Goblins were a species of monsters that likely shared a common origin with ogres and orcs, according to my memories of FLOW's lore book. Unlike orcs who developed into being a welcomed people renown for their strength and ferocity in Shin, goblins seemed to never make that great leap into joining civilization. On the contrary, they and ogres seemed more to content to remain a destructive sorts. They delighted in the joy of visceral battle over peaceful co-existence, waging wars among themselves when not attacking others. Though that wasn't to say that there could be exceptions or special cases where odd cases emerged.

  There had been a rather funny side quest featuring a goblin building their little airship. I had liked that.

  But I could tell these ones definitely weren't interested in a zany adventure. Given their equipment, they seemed more like a raiding party than whacky collaborators. The fact some of them were riding dire wolves- mutated monstrous versions of their natural cousins- only added to that. I definitely couldn't outrun those if they started chasing me.

  Good thing then that they completely marched by my manor, completely ignoring the two dolls staring and daring them to step past the outer wall.

  It looked like my ward bricks were working, and quite well at that! They gave my territory a wide berth, compelled by the magic to ignore my home, and instead marched further east. It gave me a chance to study the composition of this monster army, eyebrows raising at both the variety and organization.

  There were massive ogres clad in their heavy plate, dragging along clubs. Shock troopers, I think.

  Skeletons in tattered and faded gear, with bows that still were somehow strung up. Archers, absolutely.

  The goblins made up for the bulk of the forces otherwise, with both on-foot and mounted varieties. And given how many wore fancy headdress, likely leadership too.

  That was what got me the most: this was quite a bit of monster variety. They were also cooperating a bit too eerily smoothly with no confusion or in-fighting, indicating a pretty cohesive command structure. Which meant somebody, or rather, something was compelling them to work together.

  Given the deep woods then, I realized what I was working with and couldn't help smiling. Oh, this was both a problem...and a blessing. Because the source was likely something quite familiar to any player of FLOW.

  A dungeon.

  In the world of Shin, dungeons were a quite curious existence. They appeared randomly in the world for a brief period before vanishing, luring players into their depths with the allure of fantastic treasure at the very bottom. However, according to the lore books, this had actually all been a ploy by the evil gods to gather power through baiting powerful individuals- adventures- into their doom for which their bodies would be harvested for power.

  I mean, given that they did summon the raid bosses into existence with Harbinger, I couldn't say it didn't work. But like every player then, all we had seen was that shiny treasure.

  And all I cared about now was the monsters I could harvest from dungeons!

  Ogres blood could be used to make powerful healing potions, more so than what an ordinary health potion could fix. Goblins couldn't be turned into anything good but usually were a nice source of gold farming, especially in bulk. The dire wolves they rode were definitely more valuable and I'd love to get that luscious fur. And the skeletons...

  Eh, free bones. I'll take them.

  Dungeons also had a reactive element to them where they would regularly send out monsters to raid nearby homes and settlements as part of the agenda to sow chaos across the land. A monster tide, they called it. That was how the developers had both discouraged but also rewarded players bold enough to setup encampments near them, presumably to farm instead of clearing. With the building system, it curiously turned the game almost more into a settlement defense game than an MMO. I think that was what Ironfist had even done, being such a frothing addict for siege warfare that he built his hold over a hell dungeon.

  I wasn't as keen, but I wouldn't complain if it meant I got free materials! But something did nag at me that I did have to acknowledge.

  My manor should definitely not be in the aggro range of a dungeon. It was some ways off from the deep woods, more so than what I remember the actual danger zone being. Maybe I was mistaken, but the fact they continued marching east reminded me that there existed an entire fortress city whose purpose was literally to repel these attacks. Yet surely that couldn't be in range either, unless this was-

  No. Absolutely no way. Please don't bring that wickedness here.

  I shoved that thought out of my head, praying that was just me overthinking, and just checked back on my bird scouts. Ah, it looked like they were also marching east for...some reason. Were they targeting those nomadic peoples? But at this distance again-

  Okay, slight panic returning, but keep frantically ignoring and denying until I had actual proof, which I could have soon.

