Upon reaching the camp, things moved pretty quickly. At first, their arrival was met with excitement, as people had anxiously awaited their return. But that initial wave of excitement just as quickly turned into concern as the injuries of Jaco’s two companions were noticed. Of course, the pair were quickly taken away for medical attention.
While Sam’s own injuries weren’t as severe, the wound on her arm was still pretty deep. And as a Mage who inherently had pretty poor Endurance for her Level, she was also in need of emergency treatment. This left Jaco alone to report back to Noah and the other top members. Wasting little time, he made his way through the crowd and went straight for the usual meeting area.
“Oh, you’re back! How did…” Noah began as Jaco entered. But after looking up to see the Druid’s solemn expression, he’d stopped himself.
“What happened out there?” the camp leader asked. Nobody else was present at the moment. Yet even though it was just the two of them, Jaco went ahead and took a seat to begin sharing the story.
“Things… are pretty bad. Before you ask, both Sam and Evelyn are injured, but they’ve already gone to get looked at and should be fine after enough rest. Honestly? It’s just a miracle that we’re even alive at this point,” Jaco started with a heavy sigh.
Noah’s brows furrowed, already looking serious. “That bad?”
“That bad,” he agreed. “The System prompt said that Demidemons can frequently cross through, and the city was full of them. But that barely even matters compared to what we came across. Noah, there’s an actual Demon there. One whose Level I couldn’t even see. The only reason it didn’t kill us was because of an Angel who's… probably dead.” Jaco’s voice cracked a bit at that last part.
The camp leader stood up and walked around the table. He placed a hand on the Druid’s shoulder.
“It… it sounds like you’ve been through a lot. You came straight here after getting back, right? I’ll go ahead and get the others. So you just take a few minutes to rest, alright? Then, if you think you’re still up for it, you can explain what happened without having to repeat yourself afterwards. I'll even bring you something hot to eat while you talk, so just sit tight.”
Jaco took a deep breath, and then nodded. Overall, he really was still pretty haggard and hadn’t taken the chance to fully relax his rigid body yet. A few minutes of alone time to compose himself and then enjoying a warm meal soon would likely do him a lot of good. Especially when he’d need to take the explanation from the top after everyone arrived, so that they could all hear everything that happened from the start.
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He could only hope that sharing everything would even make a difference. Because if the Demon’s power was any indication, there was every chance that they were screwed no matter what they did. But Jaco couldn’t say that out loud. He knew that people looked up to him as the highest-Level person around.
No matter how bleak things looked, he had a responsibility to uphold. No matter what happened, he was a Druid. And these people were the lives that he would remain the guardian of. Whatever happened next, he would give his all for this small garden of humanity and not allow himself to be the first to lose hope.
—--
Back in the city, a lone individual made his way toward one of the few mostly intact buildings still around. A rare commodity, but one that he usually enjoyed making use of. Today was no day for any sort of joy, however.
With a deep scowl, he traced a finger against his chest. Even after the bit of time that had already passed, Levi still felt the blisters of burnt skin underneath his armor. The fact that just a light graze did this much spoke volumes of the heat that had been within those flames.
The leader of the Chosen Few then steadied his expression. After receiving the signal, his followers should already be waiting inside of the building. It would do no good to show any loss in composure if he wanted to maintain their fear and respect.
After inhaling deeply, Levi walked in. Those waiting had already been chattering amongst themselves as per usual. But the moment they took notice of him entering, all conversations ceased. As he approached the table of gathered individuals, Levi internally nodded to himself.
Everyone was here. Though that was to be expected, as anyone not dead would be a fool not to answer the call. They were all painfully aware by now of what’d happen to those who didn’t show up when he summoned them for a meeting.
Levi took his place at the head of the table. There were a few notable absences compared to the last major meeting they had. Specifically in the form of a trio of Chosen Few who had been killed by a certain Druid. The thought of that man made the fresh burn ache, triggering an unintentional twitch of Levi’s left eye.
The leader of the Chosen clasped his hands together. “Now, then. I know that some of you may have questions about the Demidemons roaming around and other recent changes. Put those concerns away for another day. Right now, the agenda has one thing and one thing only.”
He glanced around, mentally daring anyone to challenge his statement. While it would put them down one member, he would happily take an excuse to take out his frustrations on someone. For better or worse, however, a moment of silence passed without anyone speaking up.
“Good, then I’ll cut straight to it.” Levi adopted a cold smile. “They’ve been given long enough to stew on their fate. The day’s come to deal with that camp once and for all. This time, I will personally ensure that we don’t suffer any screwups that fail to do their part.”
Last time, it’d just been business. He had even been nice enough to give his sister an out. Now, however, it was personal. And when they started, Levi planned to make certain that there would be no survivors.