This was a scene that was witnessed in all parts of the outer territory, where the people who suffered the most resided. Sometimes, it came in different forms and strategies, but each had the same goal—to finally get revenge against these men.
In another area, this was led by the young trio Tacky, Juan, and Baka. They were also located near the battles and had a similar strategy.
The difference was that they were denser and had tighter camaraderie because everyone had been neighbors for longer, and had suffered under Fargo and his men's rule for much longer than others.
"Are you sure about this?" Juan asked Tacky, who was preparing to head out—to directly join the battle.
A lot of the others seemed particularly worried. "What if they attacked us instead?"
This made Tacky pause, looking at the others. "Then…" He tore off some of the fabric from his shirt—which wasn't a challenge considering how many tears all their clothes already had.
He wrapped the strip over his head. "I guess it could be seen as surrender."
He then looked at his friends. "I know it's risky, but I don't want to miss this! I've been holding back for so long—"
His friends looked at him with worried expressions, but when they recalled the things they witnessed, suddenly a layer of bravery coated their hearts.
"You're right!" Baka said, raising his only hand. Juan nodded, eyes sparkling.
"Let's go!"
As such, when no citizen went out to fight when the lord asked them—even for some reward—the lot of them ended up going outside to go against them instead.
…
Interestingly, the battle nearby was actually led by the Crow Trio.
The remaining Alterans were cut off from the entry when Fargo guards came in from all direction, especially near the wall. They blocked the way and pushed them back.
The team decided to divide into three. Anyway, having too big groups wasn't ideal in dense villages. It wasn't like Althea with wideass avenues and plenty of open space near the walls. The big teams had diminishing returns for sure and it even risked of hitting their own teammates.
The Alterans were pushed back by the forces, and they fought hard to defend themselves from the barrage. Thanks to their equipment, formation, and the fact that there were so many alleys in this place—much denser than the inner walls—allowed them to have minimal injuries even when they were being mobbed by a large group of enemies.
However, the quantity differences inevitably still forced some of them to separate from the bigger groups, rendering them more susceptible to danger. The crow trio and their small group were among these people.
There was an instruction taught to them in such cases though: to prioritize their own safety. That was to say, if battling head-on would get dangerous, they would even be asked to run for their lives.
Even if they hid out now until things settled down, it was within Altera's standards of acceptance and no one would blame them.
But… how could they just hide around when everyone else was fighting?
So they tried to use the chaos as a shield to at least sneak themselves to the inner walls. Even if they couldn't merge with the groups there, their numbers alone would add to the win!
Crow, the strategist, led the way along the alleys, using his sharp hearing to avoid the scuffles or the enemy guards. They knew for sure that the Alterans were heading someplace else so they didn't bother checking whether it was their own.
They managed to successfully traverse a couple of blocks. Unfortunately, at some point a door opened, revealing a couple of guards looking at them with greed.
"Well, where are you goin?" The man asked and more and more people from the houses—including the one behind—got out.
They were all obviously Fargo guards judging by their temperaments, but their way was blocked so their small group had no choice but to stay still until they found an opening.
These men were bloodied and injured, some were limping. Crow narrowed his eyes at the realization, slightly turning to a couple of team members and knew they thought the same:
These jerks were hiding out, weren't they?
As more and more of the guards exited the house, they could see the scene inside the house from their angle.
They could see several people lying down, bloodied, and those who seemed alive were shaking, sobbing, or just in a daze—but everyone seemed to have just been recently beaten up.
The Alterans could imagine these guards—guards that were supposed to be protecting their population—forcing themselves into a house in order to hide from the ongoing war and rest, but they decided to beat up their own citizens as they did so.
Bastards!
Obviously, seeing their small group of 10—which was half of theirs in number—they went out the 'safety' of the house and aimed to vent on them next.
Crow was very correct about this.
The de facto leader of this group of deserters was a Terran named John. He worked as a factory worker back in Terran. He got the lowest-wage job there and he had been looked down on a lot. No one said so in his face by virtue of his large body, but he could tell by their eyes and smirks that they were.
His whole life, this had been his experience. At night, he would dream of looming over these people and stepping on their heads, but he would wake up to the boring reality where he was too poor and powerless to do anything.
When the disaster happened, his physical strength gave him an advantage over others—especially during the zombie apocalypse and even during the Protection Period—allowing him to gain a few more levels than his peers.
That was the first time he felt true power. The seed of greed was planted, and he trained more, killed more to get more power—even if he had to steal kills, and even if he had to push people to become bait to do so.
When he found Fargo Village, he immediately applied as a guard when he realized what the 'arrangements' were. He got accepted and soon even got promoted to team lead, and he had been loving his situation ever since.
Of course, loving the advantages didn't mean loyalty to the place.
Earlier during the war, their group encountered a group of enemy strongmen and elementalists, and their team of hundreds was reduced to about a score.
It was humiliating! But what could they do? Their lives and limbs would always come first!
They immediately ran away when they realized they couldn't fight the bastards anymore—not without getting gravely injured. At the same time, they couldn't get back to the barracks either.
As such, they had no choice but to pick a random house and hide out until things calmed down. They got a bit bored though and their attention went to the actual residents of the house who were kneeling down, shaking in fear.
Some had bloodlust and beat people up, while some just had lust and took advantage. Their 'fun' was interrupted when their lookout alerted them of a small group of enemies approaching their area.
When they realized it was just a small number of Alterans—a lot of whom looked quite young—passing by, their eyes immediately brightened.
They thought, it was finally their time! And so they went out, very much intent on venting on these bastards!