Chương 32

People were clamoring about in a state of panic. Repeated shouts for healers could be heard, and the few healers present rushed about trying their best to heal whoever they could. It was absolutely chaotic. I kept my eyes on the tree line, ready in case something was attacking. However, only subdued people carrying dead bodies kept coming through. A crowd was beginning to gather around the bodies that had been placed at the center of the square.

I could see about 8 bodies placed there, and a few more were on their way. The bodies looked in extremely bad shape. Most of them were squashed, like something heavy had fallen on top of them. Looking at the injured ones, their injuries looked the same as well. The healers were actually having a hard time with healing the injuries, as most of them looked like their bones had been absolutely smashed to little pieces. I stayed calm, hidden away behind the chaos of the crowd, watching the tree line closely.

I also took note of the goblins, who were still just calmly watching. The injuries on display here were obviously not the work of goblins, but it could have been those ogres that I had seen. Those large monsters wielding massive clubs could have done the damage on display. However, the people had stopped coming from the forest about two minutes ago, and nothing else had emerged since. There were now 11 bodies laid down in a row, and the crowd was unruly.

Shouts demanding explanations from those who were here merged with the angrily shouting survivors blaming each other with wild accusations. Where is Lucas when you need him? Lucas and Sara were both not present, and their absence could be clearly felt as we faced the first crisis since coming here. I sighed, turned around and went back inside. I had to squeeze my way past a few people who were crowded around the entrance, and once I was sure I was out of sight of everyone, I undid Concealed Presence.

Making my way back outside, I approached the crowd. I needed to learn what had happened so I could be better prepared, and for that I unfortunately needed to be in the midst of things.

"… and YOU were the one who was supposed to be protecting us! Instead, you just backed away! It's your fault he's dead!" A woman hysterically shouted.

"What did you want me to do lady? Those things were massive! If I hadn't moved, I would have been the one who was killed!" A man's voice replied angrily. Already dreading my decision to come here, I nevertheless suppressed a sigh and finally pushed my way forward enough that I could see what was happening.

"No, you wouldn't have! You're a Guardian for God's sake! That's what you are supposed to do with your skills!" shouted back the woman. She looked like an absolute mess; her face was covered in dirt, blood, tears, and snot, but she didn't appear to care for that as she clutched the dead body of a guy while hurling accusations at someone. That someone appeared to be a fairly well-built guy, who was also covered in blood and dirt. He had on armour and looked exasperated.

"Lady, look around. You see the dead bodies? It's not only your little boyfriend who has died, there are others. And oh! Look at that! Most of them are Guardians! I saw every single Guardian who tried to step up against them get absolutely trampled by them, so why would I do the same thing?" he spoke back scathingly. He's got a point, though his tone won't get him much sympathy…

The dead bodies around us mostly did belong to guardians, their shields and armour giving their classes away and lending credence to his story. However, he should have calmly explained his viewpoint instead of mocking the woman if he wanted the crowd on his side. And boyfriend? I didn't know there was someone else besides Lucas and me who knew each other from before the system arrived.

"They did their jobs and died as heroes! You're just a coward prioritizing yourself! And you're the reason he's dead! You killed him!" she absolutely shrieked at the end as her eyes squeezed shut and she rocked back and forth, still clutching the man's body.

"Oh, calm down, woman! You have known him for three days!" he replied, looking away as if in disgust at the woman's antics. Oh… so they didn't know each other from before. I looked around as a few more people joined in the argument. I was trying to see someone who could give me some actual information, instead of this inane emotionally fueled back and forth that was going on here. I spotted a girl who looked to be a bit on the younger side; she definitely looked younger than me.

She was sitting on the ground silently a bit to the side and away from the crowd, staring blankly in space and in a state of absolute shock. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Hmmm… Lucas would be better, but I can give it a shot… Looking around, I had no other option available, and things were getting increasingly heated up. More and more of the survivors were now speaking up and taking sides, and I wanted nothing more than to distance myself from it all.

The bubble has finally burst… I suppressed another sigh and then mentally prepared myself before approaching the girl. She had dark brown hair, or maybe they appeared dark brown due to the dirt clinging to them. As I got closer, I could see that my initial impression of her being young was right. Her face still had slight signs of youth – round cheeks and facial features yet to be completely defined. Her eyes were hazel, and currently looked absolutely vacant.

"Hey, are you okay…?" I softly spoke. She didn't give any response of having heard me. This is going to be much trickier than I thought. I stretched my hand in front of her face and waved it gently, repeating what I had said earlier. This time, she gave a reaction, as she jumped a bit and immediately leaned away from me in alarm.

