And as expected, as time went by, the sounds of guns, bombs and the like diminished, finally ceasing altogether after 5 long hours of waiting in the shelter.
At the same time, Adam noticed that the squad leader seemed to be receiving news from time to time via an earpiece.
Each time, his expression seemed to soften slightly, so Adam wasn't too worried.
It seemed that the news was rather good from the squad leader's expressions.
Finally, after the umpteenth call, the squad leader nodded several times, then after the call was over, he turned to the crowd.
"The attack on the city is now over!
"You can go home!"
"For those who had their homes destroyed, you can head to the town hall, which will assign you temporary rooms while the affected houses are repaired!"
This news delighted everyone.
"What great news, our town hasn't been destroyed!"
"Dad, does this mean we can go home?"
"Yes, son! And for the occasion, I'm going to cook your favorite meal!"
"Yeah! Let's hurry!"
...
At the same time Leo looked at Adam with sparkling eyes.
"Are we safe now?"
"Yes, the soldiers and Mom and Dad saved us," Adam replied with a sweet smile.
"Great! What are we waiting for? Let's hurry up and get home!"
Leo leapt from Adam's arms and pulled him by the arm, clearly very excited.
As Adam and the other survivors finally emerged from the shelter, the sky seemed clearer than it had been for days, as if the threat to them had dissipated.
Perhaps also because they had just spent the night in a shelter with only a few light bulbs to illuminate them.
At the same time, the warriors of the 8th squad shouted:
"Be careful on the way back, and be sure to follow the signs indicating the areas that have been made safe!"
"There may still be a few monsters lurking about, but don't worry, our warriors are after them!"
Adam and Leo returned home, surrounded by many people. But it was very quiet in the crowd.
Everyone looked around at their battered but still standing city. The streets were littered with debris and destroyed vehicles.
A few bloodstains here and there showed the horror that had taken place that night.
Adam and Leo walked for twenty minutes before returning home.
Fortunately, their house had not been destroyed.
The first thing Adam did was get on the sofa and turn on the TV to catch up on the news.
Straight away, he landed on the kingdom's national channel as a presenter gave an update on the invasion.
[Newsflash!]
"Hello everyone, I'm currently in the city of Kantas, where a monster epidemic has broken out. The epidemic has lasted 9 long hours, and the toll is heavy. The local authorities have already counted over 12,000 victims, including wounded, in this town of 100,000 inhabitants. When all is accounted for, it's very likely that, as in similar events, more than one in three people will have been injured during this catastrophe, most of them as a result of large-scale crowd movements or accidental falls during the escape."
"At least, the forecast death toll remains fairly light compared to other outbreaks of similar magnitude, thanks to the swift intervention of the eight Kantas grandmasters. These heroes not only protected the walls, but also wiped out the monsters' main forces, saving tens of thousands of lives."
Adam felt his heart clench as he heard these words. He'd never realized how powerful these masters were, but he also knew that their intervention meant that his parents, who were fighting near the walls, might have had a chance of survival.
"Obviously, the city's soldiers showed unprecedented courage, with witnesses saying that many soldiers used their bodies to slow the monsters' attacks on the shelters, otherwise the death toll would have been much higher."
On hearing this, Adam nodded without realizing it.
Come to think of it, if those soldiers hadn't sacrificed themselves, he and his brother would never have had time to get back into the shelter.
Knowing this, he breathed a heavy sigh of relief mixed with lingering fear.
As he listened to the news, he heard the door to his house open.
"Leo, Adam? Are you there?"
A female voice echoed through the house.
Leo, who had gone into the kitchen for a snack, rushed out and threw himself into his parents' arms.
"Mommy, Daddy, I was so scared!" he cried.
"It's all right now, darling, it's all right." Eva reassured him in a gentle voice.
Adam also stood up and smiled at them.
A heavy stone weighing on his heart had just fallen.
This fear of being orphaned again was truly horrible.
So he was swimming in happiness at seeing his parents back alive.
"You must be hungry by now!"
"Very hungry!" replied Leo immediately with excited eyes.
"Then let's get something to eat," Eva replied gently with a smile.
At the same time, Eric gave Adam a meaningful look.
But the latter couldn't understand why his father was looking at him like that.
He tried to scroll through the memories of that life, but even his predecessor had never encountered this kind of look from his father.
So he just looked at him with confusion, but Eric didn't explain as he joined him on the sofa and watched the news together.
Over dinner later, his parents spoke vaguely about the fights and the fighting power of the masters, but said nothing specific.
Adam guessed that his parents were hiding secrets, but he didn't know what.
In his memories, his mother was a schoolteacher for children under 5, while his father was a simple mechanic in the army.
A few days later, another piece of news upset Adam's routine.