The sound echoed once again, this time louder. It was the same sound that a big hammer would make when colliding against stone and breaking it.
That entire zone of the Refuge Sarah stopped their daily chores and work, looking to the walls and feeling that the ground was trembling.
Another impact, stronger again. This time, the effect that it made on the walls and ground was more emphatic. People began to talk to each other, worried about the situation. That generation never passed for such a thing before. Only the elders could tell what sort of situation they were going to pass for.
The three Ascendants that were near Dean were standing on their feet. Their bodies were still shivering due to the effort they needed to make a minute before. Their energies were drained, such was the pressure that befell them. Dean's displayed unknown power was enormous, just its presence was enough to exhaust special people like them.
The most composed of the three was the woman, Helen, who looked at the walls just with a frown. Her stomach lurched and a chill ran down her spine when she felt the "Chaos" spreading crazily around again. Nonetheless, this time it wasn't coming from the boy, but from the other side of the walls.
Another blow to their mighty stone shield caused it to crack from top to bottom. That huge fissure didn't seem to be opened just in the stone of the walls, but in the hearts of all folk as their only assurance was being shattered in front of them.
"Jon, run as fast as you can to the other zones and warn the Ascendants that are not aware of the situation. You are the one that can do it faster. Lawrence, you stay here with me and help to protect these people. We need to evacuate them to one of the other two zones. I will hold these Dreads once they can enter."
Jon and Lawrence looked at her with a grim expression. They were willing to obey her, the problem wasn't her orders, but something she said in the final got them troubled.
"Do you think that they are capable of breakthrough? Is there a Dread as powerful as this on the other side?" Lawrence asked. His back was achy because of the impact he had against that building due to the shockwave of Dean's power, and it made him get unsteady on his feet. However, he was determined to go until the end there.
"Yes. I am aware that, from this distance, you both can't feel the energy as clear as I can, but there is something outrageous on the other side of the building. I would guess that it is a 6th gen, but it can be a Dread of late 5th gen."
Once they heard "5th gen", they started to wonder what in the world would happen in that invasion. They were fearing for the lives of all the survivors, but also for their own now. If the Dread had this much lifetime, it would start developing powers by controlling its own "Chaos". It would be troublesome to kill.
"We don't have time to lose, then," Jon said, getting in position, a golden glow detailing his silhouette.
"Yes. Let's start it now! Can you really hold those guys by yourself, Helen?" Lawrence asked, mocking her to erase a bit of the tension in the air.
The woman just snorted to him, turning her face. Her black cape glowed in a golden energy again. She took flight in the next moment, as fast as a lightning bolt. Helen crossed the skies at that absurd speed as if she didn't need much effort.
Jon began to run and soon could reach a speed comparable to hers, his body disappearing.
Lawrence took a ring from his pocket with a yellow gem on it. His "Willpower" enveloped his body like yellow flames. In the next moment, he disappeared.
Helen stopped in front of the wall, still flying. She had her arms crossed and a serious look towards it. A frown was present on her forehead as Helen tried to keep herself focused.
Despite her looks, the woman couldn't be more anxious about the inevitable events, but she was good at repressing them.
The fissure opened in the stone was getting bigger. Big pieces of its structure were falling to the ground. Thankfully, no one decided to stroll around the walls that day.
Now that she was near the wall, she could sense the "Chaos" emanating from the Dreads trying to enter. It was clearer than before. She could see and feel the red lines around with much more details.
Helen was sure of one thing once she faced it: what she said was the truth. Nevertheless, not just one, but at least two Dreads of 5th generation were present there.
'With the quantity of Ascendants in Refuge Sarah nowadays, we can deal with two Dreads of 5th gen and a horde of younger ones. However, I am unsure if they will catch up here fast enough to save those people before I die. Also, I can only measure their raw power by analyzing the amount of "Chaos" they emanate. However, a decisive factor is always the intelligence and tricks of these beasts. These factors can give us a lot of trouble.'
A last impact echoed, and it seemed to be the strongest one until now. Rocks flew from the wall, hitting some near buildings. Even Helen needed to move around as fast as she could to avoid being struck by that.
That hit made another earthquake cross the refuge, more intense than the previous one. Some of the survivors couldn't keep on standing and fell to the ground. The structures of the houses began to crack due to their harmed foundations. Some people who were far away from the walls even wondered if it was just another strong earthquake that usually happened after the Crimson Apocalypse.
'I can't just go alone and try to prevent them to break through the walls. If I do it, I will turn into Dread food for sure. I need to be cautious to not waste my life right on the start and be able to hold them for as much time as possible.'
Now that she was sure that the Dreads were going to enter, she took off the gauntlets that were hanging on her waist, wearing it and getting prepared to dash toward the first enemy that she could spot.
The fissure in the wall finally got wide enough for the Dreads to start to enter the refuge.
Right after their figures appeared sneaking inside, the eyes of Helen began to glow in a bright golden color as she flew downward.
Fastly, she kept flying while her body was just a few centimeters from the ground. The Dreads couldn't notice her approach at all. Those guys were of the 7th gen, so they were still weak.
Those were probably Dreads derivated of canines. They were the most common to find out there. In the start, they could have been dogs or, rarely, wolves that evolved too much. Some other specimens of the canine family could get to that same stage and even some felines. Each specimen had its way of evolving as a Dread.
Those red cracks on their bodies were the overall characteristic, despite the sharp claws and mouth full of various lines of teeth. Its eyes didn't show any trace of the animal it once was anymore and, honestly, not even the body resembled much. Anyway, after 7 centuries of living with those things always lurking around, they became the new normal for that folk.
While crossing that place, Helen punched with his gauntlets, using her speed to increase the power of the blow. She traveled through the battlefield with swiftness, which showed her high proficiency in flying. Helen seemed more comfortable fighting while flying freely.
Those Dreads didn't give her any tiredness. But that was just the first wave.
As the fissure opened more and more, the monsters kept increasing as well. It came to the point where Helen needed to fight a Dread one meters taller than her. The worst thing was that those Dreads were all from 7 to 6th gen, which indicated that her level was probably too far from the ones of 5th gen.
An Ascendant just depended on the level of their "Willpower" to keep fighting nonstop.
'Those beast keep increasing and coming each time more powerful. They are reaching the limits of the 6th gen. Soon or later the big bosses will arrive. I gotta put my all here!"
She was trying to hold back to save energy to be able to hold the others. However, Helen decided to wipe that battlefield as fast as she could, so she won't need to worry about the small fries chasing after humans while she was dealing with the most powerful ones.
The impacts on the wall, though, lessened until they were gone. Now, the reverberation that Helen felt under her feet resembled more like heavy steps.
"They are coming! The fifth generation!"