"Hey, hey! Calm down, I'm just making sure you're okay" I said in as calm of a voice as I could manage while raising my hands in a placating gesture.

"Do you need anything, perhaps some water…?" She still looked a bit wary and shook her head slightly. I took out a bowl full of water from my inventory anyway and placed it beside her, then backed away a bit.

"You should drink some. You're in shock, and it will help" I said, still speaking slowly and calmly. She stared at me a bit, then looked at the water. Instead of taking it, a bowl of water materialized in her hand and she started drinking from it instead. Heh… She's smart. I wordlessly came forward a bit, picked my bowl back up, and retreated again while placing the bowl back in my inventory. She finished drinking and the bowl then vanished from her hands, her eyes gaining a bit of life at the same time.

"Thanks" she said.

"You're welcome" I replied, still trying to speak in a soothing voice.

"Do you need any help? Are you injured?" She shook her head.

"Okay, that's good. I'm going to be around here, so please let me know if you need anything, okay?" I spoke. At her nod, I turned around and walked a bit away from her, though making sure I was still in her sight. I had wanted to ask her what had happened, but she very clearly needed some time. I looked around, tuning out the increasingly heated arguments going off from the crowd. The goblins were still keeping an eye, and apart from that the evening sun shone on the trees as usual.

Suddenly, my eyes spotted movement deep within the trees, and I immediately took out my dagger and crouched down a bit. I noticed from the corner of my eye that the girl, who had been watching me, took note of my change and immediately followed my gaze. She probably saw nothing; nonetheless she got up and started backing away from the trees. I could definitely see silhouettes from within the trees now, and as the shapes got closer, I relaxed.

I looked at the girl, who was now a bit behind me, and spoke, "Sorry, false alarm. It's just my friends." Lucas and the others stepped from within the trees, speaking animatedly amongst themselves but suddenly halting in place, noticing the commotion still ongoing. I watched everyone's faces turn confused, and Lucas immediately started rushing forward, the others just a step behind. I waved at them, and Lucas spotted me, changing direction to head towards me instead.

"What's going on?" he asked as soon as he was within earshot. The others also caught up and looked at me intensely, waiting for my answer.

"I have no idea, all I know is a bunch of people turned up either dead or heavily injured, and now they are all arguing with each other" I replied. Then, pointing at Lucas, I spoke, " You should go there immediately, and Sara, could you speak with this girl, I think she's in shock." Lucas gave a curt nod and hurried away, most of the group following him. Sara and Madelline turned and approached the girl, who looked much more open to being approached by them as compared to me.

Now that Lucas is here, we can finally start getting some answers as to what happened… I turned around and headed to the crowd as well, being aware of the girl's gaze lingering on me for a fraction before turning towards Sara. Lucas had already reached the center and had both his arms raised, shouting at everyone to calm down. Ben was beside him, as usual, and Marcus had headed off to the people still injured, their injuries too serious for the other healers here.

"Just give me a minute, please!" shouted Lucas, exasperated. Even he couldn't immediately get the agitated crowd to calm down instantly. Still, his natural ability started working, as he was able to slowly but surely start getting everyone to calm down a bit. Once they had been reasonably calmed down, Lucas asked for what happened, and they finally started explaining. Turns out that the group had been the one assigned at trying to catch one of the large cattle that had been spotted yesterday.

They had only been tasked with observing for now, and if an opportunity rose and they were able to completely isolate one of the creatures, they were to then try and kill it. Apparently, one of the guys who were dead had been a bit too enthusiastic at wanting to kill one, and had struck at one of the creatures who had wandered a bit away from the herd. Much like when we had fought the boars, the start of the fight had gone well, and the group had been wearing down the beast.

Then, again like what had happened with the boars, the herd had arrived, being attracted by the sounds of combat. Unfortunately, this time unlike what happened with the boars, who were only three, the herd that had arrived numbered well over a hundred. And these were massive animals, easily bigger than cape buffaloes and packed with dense muscles. The result: the group had been instantly trampled.

The ones who had run away or had been luckily away from the midst had survived, while the front-liners had all been decimated. I had heard what I wanted to hear, and thus I turned to leave. I had heard the story, and had concluded that not only were these cattle highly dangerous, but they were absolutely not to be attacked head-on. Doing so would be foolish. That being said, I did not do frontal attacks at all, and I had a number of different things to experiment with. Therefore, a thought rose unbidden…

Interesting… VERY interesting…