"A Monster Outbreak?"

"Yes. A Monster Outbreak, but not a natural one. This one is clearly premeditated, and the strength of the Monsters far surpassed their normal strength."

Boris took Lux to his Guild office to explain to him the current problem they were facing.

"It all started a week ago," Boris explained. "At first, the adventurers had sighted Stone Clawed Rats more than usual roaming around the forests from the North. We didn't think much of this back then because the Northern Forest was their natural habitat. However, four days ago, things changed.

"On the night of the New Moon, the Rat Monsters attacked us, which caught us completely by surprise. They only numbered around three hundred at most, but all of them had the strength of Rank 4 Monsters, which was completely unheard of.

"At most, Stone Clawed Rats are only rank 2 Monsters, so they aren't much of a threat to adventurers. But the ones we faced were of a different breed. Glowing red veins covered their entire bodies, giving them strength that far surpassed their normal strength.

"We didn't have that many Grade A Apostles in town, but we did have ten Initiates, including myself, so we managed to fend them off. After we killed all the Monsters, we thought that it was the last of them. Unfortunately, we were wrong.

"Everyday, we were attacked by Stone Clawed Rats, and with every wave, their numbers have grown. Two of our Initiates died a day ago, and two more were injured. I am afraid that if those Monster Rats attack us tonight... Bradford Town is finished."

After hearing his tale, Lux now understood why Boris gave him a pitiful gaze after reading Guthram's letter. Clearly, the Half-Elf had indeed gotten the short end of the stick, and was involved in a very big problem that he didn't ask for.

"So, what's the plan?" Lux asked.

He had traveled all through the night, and frankly, he was still exhausted from his journey. However, after hearing that he might be facing thousands of Rank 4 Rat Monsters, who could easily scale the town's wall due to their exceptional agility and dexterity, his desire to rest disappeared completely.

"It is impossible to defeat them," Boris replied. "So, we have decided to evacuate everyone, and head to Aeston Town. The sun has just risen, so it is a good time to travel.

"However, traveling with over ten thousand people will be a great challenge. I'm afraid that we won't reach our destination before sunset. Although the Rat Monsters have been attacking us an hour after sunset, that is not a guarantee that they will not attack during the day."

Lux nodded his head in understanding, but he and Boris both knew that there was nothing that could be done except to flee from Bradford Town and seek help from Aeston Town.

"We will be leaving in an hour," Boris stated. "I know that you came here for a Letter of Recommendation, so let's do it this way. Help us evacuate the people to Aeston, and I will give you the letter you want. Do we have a deal?"

"Okay," Lux replied.

The Half-Elf understood that he wouldn't be getting his Recommendation Letter for free, so he decided to just help with the evacuation.

Exactly an hour later, the gates of Bradford Town opened. Thousands of people started their march, carrying their belongings on their backs, in their carts, and on their mounts.

There were many old people, as well as little children, who were lagging behind on the march, but there was nothing that anyone could do about it. There were not enough carts in the town to carry them all, so they had no choice but to travel on foot.

Lux felt pity for these people, so he decided to use the skill that he had received after he defeated the Death Tyrant in the Gate of Death.

He didn't have the chance to use it until now because this skill was quite unique. A single use of this skill required a whopping 8,000 Mana Points, and Lux could only use it three times with full mana.

But since he usually spent a great deal of his Mana Pool in summoning his Skeleton minions, he could only use this skill once in battle, making it the most draining skill he currently possessed.

This skill was none other than his Skeleton Make [EX], which he hadn't used until today.

< Skeleton Make [EX] >

Summon 200 Skeletons to form anything the user wants to make.

This skill can only form physical objects.

Caster must have a clear picture of what he wants to form in his mind to make this skill work properly.

This skill will automatically upgrade after the caster raises his current rank.

Aside from the 200 Skeletons that will be summoned by this skill, the user can also use the other summoned Skeletons under his command, to merge with this skill, and further empower it.

Each Skeleton that is summoned by this skill will consume 40 Mana Points.

