Seeing the enemy forces retreats outside the compound, ramie heaved a sigh of relief.
After using his vines to restrict the bloodline mage, and casting his ghost glare spell at him again, his magic energy was almost thoroughly exhausted.
Had the battle with the enemy continued after that, he'd be completely useless.
Right now, there were only two warriors standing next to him from the four. As for the other two, he had sent them deep into the compound. His propose was for them to prepare the vehicles in case worse comes to worst.
Luckily, killing the bloodline magician seems to have impacted the enemy's moral by unforeseeable extent.
They actually refused their leader's orders, and didn't attack.
This was the best possible outcome for the current situation – the enemy withdraws without a fight.
For the moment, this was good thing, as there will be no further bloodshed.
However, things were still unresolved…
On the long run, and considering the intense tone of the enemy's leader, and the pure hatred and menace contained in his last words, it was obvious that the situation was far from being resolved. There was a high chance that the enemy would follow up on this attack.
More ever, the words of the enemy leader were quite baffling.
He spoke of the compound killing his two sons. However, and upon recalling the events of the battle, Ramie couldn't remember the enemy's leader showing intense emotion for anyone else other than the bloodline mage, or his brother.
Just when did they killed his son?
Ramie did consider the possibility that 'killing his other son' might be a mere pretext to launch this attack on the compound in order to steel their resources. However, and upon further thoughts, ramie didn't feel much of confident in this possibility… as the pure hatred that the man held couldn't just be justified by seeking resources.
It was obviously that there was some sort of deep animosity or death feud between that man and the compound inhabitants. Otherwise, why didn't the enemy's leader just use the power difference between his forces and the compound's to force them to surrender, or to extort some of their resources, but instead, launch that vicious attack and massacred them first without attempting negotiation or making any demands.
There was something very suspicious about the whole thing.
Not to mention the appearance of the wind mage, the one that had ambushed them back at the borders with his brother.
Anyway, the battle had just ended. Ramie decided to check on Lance and then go back to get some rest, in order to regain his magic energy. After all, there was no guarantee that the enemy wouldn't make another move on them in this while. Hence, he wanted to be in his best condition as fast as possible.
Supported by one of the warriors in his group, Ramie limped his way to where Lance was. The warrior that had brought the enemy's lv.2 warrior's corpse told everyone that lance wasn't in good shape at all.
The wounds ramie received from the bloodline mage had already been sealed, and no blood was coming out. Obviously, his monstrous vitality was showing its effect.
Walking deep into the compound, ramie saw wreckage and devastation everywhere along the way. It was as if a disaster struck the place.
Apparently, the fight between the two lv.2 warriors was so intense that it had left trails of destruction along the path.
Judging by the destruction, the two must have fought their way through many houses.
Fences were either completely destroyed or had cracks and holes all over. It wasn't only that. Some of the houses had entire portions of them collapsed to the ground.
It was as if two powerful beasts stormed the place.
Following the path of destruction, Ramie finally saw Lance sitting in a partially collapsed house, leaning on a cracked wall, and drinking water. There were two people beside him, checking his wounds.
Seeing his condition, it seems that he hadn't suffered any lethal injury. However, on the same time, he didn't exactly walk out of this fight completely intact either...
Lance's face, was completely swollen, and was filled with skin bags. He looked as if he had just fought ten heavy weight champion boxers, all on the same time.
There was nothing human about his face; his eyes were completely sunken between many skin swellings. He really looked like an alien.
The exaggerated damage wasn't limited to just his face, but it was extended to the rest of his body.
"Are you all right?" Ramie asked.
"Better… than… the other guy…" Rubbing his temple, Lance replied, with twisted lips. Ramie couldn't tell if Lance was smiling or making some other expression.
Ramie nodded to him:"if you can joke, then you're fine."
"What… happened?" Lance asked.
"The same thing that happened with the wind magician back at the borders… after killing some, the rest fled."
"By the way, I think we have still underestimated that wind's mage determination to take revenge. He was among the enemy magicians, he even sneaked attacks me with a spell."
Hearing these words, Lance's expression turned grim, or not. It wasn't obvious.
