568: Aftermath

Aftermath

Vivian and Ceph had feared the worst when they saw and felt the first explosion. The shockwave of which had flattened the undead near the gate. The flames following stopped more from entering. The second shockwave slightly put their minds at ease since it indicated that Eldrian had survived the first, somehow.1

His action also bought them the time they need to organize and finish the undead still inside. 

Therdul had also finally arrived with six other players, they quickly got to work. Taking out the cannons from their inventory they placed them on the makeshift barricades. 

Footing was unstable and the cannons weren't fastened, however, that didn't matter as a new wave arrived. 

"Now!" Therdul shouted, the players nodded and filled the cannons with all the mana they had. Unlike the fancy cannons atop the walls, these ones only had a simple explosion and shockwave rune, meant to project the cannonball. 

Its force was less than a traditional gunpowder cannon as it was made by a mixture of Tier 3 and Tier 4 blacksmiths. The mana it required was also far less, allowing the players to operate it themselves. 

Aimed at the gate. These cannons cut through the undead with devastating effectiveness. Unfortunately, these cannons were also not made to last. Most had cracked from the first use. 

The next wave of undead was welcomed in a similar fashion. With the fourth wave, however, the first cannonball exploded. Taking the player operating it with it. 

Tjan frowned as he turned to look at the explosion. The players had told them to evacuate from the cannons, seemingly having expected this to happen. 

"They truly are different," Brazan mumbled as they had a breather thanks to the cannons continuing to mow down the arriving undead. It was clear though that this wouldn't last for long. 

"That they are," Tjan smiled, readying his mind for the battle to start again. 

Seeing someone rush forward, the soldiers and militia of the city frowned. Hearing the explosion of another cannon they sighed. 

"That's-" Tjan's eyes flew wide, jumping over the barricade he rushed forward. 

"Fucking hell, she couldn't just stay where she was." Brazan sighed and followed, Aspen stayed behind a bit longer. But when he jumped over the barricade he was followed by everyone else. 

"How do you do that?" Brazan asked as they stood just clear of the cannonballs but close enough to fight right at the gate. To make use of its ability to limit the undead's numbers. 

Aspen simply smiled wolfishly in reply. 

***

Gritting his teeth, Eldrian fought through the pain. "Is Itireae here?"

The roc nodded its head, indicating with its beak to the wall. 

"Is she in the city?" Eldrian rephrased his question, getting a shake of the head in reply. 'Maybe this will work?'

'Mneme, can you hear me?'

The roc nearly lost its balance midair. However, there was no response. 

'I see, you can hear but can't respond. Bummer.'

Nodding, Mneme recovered and flew up higher. From here Eldrian could observe the situation of the fight. It wasn't looking good, however, it seemed that the numbers were now around even. 

'That's good, we should be able to actually make it out alive.' Eldrian naturally wanted to rush back to the gate, however, that was where things seemed to be going the smoothest. 

Instead, he directed Mneme to help where the walls were nearly totally fallen to the undead. 

A massive bird such as Mneme could do some significant damage. Especially when the targets were atop a wall. Flying over them, Mneme would grab and drop the undead off the wall, when there were too many she would use her wings to generate powerful winds. 

Eldrian took those moments to send a few spells of fire at the undead. Carried by Mneme's winds, the damage was great. 

This continued for nearly an hour before things finally started calming down. Naturally, in all this time Eldrian had constantly been monitoring his map and those he had marked. Making sure that no one had died. 

He had also used his map to determine where help was needed the most; when he couldn't see it clearly with his eyes. 

Landing next to Pelaros, Eldrian looked at the bleeding centaur with worry. 

"I'm fine... Just tired." Pelaros replied, "How's..." Failing to make it through his sentence, Pelaros lost his footing and fell down. Unconcious. 

Eldrian quickly confirmed that this was all, doing his best to stabilize the centaur before moving on. His condition was actually worse than many that he treated. However, he was quite adept at compartmentalizing pain. 

Two also helped greatly in that regard. 

'We need to stop.' Two said after they healed the thirtieth near-death soldier. 

'We can't...'

'If you don't take time to heal yourself, you will die.' Two pressed, and Eldrian wanted to argue. However, upon his next step, his body failed him. Falling, he just narrowly managed to not slip from the wall. 

...

"How are things?" Elizabeth asked. 

"Not good, most of the soldiers are on or near death's door," Erik replied.

"Can you-?"

"Not this many, I'll see to the most critical. I need you to get things organized. We need to prioritize and improvise."

"What do you mean?"

"If someone is bleeding, burn it closed."

"That-"

"We don't have time to be soft. Use a rejuvenation spell to keep them alive, but don't try to heal them. Just treat the wounds themselves as quickly as you can."

With that said, Erik got to work. Watching him was impressive but also disturbing. 

He moved with practiced precision through the path of destruction. Ignoring those who would survive a bit longer and directly going towards those who had no time. 

His methods weren't pretty. In many a case, he would simply amputate and scorch the wound, leaving the screaming man, woman, centaur, or demi-human to their torment as he moved on. 

He did only what was needed to keep them alive, that was all. 

...

"I think-" Unable to keep her stomach in check, Ilmadia rushed to the side of the wall and let loose. She had been thrown with Erik to help. Her task was simple, cast rejuvenation spells to give those fighting for their life a bit more energy. 

"How can you-?" She fought her questions and decided to keep her mind on the task. This was the tenth person who he hadn't saved, hadn't even...

No, he had ended their suffering instead. 

"It is important to know when it is too late," Erik replied as he stood up with a face reflecting no emotions after ending a life. He seemed to have no emotions as he moved through this hell. 

"That is different than-- this..."

"Maybe, or maybe you are thinking we should let them die naturally. Give them more time, hope that someone capable of resurrection will come." Erik said, his voice carrying no emotion, just the simple truth of this side of war.

"That is a selfish thought. There are not enough healers, resurrection will not even be considered..." Erik paused, another one gone. "At least not for these people. Your wish will just have them suffer for longer."

It was the sad truth but some people were simply worth more than others. 

AN: A big thank you to everyone who continues to read and support the story on WN.

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