World's Last Hope-Chapter 108: Sacrifice in Silence
"Guys?" Eric’s voice was weak as he stepped forward towards the bodies.
He, while being far from fine, bearing heavy wounds on his body, didn’t seem to care about his state as he silently stared at the bodies of his companions.
He might have won against the Grade-5 monster, but he had done so at the cost of his comrades’ lives.
Before he realized it, he was on his knees, he couldn’t stop the tears from falling down his face. If he was just more rational at the time, if he hadn’t acted on impulse, the four Masters weren’t going to die. Worse, it seemed that he had absolutely doomed them as early he prevented them from leaving, telling them they were needed.
"I didn’t even bother to learn their names," he muttered, frustrated with himself. He thought that once things settled, he would ask them how they were called and learn more about them. But fate apparently had different plans.
"FUCK!" he shouted as he brought down his fist at the ground.
This was his plan to attack from two places simultaneously. If they had used a different plan, if he hadn’t taken the role of a leader, would things have turned out differently?
It was a disturbing thought. His actions and decisions had indirectly caused people’s deaths, people that were powerful and would be desperately needed in the future.
His grieving was interrupted as he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"I know how you feel," it was Aria. Her voice was gentle and carried a clear degree of worry.
"This is the worst thing about the death zone, no matter if you think you are well-prepared, there is always the possibility that something goes wrong."
"But... my plan—"
"Eric," Olivia appeared out of nowhere, and a man was following behind her—it was Varek.
"These people followed you into battle because it was their decision. It’s not like you forced them. And don’t blame your plan. Thanks to it, we’ve managed to get rid of the majority of the threats in the area," Olivia reassured.
"Now we just have to get rid of the cocoons and we’re done. The siege on the city would be officially over, resulting in only a few casualties," she added.
"A few?" Eric raised an eyebrow under the comment.
"Then what is considered an unsuccessful attack?" he asked, frustration in his voice.
"Five Grade-5 monsters and a few thousand weaker ones. If we didn’t use your plan and let them be... if we hadn’t acted, the cocoons would have hatched..." Aria spoke.
"Had they attacked the city all together, there would have been a large possibility that a third of the city would have fallen."
"A third?" Eric repeated her words.
"Young man," hearing the voice of Varek, Eric shifted his gaze to the old man.
Despite bearing no wounds, it was clear that the old man was on the verge of collapsing due to exhaustion.
"You have come from another world, and the gods have given you a purpose, haven’t they? You are meant to lead. A true leader makes decisions that benefit the most amount of people. You have made the correct decision, so don’t feel pity. Rise and continue forward. This is the best way to honor the people who have lost their lives in the fight."
Eric gritted his teeth. It wasn’t because Varek was comforting him, but because he was doing it despite his team being dead as well.
From the whole assault team, only four seemed to have survived so far.
’So basically, suck it up?’ he thought as he tried to control his emotions.
A moment later, he spoke as he rose to his feet, "Okay, let’s get rid of the cocoons, and we can go rest."
*****
Saying that there was uncertainty at the gates would be an understatement.
The awakened were staring over the horizon, waiting. The five Masters that were posing with them were also visibly nervous despite trying to hide their true feelings.
How could they not? From what they knew, there were thousands of spider cocoons somewhere ahead, and also supposedly spiders that were so colossal that they towered over the walls several times.
Just the thought terrified them beyond belief.
"How long has it been since they went ahead?" a man asked, not shifting his gaze from the horizon.
"About 36 hours," responded a woman next to him.
The man grunted as he shifted his gaze to the sky.
"Nervous?" the woman tried to lighten the mood with a tease, but it didn’t seem to work.
"Yes. After the battle for the gates, the assault team went deep into the death zone without even taking a short rest. I just hope they don’t overextend themselves."
The woman nodded in agreement.
"I don’t blame you. In these 36 hours, only about a dozen weak spiders crept towards us, right? The silence can be unnerving at times."
"And the worst part is that considering the scope of the operation, we’ll have to sit here holding our breaths for at least a week!" the man complained.
There wasn’t a way for the woman to lighten the mood as she knew the man was right. There were only two assault teams, so it was going to take a long while before they managed to clear the place of the spiders and destroy their nest. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮
Their conversation was cut short as a man shouted from up the walls.
"Movement! There is movement ahead!"
Hearing the warning, everybody present tensed as they grabbed their weapons, getting ready to repel the attack.
A second later, everybody’s mouths opened in awe as, rather than spiders or some kind of other monster created by the corruption, four humans came into view.
Eric, Aria, Olivia, and Varek. All of them walked slowly and bore heavy bags under their eyes.
There was an expectation that the assault team could return to rest and go again, but seeing that the four people ahead of them didn’t seem to be in any hurry, everybody knew what that meant.
"They have... destroyed the spider’s nest?"