  All I needed to do was wait for them to attack the city, and I would know for sure then. What, did you think I would sally out and attack with just my two dolls? No way, I was outnumbered. Time to sit back and watch the show from afar.

  I ignored the very angry voice from within that sounded a certain member of Lighthouse at this selfishness, and instead paid close attention as the monster tide approached the great wall.

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  Teodor exhaled, feeling miserably cold at the top of the walls. The snowstorm was in full effect so any small fires lit would be swiftly extinguished. It was a good thing, as that meant Lady Vio didn't need to perform ritual magic to block the sun, nor would any large fires from the battle catch on to destroy the buildings in the city.

  It also was a bad thing as it strongly hampered the wall's greatest defenses, their siege weapons. Range would only be limited to whatever they saw, which wasn't very far. But everybody could hear them coming.

  The march of stomping feet. The chanting of a guttural tongue. The drums of a war host that cared only for ruin.

  The tide was almost here.

  He sucked in another breath and turned, almost instinctively looking for his father only to remember the duke had decided to take command of a quick response force instead of the overall battle. That had fallen to him today, a last minute change in assignment that surprised many including his own son. But Duke Gregori was insistent that this was a chance for his son to experience the full breadth of command- that he was ready.

  Deep down, Teodor wondered if it was because his later older brother had been in one of those quick responses last time.

  "Right, we've stood by long enough," he muttered before raising his voice. "Ready projectiles!"

  Movement exploded across the wall as all rushed to heed the command. The siege crews heaved, pulling the thick and heavy cord into place while placing the thick stakes topped with crude iron into the grooves. Meanwhile the wall guards strung their bows and plucked arrows from barrels of arrows placed on the battlements. None used quivers, because they would run out too quickly.

  And all had another weapon, be it sword, ax, or hammer, if it was to be a close fight.

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  They were all nervous, the heir of the duchy could tell. Probably himself included. Maybe it was just the cold, some would claim, but he thought it more likely the chill of the coming tide likely. And this wait, it was excruciating as the enemy likely advanced unhindered, covered by the weather. He needed to boost their morale.

  Time to use a precious skill.

  "Soldiers of House Cordis!" he began, shouting over the noise. "Today, we uphold our sacred duty. Today, we show to the empire that we are what keeps them safe at night. And you will prove to your families you've the courage and heart to stand for all held dear by the Ten Lights above!

  "I know you are frightened. Scared, even. Though I reckon you lot are also quite cold!" he added, earning some rueful chuckles and laughs. "So what's say you that we all drink a broth of courage now, and be drinking liquid gold later in the taverns later! Give me your [Rallying Cry]!"

  The skill washed over those closest to Teodor, engulfing his part of the wall totally to give them indomitable bravery in that moment. The mood was infectious and spread across the wall, even those furthest away giving a weak grin in that moment. It cooled swiftly soon, but now hopefully everybody could withstand the additional wait now. A fair trade for the bout of tiredness the man felt from using the skill.

  Then he saw it. A looming shadow, approaching through the snowstorm. Teodor didn't hesitate gesticulating wildly. "There! There!" he shouted, drawing the soldier's attentions to the shape appearing below. "Take aim! Hold!"

  Archers pulled back their bows and artillery crews brought their machines awkwardly down, all focusing at the revealed threat. A moment later and they saw it, the ogre lumbering forward with a roar.

  Teodor brought his hand down, eyes burning with purpose. "Fire!" he bellowed and was met with the cries from his troops as they obeyed.

  Arrows flew, and too many impacted against the protective plate. Only a few managed to pierce through, even fewer even likely piercing that thick hide. The shooters who aimed for the exposed skin had more success, able to make the ogre bellow in pain. Then the siege machines fired, launching their payloads at the fearsome monster. Frustratingly many of the bolts also impacted and then bounced off, unable to pierce through either the armor or skin.

  But what did get through was apparently enough to do the job, especially when one penetrated the skull. The ogre slumped, and began to crumble into dust which incited a loud round of cheers from the defenders who then drew first blood. But that soon turned into cries of panic when a wave of arrows came arcing up to fall upon the wall.

