Hooves dug into the muddy ground, softened by the incoming rain. A man with dark purple hair and amber eyes moved forward slowly, despite the chaos unfolding in the distance.
Next to him paced several people in leather armor with iron protective plates, surrounding a lone carriage full of supplies.
"Tsk. This really happened, yeah?" The man muttered, watching the burning city.
In a hurry, one of the guards ran up to him.
"Commander Xir, what should we do? Reports say it's at least a Second Threat Monster Wave, possibly higher!"
Without rushing to respond, Xir pulled an engraved lighter from the inside pocket of his coat. With a click, the lid opened as Xir leaned toward the green flame, lighting his cigar.
The Pit was on fire, the Thornspire was falling apart under the onslaught of monsters, and the Awakened of this distant city were not strong enough to hold the line.
From time to time, groups from other cities arrived at the Pit. They helped with the evacuation, taking as many people as they were allowed at a time.
Sure, it wasn't free, and such offers were only made because the Pit was designated as a Red Zone. For the most part, it all came down to connections, money was just a nice bonus.
For Xir, this evening was supposed to be another evacuation road from the Pit to the Iron Gate, which he did because of his long-standing friendship with Konrad. They were supposed to leave in the morning, but the situation changed dramatically.
Xir wasn't nervous. He was an experienced Awakened and, as a resident of the Iron Gate, he knew that the days of the Pit were numbered. Now, he was just watching what was bound to happen sooner or later.
Their group was not the only one heading for the Pit that night, other torchlights were visible in the distance as well.
"Let's go to the waypoint as usual, but don't enter the city. I'm sure Konrad has already prepared the group." Xir replied, brushing off the ash.
He stared ahead, watching the town burn as shadows flickered in flames. Their roars carried on the wind.
"Get ready. This will be harder than usual. There will be many who want to be saved, but space is limited, and the road to the Iron Gate is long. We can't let ourselves get overwhelmed."
The man gulped. "What will we do with the extra ones?"
"Well, we'll see, but... You know the answer."
Then, Xir stepped forward, fearing neither the darkness surrounding them nor the flames ahead.
"Maybe not all of them, but we're going to save people."
His squad replied in unison:
"YES!"
...
At the same time, under Konrad's command, people headed down to the base of the city. He chose a remote passageway far from the other groups, but even that didn't save them from trouble.
"Mr. Konrad! Please!" A woman ran up to him with a pleading look. "Take us with you!"
Several people stood nearby. They didn't work at the factory and weren't connected to Konrad in any way.
Garet glanced in their direction as he walked forward with Cirka. He didn't know what he would do in Konrad's place. It was a heavy burden.
"No!" Konrad waved his hand. "Go away, you still have a chance to escape! I want to take you with us, but I just can't!"
Click.
At the same moment, one of the young men pulled out a gun and pointed it directly at Konrad. It was a handmade gun from the scraps, not like Konrad's revolver with its rare cartridges, but it worked, and that was the most important thing.
"Old man, I don't recommend arguing with us! Better do the right thing, and I won't have to hurt anyone!" The young man exclaimed, trying to sound threatening, but his hands were shaking.
Garet became alert. He didn't know what the situation was, but he couldn't let them wound Konrad.
'Now, if I try, I might be able to stop him. I'm much faster than I used to be.'
His legs tensed.
'I can feel it.'
Whooooosh.
Konrad stopped him with a wave of his hand, as if he knew what he was going to do.
"Alright, you can come with us. If you want to ruin your lives, that's your call."
"Hah, we're saving them!"
Thus, everyone went down, with Garet and Konrad following last.
Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.
A tremble ran through the ground as a massive creature rammed the fence surrounding the factory. Pieces of metal flew off to the side, revealing a monster as strong as a rhinoceros, with dark hide and two amber eyes full of a desire to rampage.
"Shit!"
Garet and Konrad exclaimed simultaneously, running away as fast as they could.
Not all monsters pursued the goal of consuming energy from sources, some followed their instincts and desire to fight.
But that wasn't the case here.
The rhino chased them, staring intently at Garet, ignoring Konrad. It wanted the energy hidden in Garet's Genesis Core.
"Konrad, I can fight it!" Garet exclaimed.
"Don't be ridiculous! Do you think you've become an Awakened and now you're all-powerful?" Konrad quickened his pace, pulling Garet along with him. "You have a lot to learn, and even if you had already undergone training, this monster could be a Second Manifest one! In that case, you wouldn't stand a chance!"
Garet gulped, nodding slightly in agreement.
The Manifest, or the Manifestation as it would be written in official documents, indicated the danger that the monster posed. Ordinary people had a chance of injuring or even killing the First Manifest if they had the right weapon.
However, ordinary people only fought monsters when necessary, when there was no other choice.
The Second Manifest was a greater threat. These monsters were much fewer in number, and only Awakened of the appropriate power could count on defeating them. Konrad's revolver wouldn't even pierce the skin of such a monster.
The Awakened and monsters evolved differently, which led to a slight imbalance in power and meant that an Awakened was always a useful source of energy for a monster, while not all monsters were worth anything in the eyes of humans.
Thus, Konrad may have just saved Garet's life. It was unknown if Garet would've lasted even a minute against that raging rhino.
Jumping off the edge, Konrad and Garet rolled away and ran after the others who already joined their rescue squad.
THUM!
The rhino followed them, shaking the ground with its heavy, multi-ton body.
"Out of the way!" Konrad shouted as they scattered.
But they weren't trying to confuse the monster, they were clearing the way for another one.
Xir clenched his fist as energy ran through his hand and his amber eyes glowed brightly, combining the features of both man and monster.
In a heartbeat, purple chains appeared out of the air, shackling the rhino and lifting it off the ground.
RHOOOOOOOOGHHH!!!
A furious roar echoed through the gorge, rippling the leaves on the trees.
"Tsk." Xir frowned, full of disdain. "Shut up, pig."
The chains tightened, instantly tearing the rhino apart. The effect was as if someone had planted explosives and detonated them.
Blood flooded the ground amid the frightened gasps of ordinary people.
The head fell right next to Garet, almost as big as he was. Yet, it was not difficult for Xir to defeat even such a formidable monster.
"This... Unbelievable..." Garet's pupils trembled. He was deeply impressed.
Catching his breath, Konrad ran up to Xir, who didn't bother to dismount his horse to kill the monster, but did so now to shake Konrad's hand.
"Tonight's the night, right?" Xir smiled broadly.
Konrad scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, things got out of hand faster than I expected."
Tap. Tap. Tap.
In response, Xir patted him on the shoulder.
"Good to see you, my friend."
Then, something caught Xir's eye — a group standing off to the side, afraid to come closer. Among them was a young man with a handmade gun.
"You... You're not with Konrad, are you?"
Step.
Xir stepped forward as his aura intensified, becoming threatening, sending shivers down their spines.
"I already have so much work to do today. I'm not going to take on any extra duty!"
Before anything bad could happen, a woman stepped in front of the group, pulling an amulet out of her pocket.
"This, I have this and money! I'll pay for our rescue! Please, take us to the Iron Gate!"
As soon as Xir saw the money, his expression changed, and a cunning gleam flashed in his eyes.
"Oh, that's a different story!"
He chuckled.
"Hahaha, you should have started with that!"