The owl approached the monastery ruins at a low altitude before it shapeshifted mid-air into Leo. The elven mage landed deftly on the ground in front of Elias and Rivie, who were anxiously waiting for his return.
"Any news Leo?" Rivie approached him first without giving him much time to rest after his air acrobatics.
"It doesn't look good. There's a small empty space beyond the East gates, but we're going to be in an open space if we go that way. The rest of the city is filled with a mutated beast or so. What happened here?"
It was Elias' turn this time to give a report. "The mutated beasts launched a surprise attack at dawn. It seems that they've undergone some changes again. Each limb hummed as if it was a magick weapon. They can also explode before they die, causing massive damage as you can see."
Leo looked around at the rubble and the corpses around him. Even though the surviving guards and adventurers were clearing them out, it was more along the lines of putting the bodies to the side and taking adventurer tags. He even saw some of the defence forces looting the bodies for weapons or armour. Leo's thoughts pandered over to when he was also distributing his magick weapon cache. 'There's no point in hoarding them when Wildecross is about to fall.' With a sigh, he turned away from the looters.
Rivie poked him back to his senses. "So what do we do now? We can't keep defending here. We're on the losing end, Leo. Even I have trouble encouraging the survivors now."
Leo nodded solemnly before giving his brief answer. "Let me talk with Rosie first."
Rosie turned out to be his beastkin assistant who helped manage the adventurer guild affairs. She was holed up in a basement in a nearby building. Not many people knew about its existence. Leo placed his hand on the locked door's handle and briefly applied his mana through it. There was an audible click to indicate that the seal was undone. He pushed it open and quickly went inside before closing the door shut. Another click indicated that it was locked once more. To the naked eye, it seemed that Leo was simply entering through a locked door, however, the magick seals and physical contraptions raised the room's defence to a whole new level.
While he was waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, he could hear the faint whirr and hum of machines and magick working together. He walked towards the figure loomed over a machine and a microphone. She was wearing a crude headset which muffled her hearing. It looked like she was looking over an old radio while wearing huge earphones. Even though she was a beastkin, she couldn't hear Leo entering the barricaded room.
"Rosie. I'm here." Leo tapped her shoulder lightly. He didn't want to surprise her.
"Kyaaa!" She still jumped from her seat. Taking off her headset, she looked at Leo. "Leo, you're back."
Dark circles enshrouded her eyes, and her tone was that of exhaustion. She obviously didn't have much sleep and rest since the last time Leo saw her.
"Heard anything from the other cities?"
"I lost contact with them a few days back. Only the capital, Treysia was able to respond for a while after that."
"How are they faring over there?"
Rosie shook her head and looked back at the screen. "I haven't heard from them two days ago. Last time they said that they were holed up in the castle. The beasts rapidly changed over there more than here. They called them the 'new types'."
Leo let out a sigh as he rubbed his eyes. "Two days is a long time. Even though this machine is rudimentary, it uses mana so it should be stable enough. We've placed them in secure positions in each city as well." He sighed once more. "Even the high-ranking officials know about its existence. They should be able to find someone who can operate it or even use it themselves."
"I know, that's why I've been waiting here and trying to contact anyone."
He nodded to show approval. "Good job Rosie. I can see that. Let me bring a copy of your discussions with them. I'll get someone else to take over monitoring the machine."
As Leo stepped out and heard the door behind him click, he bore a grim expression.
***
Leo stood in front of Sebastian. They didn't see each other for a while, however, dry pleasantries were briefly exchanged. Both parties had something to discuss with the other. Knowing that Leo would calculate his actions and wait for him, Sebastian asked first.
"Elias said that you were in charge of scouting. Have you found a decent place for the refugees? What's the status with regards to the other parts of the city?"
Leo nodded as if to show that he was expecting the question. "I spent days looking nearby. The plains and the forest nearby is overrun with the new types. There are different kinds now, and we won't be able to defend ourselves in our current state. I wouldn't recommend escaping the city for now. Regarding the other parts of the city, I just saw it this morning but the gates were destroyed. Their recent surprise attack obliterated them."
"New types?"
"That was what the capital called them. Before they were overrun as well."
"Then that means - " Sebastian trailed off, he didn't want to say his thoughts out loud.
"That there's a high chance that we're the only city left." Leo finished it for him.
Considering that Wildecross City started off as a pioneer village in the wilderness, the architecture and layout focused more on defences as compared to Klance City which was focused on trade and commerce. Each gate was sturdy, reinforced, and aptly defended with ballistae. This might have tipped the scales in their favour at the beginning of the new type outbreak. However, that merely provided them with a few days of respite - in contrast to the other unfortunate cities.
