"Is everyone here" Jakob loudly said as he looked around the small crowd in front of the Captain's tent.
"Yeah, everyone here besides the captain and the heir and his butler," Ordio said.
At that moment they heard the sound of footsteps coming from their left, they turned their heads and saw Harry and the baron heir with his butler.
"Good, you managed to gather everyone," Harry said as he turned around towards the Mercenaries.
"We are in danger, the mist surrounding us is speculated to be filled with demons that are going to rip apart anyone inside," Harry said loudly and as the others heard him, they all started chattering amongst themselves.
A small aroma of fear could already be sensed as they talked among themselves.
"No need to fear, however, the mist has only attacked small children and civilians, and we aren't children are we now?" Harry said loudly.
At that moment the mist was only a few feet away from the men.
"What the plan then captain" Gorkuis asked from the back of the line.
"We will stay together in a circle with the heir in the middle, we must protect him at all costs. This way we will achieve two things at the same time, protecting the heir and being able to see all around us so that we can protect ourselves." Harry said as he ordered the people to quickly get around the heir, forming a circular formation.
"The mist isn't going to last long, at most a few hours. All we need to do is survive during that time" Jakob said loudly once again.
"How do you know that?" Jakins asked as he looked over at Jakob.
"I used to live in a village nearby" Jakobs answered quickly as he focused on the surroundings.
Jakins nodded as his eyes darted around the surroundings, he however couldn't see much.
The mist was here and it was all-encompassing as it didn't allow them to see anything besides a foot in front of them, it had almost reached the level where they couldn't see each other even though they were side by side with each other.
'It's weird' Leroy thought as he looked at the mist.
'I can't see a foot in front of me but I can see the people behind me and they're more than a foot away from me. It feels as if the mist itself is alive and it's surrounding all of us.' Leroy thought as he continued to look around for any movements in the mist. It however was a thankless endeavor as he could see nothing but bluish-gray.
Harry was next to him on his left while Jakobs was on his left.
Finally, the screams started once again.
Everyone could hear the heart-clenching disturbing screams of women, children, and elderly, it was as if they were inside a battlefield and a massacre was going on all around them but they couldn't see anything.
'At this point, it would have been better if we could see the slaughter' Harry thought.
'At least then we would know what's happening around us' Harry continued his thoughts as he remained on guard until suddenly the screams stopped.
"Everyone shout their own names, one by one so that we can hear them all clearly" Harry suddenly said, startling Leroy and Jakobs who were next to him.
"It's a good idea, with the mist surrounding us we won't know when someone gets attacked or goes missing if the enemy is too quick for him to scream," Jakobs said to Leroy or maybe to himself.
The members started screaming out their names, one by one, and finally, after a while, everyone had said their own names.
"Seems like everyone fine" Harry sighed as he said.
Suddenly the mist started retreating, their vision was slowly expanding as they could see farther ahead.
"It's disappearing? Just like that? Didn't you say that it usually lasted for a few hours?" Leroy asked Jakobs.
Jakobs had a baffled expression on his face, he looked like he was questioning himself and the situation around him.
'It's not normal, definitely not normal' Leroy thought as he turned to look at the mist that was disappearing little by little.
'It's not even disappearing, it's more like it's retreating, it feels like the mist is a living body more than a phenomenon at this point' Leroy thought as he looked at the mist finally disappearing behind the tree line.
"Weltist, he's gone"
Someone suddenly screamed.
Harry quickly lifted his head and headed towards the scream, when he arrived he saw a young man shivering, he had already soiled his pants from the fear coursing through his body.
"Weltist disappeared? What are you talking about Vellor?" Harry asked the man as he shook him, trying to snap him out of whatever he was experiencing right now.
Finally, Harry had enough and slapped his face.
"We do not have time for this Vellor, tell me quickly what happened"
Vellor seemed to finally snap out of his constant mumbling and shaking as his eyes started to gain focus, finally looking at his captain who was holding him.
"I don't know captain, one moment he was shoulder to shoulder with me and the next he wasn't. I couldn't even scream from the fear, it was like I couldn't control my emotions at all" Vellor said as he stuttered his words out.
"Even now, I can't control them that well" the young man continued as he showed his hands to Harry, they were shaking badly.
The others had already gathered around the man when they heard a voice.
It was Jackson Steel, the heir of SteelBurn.
"What's happening, explain the situation at hand to me, captain," The young man asked as he looked at Harry.
Leroy looked at the man and his eyes widened, he could see something new now.
'I couldn't sense the mana before but now that I can... This guy's crazy strong' Leroy thought as he looked at Jackson.
'Not even the captain comes close to him, and his mana seems to be under his perfect control, if he is this strong then why did he even need us to escort him' Leroy thought.
"Weltist, an archer seems to have gone missing while the mist engulfed us"