Chapter 32 - Leaving The Encampment
"What's the damage to the Kloras Town?!" Brynn Gaynor suddenly stepped forward and grabbed Jaden's shoulders.
He was distraught after hearing this shocking information.
Jaden clenched his fists and spoke, "Before he collapsed, the man mentioned that the town had nearly collapsed. The beasts had all used strong elemental attacks and hunt all the humans."
"Shit! Those damn beasts! How dare they attack my town?!" Brynn Gaynor cursed in anger.
Many other warriors who were from the Kloras Town were absolutely furious. They looked in Brynn Gaynor's direction and shouted, "Town Lord, we need to immediately go and fight those beasts attacking the city!
"Yes, town lord! My family… Maybe they are still alive! I need to go there and help them immediately!"
One by one, the warriors began shouting, expressing their desire to go and help their family or friends at the Kloras Town.
Meanwhile, Peter had a deep frown on his face as he continued thinking of this situation.
'These beasts waited for us to use the Barrier formation so that even our sensors will be restrained and won't be able to sense them. Once the barrier formation was activated, most of the beasts immediately sped towards the Kloras Town, led by that Dark Hound. Since when did beasts get so smart? And why are they focusing on killing them without fighting us at all?'
Although Peter held those suspicions, he didn't speak them out. He knew that in the current emotional state of these warriors, they won't listen to him.
Azaroth had a shocked look over his face. He clenched his fists and turned to Brynn Gaynor, "Town Lord, I can feel the pain of these warriors. I believe it would be best to lead a group of strong warriors and attack those beasts in Kloras Town. We must save all the individuals we can."
Brynn Gaynor and many other warriors focused on Azaroth. The fact that this had come from Azaroth's mouth made Brynn Gaynor consider that he should take this course of action.
Like other warriors from Kloras Town, he had his own family and property in the town. He couldn't allow those beasts to trample over everything he had worked so hard to obtain.
"How will we deal with the 5 Star Beast, though?" This question from Brynn Gaynor immediately killed the excitement.
Many warriors unconsciously turned their heads towards Peter, and Azaroth was also one of them. Naturally, none spoke any words or asked him to help.
Sophie let out a sigh at this scene.
She looked at Azaroth and asked him, "What's your view, Edwin?"
Azaroth first glanced at Peter and then at Sophie. He was slightly puzzled about what he should tell her.
"… I am not entirely sure how we should proceed with this situation. However, the best idea would be to have a 5 Star Warrior deal with that 5 Star Beast. As long as we stay within this formation, we have some countermeasures against the 5 Star Beast, but the same can't be said about the warriors who are going to fight against the 5 Star Beast outside of this formation."
Azaroth's words resonated with other people as they were thinking along similar lines as well. The warriors here found it slightly uncomfortable to state their thoughts in front of Sophie.
"I see…" Sophie softly whispered as she heard Azaroth's response, and her gaze lingered over Peter, the only 5 Star Ranked Warrior in this camp.
"Miss, my primary mission was to protect your life. It would be inappropriate for you to send me away." Peter spoke as he noticed Sophie's gaze over his body.
The people around who were eager to return to Kloras Town and protect their family were slightly disappointed. Sophie noticed this scene, and she had a determined look, "If you don't go, then even more warriors will die. We will have lesser people to resist that beast tide. That will be even worse for our side."
Peter found himself speechless as he heard Sophie's words. He knew she was absolutely right regarding this.
Even he couldn't deal with a whole beast raid alone. Besides, there were also two 5 Star Beasts in this Beast Raid. With the remaining forces, it would be laughable to challenge them.
Since Peter was silent, Sophie continued, "According to the information we possess, the two 5 Star Beasts have split up. The second one will probably attack this encampment any second, but we have the location of that black hound right now. Go and kill it. As long as you can kill that beast, much of our pressure will be lessened."
Before Peter could even object to this, Sophie turned her head towards the other warriors, "I will allow Peter to accompany you so that he can slay that Black Hound. Once he has done that, he will assist those he can and return. If someone has an issue with this plan, then speak up."
There were naturally some people who were unhappy with this plan. They wanted Peter to stay on the battlefield and help them until they had rescued their family, but none of them spoke up at this moment.
It was mainly because they knew that if they tried to take a yard for an inch, this woman might change her mind about helping them.
After some moments, a fit middle-aged man replied, "This is all we could ask for. Thank you, Miss Sophie."
Sophie then stared at Peter with an intense gaze, "This shall be your order. Go and slay that Black Hound, the 5 Star Beast terrorizing the Kloras Town, and return as quickly as possible."
Peter didn't want to accept this order at all. He didn't know why but he had a bad feeling about this particular task. However, he knew that he couldn't refuse it at this moment.
So, as a loyal retainer, he was on his right knee and spoke, "As you command, my lady."
Once Peter had accepted the task, he turned towards Brynn Gaynor, the town lord of Kloras Town, and spoke, "Let's not waste any more time. Gather the men you can right now, and let's depart for Kloras Town. If we wait any longer, then the beasts might flatten the entire town."
