City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Proofread By Thomas F

Ina Knox

“The evacuation is complete,” informed Osward, and it made me relieved but also surprised.

I am not the only one.

“It seemed like those drills have been useful, Governor,” said Maknok. Yes, the evacuation drills turned out to be more valuable than I had thought.

We simulated the fake attack and other emergencies to prepare our people and calculated our response. Every part of the mining operation participated: the miners, supervisors, guards, and army.

We did the drills and fixed our mistakes in each attempt.

It wasn’t my idea. It was from Lord Silver. What I did is that instead of doing it once a month. I did it twice; we suffered some monetary loss, but this time, it saved lives.

The miners had escaped in a record time.

“Any response from Lord Silver?” I asked. To that, she shook her head. He is fighting the monsters that came out in considerable numbers, almost out of nowhere.

We regularly checked the mines with specialists and the Earth Mages for any trouble.

We did it just a week ago, but there was no danger. Now, we have encountered these monsters. It’s not our mages’ fault; Shardmaw are monsters that dig fast.

In a single day, they could dig through an area larger than we could sense through our spells, skills, and wards.

It is hard to detect them unless one is looking when they are digging. Still, after all, this is over. I will look for every mistake we make and fix it.

“How far are the reinforcements?” I asked. “They will reach there in ten minutes,” she replied.

That is too much, but there is nothing I can do about it. I could do other things, and I will do them.

…

Silver

I looked at the claws and felt its power. It couldn’t help but make my heart shudder.

The monster is the most enormous Shardmaw here, with nearly all its scales are grey. There are very few black scales that remain on its body.

This means that it is very close to leveling. Grade V Shardmaws have completely grey scales.

Still, that didn’t stop me from reacting fast.

Graceful Repell appeared before the claw, and I powered it with my aura.

Bam!

It crashed against it hard, and there was no repel. It didn’t affect the monster. The one affected is me, who is nearly flung off the horse because of the shock.

I would have. If not for my training for the past few weeks.

Roar!

The beast bellowed, and a huge Earth Lance materialized in front of its mouth and came at me fast.

I immediately swung my sword toward it with the Blade of The Gale.

Rip!

My rapier ripped through the attack, but that time, the colossal monster appeared to shift surprisingly fast and attacked me.

Bam!

I defended once more and moved to attack it when another lance came.

My rapier ripped through it, but when I moved to attack. It was already attacking me, which I defended with the Graceful Repel.

Once more, it attacked me with Earth Lance when I moved to attack.

‘It is not giving me a chance to attack!’ I thought.

I am restricted when on the beast; I have limited mobility. Besides, half of my focus is on controlling the beast itself with my skill.

The poor guy was terrified. It wants to bolt away from the battle.

I am fighting like a sitting duck. My abilities are suited for ground combat, and the same is true for my weapon; for mounted combat, spears, and sabers are the best weapons, not rapiers.

I have only learned mounted combat because I wanted that skill.

Bam!

I defended once more and made the decision. The next moment, I acted.

I leaped off the beast, dodging the Earth Lance, but the monster reacted instantly and sent another Earth Lance toward me.

It isn’t the only one who attacked. Two more Earth Lances came toward me.

I looked at all three attacks and changed nothing. My rapier is still focused on the most powerful one coming toward me.

Rip!

As it came here, my rapier sliced through. The weapon is impressive. Much smoother and far more powerful than the enchanted weapon I used to have before.

Bam Bam!

The other two attacks landed on the shield before being repelled back towards the monsters, while the most powerful attacked me with its sharp tail.

Most have a small tail, not enough to be used to attack, but this one is close to Grade V. Its tail is growing.

The tail has a sharp end like a blade and thick earth elemental power covering it, making the attack even more powerful.

Clang!

My sword clashed with its tail, making me shake hard. Pain appeared in the monster’s eyes, and cracks appeared on its sharp tail.

It surprised me.

I thought it would slice through the tail, but the monster’s defenses are robust enough to defend against the blade laced with aura.

“Roar!”

It roared angrily and launched another Earth Lance, which I had defended, before landing on the ground.

At that exact moment, it attacked me with its massive claws. That is nearly a meter long.

I wanted to defend with my rapier, but that would be an idiot. The weapon is powerful, and my skills are good. With an aura, they become even more powerful, but still, doing that would be bad.

The raw disparity in physical strength was insurmountable and coupled with the elemental power at play, it made the situation incredibly perilous; it would break my stance and leave me exposed.

I brought Graceful Repel up to block its crushing claws, the weight of its force shaking the air around us. In that split second, I activated Blitz Steps.

Bam!

Its claws collided with the shield, a deafening impact that rattled my bones, but in the same breath, I had already flashed to its left, closing the distance with lightning speed.

Rip!

The monster reacted fast, and it moved while attacking with its tail, but still my attack landed before I dodge the tail with the Blitz Steps.

My eyes widened at what I did.

It might not seem like much, but amazingly, I did it. I powered the Blitz Steps with my aura. It is not just a speed method I used but also Lord’s Eyes and Fast Reflexes, both powered by the aura.

It let me see the monster’s smallest movement and react faster. During an earlier attack, I dodged by inch.