"My turn to ask you." Leo's cold, calculating stare came back.
Sebastian nodded as well. He couldn't properly answer as he was still digesting the information Leo laid out before him.
"Nate spoke highly about guns or something like that. Do we actually have a chance to counter these new types if we have them?"
The question caused Sebastian's eyebrow to raise up. "Is he still going on about his guns? He was planning to sell them right? Did he say where it was?"
Leo unfolded a hand-drawn map from his pocket. "These are the locations of Yokkun's and his warehouses in Klance City. He's convinced that Yokkun hid them in one of these."
"Are you sure about this information?" Sebastian asked without lifting his eyes from the map. He was intently studying and memorising them.
"He swore with his life."
Sebastian raised his head at the remark. "You killed him."
"I merely prodded the information out of him with strong suggestions and rewards." The cold glint in the elf's eyes sparkled for a moment. "However, you're right. He's dead. Sorry if I took the pleasure from you."
Shaking his head, Sebastian responded. "That wasn't it. I was hell-bent on killing him, but then I realised that this whole thing was his fault and he would know how to circumvent this. Good job for extracting information. Did he say anything else?"
"Quite a bit. He gladly spilt his life story and even his actions here in Kalonia when he came. I've written it all down in a journal. I've kept it somewhere safe for now. We can browse it in detail when all this blows over."
"So you need me to look for these warehouses?"
"Yes. You might be the only left who is familiar with how these guns work. If he was banking on these weapons then it might turn the tide. As you can see, we are short in manpower here. It might also be in your advantage to move as a small unit." Leo placed the map in Sebastian's hands, urging him to take it with him. Sebastian silently pocketed the map. Knowing Leo's character, he would have made copies of it already.
Before parting, Sebastian turned to Leo with a smile. "No matter how much you sugarcoat it, torture is still torture. I've never heard of someone call it as using 'strong suggestions and rewards.'"
Leo merely shrugged the comment off. "Well, I did physically harm him to his breaking point. When he couldn't handle it, I cast [Heal] on him. This was before I even asked anything. After repeating the process, he was already broken. No matter what I asked, he responded immediately. While I was still doing the process, he somehow managed to bite off his own tongue and bash his head against the floor. I already got everything that I needed from him so I didn't need him alive at that point. He bled out while he was suffering."
Sebastian couldn't suppress a shiver running up his spine. He always had an idea with regards to Leo's calculations and coldness. Hearing it in action from him was a different matter. He silently swore to himself never to get on Leo's bad side for any reason.
***
"That's the plan for now Zes." Sebastian finished briefing his companion while they were doing preparations and equipment maintenance.
The pair had gone over details such as travel, combat, and even escape should their plans fail. Even as they were poring over their new mission, it sounded bleak and hopeless. A Forgotten One with less than a year's worth of adventuring experience, paired with an elven slave who was emotional and had even lesser adventuring experience. These two were entrusted in finding weapons that bore the hope of the survivors. With the collapsed communication to the outside world, they might even be the last survivors in Kalonia. Even if they did find the weapons, there weren't any assurances that it would work. However, with their backs against the wall, this was their only resort.
"Shouldn't we try to at least bring Jin with us? He has been in our party since before. He should be a valuable asset to this quest right?"
Sebastian smiled bitterly while shaking his head. "I do agree with you on that part, however, his heart and mind are here with his parents. They were only recently reunited and he's seen the horrors of the new types firsthand. I don't think he'll join us willingly even if we ask him."
"How about you Sebastian? How are you feeling? Are you still able to use spells again like when you cast [Heal] on me?"
Sebastian recalled how he was able to cast [Heal] on Zes when she was slowly dying in his arms. He broke through the bottled-up emotions he welled inside when Becky died. Thinking how he was able to compartmentalise to that level, he inwardly chuckled. 'It seems that it's not a good idea to suppress my emotions that much.'
"Yes. I should be able to use my spells again. I blocked a part of my emotions out when Becky died. A huge part of those emotions was involved in using magick spells." He raised his hand towards Zes. "[Hea]." Immediately, a warm light shot out and enveloped Zes. Even though she wasn't hurt, she was still able to feel the reassuring warmth from her master.
"That's good to hear. I'll pack more mana recovery potions for this trip."
Sebastian recalled how bitter the processed mana potions tasted. He was used to having it as warm tea instead. Although at this point, he thought that having tea was already a luxury. He shook the thought away while he checked his rucksack once more. Due to the nature of this mission, they had to pack light. They were even prepared to discard the rucksack and make off with a smaller sling bag if needed. As he slung his bag, he recalled about his first camping experience with Becky, Aima, Jin, and Mel in Korinne Cave. With a sigh, he silently wished for those quiet times once more.