Lord: My Shop Connects to Modern Times

The moment Kai saw the monster, his breath caught in his throat.

A dozen or so monsters surged out of the woods.

They come in various shapes, but all are so distorted that they don't resemble natural creations.

Some look like humans but crawl on all fours with their joints bent backward and drool dripping from their mouths.

Some had bone spurs protruding from their backs, and their skin was cracked like tree bark.

Others were exceptionally robust, almost two meters tall, dragging a thick wooden stake with dark red grime on it.

Kai realized what was happening and almost couldn't help but curse out loud!

Damn it! Another new type of monster! Another monster I've never seen before!

The situation is worse than described in the letter!

Such an example is almost unheard of in history. Although monsters are rampant throughout the continent, they have never been this volatile.

The monster, similar to a "commander," mentioned in his father's friend's letter, was among them. It stood behind the trees, wearing worn but complete armor, and stood quietly in the shadows, with two dark red lights flickering like will-o'-the-wisps around its eyes.

It didn't move; it just watched.

If Lynn were there, he would immediately recognize that this commander was the same species he had encountered in Grayrock Town!

They are those unknown creatures called "Messengers".

"Don't you fucking stand there! Form ranks!" With the appearance of the monster, Marcus reacted immediately: "Spearmen in front! Archers, prepare!"

The group moved swiftly. Kai was pushed to the center, his hand gripping his sword trembling.

He could hear his own heavy breathing and smell the strange odor that had suddenly become stronger in the air.

"Don't be afraid," a young soldier whispered beside him. Kai vaguely recognized him, but couldn't recall his name.

The other person was the son of a farmer from the eastern border, who had only been in the army for a month. He whispered, "Just follow the movements."

Kai nodded, wanting to say thank you, but his throat was dry and he couldn't make a sound.

The monster pounced.

The first wave of attack crashed into the spear formation.

Screams rang out almost simultaneously—from monsters and humans alike.

Kai saw a monster being pierced by three spears, but it was still lunging forward, its claws slicing open a soldier's throat.

Blood spurted out, splashing onto the face of the person next to him.

"Hold on!" Marcus swung his sword down a monster on the flank of the formation, black blood splattering onto his armor. "Don't break formation! Revert to how you trained!"

Kai stood in the middle of the formation, and everything in front of him seemed to be in slow motion.

He saw the boy who had just spoken to him pierce a monster's chest with a spear, but before dying, the monster swung its claws and tore three deep, bone-revealing gashes into the other's arm.

The other person screamed and fell to the ground.

"Brother!" Kai instinctively wanted to rush over.

"Don't move!" The veteran sent by his father grabbed him, his tone stern, disregarding any formality: "Maintain formation! Disarray means certain death!"

Kai stood frozen in place.

He watched as Tom struggled on the ground, the blood gushing from his wounds staining the soil a dark red.

A soldier tried to climb over and pull him back, but was blocked by another monster.

Then a huge monster charged at us.

It swung the wooden stake and slammed it heavily onto the spear formation.

The two spears snapped in two, and the soldiers wielding them were thrown back. A gap appeared in the formation.

"Fix it! Fix it now!" Marcus roared.

Kai was pushed forward.

He stood where the fallen soldier had been, still holding the sword in his hand, which was more decorative than practical.

He looked at the monster charging towards him—a monster with bone spikes on its back, its yellow eyes staring at him, making hoarse sounds.

Fear seeped into my veins like ice water.

Kai wanted to retreat, to run away.

But he saw Tom's blood on the ground.

Seeing the soldiers around him, gritting their teeth, their faces covered in sweat and blood.

Marcus was seen fighting on the flank, his armor already showing several cracks.

"Damn it! Ah!" Kai seemed to hear himself curse unconsciously before he rushed forward.

When a person faces extreme fear, they will either break down or fall into an abnormal rage, cursing and losing their mind.

Kai is clearly the latter.

