The Innkeeper

Though it was dark, with Lex's improved eyesight, it was easy for him to see their actions clearly. They were trained warriors, of that there was no doubt, and they had excellent teamwork as well.

They were much stronger than the monsters assaulting them, but there was strength in numbers as well. Moreover, the monsters born of darkness had no set pattern, and so it was difficult to come up with a fixed strategy to face them. Some attacked from afar, and some slithered right at them.

Lex watched silently as they slowly made their way towards the tavern. A few times, he noticed that some monsters were able to sneak up on them and managed to land a few hits. They were mostly unharmed, but that was solely due to their armor, which seemed to have some kind of enchantments.

He mentally added a few spotlights to the top of the tavern and lit up the entire street. He didn't want to put the light directly on the two warriors as that might attract unnecessary attention. Now, instead, with the entire street lit up, it was easier for them to view the monsters.

Calmly he walked down to the main hall and awaited the two warriors' arrival. He was looking forward to any new information they could provide.

A few minutes later the warriors arrived at the front of the tavern, and noticed that as soon as any monster approached the building they would automatically explode. They were hesitant, and even afraid, to approach the tavern out of concern that the same may happen to them, but they had no choice.

Originally things should not have been so bad, but the town's guard had been overrun when they let fear interfere with their duty, and less than a third of them remained. They needed to understand more about this building throwing light into the air.

Such an action not only assured them that this building had a large supply of spirit stones or some other form of energy to carelessly waste, but whatever defensive formation they had in place was still functioning.

The truth was that the town had multiple contingency safe zones and secondary defensive formations in place in the event that the main formation shut down or broke. But when the anomaly with the main formation occurred, it suppressed all other formations within the city. This seemed to be the only one still working. And how could it not? 300 million MP for a formation that only covered a small region and only had the function of manipulating space made it far beyond anything local formations could compete against.

Finally they took a risk and stepped in, and were greatly relieved when nothing happened. Still they did not let down their guard as they stepped in, but not even in their wildest dreams would they have been prepared for what awaited them.

While outside the temperature was well below freezing, a warm cozy breeze blew from the tavern door, accompanied by music and the sound of laughter. A waitress was carrying a tray full of steaming soup across the hall, some of the sailors were playing a dice game while others were playing cards.

A bartender was casually wiping a glass clean while standing ready at his station, awaiting a guest to come with an order.

"Welcome guests," said Lex, when he noticed the men stood frozen at the entrance. "Come in, don't let all the warm air out."

Lex's voice woke the men from their reverie, but also alerted all the guests of the new arrivals. They paused whatever they were doing and turned towards the door. The music stopped, and the room seemed to reach a standstill.

The two men walked in, their gazes fixed on Lex, analyzing the man. Lex was also checking up on them and only retained the most important point - they were in the Golden Core realm.

"Do you happen to know what is happening outside?" Lex asked, his voice as calm and soothing as always. But the two men did not perceive it as so. To them, it sounded like he was completely ignorant of what was going on, and was relying on some kind of backing to keep him safe. They scanned the tavern with their spirit sense to see if they could detect anyone else that was actually a threat.

"We're with the city guard," said one of the men gruffly. "Under orders of the mayor, we're here to investigate the source of light. Give us some food and water, and stop wasting all your spirit stones on useless lights, and stop wasting all this food needlessly. Everyone here will take up arms and obey my orders. As of now, this building is being commandeered as a military checkpoint and you're all conscripted. Promptly prepare everything and in the meantime..."

The man's eyes wandered to Nami, who had been serving soup and just as he was about to say what was on his mind, the man's body shot out of the tavern like a rocket from a bazooka.

His body smashed through dozens of monsters like the strongest artillery fire and even through the front wall of the building on the opposite street. Lex had no idea if the man was alive or dead, and he frankly didn't care.

Lex was more than happy waiting for him to finish before correcting him that the tavern would do no such thing, but the moment he turned his eyes onto Nami, Lex's patience evaporated.

In all fairness, it was entirely possible that he was not about to make an uncouth demand towards Lex's staff, but just the look in his eyes was enough to turn Lex off. Were this the Inn, Lex would have been bound by the system's rules and been unable to do anything until the man actually broke some rules. At the tavern, though, things were a lot more flexible and Lex could do as he pleased.

In this case, what pleased Lex was to manipulate the space around the man and hurl him out of the building like yesterday's trash.

"Please excuse that disturbance," Lex said, with a polite smile towards his guests, before turning back to the other man who had frozen still of his own accord. He still could not understand what had happened, and so did not dare to do anything rash.

"As I asked your companion earlier, do you happen to know what's going on with the town?"

The man did not think too much and obediently began answering.

"Something has gone wrong with the town's array. Instead of keeping the town lit and secure, it's actively suppressing all light formations within and instead of keeping monsters out, has trapped everyone within the town itself. We suspect sabotage, but haven't been able to investigate yet.

"The mayor is trying to rally all the town guards before he begins scouring the town looking for survivors, but because of the suppressed formations, there's no good place to gather everyone. That's when the light from your building appeared, and he tasked us with investigating it. Whether we respond or not, he will be coming here with the gathered soldiers soon enough."

To the warriors disappointment, Lex did not seem bothered by the news of the mayor's arrival, as if he wasn't threatened in any way whatsoever.

"That's great news," said Lex. "I'm glad to see that the mayor is prioritizing the safety of his citizens. The formation's malfunction, though, is troubling news. I have no proof, but my gut tells me this may have something to do with the serial killer on the loose. Do you by chance happen to know the travel paths of any nearby Sol birds? How long can we expect this darkness to last?"

The man grit his teeth and answered truthfully. "It's really hard to predict. Unless the Noel family learns of our plight and makes a move personally, the darkness should last anywhere between one to three months. Unfortunately, all communication with the outside has also been suspended."

Lex nodded as he started making plans. It was best to prepare for the worst case scenario.

*****

The serial killer was frowning hard as he killed another monster. The citizens in the town were dying way too quickly, and most of them to the monsters. This was not satisfying to him. He needed to make a few changes to make the game more fun. Yes, it needed to be even more fun.

He manipulated the formation and created 6 safe zones in the town, where other protective formations weren't suppressed. He needed the people to live. They were supposed to fear him, and die by his hands. The monsters and the darkness were only accompanying characters to his performance. He had to make sure everything was just right.

"System, list down all high value targets in the area. I have to make sure they don't accidentally die.

"Several high value targets are gathered at the beacon of life, and are safe from monster attacks."

"How lucky," he said with a chuckle.