About an hour later, the corpses had completely turned to ashes, and there was nothing left but them mourning.
Garan looked at his team that entered a gloomy mood and sighed. "Let's go," He just said, and the team prepared to go on their way.
Beanie sniffed, feeling very heavy. To be honest, he had been compartmentalizing in order to retain some cohesiveness.
Although he had also seen a lot of deaths in his previous two territories, he knew his family wasn't there nor were they nearby.
But now, they were so near other Eden territories, and this was what he kept on seeing…
He shook his head, refusing to think about it anymore. Rather than be crippled with worry, he'd rather move forward to get to as many territories as he could to find his family.
The team soon went their way further east, though no one spoke a word anymore.
It was just that they hadn't gone far when they heard rustles, a lot of them, approaching relatively quickly. The soldiers immediately raised their guards ready for whatever would come.
The distant sounds were quickly followed by yells and screams. The soldiers looked at each other, but otherwise stood still as they listened to the many rushed footsteps that came their way.
A crowd of hundreds appeared, batch by batch, from the dense forests.
Each one looked absolutely horrid, covered with blood and dirt, and their expressions filled with terror and hopelessness.
They were running for their lives. Only, deep in their hearts, they didn't think they'd have much hope of succeeding at all.
But it didn't mean they would stop trying.
"Run! Run!!" They yelled, seeing people blocking their way.
The team stood still and watched as scores and scores of fleeing people rushed in and went past them in a flurry.
The people didn't have time to wonder why they were unmoving and just continued to run as far as they could.
They rushed in like ants suddenly escaping from the nest, avoiding the obstacles that were them, and they were such in a rush that most didn't even bother to avoid them.
It was just that as a few people bumped into them, they were thrown back by the force instead.
"What?" they asked, but flinched when they saw the soldiers—standing still as if another man his size didn't just barrel onto him—look down at them with an impassive expression.
Too scared to make an issue out of it, they just ignored the soldiers and continued to escape.
Of course, some had the mind to warn them. For instance, a middle-aged bald man wearing only a dirty white shirt stopped next to them, yelling. "What are you doing? Run!!"
The man tried to drag one with him but the person shook his head. Gill looked at the man who was pulling his arm, actually stopping to pull him despite looking incredibly terrified by what was behind.
Instead of speaking though, Gill looked at the incoming monster without emotion. Ignoring the man's curse, he easily escaped the man's hold and summoned fire in one hand, and earth in the other.
The man didn't absorb what was happening until Gill was several steps away, baffling him.
He wasn't so stressed out that blood crept up his brain, did it?
Gill coolly met the monster's sprint and jumped up. He clapped his hands together while in the air, forming magma between his hands.
He then raised his hand above his head and pounded the monster's head with his palms burning with magma.
"Magma Melt" He uttered under his breath, watching as his technique burned a hole into the monster's skin.
Whatever the magma touched, it melted like it was a gruesome ice cream.
This was just the first of the miraculous sights the refugees saw. They soon saw the whole team light up in different colors as different elements manifested around them.
Every and each one (including Beany and Gaudi) fought the monsters, each one looking valiant in the eyes of the refugees. Especially the elementalists, who looked so divine in their movements—no matter which element they commanded.
More and more people stopped running, watching the lights and magical sights with all their hearts, sending a flicker of hope into their dying hearts.
Each ember lit a fire, each rock added stability, each gust adding excitement—adding a breadth of life—and the crowd watched in amazement as the monster mob that tortured them so much was dealt with so easily by fellow humans.
In fact, the people who didn't have elements were also impressive and even more inspiring—because they represented what they could do themselves, rather than the miracles (the soldiers) that happened to come their way.
"Awesome… Axe!" Beanie exclaimed, naming his own technique for coolness. Although it wasn't a skill and didn't consume Mana, he felt it was stronger by virtue of its name.
Fortunately, the monster he was up against was another level 4 weakened by Luis, so he managed to kill it unscathed.
Gaudi, a level 14, was not an elementalist but he could also handle himself very well. He was a spear-user and he swung his weapon around expertly. Although he had gotten rusty after years of not fighting, he was still quite impressive.
It had to be said that Gaudi was among the people who survived among his kind for a reason. When someone asked why he remained a cleaner slave despite having the ability to do decently in villages and even low-level towns, he said it was because slaves who could fight were sent to the front lines with no support but themselves.
In their Terran terms, they would be called 'cannon fodders' or meat shields.
In contrast, cleaning up the mercenary hall was just much more attractive.
Eventually, the battle ended and the team stood still, while the atmosphere around them brewed with various emotions.
The refugees looked at each other with wide eyes, some were disbelieving, while some just sobbed.
They're alive. They're safe!