Roar!

It roared, feeling the bloody cut across its body, and attacked with Earth Lance, before swiping at me fast with its claws.

Like before, I brought the Graceful Repel in front of the claws and appeared to the side with the attack.

Bam Rip!

The monster seemed to learn from that and tried to dodge, but it wasn’t fast enough, and I was able to bring another cut on its body.

It didn’t land as deeply as I wanted, but it drew blood.

Bam, Rip Bam!

It attacked me again, and I defended before attacking it. Seconds passed, and more cuts appeared on its body, but not a single one was able to go deep enough to be life-threatening.

Its vitality was such that most of them had already started healing.

There was no reduction in its strength.

I could keep fighting, but the longer this drags on, the more my people suffer. Monsters are tearing into them from all sides. The sooner I end this, the sooner I can turn the tide and join the fight to protect them. Time is slipping away, and every second counts.

Roar!

Just as the thought crossed my mind, the monster let out a deafening roar. In the next instant, I sensed two attacks coming from behind.

It wasn’t just a claw—it struck with the force of a lance, aiming straight for me.

I parried one with and dodged the other, just as it shot past me and pierced the creature not far away. A quick exhale of relief escaped me. Hun!

A grin tugged at my lips, but it faded the moment I saw them. Two elder Grade IV monsters were charging toward me.

“Fuck!” I cursed under my breath. This was bad. The monster had known its position, and now it had called for backup.

Roar!

All three of them roared as they launched an attack with Earth Lances before coming at me with claws.

Bam!

I stopped the massive Grade IV with the Graceful Repel before moving to dodge the Earth Lances and the claws of the two monsters.

I pushed as much aura as possible in the Blitz Steps, Lord’s Eyes, and Fast Reflexes.

Given their strength, it had become very dangerous for me. I could not afford to have their attacks land on me because a single direct hit would be game over.

Rip!

I dodged the attack, claws, and lances before splitting the other into two and again using the Graceful Repel to stop the leader.

It is my focus and the one I have to kill. Once I finish it, the other two won’t be a problem for me.

Rip!

I was thinking that when its broken tail cut me across the shoulder.

I tried to dodge, but I was dodging so many things. I decided to take the attack and covered the place with an aura right before the tail struck to protect against the elemental power.

It would have been bad if it had entered inside me.

They attacked again, and I moved once more. Pushing even more aura into my skill.

Against one, I was only slightly worried, but now it is the battle of life and death for me, and I have to win. It is the only way I would survive.

Rip, Bam, Rip!

I dodged and defended the attacks but also got grazed by one. It’s either the tail or the Earth Lances.

I never played around with the claws. I either dodged them or defended with the Graceful Repel. Any other way is too dangerous.

Seconds passed, and cuts appeared on several parts of my body, with the latest being on my neck.

The three swamped me, attacking me every moment without a moment of break. It is hard, but things are slowly improving as I understand their pattern.

Seconds passed, and finally, I decided to make a move.

I used my speed skills and moved toward the leader directly, avoiding the lances and claws by inches. I used the Graceful Repell to defend against it before I appeared on the spot and brought down my sword.

The monster reacted fast, with a tail coming at my head. This time, I didn’t move to dodge. Instead, I only bent my neck back, avoiding the tail by a centimeter.

Rip!

At that very moment, my sword cut across its back. Giving it a deep cut but retreating in a zigzag, avoiding the claws and Earth Lances.

Roar!

The monster roared and attacked in fury, but there was less fear this time than before.

My movement became confident as I dodged the monster’s attack. By inches to centimeters before appearing beside the leader and giving another cut.

Seconds passed, and I gave it more and more cuts, some lighter and deeper, but not a single one at its fat spot; the monster is careful.

It was when I saw something. One of the underling is coming from the other side.

Seeing that, I didn’t waste any time and moved, dodging and defending the attack before appearing in front of the leader right when it was underling right behind it.

Roar!

The leader roared joyfully as it moved its colossal mouth to chomp on me at incredible speed.

Seeing that, I brought the sword forward.

Bam!

It reached me instantly and was about to chomp down when it clashed against the Graceful Repel, and its eyes widened. Even the monster understood what was going to happen.

I had never used the Graceful Repel against its mouth. So, it wasn’t guarded against it.

My rapier thrust forward while it tried to dodge. Crashing against its underling behind it, giving my rapier a chance to reach its eye.

Puch!

It closed its eyes, but that didn’t stop my sword from piercing through the left one.

Bam!

At that exact moment, I had brought Graceful Repel to my left. Expanding it to defend against its underling, which came at me in fury.

The Graceful Repel was the key. It only stayed on it for a fraction of a second, till its mouth crashed against it, before I moved to my left, faster than I had ever done.

So, if the leader had tried to chomp at me again, it would have been able to since the Graceful Repel was not there, but it did not.

It thought the force field would be there, but I moved it, right after it crashed against it. I needed to defend against the second monster.

It was a significant risk, but it had worked.

I saw the shine disappearing from its remaining eye, so I withdrew my rapier and turned to its underling on my left, which was looking at me in shock and fury.

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