He gripped his sword with both hands and slashed at the monster.

The monster dodged to the side, its claws slashing towards his face.

Kai instinctively looked down, his claws brushing against the top of his head, taking away a few strands of hair.

He could smell the blood residue on the claws.

He staggered backward, stepping on something soft and yielding—a severed arm, whose it was, he didn't know.

Kai's stomach was churning, but he didn't have time to vomit.

The monster pounced again.

This time, Kai seized the opportunity and thrust his sword out with all his might when the bird was in mid-air.

The sword tip pierced the monster's chest, like piercing a bundle of soaking wet burlap.

The monster roared, its claws gripping the sword, trying to pull it out.

Kai's eyes were bloodshot, and he gripped the sword tightly, the hilt digging painfully into his palm.

The monster's blood flowed down the sword, black and viscous, dripping onto his hand.

"Get out of the way!" An old soldier rushed over and chopped the monster in the neck with an axe.

The monster convulsed and collapsed, Kai's sword still embedded in its chest.

Kai drew his sword, and the monster's blood gushed out.

It then twitched a few times on the ground and remained still.

Kai stared at the corpse, then at his own hands stained with black blood, his mind going blank.

"What are you daydreaming about!" The veteran pulled him back.

A monster lunged from the side, and Kai instinctively swung his sword, but the blade struck the monster's shoulder and got stuck.

The monster didn't die; instead, it used its other claw to grab his abdomen.

An arrow pierced the monster's eye. It was from an archer at the rear of the formation.

The monster fell to the ground. Kai pulled out his jammed sword; the blade was already somewhat bent.

The battle lasted for an unknown period of time.

Every second felt like an eternity.

Kai couldn't remember how many times he slashed or blocked; all he remembered was the blood, black, and muddy color that filled his vision.

Screams echoed in my ears, and my companions fell down every now and then.

Kai's face was splattered with blood; it was unclear whose it was.

Several claw marks appeared on my arm, and they stung painfully.

Finally, the monsters began to retreat.

The commander at the rear let out a strange sound, and the monsters began to retreat in an orderly fashion.

As if receiving some kind of signal, they stopped attacking and turned to run into the woods.

Marcus didn't pursue: "Reorganize! Take stock of casualties!"

Kai plopped down on the ground, his sword falling beside him.

His hands were trembling uncontrollably, and when he finally came to his senses, he couldn't even clench his fists.

The surroundings were a mess. Seven or eight monster corpses lay on the ground, but there were many more corpses of their companions.

The young soldier who had warned Kai earlier is dead.

Kai saw him lying in a pool of blood, his eyes still open, staring at the sky.

The soldier who tried to pull him back was also dead, his chest ripped open. There were several other unfamiliar faces; they had been eating bean porridge together yesterday, and now they were all cold corpses.

None of Kai remembered the name.

Of the twenty patrolmen, a mix of new and veteran soldiers, half were killed, and the rest, except for Marcus, were almost all wounded.

Marcus walked over, the scar on his face looking even more grotesque against the backdrop of blood.

He glanced at Kai: "Still alive?"

Kai nodded, wanting to speak but unable to utter a word.

"It's always like this the first time," Marcus said hoarsely. "Go help carry the wounded."

Kai struggled to his feet.

He and the veterans accompanying him lifted a seriously wounded man whose abdomen had been ripped open and whose intestines were spilling out, but the man was still alive and groaning softly.

They carried him to a slightly cleaner place, and someone ran over to provide emergency treatment.

Kai watched as the medic stuffed the intestines back in and tightly wrapped the wound with bandages.

The wounded soldier was in so much pain that his whole body was convulsing, but he gritted his teeth and didn't cry out.

"Will he die?" Kai asked in a low voice.

The person treating the patient didn't look up: "It depends on luck."

After treating the wounded, Kai walked to the stream and squatted down to wash his hands.

