They Wanted a Hero. They Made a Monster: Born at the Bottom
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 39: This Is Not What We Agreed
“They’re here! The monsters are here!”
The cry held both fear and excitement. Every mercenary leaning in the shadow of the stone wall straightened at once, metal plates clattering as they turned.
All eyes fixed on the unusual sounds beyond the gate.
Vera tightened his grip on his weapon, an utterly ordinary curved sword.
He had lost the tempered-steel blade brought from home during the marauder incident. For now, this plain weapon was all he could use.
The Adventurers’ Guild had offered generous compensation to recruit support. Even before fighting began, each adventurer received a respectable daily wage based on strength.
That was why Vera, Fiona, and Faye had all registered.
Some adventurers spoke of the Monster Tide as though it were the end of the world, but with so many people gathered here, surely they could not lose.
The three only needed to avoid injury during the battle.
Vera had not expected the Monster Tide to arrive after a single day on guard.
He and the surrounding adventurers held their breath and prepared themselves.
Several fighters with bows and crossbows crowded around the gap in the gate, aiming inside and ready to unleash the first volley.
They waited for ten minutes.
The adventurers looked at one another. At last, everyone turned toward the man who had first shouted that monsters were coming.
“N-no, that can’t be right. A monster definitely appeared...”
The man wiped cold sweat from his forehead and peered through the gap.
The Puffcap corpse remained where it had fallen. There was not so much as a shadow of any other monster.
Marshall finally stepped forward to assess the situation and reassure the crowd.
“A walking mushroom did reach the gate. That means the dungeon’s ‘rules’ have weakened.
“The main monster force probably hasn’t arrived. A walking mushroom from the First Stratum simply wandered over by chance.
“Stand down for now. I’ll keep watch here.”
Marshall also breathed a sigh of relief. The Guild’s forecast placed the beginning of the Monster Tide three or four days away.
Reinforcements from the surrounding cities would not arrive for several more days.
The Guild had summoned adventurers to guard the entrance early purely as a precaution.
For a moment, Marshall had thought the disaster had beaten their preparations.
At his words, the adventurers put away their weapons amid a rising chorus of complaints.
Vera heard Faye and Fiona exhale beside him.
This was the legendary Monster Tide. Anyone claiming not to be nervous would be lying.
Since the alarm began, however, Vera had been staring at an adventurer he did not recognize.
The curved sword at that man’s waist looked strangely familiar.
Another mana disturbance traveled upward into the Mycelial Garden.
The tremors had become increasingly frequent, as though announcing the approach of the Monster Tide.
Now that Evan understood the danger, he had begun preparing his defenses in earnest.
The Monster Tide sounded immensely destructive, but he had several plans.
The ideal outcome was that Evan counted as part of the Monster Tide and could simply join the upward charge.
The other monsters and the humans could fight to the death while he provided both sides with a free corpse-collection service.
That possibility was far too convenient. He could not truly rely on it.
The second possibility was that the Monster Tide would attack him as well. In that case, Evan would have to fight back for the sake of his Mycelial Garden.
Fortunately, only two stairways connected the Fifth and Sixth Strata, so the defensive pressure would not be too great.
At its heart, this was a tower-defense game. The Puffcaps’ specialty, Spore Cannon, was perfectly suited to such a battlefield.
Evan could supplement the artillery with Puffcaps that sprayed slime or poison mist, along with others equipped for Detonation.
Even if every Werewolf on the Tenth Stratum charged upward together, Evan was confident he could annihilate them inside the stairways.
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