The monsters came at the knights endlessly from the cracks on the ground which looked like the entrance to hell. With each monster they killed, the sky got darker.
"Sir Vine, the sky!" A knight brought attention to the thick clouds of ashes hovering in the sky above them.
"Hmm..." Vine tried to understand what was going on with the ash but he couldn't. When he killed the monster in front of him, he widened his eyes. The ash that the monster became after he killed it was swept away by the wind and into the swirling cloud of ash.
He clenched his teeth. "How many citizens are left in this level?" He asked.
"Almost 40% is still left Sir!" A knight replied back to him.
"Drag the fight a little longer, don't kill the monsters right away!" Vine instructed.
"But the monsters will overpower us with their numbers!"
"Only start killing the monsters once you can't handle their numbers. But don't kill all of them, do you understand!?" He shouted out.
"Yes sir!" The knights shouted in unison and started to drag the fight.
"The monsters are weak and we are strong! Can't you mutts even hold on against this scum?" Vine spat out.
"We can sir!" The knights cried out once more in fervor. After the knights started holding out, the citizens started evacuating to the church on the mid-level according to their instructions.
But no matter how many people passed them, Edana didn't see Cadell and Valentina.
She approached Vine with an anxious look on her face.
"Sir Vine, I am going to check my house, I'll be back in 10 minutes."
"Your house?" Vine glared at Edana. "Do you have to go right now?" He pointed at the line of knights stopping the monsters to show their situation.
"I know sir..." Edana bit her lip. "But I'm worried about the kids from my home."
Vine nodded in realization. "Right.... The kids you were taking care of.." He looked at Edana . "Go quickly."
"Yes sir!" Edana nodded and left towards her house right away.
Vine looked at Edana's fading back with mixed emotions. He was long let in on the situation by Thorn. The kid Edana was talking about was Valentina, who was Zane's sister.
'The white haired boy...' Vine remembered Zane. He knew Zane was the one who took his essence and had mixed feelings towards him. But he hadn't told anyone, not even his brother about what Zane did to him.
"Haah..." With a long sigh, Vine went back to holding the monsters off. "Hold knights! Hold until everyone evacuates!" He barked.
---
Edana skillfully avoided the monsters while traveling across the low-level. After moving for some time, she finally reached her house.
Killing the monsters on the street, she stood before her house, her eyes wide in horror. The house that once stood before her was now destroyed and in ruins. The house had already burned and collapsed in on itself.
Her anxiety rising, she darted her eyes around until it fell on the house adjacent to theirs. She hoped Valentina and Cadell went inside their neighbor's house, even though she knew that wouldn't be true. Clenching her teeth, she quickly entered the building hoping for her thoughts to be true. But she was worried about the neighbors too.
The door to her neighbor's was already broken. She quickly entered the building and navigated through. The inside was identical to her house. When she reached the kitchen, her face dropped.
"Thomas, Andy, Arthur..." She walked towards the corpses on the floor and shook them one after the other, but none responded. Thomas was the corpse of an adult male, while Andy and Arthur were just kids of seven and five years of age.
Edana clenched her teeth and dropped down on her knees in sadness.
"Uhhh..." A faint voice appeared from behind the kitchen counter.
"Mrs. Loren!?" Edana jerked her head in realization. Standing up swiftly, she made her way behind the kitchen counter. "Mrs Loren!" She went down on her knees and grabbed Mrs. Loren's hands.
"Haah... Haah...." Mrs. Loren was breathing heavily. She was laid flat on the floor and her stomach was bleeding from a huge wound on it. "E..dana..." She struggled to get words out.
"Don't speak.. Your wound will get worse.." Edana stood up and searched for kitchen cloth. After finding one, she tore it to make a makeshift tourniquet. She stuffed the tourniquet on Mrs. Loren's wound and pressed it tightly. "Here, keep pressing tightly." She moved Mrs. Loren's hand on the tourniquet and instructed.
"V...Val and Cadell..." Mrs. Loren's voice was hoarse. "I saw them...on the mid-level..."
Edana widened her eyes. "Thank you... Now please don't speak." Edana heaved a sigh of relief knowing about Valentina and Cadell. 'Maybe they've already evacuated to the Church...'
After saying what she had to, Mrs. Loren fainted. Carrying the fainted Mrs. Loren on her back, Edana set out the house after taking one last look at the three corpses. Then she started heading towards the other knights.
But she couldn't head back as stealthily as she came because of Mrs. Loren on her back. On her way, she had to stop and put Mrs. Loren on a safe spot before fighting the monsters.
She skillfully killed the monsters one after the other until none was left. Then letting out a long breath, she turned back to grab Mrs. Loren. When she reached the spot she had left her at, Edana panicked. Mrs. Loren was nowhere to be found.
Looking closely, she could see traces of blood. Following the traces of blood, Edana found Mrs. Loren once again. She was crawling back to where they came from.
"Mrs. Loren! Where are you going?" Edana moved her hand towards her. But Mrs. Loren slapped the hand away.
"No.." She didn't even look at Edana and continued crawling.
"Wh- Why? Mrs. Loren, we must go." She reached out once again but was rejected.
"No..." She looked at Edana this time. "I... don't.... have... much... time...." She spoke one word at a time.
"want... to...be.....with....my...family...." She pleaded with her eyes.
Taken aback, Edana quickly nodded and carried Mrs. Loren once again. Then she took her back to her house.
Inside the house, she put Mrs. Loren down on the floor, her back on the front of the kitchen counter. Then, Edana brought her husband on the right and the two kids on her left.
"Thank... You..." Mrs. Loren thanked Edana with a smile. Embracing her family tightly, Mrs. Loren closed her eyes and took her last breath. She remembered her life. Although they were commoners and lived in the low-level, she had always been happy with her family. Her face held a content smile showing she was happy her whole life, till her last moment.