After catching his breath, Ben began to absorb Natural Energy from his surroundings. The soldiers all watched in shock as Ben"s injuries slowly started to heal not even leaving a scar. Healed but still exhausted, Ben stood up and gave a smile towards the soldiers.Suddenly two messages popped in Ben"s vision.
[You defeated the City Lord of City 12. Would you like to absorb the City 12 into your city? Or will you appoint a new City Lord?]
Ben was shocked from the notification. What should he do?
He decided to put it off for now and focused on beating the invasion first.
"Deke." Ben called. The middle aged man appeared in front of him the next second. "Find out the situation of the city and the invasion."
Deke nodded his head and disappeared like a shadow. He turned towards the soldiers who were still looking at him with fear.
"Does anybody wish to be our guides?"
The soldiers looked down and avoided his eyes.
"I will do it!" someone shouted.
A tiny figure squeezed out from the crowd. Covered in dirt and wearing rags, Ben couldn"t tell if they were a girl or boy. She ran and stood in front of Ben, breathing heavily, this dirty person couldn"t be more than 14 years old. Their body was thin and frail with their hair a tangled mess.
"What is your name?" Ben asked, impressed by the courage they had.
"I"m Anna." she said, not shying away from Ben"s gaze.
Ben saw that her eyes were filled with pain and hatred which didn"t surprise Ben. To survive in this new world, younger children had barely any chance and those who did survive were damaged one way or another.
"Why do you want to help us Anna?" Ben asked, curious about this young girls story. He noticed that the soldiers gave her hateful glances but didn"t say anything.
She looked at the dead body of Sergei, her face burned with hatred.
"You killed that b.a.s.t.a.r.d. I feel both grat.i.tude and anger towards you for killing him. I wanted that pleasure of butchering him." Her voice was laced with hatred and loathing, staring at the body her eyes seemed to spit fire.
Ben nodded his head, not asking anymore questions. Everyone had a story, usually a sad one in these times.
"Please lead the way." Ben motioned with his hand.
Anna nodded and took off, the soldiers parted and allowed her through. Ben and his generals followed her, not minding the soldiers stares.
Walking through the residential part of the city, Ben noticed that the living conditions were poor and dirty. Their eyes looked hollow and lifeless as they stared at Ben and his crew with wary. Their bodies looked thin as rags seemed to be clinging to their bones.
"These poor people need food." Lilith said softly, looked at the people with pity and compa.s.sion.
"Only the strong ate well. The rest were giving sc.r.a.ps and commonly lead to fighting amongst each other." Anna said, looking at them cautiously. She knew that those these people seemed harmless that they would rip each other apart for food.
They continued through the city and were nearing the wall until Ben stopped.
"Ben?" they asked, curious.
They followed his line of sight and were shocked at what they saw.
Chained around a pole was a naked human but they clearly were not human. She was clearly a female, with large b.r.e.a.s.t.s clear and present. Her skin was dark but wasn"t dark enough to cover the enormous amount of bruises that layered her body. Two small horns poked out from her head. Numerous cuts covered her body. A couple of men were laughing and groping her even though she was unconscious.
"b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!" Shenelle screamed, brandishing her hands to attack.
She was too slow though. A flash of black appeared before the two men.
"Who-!" one of them exclaimed only to stop half way.
Both of their heads slowly fell to the ground, shock written on their faces. Another flash of steel and the chains holding up the women broke as she fell into Ben"s arms.
Ben gently placed her on the ground and put his hand on her forehead and channeled Natural Energy into her body. Her wounds started to heal and skin turned to a slightly lighter. Ben took out a blanket from his storage and wrapped her in it.
The other had caught up by now and looked down at the unconscious women.
"Explain." Ben said quietly.
Though his voice was quiet, Anna shivered as though her body was submerged in frozen water.
"Th-they are demons. We have been fighting them for awhile now. They have a settlement near this city." Anna said, avoiding Ben"s gaze.
"And this treatment?"
Anna looked at him in confusion. Treatment? Why does it matter how they treated an enemy? Unable to answer him she looked away.
Ben appeared in front of her in an instant.
"Answer me."
His voice had a cold edge that caused her to shiver.
"T-they are enemies, what does it matter how we treat them?" Anna stuttered, taking a step back trying to put distance between her and Ben.
"You kill your enemies, this…" Ben trailed off as he looked down at the demon girl, his face hardened. "How many demons have you captured?"
"I don"t know."
Ben looked away from her. "Deke!"
Deke appeared behind Ben. Turning around, Ben pointed towards the demon girl and asked, "Have you found prisoners like her?"
Deke nodded. "10 so far my lord"
"Take Lilith to them for her to heal. Lance you go with her in case something goes wrong." Ben told them.
They both nodded and followed Deke somewhere into the city. Turning towards his remaining generals he said, "We are going to defeat the zombie king and decide what to do after with the residents."
They nodded and headed towards the wall. Colton cracked his knuckles in excitement while Shenelle talked and teased her Nature Spirit. James walked beside Ben with a concerned look on his face.
"You don"t plan on killing the entire city do you?"
"Of course not." scoffed Ben, insulted that James thought he would.
"Well you looked a bit murdery there so I was worried." James said with a sheepish grin.
"I think I will let you and the others defeat this king while I provide support." Ben said, changing the topic.
They all looked at him in shock, the zombie king was powerful and gave great rewards to those who killed it.
"HAHAHA finally I can shine and grow stronger! The king is mine!" Colton laughed loudly and declared.
"Ha! Dream on meat head. Fyr and I will easily take down that king." Shenelle said confidently stroking Fyr"s head.
"No fair! I didn"t bring Freddy!" Colton complained.
"That dumb bear would just get in the way."
Colton"s face went red with anger as glared daggers at Shenelle. James quickly got in between them and stopped the argument from escalating.
"Okay we get it, you"re both tough now let"s just focus on beating it before we start fighting amongst ourselves." James said exasperated.
Colton glared at Shenelle before walking ahead which caused Shenelle to scoff and pick up her pace to catch up to him. Ben shook his head.
"My fearless and powerful generals act like children."
They reached the top of the wall which was manned by a couple of soldiers who shot him weird looks before leaving. Looking over the edge they saw thousands of zombies beating and trying to climb up the wall and at the back was a large turtle with zombie seated on it"s back.
Ben"s eyes narrowed.
Undead Dragon Turtle (Rare Beast)
Lvl. 80
"This might be a challenge for my generals."