear free it caught on bone and stuck for a crucial second. A second goblin’s blade came at her face and she barely jerked her head to the side in time, feeling the wind of the blade pass her cheek. She abandoned the stuck spear, rolled backward, grabbed it again and wrenched it free just as a third goblin charged. Her counter-thrust caught it in the heart.

[GOBLIN DEFEATED]

[+50 XP]

[GOBLIN DEFEATED]

[+50 XP]

Her thigh burned where something had cut her during the roll, but she didn’t have time to check how bad it was.

Elliot climbed onto the wall ramparts above the battle and started firing ice arrows from his Frostcaller’s Arc. His first shot missed completely because his hands were shaking, and he cursed under his breath. The second arrow froze a goblin solid, but before he could celebrate, a spider leg crashed into the wall section next to him and he nearly fell off the ramparts. He caught himself, nocked another arrow with trembling fingers, and forced himself to breathe slowly while aiming.

[GOBLIN DEFEATED]

[+50 XP]

James hung back for three seconds while analyzing the battle unfolding before him. The horde was massive beyond anything he’d expected, with five hundred monsters total according to the System counter that ticked in his vision. This wasn’t a fight they could win through skill alone.

He raised his hand and targeted the nearest dead NPC soldier lying crumpled near the gate. Dark energy flowed from his palm into the corpse in a visible stream, and the body twitched once before it rose as a crude undead warrior that still wore its armor and held its sword. James summoned three more until his contract slots were filled with skeletal warriors. He commanded them forward and they charged into the horde.