Gerald realized he just killed a high Silver Ranked monster, or perhaps it was already at the Gold Rank…
In any case, its body was full of natural treasures! He quickly took a few big bottles and filled them to the brim with Ogre blood. Then he discovered that it was not nearly enough and took a barrel that contained water for the mages, and filled it with blood instead.
The Earth Crystal he dug out of the Ogre's chest was the size of a basketball and could probably contain multiple thousands of MP! Too bad it was currently empty.
Gerald was happily humming a song as he dismembered the beast and took all the good parts when he heard screams coming from the other side.
That's when he remembered they were still at war!
"Oh, right… Almost forgot about that." He was surrounded by high walls and so he sort of forgot about everything else when presented with such loot!
His teammates were surrounded by beasts and they would surely have suffered if it was up to them to keep Orcs and Hobgoblins at bay. Luckily, the rest of the Dark Lions came and helped defend, stalling for time until the reinforcements came.
And what a sight that was. More than a thousand fully plated soldiers marched up to the city wall and engaged the beasts. Paladins of Innos were what they were called, and each of them carried powerful Rune magic.
Being the warriors of the Church of Innos, their strength ranked between high Iron and Silver so they could effectively fight with the Orcs one-on-one. And being the warriors of the god of flames, they were all in possession of Runes of Fire magic.
Despite great individual strength, they mainly utilized group tactics and systematically annihilated groups of invaders one after the other, pushing them back to the barrier.
"Fireball!"
"Flame Barrage!"
"Fire Storm!"
"Scorch Ray!"
"Fiery Tempest!"
The Paladins of Innos stood in line, with their shiny silvery armor reflecting the flames as they shouted the words of power for their spells. There were all kinds of different shapes and sizes of flames shooting at the beasts, but most were just a slight variation of each other.
There was even one that looked like a miniature tornado, engulfing an Orc and turning him into a burning corpse in no time at all.
Most likely that person knew Wind magic and enhanced his Fire spell with it, but Gerald couldn't be sure as it was too far distant to see. He was just happy that the soldiers came so he could rest for a bit.
Now that the Ogre was dead and he absorbed its spirit, he was expecting a painful few hours. He found an empty spot near his warehouse, which was miraculously still standing, and began meditating.
With so many faces and so many voices in his head, it was difficult to concentrate in such a state. Surprisingly though, among all the wild spirits of the dead, one stood out. It was the Ogre.
Its small eyes on the oversized head stared straight at Gerald with an unnerving gaze. It just sat there, in his mind, not doing anything except looking.
"What… Are… You…?" It eventually spoke in a slow, deep, seemingly tired voice. Gerald, of course, ignored it. Why would he even answer a question of the dead? That would be stupid.
Time went by and the spirits of Orcs and Hobgoblins dissolved into nothingness and became a part of him, growing his mind and spirit.
"You… Are… Not… Human…" The Ogre spoke again, this time with an angry undertone.
Gerald ignored it again since it was speaking nonsense and continued absorbing the dead.
He could feel his consciousness expanding in real-time. Everything became even clearer than before, more colorful, more... everything. He didn't even know that such clarity of thought existed before experiencing it for himself. Even the Potion of Focus could only achieve just less than half of what he was experiencing at the moment.
"Monster…" The Ogre growled with clear anger and bitterness in its voice. Gerald already devoured nearly all the spirits in his mind by now, and soon it would be its turn.
"You should not exist!" the Ogre suddenly roared and lashed out. "Abomination! You do not belong here! Your mere presence pollutes this world! Roar!"
"Look who's talking," Gerald snickered and started working on the Ogre. "Even in death, you are spouting bullshit."
"Death?!" The Ogre roared again and started thrashing around, but invisible chains of Gerald's mind held it in place. "This is not death! You Soulless creature who hold human form, you will be purged from this world like the rest of your kind and turned into tools for my masters!"
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Gerald was slowly getting sick of listening to the nonsense of the Ogre and increased his absorption.
"Just shut up and accept your fate! What's the use of struggling, you are dead already."
Roars and screams of the Ogre became increasingly mad and sporadic, slurred and indistinct. After spending about half an hour on the Ogre alone, Gerald's mind returned to peace. It was so quiet, so peaceful…
He breathed out a deep and serene sigh and slowly opened his eyes. Immediately the screams and sounds of war entered his ears.
In his absence, the Orcs were pushed back by the Paladins of Innos, at least at their end, and many were looking for survivors among the sea of corpses.
Whereas the dead were counted in the hundreds around each watchtower, where Gerald and his group were stationed you could only find a dozen or so.
The destruction of the environment was much greater though. The surrounding buildings, with the sole exception of the warehouse, were basically leveled. Not even the ground was spared. The cobblestone was torn up and broken, craters littered the place, and especially where Gerald and the Ogre fought, you could now find only mud and gravel.
