[A few days later]

  "Fall back!" Someone shouted from beyond the gates further into the settlement. Not far behind, past the gates towards the wilderness, was a growing tide of beasts and monsters charging towards the electric fence that surrounded the Obelisk. Those atop the hastily built wooden walls behind the electric fence let loose their arrows, bolts, and skill onto the horde, each strike helping weaken the horde no matter how little.

  Despite the sheer size of the Monster horde and nearly two thousand monsters rushing out from the Biomes and towards the Obelisk, multiple figures deeper within it were far stronger than the monsters around them. Of these monsters, there was a wolf, a giant crab, a swarm of bugs, and a giant black scorpion.

  These monsters were the [Beast Lords] of the Monster Wave.

  The Shadowmane Direwolf, [Level 118].

  The Giant Onyx Scorpion, [Level 129].

  The Giant Rock-shell Crab, [Level 132].

  And lastly, the Blood Wasp Swarm, [Level 168]

  They were not the only monsters to have surpassed level 100 and reached the second stage, but the monsters that did were still generally weaker than the Beast Lords, who the Dungeon strengthened personally. Though the settlement was under attack by only two of the Beast Lords, the Wolf and Scorpion, the other two Beast Lords were not far away, only needing to journey past the Obelisk and the makeshift walls the humans constructed to defend against sieges from the Staff of the IKEA.

  Surprisingly enough, the two Beast Lords, making their way towards the settlement, were actively trying to avoid the Obelisk. Still, unfortunately for the Beast Lords, the lesser around it did not have the instincts to do so, straying too close.

  The Obelisk pulsed, vibrating the air with its sheer power, as a dozen Enforcers materialized around its base before charging at the giant horde of monsters. Metal and Element met mere flesh and bone and won.

  The Enforcers quickly tore apart any monster that they came across, but despite their evident strength, the monsters had the Enforcers beat in sheer quantity, drowning the mechanical robots in bodies, the weakest serving as fodder for the strongest who made their way past and towards the Human settlement, drawn there by the Dungeon who offered rewards for those willing to cull the Humans.

  Yet, the same was true on the opposite side, with the Humans growing stronger with each monster culled by magic, skills, and weapons.

  Despite the significant number of monsters, the Humans made up for their shortcomings and little numbers with sheer ingenuity, tactics, and innovation.

  Enhanced food created by [Chefs] that buffed and improved the humans, potions to heal significant injuries, bows, crossbows, magic, and skills giving the humans an edge and method to attack from afar, the Monsters were faring losses far more significant than the humans, but with the culling of the weaker monsters, the stronger monsters soon smashed into the wooden wall, threatening to take it down with each devastating impact that cracked and splintered wood.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  ...

  A quarter of an hour had passed since the Monsters flooded out of their respective biomes, and the monsters had taken a significant number of casualties. However, the Humans were now surrounded and spread far too thin to keep all of the monsters off the walls, not to mention the exhaustion most were faced with, having used all of their mana and or stamina, leaving most to either fight with their own weapons or the ranged weapons available to the settlement. Even then, the humans were nearing exhaustion of all their arrows and bolts.

  The monsters began to pour through and into the settlement, where the humans were forced to fight them at close range. This led to many deaths as the monsters proved far more deadly than the low-level populace that made up the settlement. The fair amount of mid-level humans and a few high-level humans were the only reasons why the settlement wasn't wiped out already.

  However, while the situation seemed to become more dire with each pressing moment, hope was in sight.

  [Quest: Survive or Repell the Monster Wave]

  [984 Monsters Remain]

  Soon enough, the Humans had run out of potions, and the casualties they took became even worse as the fighting took place in the streets and in the homes of those too weak to fight against the monsters.

  Yet, despite the losses the Humans were undertaking, the Dungeon watched with no remorse or hesitation as its creations culled the weak while the Humans did the same with his monsters. It was nature, and Kohl would not interfere, for the Humans would either survive and grow afterward or be culled and exterminated. The Humans fought bravely against the Monsters, but the losses they took were significant and grew larger with each passing moment as the low-level humans were slaughtered in mass by the monsters.

  By the time the first hour was reaching its end, the monsters became withdrawn, both sides weakened and crippled from the battle, but while the Beast Lords remained healthy and alive, was truly forced them to withdraw was the rising number of Enforcers flooding into the city from the Obelisk.

  In the wake of the battle, the human leader had finally reached the second stage, classing up. Though her abilities would be helpful in the coming months, it would take time for the humans to recover from their losses. One hundred nineteen died, over half of the settlement's population that once housed 213 souls.

  [Clair Higgins - Mayor Level 103 - Human (Female)]

  ...

  As the Humans trapped in the Dungeon grieved over their losses, deep within the IKEA, two machines and a living tsunami of Staff continuously fought against disgusting fleshy monstrosities of fused humans, dogs, birds, and countless other creatures. These fleshy abominations poured into the IKEA, incoherently screaming, screeching, barking, and making all sorts of different noises that would make a man wince in reaction, but the Staff and Enforcers had no such problems, constantly pushing the abominations back, preventing them from going any further into the IKEA.

  The abominations attacked with long tentacles made of flesh and bone and could only heal from melding with the Staff or themselves, but even then, the Enforcers and Staff dealt more damage than the Abominations could heal. With each passing day, the number of abominations that invaded the IKEA lessened and lessened until barely a few rolled, crawled, charged, and slid into the IKEA at a time.

  Seeming to want to remove the threat, the two Enforcers charged through the exit into the world the Abominations originated from and straight into a world that seemed to have ended some time ago. The streets were filled with abandoned cars, many buildings within sight were crumbled down into rubble, and others burned down.

  It was clear the world had faced an apocalypse of some kind, but the Enforcers were not intelligent enough to care, instead seeking out more of the abominations that slid out from sewers, down streets, over cars, and through buildings.

  Now entirely surrounded by the abominations, with the harsh sun above, the Enforcers worked to fulfill their primary directive: eliminate any threat to the Dungeon.