The night dragged on, as the first, second, and then finally third attack groups gathered and threw themselves at our defenses. Some of the houses on the outer edges of the city were smashed, not by the monsters, but by the adventurers at my orders. I apologized, silently, to those who lived here, since this was not how their homes should have been used, but we needed barriers and defenses to survive this onslaught.

Naofumi passed out potions, I did my best to keep boosts on the more far flung bits of our lines, and also provided overwatch and tactical support, learning how to make certain enemies 'shine' in my view, which drew attention to them. More than once this allowed me to warn one of the defenders about a hidden squirrel or penguin, that thought itself stealth incarnate, only to be shocked as it was plunged through by a great sword, or pepper with arrows until it fell.

Yet on they came. Their numbers were not endless, but they did their best to act like it. Each wave of them threw themselves against us, and blunting each advance cost us more and more, forcing us to spread ourselves thinner and thinner. At many points, I actually considered just evacuating the town and letting them have it, but not only would that be a terrible loss for the Kingdom, but the effects of this event were visible in the adventurers around us.

The double EXP event of the island chain was something that was celebrated, and this? This was like doubling the double. In only a few hours, almost all of the adventurers had gone up a level, sometimes multiple, as they didn't have to spend time hunting down their prey, they were coming straight for them. Mix that in with just how many there were in the hordes, and this was a massive power boost for everyone here.

I actually have to consider that, if this keeps up through the night, we could probably get a few up to the first level cap, and perhaps we should arrange for a Hero to escort a group to the underwater Hourglass. However, that thought is banished by the sound of a bell, and the end of first watch, my body finally deflating from all the effort I'd been putting in, as with a short lull in the battle, I call Naofumi back, and get the Count to start rousing the second rotation of adventurers.

Ren and Welts were soon up and about, chatting with us. Briefly, Naofumi wondered which of the two of us should take the middle shift to sleep, which I said I would. That would give the middle shift access to Ren's Minimap, and the third access to my (Void Gaze) and Minimap at the same time, which meant that we'd have an overwatch in all three sections, and finish out with both, just in case the monsters decided to get more violent just before the Wave event in the morning.

He accepted that, but insisted that Filo and Raphtalia rest for now. If he needed them, he'd wake them up. It was, in fact, my person whom he was concerned about, and that was obvious, given he, Ren, and the two girls insisted I sleep in the room with the other 'civilians'. I'd be safe there. I would have objected harder, but I was too tired, and with the Count's help, I was taken to a finely furnished, and jam-packed room, with the two Shield Hero party members waiting outside.

I dozed off then. Not quite sleeping, but enough that I was not going to pass out when they woke me up later. My mind was allowed to wander, and I had the plan I was preparing going over in my head. Ray and Lucia would pull through, I knew it, they'd bring all the forces they could to bear, and with Motoyasu and the Princess, I saw little reason for them to fail. So it all came down to my idea working.

Everything I knew said it would…but I was guessing at some of it, and that was a problem for me. I wished, not for the first time, that I had access to a wiki for this place. A storehouse of knowledge, assembled one action at a time. But the book of history in the religious tomes was lacking, while the actual histories I'd read and found were spotty at best, sometimes incomplete in ways that seemed deliberate, like someone was hiding something.

That train of thought was derailed by the sound of the door opening, getting me out of my doze, as Raphtalia got me to come out. The second shift was up, and we were on to the third in a few minutes. Getting up, I stretched, and followed the tanuki woman out of the room, finding the halls outside lined with adventurers, as well as Filo, whom Raphtalia said to allow to sleep for now, she'd be with us for the final defense instead.

Luckily the second shift had fewer problems. Only two probing attacks, and with Naofumi's assistance Ren and Welts helping, those had proven to be easily blunted, scattering the enemy before the Sword Hero drove himself in, which made me realize that our bonus, the bonus to Hero EXP, was still in effect too. I hadn't seen that before, since Naofumi had spoken about it, and I'd avoided most combat during the first shift, but Ren was pleased with it, especially when I mentioned his level was approaching King Aultcray's, meaning he was the strongest of us all at this point.

The third shift began a few minutes later, before Naofumi had even exited the field, as another swarm approached. Not a mixture of types this time either, instead slimes and balloons only, of a variety of colors and thus a variety of threat levels. Worse, they were hard to tell apart in color with my (Void Gaze), almost like someone had planned it to make these weak monsters into a threat we'd have to adapt to.