"Yes, yes!" Brynn Gaynor looked somewhat happy that Peter was going along with them.
It took Brynn just 15 or so minutes to gather 70 warriors who were still stationed inside the encampment and could be considered reinforcements for the warriors fighting at the different outposts.
These 70 or so warriors soon departed for Kloras Town under the leadership of Brynn Gaynor.
Other than the warriors fighting on their respective outposts, only 40 warriors remained at the encampment center.
Azaroth had an emotionless face as he stared at the remaining warriors.
He decided to stay behind under the explanation that he was the only one who knew how to operate the formation other than Sophie. He would be of more help here than fighting on the front lines.
This explanation earned him curses from the warriors who thought of him as a coward and someone scared of death.
Azaroth heard them but found it pointless to reply to these corpses.
The only person who threatened him was Peter. Even though Azaroth had observed him quite intensely, he was still unsure what power he had and how strong he was.
An unknown opponent was quite dangerous. And losing due to underestimating his opponent would just be laughable.
Now that Brynn Gaynor had departed, Sophie was the one managing the central command. She opened and closed the barrier around the encampment at her own discretion.
As time passed, the warriors fighting at their respective outposts were injured or even killed. Out of the 40 warriors, 10 warriors had already been sent to different outposts as reinforcements.
Sophie received another request for reinforcements from the outpost in the Northern Side, and Azaroth immediately stepped forward, speaking up, "I will assist them as well."
Sophie was surprised to hear him speak at this point. She nodded her head and then turned towards four warriors, "Alright, you four will go and assist the Northern Side."
Azaroth nodded his head and was about to run towards the Northern side that Sophie gave him a signal to come close.
The other warriors turned their heads and got busy with their respective tasks while Azaroth got close to Sophie's position.
Sophie had a slight smile on her face as she looked at Azaroth, "Let's hope we both survive this." She moved forwards and gave him a quick peck on his cheeks.
Azaroth's eyes widened for some moments, and he instinctively licked his lips after Sophie's lips had parted from his lips.
"…Why?" Azaroth stared at Sophie with a blank expression.
Sophie had a smile on her face as she whispered, "You should understand by now."
Before Azaroth could ask anything else, Sophie spoke, "Alright, you need to go now. I hope you won't take too much of a risk and prioritize your own life."
"…Very well." Azaroth blankly nodded his head before he turned his body and began moving.
As soon as Azaroth turned his body, there was a devious smirk on his face as a plan formed in his head.
He didn't tarry any longer and immediately left for the Northern Side to assist the warriors there.
Three warriors joined him on this expedition, and they looked ready to assist the Northern Side.
This was also the side where Myles and his comrades had been stationed to prevent the beasts from entering the encampment.
Azaroth hardly cared about the presence of Myles and his comrades. He was just looking for an opportunity, and he found this one rather appropriate for himself.
Also, considering the feelings Sophie held for him, he was pretty confident in dealing with any unexpected situation.
After 10 or so minutes, Azaroth and his group reached the Northern Side.
Without greeting anyone, they immediately moved towards the edge of the barrier and began fighting the monsters.
Azaroth used a long-ranged Wind Elemental Ability to attack the monsters from a distance.
Meanwhile, the other warriors pulled out their swords or axe and sliced the monsters with each swing. These warriors were entirely fresh and were at the peak of their strength.
Even though the beasts had better stamina than the humans, they were still slightly tired and could hardly resist these warriors' attacks.
The wind shockwaves from Azaroth that struck the beasts imbalanced their bodies and some warriors used that opportunity to finish them off.
The fighting went on for nearly half an hour more. There was no time for the warriors to even turn their heads and look in their comrades' direction. They just kept on fighting and fighting…
However, they finally earned their well-deserved rest as the barrier around them activated again.
Once they were inside the barrier, they breathed a sigh of relief. They were all tired and began recovering their Ardor and also looked for their comrades who survived.
The three warriors who had accompanied Azaroth to the Northern Side were surprised when they found no trace of Azaroth around them.
For some moments, they looked at each other's faces. One of them shook his head with a sigh, and the other two nodded.
Even though none of them knew where Azaroth was or if he was even alive, they decided to keep it among themselves. They believed it would be better to not create a commotion because of this.
Because of this very reason, the other warriors stationed in the Northern Side didn't know that Azaroth was stationed here as well. Even Myles and his group remained unaware of this specific piece of information.
Meanwhile, outside of this barrier surrounding the encampment, a black-clothed figure ran towards Kloras Town quickly. He was jumping from one tree to another and keeping the noise relatively low.
There was a serious look on his face as he ran towards Kloras Town.
"Time to kick things up a notch." As he whispered those words underneath his breath, a dark aura surrounded his body.
A thin smile appeared on Azaroth's face as he used, "Demonic Transformation!"
His entire body was giving off a dangerous demonic aura. He boosted his body to the limit and didn't care about holding back at this moment.
'Sophie will keep the barrier up for nearly 15-30 minutes.. I need to finish everything by then.'