When Ella and the others came back, Elo still just stood there, motionless. But as soon as he heard the happy voices of his friends, he seemed to come back to life.
He clapped his cheeks twice, before walking towards his companions.
-"As the leader of this town, I can't panic, just because there is an issue. I'll have to be someone they look up to, not somebody who runs at the first time we encounter a problem."-
As soon as Lara saw him walking towards them, her face brightened.
Before they even stood still, she already started talking with gratitude in her eyes.
"I still can't believe you were such a big help… Without you, we would most likely be dead by now!"
Behind Lara, the others nodded in assent, but they weren't that surprised. Since every member of Elo's team was skilled on their own, how could their leader be anything but amazingly strong?
They were more irritated than anything since Elo had only supported them from far away, while they had to risk their lives.
-"Yeah, It was pretty good, but I also used all of my mana at once. So if this one attack had not killed it, I would have been useless."-
Everybody's eyes lit up, as soon as they heard this and they started mumbling laud enough, that Elo could hear them easily.
"Even though he possesses so much power, he didn't even come with us and…"
"What's even worse, is that he used all of his mana on one attack…"
"I saw the attack; it was so slow…"
"…how can a leader be so irresponsible?"
Lara, the only one that had kept a cool head, glared at the others.
"How can you be so unthankful? He killed that monster by himself, to protect you and our new homes, and all you do is whining! You should be ashamed of yourselves."
Under Lara's gaze, the group became silent.
Meanwhile, Elo was inwardly crying.
The others were right. There had been no time to look at the skill of his new toy. Because of this lack of time, he had to gamble their lives on an attack he didn't know.
But right now, there was no time to waste on petty thoughts. Elo could still see the ticking clock in the corner of his vision.
When he spoke up, the others silenced, but to their surprise, Elo did not argue with them. Instead, he just asked Lara and William to follow him inside the hall.
Without saying another word, he turned around and walked towards the building.
The ones mentioned started walking after Elo. Those who were left behind looked at each other with astonishment in their eyes.
**
As soon as Lara entered the room, she walked towards Elo, who had not moved an inch after entering the room.
"Hey, what's up with you?"
Lara had felt that something was wrong since the moment she had seen Elo. On the outside, he had acted normal. But for Lara, who had spend almost all of her time with him, it was apparent that something was wrong.
When Elo turned around, Lara heard William almost choking on his breath. Only when she saw Elo's face, she understood William's reaction.
The light that usually inherited his eyes was gone completely. Instead, there were dark brown rings under his eyes, and he seemed to have aged for about ten years in the last few minutes.
Whatever bothered him, it had to be something pretty serious.
"After I killed the beast, a screen popped up, that told me that there would be an attack of those beasts in one day."
Hearing this, Lara started to shiver, and cold sweat poured down her back. One of those things had been enough to almost kill all of them; she didn't want to know what an entire herd of them could do.
The town's real fighters had not been there when the beast attacked, but even they would have to put in some work to kill those things. Not to mention many of them attacking simultaneously.
Elo's newfound power would help to some degree, but it would most likely not be enough to defend the town.
There were no children nor old folks in the town, so worst case scenario they could flee. However, they would, of course, rather keep their homes.
When Lara looked over to William, she saw that he had come to the same conclusion as her.
"I will help to defend our homes! Please give our team orders if there is something we can do."
Lara was a bit bewildered by William's immediate obedience. Had he become accustomed to his new home and didn't want to let go of it?
After some thought, it seemed to make sense. The first thing William did when encountering this settlement was to claim it for himself before Ella had punched his face in.
That meant that he had to like this place a lot, right?
Lara train of thoughts was interrupted when Elo started speaking again.
"There is not much we can do. We have to wait for the others to get back and hope that our gathered power is enough to defeat the beasts.
I didn't want the others to panic, that's why I asked you to come in with me. We'll have to…"
Suddenly Elo's eyes lit up. Just as Lara was about to ask him what he had found, a screen appeared in front of him. As he read, a small grin formed on his face.
Just as Lara was about to burst, the screen in front of Elo disappeared, and he turned towards them.
"I now know what to do. Call all the people that can walk. We are going to fortify this place now."