The two squads led by Emery and Julian arrived at the nearest Andora native settlement from where their transport landed.
Julian's strategic planning, where he divided and distributed tasks proportionately, was indeed impressive. However, while he didn't oppose the idea, Emery personally thought the best way to get intel was from the people - which in this case was the natives of Andora.
Hence, the reason why they were here was that Emery insisted they had to find the locals right away. Coincidentally, the ones they found were being attacked and nearly overwhelmed by the Abyss creatures.
The two squads of 34 acolytes jumped into the battle and quickly started a massacre. It didn't take long for thousands of Abyss creatures to be annihilated and breathed their last.
While he and the others continued to fight the Abyss creatures, Emery also observed the two types of Abyss creatures they were fighting against.
[Crawlers]
[Stage 1 abyss creature]
[Battle power 10-20]
A spider-like creature with eight sharp legs whose each movement felt dangerous.
[Flyers]
[Stage 2 abyss creature]
[Battle power 30]
Pretty much similar to the crawler, only it could fly with its wings.
Obviously, these two types of Abyss creatures were simply no match to the acolytes at all. They could only be slaughtered without being able to put up any meaningful resistance and awarded all 34 acolytes with points.
In the end, because of how many Abyss creatures there were, they ended up earning more than a thousand points from the killing.
[Personal points ranking]
[Rank 698 - 46 points]
[Squad points ranking]
[Rank 30 - 582 points]
With only three members, Emery's squad only managed to rank 30 out of the 31 squads.
Even so, Emery didn't feel much trouble about it. In fact, he was not the least bit bothered, as he continued to follow one of the kids, heading towards the person in charge of this place.
As the others were still busy cleaning up the creatures and securing the perimeters, it was Julian and Annara who came along with him. With the boy's lead, the three of them walked through the settlement and surveyed their surroundings.
The settlement looked desolate and dilapidated, with several broken houses scattered haphazardly in the place. Put simply, It was a miserable sight to look at.
A few moments later, Emery and the other two found themselves arriving in a square-like clearing, standing in front of hundreds of Andora's natives. He could see most of them were anxious, some even kneeling on the ground with their hands joined and eyes closed in prayer.
"Bless the saints… You have finally come to save us."
Hearing that, Emery immediately said, "We are not saints, nor gods like what you think of. We are acolytes of the Magus Universe."
With the world being in the Calamity stage, the restrictions that were usually put in place were lifted. Hence the reason Emery was able to speak about the Magus Universe freely. However, his words didn't incite any significant reactions and only served to make these people confused.
Suddenly, a huge bird flew over their heads causing the wind to blow over the people below.
Emery and the other two watched, as a figure no less beautiful than Annara descended from the sky and landed right in the middle of them.
Once again, the crowd of Andora natives cried out.
"Goddess! The Goddess is here!"
"Goddess, please help us!"
Klea, who had just arrived, was caught off guard when she heard the natives suddenly call her a goddess. However, she who was once a queen was able to quickly adapt to the situation and displayed a demeanor befitting a goddess name.
"Do not be afraid, as we are here to help you."
Klea's words seemed to be working, as Emery could see the anxious expressions on their faces becoming lighter. Her eyes swiftly scanned the natives and saw that there were dozens people were suffering from injuries of varying degrees. Therefore, she quickly cast her healing spells. The natives looked awestruck, as they watched the wounds on their family's bodies gradually heal.
In a matter of a few minutes, Emery and the others were able to get the natives' trust. Thanks to that, they could finally meet the person in charge of the settlement.
With an exchange of glances, Emery and Julian immediately split up to do what they needed to. Julian would try to gain any information about the other nearby settlements from General Solosa, while Emery decided to approach the other natives and ask about their story.
—-
Andora was a planet with a civilization history of more than three thousand years.
The natives called the place they lived the nations of three continents. Their technological progress seemed to be more advanced than Earth, because they already understood the manufacture of firearms. They had even invented various kinds of mechanical vehicles.
As Emery inspected one of the 'guns' the natives used against the Abyss creatures, Atlas, who was following him, opened his mouth and started to explain what it really was.
"This is an example of the most primitive type of firearm, capable of firing metal projectiles with an effective range of 300 meters. This kind of technology cannot even be considered as a Tier 1 weapon."
Emery finally understood that, with such a weapon and comparing it to the standards of Abyss creatures, it was no surprise that nations with a population of nearly 1 billion were overwhelmed and massacred, leaving them in a state where less than 2% of the initial population survived.
From the conversations and stories he heard, Emery could tell these people used to be a proud nation. But after three years of calamity, with so much pain and suffering, the pride they had was no longer - replaced instead by fear and horror.
Their only source of hope was the Divine Mother they worshiped in the Sacred Mountains.
"Sacred Mountains?" Emery asked once more, to be sure.
"Yes, that is where the Divine Mother is said to reside," answered one of the natives humbly, still bowing respectfully. From their expressions and gestures, it was clear the majority thought Emery and the others were saviors sent by the Divine Mother.
Hearing this actually made Emery feel rather confused. This was because the Sacred Mountains the natives mentioned were exactly the place where most of the Abyss creatures came from.
He couldn't help but wonder if there was a connection between the two and was curious to know who or what this Divine Mother was.
Unfortunately, no matter how curious he was, this matter needed to be put aside for the time being, as Emery had others more important things to do first.
Regrouping with Julian's group, the Roman had already received information about several other settlements in the vicinity from General Solosa and matched it to the map they had.
Pointing at the map, Julian explained his reasoning, "In my opinion, this outpost is a very good place to gather all the survivors, so I plan to increase its defense. What do you think?"
Emery looked at the map and could see what Julian said made sense, so he agreed with the idea.
With the limited number of people in their group, Emery thought of involving a few natives at the outpost to help rally the survivors to gather at this place. Of course, he was also planning on sending some acolytes to protect them during the journey.
However, these activities had the potential to make the rankings of the two squads far behind the other squads.
While no one was complaining at the moment, Emery knew there were some people who were restless, when he announced this decision.
With this thought, Emery had another idea in mind.
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