The monster's blood stuck to my hands was hard to wash off; I rubbed it for ages and it was still sticky.

He submerged his entire face in the water, and the cold water made him shiver.

When he looked up, he saw his reflection in the water—pale face, bloodshot eyes, messy hair with blood clots, and a dried bloodstain on his face.

This wasn't the Kay Fleming he knew.

Kai, who used to eat, drink, and have fun in the capital, worry about what to wear to banquets, and argue with people over trivial matters, seems to have died in that battle just now.

"Lord Kai," Marcus approached and knelt beside him, "Do you see that armored figure in the woods?"

Kai nodded.

"That's the 'Commander,'" Marcus said in a low voice. "We've encountered it a few times. It never fights personally; it just watches and directs. Once our casualties are almost gone, it retreats with the monsters."

Kai's eyes widened again: "You mean... it wasn't us who repelled them at all?"

Marcus nodded.

Kai seemed to be shocked. He felt that the combat skills he had practiced since childhood in the capital had become a joke.

So, I'm really that weak.

"Why?" Kai asked, "It can clearly..."

"You think you can wipe us out completely?" Marcus smiled wryly. "I'd like to know too. But it's always the same—kill some, wound some, then retreat. Like in…"

"Like they're toying with you?"

"To be precise, it's like a test," Marcus corrected.

He paused, then said in a serious tone, "Monsters have been on this continent for a long time. They are all the same species, generally lack intelligence, and act entirely on instinct."

"But things are different now. Their species have become more diverse. As you've seen, it's not just those in command; there are even other, more powerful fighting races appearing. This is unprecedented. We're not sure if this is unique to the Dawn Empire or if it's happening across the entire continent..."

Marcus stopped talking midway through his speech.

"What do you want to say, Lord Marcus?" Kay sensed something was amiss.

Marcus pursed his lips, staring intently at him.

"I wanted to ask if you want to go back now."

"go back?"

"Yes, back to the capital. This is also Duke Rhodes's wish," Marcus said. "Your father is a good official and has some connections with Duke Rhodes. He can grant you special permission to return to the capital, or... perhaps find you a sinecure in logistics."

Marcus's meaning is quite clear.

Kai fell silent, gazing at his reflection in the stream.

His reflection showed him still looking disheveled. He thought of Lynn again, and of the soldier who had just spoken to him, a soldier who was probably younger than him.

He smiled.

"Mr. Marcus, have you ever heard of Lynn Cole?"

"I've heard about it." Marcus knew Lynn, not only because of his exile to the South, but also because of some rumors about Lynn's deeds in the South during this time.

"Have you heard that the two of us are notorious losers in the aristocratic circles of the capital?"

Kai spoke clearly, word by word: "From childhood, we gambled, played with women, frequented taverns and brothels, and did nothing all day. Among the nobles of our age, almost every one of them was more successful than us: either they were smarter or they were better fighters."

Kay stared intently at Marcus: "But now, Lynn has carved out a niche for himself in that wretched place, and what about me? I finally mustered the courage to venture out and try my luck, and now I'm supposed to slink back home?"

He turned to look at the other recruits like himself, his previous composure vanished: "I can't do it... not just because of Lynn, but even looking at these brothers, I can't do it..."

At this moment, Kai had completely shed his remaining aristocratic airs. He looked at the new recruits who had just risked their lives as if they were his true brothers.

"I'm staying here!"

Marcus's eyes lit up as he sized up the somewhat immature "spoiled brat" in front of him.

To be honest, the opponent's performance today was unsatisfactory; their combat skills were not even comparable to a single finger of any member of the Purifying Knights.

But what the other person said moved him. To be honest, Marcus didn't think that his peers, who were more outstanding than him, could have the same mindset.

Marcus reached out and patted Kay on the shoulder. For the first time, his tone carried genuine respect:

"Very well! Lord Kai! I will relay your words to Duke Rhodes verbatim!"