"We should speed up or schedule to leave the compound. We have already done all we can for the people here. The rest should depend on themselves… Anyway, even without us, they still have the ability to hunt low tier-2 beasts. So, raising more lv.2 warriors shouldn't be too much of a problem for them."
"Our dept to them for accepting us here in the compound should have already been paid, several times over by now. Anyhow, with that bloodline magicians' death, that survivors' group shouldn't be able to pose a deadly threat to the compound anymore."
Ramie spoke up his mind, and didn't beat around the push. Truth be told, if traveling to the capital wasn't so dangerous, he would have already went there by now.
He had no idea on whether the military convoy that had evacuated the people from the camp back in the city had reached the capital safely, or if the powerful beasts that followed the convoy attacked them?
His aunt was his only family; however, he had no idea on whether she was alive or dead. And if she was alive, then what was her situation in the capital?
Why the warriors and magicians here fought their enemy so hard? The answer was obvious – because they had their families here, along with them, and they were defending them.
He however, was alone; his family was elsewhere, him staying here any longer than necessary was wasting time. For all he knew, his aunt might be in dire strait, alone, with no one to help her.
Anyhow, the trip to the capital wasn't dependent on just him. So, he didn't want to act selfishly, and impose his will on others.
This trip was riddled with dangers, and it involved risking life. Hence, those taking part in it had to make the decision themselves, and accept the risks.
"I… agree…" Lance answered without hesitation, which surprised ramie a bit.
Lance was the righteous type. Ramie expected him to say something along the lines of 'we should help these people first, and help them resolve this matter with the other survivors group, before we think of going to the capital!'
However, and contrary to ramie's expectations, lance agreed immediately, without any hesitation.
'It seems that the heavy beating he took did a number on him…' Ramie thought to himself.
"Anyway, I'm going home to take some rest. This way, I'll restore my magic energy and heal my wounds at a faster pace."
Saying so, Ramie signaled the warrior to help him walk back home. His legs injuries weren't light at all, and he didn't want to put his weight on them, so as not to aggravate them, which would lead to increasing the time required for healing.
With his bloodline vitality, he didn't need any medical attention at all. Time alone was enough to heal such wounds.
…
The compound loses in this battle in term of lives wasn't light at all. Among the magicians, none died. However, among warriors, at least 34% of them were either dead, severely injured, or received a crippling injury.
It wasn't only that. The compound had actually lost Lv.2 warrior.
This was even more impactful to the compound than the total loss of all the lv.1 warriors.
As for the magicians; Nora, the bloodline mage – she had escaped after the enemy's mage went airborne. Apparently, she fled the scene because she was afraid the she'd be targeted by his ranged spells.
She has yet to return, he whereabouts completely unknown.
This battle has been a disaster to the compound.
Worst, a death feud seem to have been knotted with the attacking group, even though no one knew why those people attacked in the first place, and why they were so vicious and decisive in their intents to kill.
The inconceivable intensity of hatred and malevolence in the enemy's leader tone suggested further complications in the future.
Standing at the compound's outer wall, and staring at the direction the enemy group escaped to, Brian had an expression that was darker than the night.
Things were already hard on them here, living under the possibility that a strong beast or a horde of beasts might attack at any moment. Yet, now, and for no apparent reason at all, a deep animosity had taken root between them and an even stronger survivors group.
The other group was the one that initiated the attack; they were the one that had killed his people first. However, it didn't matter if the other group was the one in the wrong, it didn't matter at all. The important thing was; the compound now had a very strong enemy.
Thinking up to this point, Brian's expression turned helpless.
Turning his head, he saw a woman at the site of the battle. This woman was throwing shoes and small stones at every warrior and magician she sees in battle site.
She was in a hysterical state, hitting and cursing at everyone, accusing them of killing her son.
This woman was precisely Kevin's mother.
Looking at her, Brian grinded his teeth to the point of making sounds, his fists clenched and loosened several times. He wanted to summon the courage to go and confront her. However, in the end, he couldn't…
'That nefarious monster…! I shouldn't have handed his corpse over…! I should have skewed him on fire and fed him to the beasts…!'
Remembering the maniacal laugh of the flying bloodline mage, Brian gritted his teeth, as his eyes turned bloodshot.
…