The 600-plus members of the three orders started positioning as per the command of Ruthven, the commander of the whole unified force as Edward resorted to all possible means just to decline the offer of making him lead this time around.

  In order to see through the whole battlefield clearly, Ruthven stayed at the top of the tower to accompany the lookouts. Edward, the neophyte head, stayed at the top of the walls to lead the archers. The Head priest and his followers were currently on standby as they would only go to the scene to treat the wounded and injured. The combined forces waited for the monsters to finally close the distance before they set off the brunt of their counter assaults.

  For not too long, the series of monsters they anticipated showed their heads out of the thick forest. As previously told by the lookouts, they were in a very gradual parade. There were at least about 30 D-ranked minotaurs and 200+ E-ranked snakes. The forest near the great walls was all covered with dark smoke as some of them were emitting a kind of miasma out of their bodies.

  Since most of the monster battles happened here, the barricades that had been built a year was still working. And this proffered a slight advantage to them because the enemies' movement would at least be temporarily slackened.

  "All men, get your asses ready! Here they come!" Ruthven, upon seeing the monsters doubling the speed of their advancement, called on the troops to brace themselves for the imminent assault. "As always, don't disrupt the formation! Now, go! To victory!"

  """ To victory! Raahhhh!"""

  Even in midst of anxiety and fear upon looking at the violent and brutish monsters approaching, the troops' yell reverberated in the whole battleground. Despite the danger that stood on their way, their morale never wavered; after all, this fight was aimed to protect the most important people in their lives who were currently taking shelter in the city. Like any other monster battles in the past, this was a do-or-die situation for them. Good thing was they were aware of it but chose to engage anyway.

  Using mostly the same strategy, each E-ranked snake would be dealt with four persons. The powerful D-ranked minotaurs, which a single sway of their long, hard, and sharp limbs could rip the flesh out of the soldiers, would be dealt by all the archers at the top. For Ruthven, this was the best course of action knowing that, strength-wise, they were clearly overpowered. He needed to allot the proper distribution of personnel that would guarantee him the best possible results. To wit: (1) less fatalities on the troops; (2) less damages on the weapons and other paraphernalia; and (3) protracted battle, enough for all the evacuation be done and reinforcements to arrive, if any."

  "L-Lord Ruthven, bad news, six of our men have already been taken in just five minutes!" His close aid named Bascon, whom he trusted the most, reported to him while pointing down at the six men lying on the ground. Along with them were four E-ranked snakes bathing with blood.

  "Lord Ruthven! What should we do!?" Edward ran toward him from the archery station. He was sweating very hard. "Our soldiers are not strong enough for the snakes! And the scales of the minotaurs are so hard that not even our improvised arrows could even scratch them!"

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "Lord Edward, calm down. I can see that… However, this is just too suspicious…"

  "What do you mean, Sir…?"

  Normally, after killing the members of the troops, instinctively devouring their fallen bodies whole should have been the first thing in the minds of the chimeric snakes. Nonetheless, Ruthven was addled. Instead of following their urges and bestial demands, they just ignored everything in front of them and began advancing toward the other side of the barricade. It was as if their inherent will was curtailed and that they were only following a single predetermined goal or aim in mind.

  "Lord Edward, I think it's confirmed. These monsters are controlled by someone…"

  "But if that's the case, then who could've controlled such powerful monsters at the same time? Wait…!" A strange chill struck his spine when he thought something just ominous. "Don't tell me… are we up against a subjugation skill user this time…?"

  "That's right. That's my suspicion. Only a full-pledged subjugator skill can ever pull off such a great feat…"

  "No way…! If my memory serves me right, a skill user adept in subjugating E-rank and D-rank monsters must be at least C-rank himself in order to pull off the task."

  "Yes. In other words, our unknown enemy is a city threat. He has the capability of turning this whole county into some chaotic place…"

  In the present system, governments around the world followed the "Alexandrian Threat System" which tried to generally classify monsters or individuals into levels or ranks. These are the following:

  (1) G-rank or Animal or Livestock Threat (IV 10-100 mag). These were common monsters or beasts that could threaten domesticated and livestock animals but were not necessarily dangerous to a human life as the latter already had the knowledge to fend them off.

  (2) F-rank or Human Life Threat (IV 101-500 mag). These monsters had enough strength to take away a human life.

  (3) E-rank or Community Threat (IV 501-1,000). These monsters had enough strength to threaten a group of people but not the whole village.

  (4) D-rank or Village Threat (IV level 1,001-3,000 mag). This meant that a monster could threaten the existence of a single village.

  (5) C-ranked or City Threat (IV level 3,001-5,000). The monster can expunge a whole city or threaten its existence.

  (6) B-rank or Aristocratic Territory Threat (IV 5,001-15,000 mag). This meant that a monster can threaten the existence of a whole noble or aristocratic domain.

  (7) A-rank or Nation Threat (IV 15,001-30,000 mag). This meant that a monster can threaten the existence of a whole nation; lastly,

  (8) S-rank or Multinational Threat (IV level 30,001 mag or over). This meant that a monster can threaten the existence of the whole continent. So far, the most famous beings that could be classified in this level were the 6 Great Czars, the Triumvirate Saints in the past, and the former Demon Lords. So far, in the past millennium, no one ever become qualified to be ranked at this level by the system.