  Teodor ducked behind a battlement, helmet luckily bouncing an arrow off his head. The orc next to him hadn't been lucky and fell back screaming from the projectile lodged in their eye. "Take over! Try to counter-snipe their archers!" he yelled, but panic was spreading while casualties mounted. Only those closest who had been affected by [Rallying Cry] remained cooled and focused, remembering the marksmanship drilled into them as they began to fire at the distant enemies.

  He cursed and pushed himself back to his feet. "Hold your ground, hold! Remember your oaths! Fire!"

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  With the majority of attention surely on the impending battle, surely I could now take a closer peak at thing with my bird scout. I would have to anyway with how bad this snowstorm was getting. Again, I felt a tug of guilt at the sight of all these soldiers standing on the top of the battlements with ragged cloaks that likely didn't have any heating runes on them. Goodness, they must be so cold and my hands twitched in wanting to knit them all something.

  Then I caught sight of their mounted siege weapons and somewhere out there, Ironfist was surely clasping at his chest from a horror-induced heart attack. Because they had this big grand wall, plenty of space to put some cannons and then some, and what do they install instead?

  Scorpions, that upsized crossbow. Not even their larger counterpart, ballistas. Nope, something that actually only reached my own diminutive height.

  ...Okay, I'll give them some benefit of doubt. Maybe they more effective than a catapult considering it's a pretty large open stretch of plain to the wall. So prioritizing accuracy could work, I guess. But I think if they were facing any sort of horde, surely a weapon with larger area of effect should- oh gods they were hand pulling them. They had entire teams for them

  They didn't use gears to let just a single fellow crank it.

  What a waste of manpower to assign an entire crew for such a lackluster weapon. But that was probably applicable to everything I saw, including the very simple bows being used by the defenders.

  Longbow? Recurve bow? What're those, says this place? Because all they had were only maybe the size of their upper body, something that surely couldn't have much power behind each draw. I think they'd actually be game bows, given how their size likely wasn't a hindrance to trying to sneak through a forest. But for actual battle, I would be very surprised if they could penetrate any sort of protection reliably.

  Then the figure with the most of armor gave a speech and I listened in. It...actually didn't sound too bad, I could see it playing in a cutscene before a big siege event happened back in FLOW. I'll give ya points there! Then I heard him trigger the skill and took special interest. I mean, I knew spells were likely a thing after picking up a [Detect] cast, but to see skills also survive now, that was handy information.

  [Rallying Cry], in my memory, was a martial class skill that a lot of party leaders picked up to give their allies a brief stat boost for fight. Like all things, it scaled off the user so when I noticed the range and seeming potency was quite low, I knew that it meant the people here couldn't be very high ranked. Maybe about the equivalent of a beginner player who's only clocked a few dozen hours in the game.

  The ogre that appeared would be a great metric to confirm my suspicions. It was an uncommon mob to run into, characterized primarily by being slow but with high offense and defense. So killing it at range was definitely the best answer-

  Why are they struggling.

  Why are they failing to penetrate that rusty plate.

  Why are they failing to penetrate just its very skin!

  "Gods above," I whispered, slightly perturbed by seeing how even the scorpions failed to reliably down it. Only a critical hit, a headshot, finally did the trick. "You can't be serious!"

  Those very same ogres were repelled by my ward brick and didn't even try to overcome the magic. Meaning that they measured in maybe...forties? Fifties? Surely no higher than sixty. That was borderline launch day content on FLOW!

  And these people were struggling?!

  Then the ogre disappeared into dust and I viscerally gagged, my suspicions confirmed. Because normally, monsters would leave a body that sticks around to be harvested for resources or used as proof for a kill. For them to disappear was an unusual interaction...unless purposefully designed that way.

  Or rather, patched so because the new developers had been a clueless bunch that flailed wildly about, ruining FLOW.

  I wasn't dealing with just a dungeon.

  I was dealing with a cash shop dungeon.

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