Noboru was awoken suddenly by a loud grumbling sound erupting from the very rocks that made up the ceiling of the first stronghold.
He didn't even get a chance to grasp the situation fully before the ground joined the ceiling as the sounds intensified.
In his sleepy state he could only feel confusion at what was happening.
Yet, this was not the end of today's oddities. The ground and ceiling began shaking, rocks coming loose and falling down as well as cracks and small rifts forming.
Noboru was thrown out of his bed, catching himself barely nonetheless.
He calmed himself and started to ponder the meaning of this, quickly concluding that only one thing could be occurring.
All of a sudden, Noboru's gaze turned ecstatic. He couldn't be more pleased by this turn of events.
He ran outside and stood on the streets excitedly as everyone screamed and cowered in fear. He gazed at the ceiling, anticipating it to happen.
A few chunks of rocks around 20m in diameter break off from the ceiling all simultaneously.
Multiple white, wormlike creatures with three eyes on each side of their heads, sharp and ginormous teeth combined with a mouth large enough to swallow a human whole and long, flexible appendixes with a scythe like blade on it growing out from the side of their body came forth out of the holes.
Despite their size, they were extremely mobile and fast, especially the appendixes with the scythe like blade.
They let out a deafening screech as they dropped down into the first stronghold.
This is by no means the first time something such as this happened. Monsters dig down from the surface and come out in a city like this plenty.
Their motive isn't necessarily to hunt humans. Of course, they will if they have the chance.
Their main objective is merely to escape from the surface. Monsters aren't cooperative and there isn't just one breed of monsters either. They may cooperate with others of their respective breed but they will hunt other breeds just like they hunt humans.
Therefore, these monsters were too pathetic and had to run away in order not to become prey themselves.
Despite their pitiful strength, they are far beyond a normal mortal's strength. This entire city would be destroyed in hours if it weren't for the Enlightened protecting the city.
By now, all of the relevant Enlightened should be mobilised already. Noboru was extremely far away from the center of the city and thus the Enlightened will take a very long time to get to him and the worm monster that dropped nearby.
Every person in the first stronghold felt despair at this fact. He however, he felt joy. If he saved some people from getting killed and eaten by it and stalls it out enough, he'll surely earn the praise of a high ranking Enlightened.
This was his chance!
The streets were crowded with panicked mortals running for their lives. In order not to be slowed down, Noboru climbed onto the rooftop of his house and jumped from rooftop to rooftop so that he could arrive where the monster is just a bit sooner.
The ground stopped shaking because of which he could now move far easier again without the fear of tripping and falling off the rooftop.
On his way to the monster, he picked up a medium sized rock that fell from the ceiling during the shaking earlier.
He soon arrived at the monster's location. It was a sight like no other. It was covered in blood and guts of the humans it had already killed. The sounds it produced were so different from any animal and person that it immediately made Noboru feel a shiver run down his back.
He persevered nonetheless. He didn't care that his body was frightened for he was not. If anything, he was excited. This was the opportunity. If he seized it, his life could turn around and he could finally start ascending if he played his cards right!
He calmly waited for an opportunity to join in on the action and once he spotted it, he threw the rock straight into the monster's eye.
It couldn't deal any damage to it because, as a mortal, Noboru was unable to put any essence behind his attack and thus it simply bounced off the monster's eye.
It did serve its purpose nonetheless. The monster turned to Noboru and let out such a high pitched screech that Noboru started feeling disoriented and his ear drums got close to shattering.
Immediately after the screech, one appendix flew straight towards his neck, trying to decapitate him. Noboru dodged just in the nick of time, a small cut was still made on his neck despite his quick reaction.
Luckily it was merely a shallow cut and wasn't deep enough to pose any danger.
It was precisely this instant that Noboru realised it. This fight could very well end in his death. This monster was easily on par with a rank 2 Enlightened.
No matter what Noboru would do, he couldn't harm let alone kill this monster. Exhaust it he could though.
Finally Noboru jumped down from the rooftop. He calmed himself with a deep breath and closed his eyes. In his mind, memories of his younger self flashed before his eyes.
His parents, when they were alive and he was merely a toddler already attempted to teach him the move patterns of some common monsters to protect him in the future and this was one of them.
As he reopened his eyes, a sense of tranquility began to flood his body. He read the monster like an open book. The slightest twitch of a muscle was already enough for Noboru to know the next attack perfectly.
Bites strong enough to cleave him in half, screeches aiming to destroy his ear drums and disorientate him as well as the appendixes slashing at him, he dodged it all.
The battle was not one of strength but merely of endurance and agility.
It raged on for about 6 minutes straight until it came to a sudden halt.
The monster and Noboru were both staring into each other's eyes.
The monster was panting and shaking ever so slightly, indicating its exhaustion. The attacks it threw became sluggish as well.
Noboru was sweating profusely, his muscles shaking and screaming at him to stop and rest.
He knew that if his focus or composure wavered for a mere millisecond, he would die.
Both of them were slowly preparing for yet another attack they would use all of their remaining strength in this final one.
Neither of their determination faltered but as they both prepared to strike, a sickening crunch accompanied by the loud snapping of bones could be heard.
The monster let out an anguished and miserable cry as it got impaled by a spike purely made of rock which erupted from the ground without any warning.