Vyra was the first person to reach Rick, which shocked him to his core. She picked him up and held him against her armored chest as she turned and ran for the door.
He felt like nothing to her. Rick was too tired to be embarrassed about being carried, but he can still talk in his mind.
"To think in my dying state... I was expecting an angel to pick me up, but it was a demon that looked like an angel..." Rick smirks.
Krell grabbed Carmilla with one giant arm, and another demon picked up Natasha. As the temple began to fall apart for the last time, everyone in the squad ran.
Vyra ran through hallways that were falling apart around them, and Rick bounced in her arms. Huge stone blocks fell behind them, just missing them by inches.
The corruption mist was quickly clearing up, but the building it had been holding up was falling apart.
They ran out of the temple and into the open air just as the whole building fell apart behind them. The old demon temple collapsed in on itself with a noise like the end of the world, sending up a giant cloud of dust and debris.
The corruption dissipated into the air, similar to how a bad dream vanishes upon waking.
Vyra kept running until they were far enough away. She finally let Rick go and put him down on the sand.
He fell right away, unable to stay upright. Carmilla and Natasha lay down next to him, all three of them completely worn out.
No one said anything for a long time. The only sounds were heavy breathing and the sound of the rubble from the fallen temple settling far away.
Then Krell laughed, breaking the silence. At first, it was just a chuckle, but then it turned into full-bodied laughter.
"GEHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" He laughed loudly.
"You crazy bastards really did it!"
"I didn’t think you would make it. I’m... I’m really impressed."
Rick had never seen that look in a demon’s eyes before. It was respect, and maybe even admiration from them.
"That was impressive for a human like you three."
[+15 AFFECTION: VYRA ASHENBLADE 6/10 → 21/10]
Rick blinked when he saw the message. Ten out of twenty-one? That shouldn’t even be able to happen.
But then again, he had just destroyed a nest of corruption that had killed twenty-four demon warriors, so maybe he needed to show extreme love in extreme situations.
[+10 EXP: DEMON RESPECT EARNED]
Rick’s communication crystal began glowing urgently in Vyra’s pack, where she’d stored his belongings. She pulled it out and handed it to him. Rick activated it with trembling hands.
Sylvia’s voice came through right away, sounding both scared and frustrated. "I FELT DIVINE AEGIS ACTIVATE!"
"WHAT HAPPENED?!"
"Rick, please answer me right now!"
Rick tried to talk, but at first all he could do was wheeze. He cleared his throat painfully and tried again.
"We’re... alive... mission success..."
"You’re going to die when you get back for scaring me like that!" Sylvia’s voice broke with anger.
"Do you know what it was like to feel like you were on the edge of death through our bond?"
"I almost went there myself, no matter what the political consequences were!"
Rick couldn’t help but smile a little. "Love you too... baby..."
Sylvia’s voice got softer, but it was still strained. "Don’t you DARE make a joke right now!"
"I thought I was going to lose you!"
"I could feel the moment you almost died."
"Can you imagine that fear of..." She couldn’t finish what she was saying.
The connection suddenly stopped, likely because Sylvia was too upset to keep talking. Rick dropped the crystal because he didn’t have the strength to hold it anymore.
Krell stood over them with his war axe on his shoulder. "Six-hour march back to camp."
"Can any of you walk?"
All three of them shook their heads in a weak way.
"You think?" Rick said it with his ’really’ expression.
Krell sighed but didn’t seem angry. "Okay, okay... We carry you.
"But only because you earned it." He looked at his squad.
"Get in line. We need to leave now before more corrupt creatures come because of the core’s death scream."
The demon squad carefully picked up Rick, Carmilla, and Natasha. It was a strange role reversal for demons to carry humans to safety instead of fighting them.
Vyra took Rick again and held him in her arms with surprising gentleness for a warrior who killed things with swords all the time.
"Rest," she said softly. "You’ve earned it."
Rick didn’t need to hear it again. He felt tiredness wash over him like a wave, and his eyes started to close.
He could feel Carmilla and Natasha drifting into unconsciousness through his bond network. He could feel Liora falling apart in Valdris from a long way away, too tired from keeping Divine Aegis up over such a long distance.
And Sylvia in the Northern Peaks, where her presence was a storm of worry, anger, and relief all mixed together.
Rick’s last conscious thought before he fell asleep was that he was content. They had done it. They had destroyed the corruption nest and lived, even though it was hard.
Rick’s mind was so foggy on the way back to camp that he couldn’t remember much of it. He was aware of what was going on around him, but not all the time.
He heard bits of conversation between the demon squad members. "I have never seen humans fight like that..."
"It’s clear that the bond network is real...General Zara is going to love this..."
Rick had strange dreams. The whispers of corruption came back in his dreams, but they were different this time.
It was more clear and threatening.
"This is just the start..."
"Now the Archon sees you... marked... targeted... you can’t hide from what’s coming..."
Rick woke up with a start at what felt like the four-hour mark of their trip back. His instincts told him that something was wrong.
He could feel something was wrong deep down, and his heightened senses screamed warnings.
The ground shook, but not in a way that is simple to see.
Vyra saw that he was suddenly awake. "What’s the matter?"
Rick had a hard time focusing because he was so tired. "Something is on the way...!"
"Something big and dangerous...!"
Krell, who was at the front of the formation, stopped right away. His yellow eyes got smaller as he looked out at the horizon.
"I feel it too."
"The ground is shaking..."
The whole squad stopped, weapons drawn and ready, even though they were carrying three unconscious humans. There was only tense silence for a few seconds.
Then they heard it. It roars far away in the wind. Not one or two, but dozens, even hundreds. And they were getting closer.
Krell’s face turned pale. "What the fuck—Oh SHIT!"
There were dark shapes on the horizon. There are too many to count.
A giant wave of corrupted creatures moving together as one. And they were going straight to the demon war camp.
Rick’s system turned on by itself.
[WARNING: MASSIVE CORRUPTION SIGNATURE DETECTED]
[ESTIMATED COUNT: 500+ HOSTILES]
[CORRUPTION RETALIATION PATTERN CONFIRMED]
[DEMON WAR CAMP IN CRITICAL DANGER]
Rick felt like he had been hit by a physical blow. "We caused this by destroying the nest..."
The corruption hadn’t been destroyed. It had been released.
The nest had been holding and concentrating the corruption. They had let loose every corrupted creature in the area by destroying the core, and now that horde was heading straight for the area with the most life.
Which is the demon camp for war.
General Zara and thousands of demon soldiers were not ready for an attack of this size at all, especially since they were coming so suddenly.
Rick whispered in horror, "We led them right back to camp."
Krell’s answer was quick and clear. "RUN! FULL SPRINT!"
"We have to tell them!"
The demon squad broke into a run, still carrying the three humans, but now they were moving rapidly.
They had about an hour before the horde of corrupt creatures got to the camp.
Maybe not as much.
And they couldn’t do anything to stop it.