After a few moments, Merell ascertained that he was indeed looking at colossal beasts. Below them, he could also make up the figures of several large beasts walking amongst them.
Merell pushed himself away from the window. He fell to the floor, but he didn't care at all. Instead, he started crawling. "I have to tell… I have to tell Klaus!"
He kept on struggling to move forward, but his attempts were futile. His arms and legs were still too weak.
The young man was dumbstruck. He had absolutely no idea what to do nor did he know who Klaus was. He knelt on the ground and he tried to pull Merell up to stand, but the latter kept on resisting. "Mister, please don't struggle, I was paid to take care of you. Please understand!"
Merell stopped. The young man was finally able to pick him up and place him back on the chair. Merell looked at him and asked, "Paid? Who paid you?"
"Who? Ah!" the young man thought hard. He really had no idea who the person who gave him some gold coins was. "I don't really know his name, but he was quite burly. Not too tall. His hair was cut short, and he had a trimmed beard."
Without even thinking hard, Merell immediately realized who the lad was talking about.
"Dan?!" Merell exclaimed.
"Was that his name? He never really told me. He only gave me some money," Jude replied in a hurry.
"What's your name?" Merell asked the boy who was at a loss.
"Jude! My name is Jude! How about you, mister?"
"Merell," Merell nodded, "Dan's here so everything should be just fine. I'll rest for a bit. Wake me up the moment he comes back."
"But what was it that you saw back there?" Jude asked curiously.
Merell shook his head, "it's best you don't know."
Merell leaned back on his chair and closed his eyes.
After a minute, he fell asleep.
….
The entire group was reunited at the center, about 200 hundred meters in front of the town's southern gate. The others only then realized that Levi had actually joined the middle team after he had arrived.
The battle only lasted for about half an hour, but many people already died.
Before Aeon's group even arrived, the casualties were already in the fifties. As the battle raged on, the number increased, especially when the beasts realized that they were about to be annihilated. They went into a sudden frenzy and fought like the cornered beasts they were. They took out more lives with their final struggle.
A total of 182 died. Most of which were caused by flying magical beasts that took advantage of the night. Their lack of experienced Remorans was the main reason. If not for Aeon's group, this number would've been higher.
No.
There was even a possibility of the entire town being wiped out. Thankfully, the common people knew how to handle beast attacks and stayed completely out of sight. This
….
The group sat on the ground littered with corpses of both man and beast while the surviving people moved their dead comrades.
The scene was quite gloomy. Nobody even celebrated when they had finally defeated the beasts. Probably… every person in town lost someone, be it a friend or family.
Aeon looked around and finally realized why magical beasts became the natural enemies of humans.
"Don't feel quite bad. You actually did good," Dan said trying to lift the mood up.
"Did we really?" Suri asked as he looked at a dead man who had lost the entire lower part of his body. It was quite gruesome, but Suri did not turn away. He couldn't imagine if it was a loved one in the dead man's place.
Dan saw what Suri was looking at and found himself having trouble looking for the words to say. In the end, he could only resort to typical cliches. "If you didn't come, more people would've died."
No one responded after that. No one can deny what Dan said, but their hearts still felt heavy whenever they looked at the dead people around them. After all, they were still young. Even the oldest one in the group, Samuel, was still 26 years old.
Aeon stood up and started walking towards the town. He said nothing because he really thought it was not the right time to motivate the others. Everyone followed, too. They were starting to feel uncomfortable with the area.
Dan sighed and looked at the watchtower. He still needed to get Merell. Dan started walking as well.
….
Dan climbed the tower with a heavy heart. The truth is that it was also his first time witnessing the deaths of many people. He, himself, wasn't even much older than Samuel. He was still 28 years old. He just acted tough because he thought that that was how he should portray himself in front of the students as an Academy staff.
Dan silently entered the room at the top of the watchtower. He once again saw the young man, Jude, on the same corner, but this time, the latter was sleeping instead of praying.
Dan smiled. His gaze slowly wandered in front of the kid and he realized that Merell wasn't there anymore. Dan looked around in a hurry. He was too tensed that he found himself panicking. When he saw Merell asleep on a chair, he sighed with relief.
He ground his teeth and headed straight towards Jude. Without warning, he knocked on his head, waking him up.
"Ow!" Jude rubbed his head, "what was that for?!"
Dan stared at him without any emotion.
After Jude realized that it was Dan, he started to panic. "Sir Dan! I'm so sorry for sleeping!"
Dan clicked his tongue. "That's okay. I'm not m—did you just call me by my name?"
"Yes, sir! Is something wrong?" Jude replied.
"How did you…"
Suddenly Jude remembered something. He slapped himself hard on the face, completely startling Dan. "Sir Merell! He told me to wake you up when you come back!"
Hearing this, Dan looked towards Merell. He immediately felt his body weigh significantly lighter. He walked towards Merell with hurried steps.
Dan kneeled just beside the chair Merell's was sitting on. Dan gently poked on his cheeks twice. "Hey fish hands, you awake?"
A few seconds passed, but Dan received no response.
When he decided that he would wait for morning before waking Merell up again, Merell suddenly opened his eyes and said, "Your horrible breath woke me up, goat face."
Dan laughed dryly. After he came back from the battlefield, he felt that his heart was really heavy. Now, when he realized that he almost lost his best friend earlier, he started tearing up. However, he was smiling. "Fuck you."
"Dan," Merell said in a serious tone.
Dan sensed the sudden change in Merell's attitude. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked back at Merell.
"Is something wrong?" Dan asked.
"I saw colossal beasts in the south earlier. They were heading west," Merell replied. His voice was still weak.
Dan heard this and immediately thought that something was wrong. "No, there weren't any colossal beasts. Only average ones. Don't worry, we already took care of them."
Merell shook his head. "Not those. I saw another group. They showed no intention of coming here. I'm sure that they saw the battle ensue, but they completely ignored it."
Dan was filled with confusion and thought that what Merell said made no sense. "I think you were mistaken. Magical beasts don't do that. They attack where there are people."
Finally realizing that what he saw were magical beasts, he chimed in, "I saw them too."
Dan turned towards the young man, speechless.
If it was true, then they needed to move as well! They needed to help those towns or cities that might get entangled with those creatures. At that point, he had already no idea what to do.
Should they just leave the town?
What if more beasts would come?
Should they follow the other group of beasts?
What if they weren't capable enough to win against that group? They didn't have a messenger bird to call for backup with.
Dan gripped his short hair. He hated making decisions that concerned other people's lives.
Fortunately, Merell knew about this. He resolutely made the decision for Dan. "Let's leave the town. There are more lives in danger."
"How are you so sure?" Dan asked, his eyebrows furrowed. His expression was filled with hurt. And possibly… guilt. He felt guilty about the lives they were might give up in the process of making the final decision.
Merell looked down and said, "I know this sounds impossible, but that group had dozens of colossal beasts, and probably more than a thousand large ones."
Dan stared silently at him.
Even Jude realized the graveness of the matter.
He, himself, knew that the beasts that came from the south didn't amount to half a thousand. Moreover, they also couldn't pass as large ones. So how terrifying was the other group of beasts? Jude shivered from the thought.
"That force should be strong enough to destroy a couple of cities," Merell said in conclusion. He closed his eyes once more. Thinking about the devastation or Sera city, Merell felt that his chest was getting tighter.
He wouldn't allow this, even if it kills him. Even if that means he would give up on other people.
The room fell silent.
….