Ruel stared at the contaminated sky, contemplating how it all began.
The sky used to be so beautiful back then. The rivers, the forest, and even the animals, all used to be so captivating even in a place that had become the scene of war.
Now all of that was lost to the time and the calamities. The records of such a place were naught but historical artifacts at this point.
Nature's degradation wasn't stopping but carried on with more fervor. Some parts deep inside the calamity zone weren't even salvageable now.
The more he stared at the sky, the tighter his hand got. He began to question himself.
'Was what I did even worth it?'
'Was the world meant to be like this? Was I meant to redo this?'
'Is this my destiny?'
'To live in a world where freedom is merely a myth. To be bound to this place with no hope.'
With the dripping sound of his blood, Ruel woke up from his trance. He had been clenching his hand so hard that his nails dug into his flesh.
Tearing a piece of cloth from his robe, he wrapped it around his body while examining his own condition.
He already had many small cuts all over his body, but none deep enough to endanger his life.
The fight with the lesser horncreepers wasn't without loss. He lost a lot of blood in this fight.
His flesh without any blemishes was filled with cuts all over and his stamina had hit rock bottom.
The aftermath of the fight was devastating. The casualties from the camp were relatively low, despite the element of surprise. However, the fact that every single person had sustained injuries couldn't be ignored.
All around the battlefield was covered with blood and gore, with the guts and bodies of red imps lying everywhere.
Splashes of red and green blood soaked the ground, resulting in patches of red and green.
Ruel left the gore behind and walked forward.
It took him a few meters to notice some people to his left. The atmosphere surrounding them was dark and full of sorrow.
They cremated the corpses of the dead disciples of their sect by burning their remains if they had buried or left them. Then the blood would attract more beasts.
Some took out weapons from their hands, some took out other things from their clothes. Wrapping the materials in cloth while putting them away.
The most they could do was send these memorials back to their families or remember the dead by them.
No one cried about it. The young ones of this world had to mature early. Maybe...if maybe it wasn't like this, then they would have had a pleasant childhood.
Ruel was part of the same group of people like this in his previous life. However, the losses were far more significant than this, yet they didn't give up and kept defending this area until someone came to their rescue.
Averting his eyes from this scene, he looked towards a group of people gathered ahead of him. On his way to them, he noticed the people all around him sitting in a large circle, vigilant of threats inside the forest.
There was a depressing and hopeless aura coming out of some while others gave ferocious and unyielding expressions.
One thing was true though: everyone was on the edge because of what had happened before.
Just as he tried to step inside the circle, people made their way for him. It was a common sight for him in his younger days.
Just as he looked for Agon, he found him with some other people discussing something.
Treading over to them with faint steps, he reached them. Noticing Ruel's presence, they gave him a short nod, and he in response did the same.
Nobody asked Ruel how his side went. They could already guess from his condition. Multiple cuts all over his body, fully soaked in lesser horncreepers' blood, and none of the cheerfulness he always showed.
Ruel asked calmly while sitting on an uprooted tree that had fallen because of the fight.
"How did your side turn out? Did you find a way out of here?"
In a conflicted tone, a young boy around Ruel's age said, "We found one out of this, but there's good news and bad news.".
He had a big stature and domineering muscles for his age and an average face. His name was Steve.
"The path we found is straightway out of the twilight forest, but...the path is being occupied by a baleful creeper. We believe all the lesser horncreepers we fought were coming from it," He added with uncertainty.
The baleful creeper was the monster that gave birth to lesser horncreepers, its purpose was to produce lesser horncreepers endlessly. It ate and digested the dead bodies lesser horncreepers brought and spawned them from those nutrients.
It was a monster ranked above everyone else here but was easy to kill, as it was just a spawner for lesser horncreepers. The problem was its size and the hordes surrounding it.
Baleful creepers would be surrounded by at least the number of lesser horncreepers that invaded the camp. That in itself numbered in the hundreds, and the strength of the people here was just around forty.
With a serious tone, Ruel said, "This is going to be tough. We have only two options right now."
"Either we push through or we wait for reinforcement which may or may not come. In addition to that, we have fewer supplies right now."
"He is right...most of the supplies were destroyed by lesser horncreepers. We only have enough for 2 days." Everyone's faces darkened after hearing Steve say that.
"That leaves us with the only choice. We will commence an attack on them tomorrow morning. Tell everyone to prepare for it. This is our only chance in this situation right now."
Everyone acknowledged that suggestion, feeling a mix of determination and fear.
They knew that this battle would be one of the toughest they had ever faced, as this was their first time experiencing a real group battle, but they also knew that they couldn't afford to wait any longer.
If they stood idle more than that, then the baleful creeper would replenish the lesser horncreepers more. This, in turn, would make the fight harder.
As the group dispersed to make preparations, Agon stayed behind to speak with Ruel.
"Are you sure about this?" he asked. His eyes were filled with concern.
Ruel nodded. "We don't have any other options. If we wait any longer, we might as well give up now. We have to take the fight to them."
Agon took a deep breath and nodded in agreement. "Alright then. We'll do it but how are you doing?"
"I am fine, no need to worry about me," said Ruel with a reassuring smile on his face.
The two of them stood there for a moment longer, lost in their thoughts, before finally turning to leave. As they walked away, the weight of their decision hung heavily in the air, a constant reminder of the danger that lay ahead.