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Tap, tap, tap…
A staff striking the stones on the ground sounded out on the dark cobblestone road. In the early morning hours, before the sun even revealed its first rays, a procession of Mages slowly advanced towards the northern city wall. That's where the attacks were most concentrated and brutal, and that's also where most of the monsters were coming from.
It was only logical for them to go there.
The Paladins that came before them cleared out the area so they could do their job in peace. Their thick crimson robes, embroidered with gold and silver, served as great protection from a chilly morning wind.
They arrived at a watchtower. The roof of the building had unfortunately collapsed, but that didn't seem to bother the group of Mages. Instead, a few of them used Earth magic to clear the debris out of the way and went up. The top floor was a few meters higher than the wall itself, giving them a good view of the entire battlefield around them.
The old mage that lead them, the famous Grandmaster Mage Spark, waited until all of them were gathered, and then tapped with his staff on the floor. Everyone stopped speaking and took their staves as well and stood at the ready.
Then Grandmaster Spark stared speaking with closed eyes, "In the name of Innos, the Father almighty, the giver of life and all that is Holy…"
"... We follow the Sun!" the rest answered in unison.
"For the life, we were given, that we guard and we cherish, and for all that is good…" Spark continued, slightly raising his voice.
"... We follow the Sun!"
"From the darkest Abbys to the highest mountain peaks…"
"... We follow the Sun!"
"By the monsters we fight, and the blood that we spill…"
"... We follow the Sun!"
As they continued chanting, a peculiar atmosphere arose around them. The sounds of war all around diminished with each passing chant, and soon only their words could be heard.
Those that could see Mana would notice the resonance of each person sync with the rest and the Mages, slowly, as if in trance, took a step forward with closed eyes and formed a line one step behind Spark.
The man continued chanting, and the Aura of each individual increased and started merging with the rest. Soon the synchronization was complete, and the Mages extended their hands, placing them on Grandmaster Spark's shoulders.
The old man opened his eyes abruptly and his entire being started to glow. His Aura grew seemingly without end, much higher than Gerald's ever could, reaching the height of some Gold Ranked beasts.
He gripped his staff with both hands towards the sky with completely clear eyes and a serene expression. At that exact moment, the first ray of sunshine pierced the darkness and illuminated the heavens.
"As the Sun as my guide…"
"I call from the sky…"
"A pillar of flames…"
"And a drop of Sunshine!"
Mana surged through the Mages, traveled across their hands and over the body of Grandmaster Spark, and exploded out of the Crystal on his staff, shattering it in the process.
"By Innos' Will, a Rain of Fire!"
RUMBLE!
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"How are you feeling," Xilia came to ask. She carried a piece of cloth covering her mouth.
Gerald cracked his neck and stretched his limbs, "Hmm, I feel… Refreshed! And hungry too." He quickly took a snack and started eating without further ado.
"Bleagh! How can you eat at a time like this?" She covered her mouth with one hand and placed the other on her stomach.
"What? Oh, you mean the stench?" Burning human flesh and entrails of the dead didn't exactly make for a romantic combination, that was true...
Gerald shrugged, "Meh, I have smelled worse. You should have tried the perfume of my first girlfriend, one sniff and you would end up in an emergency room. Actually, now that I think about it, no wonder I always had a headache around her…"
"Huh?"
"It's a j- Aah, never mind..."
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Sometime later another person came to greet him. This one was covered in bandages and had a leg immobilized with a splint. Still, with the help of crutches and another warrior, he came close.
"Are you Gerald?" he asked.
"Uh, yes?"
The man bowed and introduced himself, "I'm Otis, leader of the Dark Lions, people call me Dark Knight. I heard you were the one who saved my nephew, Ethan, and for that, I'm eternally grateful."
It seemed that the action was quite painful for him, so Gerald quickly helped him back up. "Oh, that's your boy? Don't worry about it, I was just doing what I can."
However, the Dark Knight Otis stubbornly kept his head down, "You don't understand! It might have been nothing much for you, but for me he is everything! He is the last family I have after my sister…"
He didn't continue.
Gerald sighed and placed a hand on the guy's shoulder. Then he started aggressively healing him.
"Huh?! Such powerful magic!" Otis immediately looked up in shock as foreign Mana invaded his body. "I can't even resist!"
"Stand still dude, you got some dangerous internal bleeding. Even if you survive this you would suffer some life-long organ damage if nothing is done," Gerald said and kept healing him.
"T-thank you…" Otis shut his mouth and closed his eyes, just letting the magic flow through him. He was in fact experiencing some painful stomach aches, but he thought it was nothing too serious. He already drunk a potion too, but it clearly wasn't enough.
A few minutes went by and another person came. This one was Tabbris.
"Oh, hey! You are finally up. I thought you are just going to sit there forever," he joked.
"Why? Was I gone for long?"
"Four hours, man! Almost four hours!" Tabbris laughed at Gerald's busted time awareness. "But forget about that, look!"
He pointed towards a watchtower in the distance. A red glow radiated from it.
"I told you you are in for a surprise. Come, the show is about to start!"