Summoned Skeletons using this skill will last for approximately twelve hours, or until they are destroyed.

There can only be three active Skeleton Make creations at a time.

More active creations will be unlocked once the Caster's rank increases.

Skeleton Make in use (0/3)

Lux took a deep breath as he raised both of his hands.

"Skeleton Make..." Lux shouted as hundreds of skeletons appeared in front of him, waiting for the form that they would take.

"Bone Wagon!"

The Half-Elf immediately felt the great drain in his Mana, which made his legs almost turn to jelly. However, he endured it and his summoned Skeletons formed the Bone Wagon in his mind.

Several children screamed after seeing the horrifying Bone Wagon that was at least 15 meters long, while some of them ran to their mothers crying because they were so afraid of the weird object that appeared out of nowhere, and made up of bones.

It took Lux nearly half an hour to coax everyone that the Bone Wagon was safe, and it wouldn't hurt them.

In the beginning, no one wanted to ride it, so Lux thought of a plan to make them less afraid of the Bone Wagon he had created.

What the Half-Elf did was to ask everyone, especially the elderly to drop their luggage on the Bone Wagon, so they didn't have to carry them on their backs, allowing them to feel less burdened in their journey.

Although they were quite reluctant to do it, a few old people who really couldn't carry their possessions for the long trip accepted Lux's offer, and placed their luggage on the Bone Wagon, which followed behind the exodus of people headed towards the Town of Aeston.

His plan worked perfectly, and almost everyone that was at the very end of the procession had placed their belongings on the Bone Wagon, giving them the freedom to travel lightly.

The kids then became curious, and some of the braver ones decided to climb on it. Finally, two hours later, the Bone Wagon was filled to the brim with children and their mothers, who seemed to enjoy the free ride.

After seeing that everyone had warmed up to the idea of riding on the Bone Wagon, Lux created two more before chugging down a bottle of Mana Potion.

Asmodeus, who was also able to use all of Lux's skills, summoned three more Bone Wagons, allowing more of the women, children, and the old people to ride in them.

"Master, this skill is quite amazing," Asmodeus commented as he rode on top of a Warg that Lux had summoned for him. "How about we try merging our Skeleton Summons to make these Bone Wagons longer?"

Lux pondered for a bit before nodding his head. "Okay. Let's do that."

In truth, the Half-Elf was curious about what would happen if his Skeleton Soldiers merged with the Skeleton Make Skeletons.

The outcome was just like Lux envisioned. The 15 meter long wagons all became 20 meters long, and even gained a roof, made up of bones. This protected the people riding in the wagons from the sun, allowing them to have a more comfortable ride towards their destination.

"It's a pity that we can only use it three times," Asmodeus commented. "Master, I look forward to how you will be able to use this ability in battle."

Lux only smiled, and didn't comment. In truth, he was also thinking about how to use the Skeleton Make Skill in battle.

He already had several ideas in mind, and was itching to try them, to see what would work and what would not.

When it was almost noon time, Lux received a message from Ishtar, whom he had left in Bradford Town to monitor the surroundings.

"Master, there is a dust cloud coming from the North West," Ishtar reported. "I'm afraid that these are the Rat Monsters that should only be attacking Bradford during the night."

After hearing Ishtar's report, Lux closed his eyes and used his connection to his Named Creature to see what she was seeing.

Half a minute later, Lux saw the dust cloud in the distance, that was headed in the direction of Bradford Town. The Half-Elf's expression became grim when he saw the number of Monsters that were headed in their direction.

"This can already be called a Pseudo-Beast Tide," Lux said through gritted teeth before cutting off his connection with the Night Stalker.

He needed to tell Boris that the Guildmaster's worst fears had become a reality.

Over three thousand Rank 4 Rat Monsters were headed towards Bradford Town, and if the Monsters found out that not a single soul was inside it, they might track them down, which would spell doom to the people who were fleeing their hometown in search of a safe place to hide from the Monsters that were about to reach the town that they called home.