Not that it availed them much, as Ren, Raphtalia, and Welts were just as vicious to the horde as before, and the final shift of adventurers had had the most rest, their weapons sharpened with my boosts, and their bodies recovered enough that even without Naofumi's potions, they tore into the mass of low-tier mobs, felling them to a blob in only a few minutes, and letting us retire for a moment to positions, getting even more rest.

An hour later, another horde, this one even smaller, dealt with just as easily. Finally, a third at half to the second and final hour of the shift, making me wonder if this was simply them pettering out right at the end, or perhaps some kind of trick. The answer, as it turned out, was a bit of a mixture, as the final assault of the night came not in the form of slimes and balloons, or even penguins, squirrels, dogs, and rabbits, but instead in the winged horror of a dragon.

Well, in actuality, it was a wyvern, having hindlegs and winged forelimbs, but it was enough to make everyone scream the word dragon, as it sailed over our defenses, and plowed into the back of the opposite line, scattering adventurers from there, before taking off again, making Ren cry out in frustration, as he held his sword aloft, called on some kind of lightning attack I'd never seen before, and then watching as the creature curled itself up, and then 'spun' out of the way of it.

This action shocked Ren enough that had Welts not been close enough to raise a stone wall, he might have found himself battered by the creature, but it was driven off by the sudden defense, and turned back to the sky, a few arrows and various blast of magic pelting its hide, but doing little in the way of damage from what I could see as it wheeled around for another pass, showing off that it could strike with impunity, and was going to do so at the thing in the center of our defenses, the Count's estate.

It didn't take much to see that this was a targeted attack. No beast or unthinking creature would go after such, and while some monsters had shown rudimentary tactics, this was far beyond that. This creature, like some I'd seen in the sealed places the Guild kept watch, was a thinking being of sorts, and it was here to cause us the most damage it could in the least amount of time and effort.

That…that had disturbing implications, especially since I didn't remember anything being said about this species somehow being native to the islands, though my memory told me it wouldn't have been out of the question for this thing to have simply been hiding somewhere, picking off lone adventurers or travelers to feed itself, and just being a local ghost story I'd never bothered hearing.

Instantly I moved, a thought told Welts what to do, while appearing behind Ren, and we waited, just a second, watching the creature move itself, the wings flaring like a parachute, the leathery skin rippling in the air rushing past it, as its hindlegs pointed straight down into the earth, the sharp tips ready to tear through the meager walls of the building that was its target, ignoring the slings and arrows sent its way, even as a few left deep marks on its hide thanks to the added momentum of its descent.

The moment it was in range, I used (Blink) to send Ren and myself into the things path, the damage done, and its own weight working against it, even as it tried that 'curling into a cylinder and rolling' trick that had let it dodge Ren the first time. This time, the Sword Hero was able to hit it directly, chopping off a wing, and causing it to spiral towards the Count's manor, only being stopped as Welts used his magic to raise more earth up, with Ren using his skill to make the magic user stronger.

He still struggled to hold the earth barrier in place, but after a few second of clawing at the dirt, the wyvern slid down, right into the middle of a pack of adventurers, and this time, they were more than a match for it, as missing a limb left it unable to maneuver or defend itself. When it was done, with my bringing us back to the ground, I sighed in relief, and quickly sent out a pulse to look around, but found no enemies nearby, a fact confirmed by Ren's Minimap.

We gathered everyone together, the corpse of the enemy 'dusting' the moment it was dead again, which confirmed my suspicions that it was not, in fact, native to the island in any way. This creature had been created. How or why was a question, but rather than bringing it up, I ordered everyone back into positions, just in case the monsters decided to launch some final attack, at this eleventh hour.

Luckily, nothing came, and as Ren informed me we had one hour remaining until his clock counted down, we started everyone rousing, giving them time to prepare. It took a while, but at thirty minutes to go, everyone was up, armed, and ready for whatever might come our way, with Naofumi and his party, along with the Princess, being disappointed they'd missed the fight with a dragon.

The moment Ren asked the question all of us were thinking, where the ships with our reinforcements were, there was a sudden surge on the water, and looking out, we saw a ripple in the air, Lucia having opened a gate that connected the oceans here with ones closer to the coast. She even had the other end of the gate just a bit higher than this end, so the flow of the water helped bring the four vessels to us.

Each one was as big, if not bigger, than the Soul Eater Arc we'd fought the last boss on, and the deck seemed to be crammed full of people, in three of them mostly a mixture of outfits ranging from armor to robes, while one, with the flag of Melromarc flying on its mast, being a complete line of knights. At the helm, I spotted King Aultcray and Queen Mirellia, the former in his black armor, the latter in a set herself. It seemed the Royals would be joining our battle.