Sitting on the ground, Desper was washing his brown face with some water he had asked for from one of the villagers.
After that, he saw Eland do something with the Detecting Desk, causing it to emit a strange sound. At the same time, Desper felt a faint tremor run through the ground.
Suddenly, a small yellow sphere pierced a nearby stalker's corpse and flew toward them, landing in front of Eland. Soon after, many other monsters' cores flew in from all over the village and piled up before him.
"Is this an array?" Desper asked, startled.
Beside him, Silas spoke. "We can't stay here for a long time, or we will become like the Lurkers and attract monsters. So the array collects the cores quickly from all over the village."
"Why don't we have one of these at the Beacon?" Desper wondered.
"Because it consumes a lot of Essence."
Just as Silas had said, Desper saw many of the cores sink into the ground, feeding the arrays beneath. Not only the one responsible for collecting the cores, but also those that fire the Distress and Clear Signals.
Desper took out a Red Essence Stone and was about to absorb it when a man carrying a trembling little girl approached him.
"Excuse me," the man said.
Desper looked up and recognized the man as the one he had stopped from going to the school for his daughter.
"I want to thank you for saving my daughter." His voice was muffled, and his eyes were wet.
Desper opened his mouth, but for a few seconds no words came out. He felt that the huge emotional pressure on him had suddenly disappeared.
A faint smile appeared on his face. He shook his head and said, "No need for that."
"No! You really don't know how much I owe you," the man said. "I lost her mother and her brother while she was giving birth to him. She is the only good thing left in my life."
"Come on, Lora. Thank your savior," the father urged the girl gently.
"Th-thank you," the little girl stuttered.
Desper's smile grew even warmer as he gently stroked her head. She reminded him of a girl he used to take care of. He was glad he had been able to save this one.
After the father and daughter left, he heard Silas's voice.
"Feeling better?"
Desper exhaled deeply.
"Yeah… I guess."
After that, he closed his eyes and started absorbing the stone. Although his Origin still contained a lot of Essence, he needed to be ready in case any situation arose.
After ten minutes, the stone disappeared in his hand.
"Too fast!" a loud voice said next to him.
Taros was shocked by Desper's speed. "How did you do that?"
"It always happens like this," Desper replied.
Since it wasn't related to his Svikari Bloodline, he had no reason to hide anything about his strange Origin; however, he still hadn't told anyone about it except Varik.
"We are leaving," Eland declared.
After collecting all the cores, there was no reason for them to stay there, so they had to leave before attracting more monsters.
Desper stood up with difficulty and glanced at his team. Other than him, no one in the team had been injured. Even Bron was unharmed this time. He sighed deeply and followed them.
Outside the village, the horses were still where they had been left. Even from a distance, Desper could hear their harsh breathing. Under the sunlight, their bodies were shining because of the heavy sweat covering them.
After activating the Azure Ability, their speed had been boosted and multiplied for a short time, which left them in a very exhausted state. Because of that, the team couldn't ride them and had to walk back to the Beacon.
At that moment, Desper thought of a question, but he didn't want to ask it so as not to appear pessimistic. Instead, he moved closer to Arkan.
"Are you okay?"
Arkan had just killed a human, and it seemed that it was his first time.
"I'm okay," he said with a faint smile. "I convinced myself that it was just like killing another monster."
Desper was surprised, but he didn't bring up the matter again.
After about two hours, the team had only covered half the distance to the Beacon. That showed how fast the horses were and how remarkable the Azure Ability was. However, even after two hours, the horses were still very tired, and the team couldn't ride them yet.
Along the way, they exchanged only a few words, except for Bron, who walked alone.
Suddenly…
VOOOOOOOOOOOT…
Drum… Drum… Drum…
VOOOOOOOOOOT…
Drum… Drum… Drum…
A loud horn, accompanied by drums, echoed from the Detection Desk.
Desper and the others were stunned. For a moment, they even forgot how to breathe.
It was the same sound they had heard before rushing to the village.
"A Dou… Double Signal?!" one of them stuttered.
The voice snapped them back to their senses, but they were still in shock. A Distress Signal was already very rare, occurring perhaps once a month. A Double Signal was even rarer; once a year was considered frequent across the sect's territory. Yet it had happened twice within only four months: the first time in Desper's village, and now again.
The main problem with a Double Signal wasn't just that monsters were attacking another village, but that the horses were exhausted, and there was no way for the team to rush there quickly.
The other village would likely face the same fate as Desper's.
Eland's face grew even darker as he spoke.
"It's the same village!"
Desper's pupils shrank to pinpoints. He felt as if his heart had dropped to his feet. The others were no better. All of them momentarily forgot that they needed to move.
"Let's hurry," Eland was the first to recover. "Let's hope for the best."
He abandoned his horse and rushed in the opposite direction on foot. Silas and Taros followed, then the rest of the team. They all ran as fast as they could, but they knew it still wasn't enough.
Eland, Taros, and Silas were too fast and quickly pulled ahead. Bron and Arkan came after them, followed by Zen, and lastly Desper, who was the slowest.
He knew that even if he used his Svikari power, he still wouldn't be able to catch up to Zen. His body was exhausted, and the wounds on his chest slowed him even further. After five minutes, he could no longer see his teammates, but he didn't stop running.
He ran for about half an hour before he finally reached the village.
Unlike before, he didn't hear any screams or cries. The village was deathly silent; the only sound was his ragged breathing. The scent of blood was so strong that he had to breathe through his mouth.
Most of the houses were destroyed, and their interiors were stained red.
As he walked slowly through the streets, Desper passed by many human bodies. Some had deep gashes, while others were unrecognizable. He also saw the corpses of the monsters that had carried out the massacre. They were large, gray, hairless felines with six legs attached to their bodies.
He suddenly stopped and looked down at a man's body before him. One arm was draped over a smaller body, as if trying to protect it.
His legs gave out, and he fell to his knees, staring at the father and daughter in utter disbelief.
"Haaa… hoooo… haaa… hooo…"
He was gasping for breath. His heart pounded violently.
Just a few hours ago, the man had thanked him for saving his daughter. Just a few hours ago, he had felt terrible for not being able to save all the children. Just a few hours ago, many villagers had celebrated surviving the attack.
Now, all of that meant nothing.
"We save as many as we can, but we can't save them all," a cold voice suddenly came from beside him. "We can save them today, and they might die tomorrow. Our lives always come first. Remember that, Desper."