No one suggested continuing the journey.
No one even talked about the lost time. After what they had seen on the battlefield... everyone knew that leaving those bodies behind would be an insult to those who had fought until the last moment.
The caravan stopped right there, and the commander gave only one order.
"Before we leave, we gather the dead."
Two hours later... the entire plain had turned into a silent cemetery.
Dozens of people were moving among the bodies in silence, no sound of laughter could be heard.
No conversations, only the sound of shovels hitting the soil and sometimes the sound of heavy armors being dragged on the ground.
Even the students were not exempt, they also had to help.
One was responsible for collecting identification tags, another was gathering personal items from beside the bodies.
Watches that were still working... necklaces that were probably family heirlooms... small notebooks... rings...
All were placed in separate boxes to be delivered to their owners’ families later.
A few others were collecting intact swords, spears, and shields.
Not for looting... but so that these equipment would not be destroyed among the monsters.
Lian, along with a few guards, lifted the body of one of the Awakened ones.
The man was about forty years old, his hand was still firmly locked around his sword’s hilt, so firmly... that even after death, his fingers were hard to open.
"Leave it... bury him like that." The guard next to him said quietly.
Lian said nothing, just nodded.
A little further away, Liana suddenly fell to her knees while gathering bodies.
Her face had turned completely white, and a few seconds later... she vomited all the contents of her stomach onto the ground.
No one laughed at her, no one scolded her, a few guards just glanced at her briefly... and went back to work.
For them... this was not the first time, but for most of the students... it was.
Until yesterday... becoming an Awakened one seemed like a dream.
Powerful classes, magical skills, fame, wealth, but today... they had seen the other side of this world.
Bodies that would never return home, families that were probably still waiting for their loved ones.
And men and women who had fought until their last breath... but in the end, all that remained of them was a metal tag and a bloody sword.
What had happened here was a massacre, almost 99 percent of this caravan had been killed and butchered, without any mercy and completely brutally.
It was clear those bastards Vultures could have just taken what they wanted and left... they could have carried out their looting without such a crime.
But no, a simple looting had no benefit for them, and they committed such a sick crime just for pleasure...
Until sunset... dozens of large graves had been dug side by side, on each grave, only a simple stone was placed.
Without names, because the identities of many of the dead had not yet been determined, their faces had been destroyed, or many had been completely torn apart.
The caravan commander stood in front of the graves for a few moments, then quietly gave a military salute, all the guards did the same.
No speech was given, no grand ceremony was held, only... a few seconds of silence and then... the caravan started moving again.
It was a horrifying scene, but except for the students, for the others, it was a scene they might have witnessed more than once in their lives.
With the difference that in most cases, such scenes are created by monsters... not other humans...
The fifteen survivors from Base #2 also joined them.
Most of them still could not walk and were placed inside the carts, two Healers constantly checked their condition.
The Base #2 commander, despite the insistence of others, refused to rest.
He sat on one of the carts, his left hand was no longer there, but his gaze... was still that of a commander.
When the escort commander asked him to rest for a few more days, he only said one sentence.
"The report about the Ancient Beacon must reach Base #9 as soon as possible, if we are even one day late, it might be too late." That base belonged to the North American continental coalition.
The officials there held more authority and power and could help.
No one objected anymore.
That night, the caravan set up camp in a vast plain, dozens of small fires were lit in various places.
But no sound of laughter could be heard, no one talked about hunting monsters, and no one spoke about the future.
All the conversations... were only about one name.
Black Vultures.
Marcus threw a piece of wood into the fire, and sparks flew into the sky.
He stared at the flames for a few moments and said.
"I heard that three years ago, they looted and destroyed a border town in one of the southern European countries, just because one of the town’s wealthy businessmen had bought an Artifact from an auction and they wanted that Artifact."
One of the guards gave a bitter sigh.
"That’s nothing, six years ago, a medium-sized Guild in one of the Caribbean countries had taken a multi-million dollar contract to protect a merchant."
Everyone looked at him, and he continued.
"The Black Vultures only wanted that merchant, when the Guild refused to hand him over..."
"They killed all the Guild members, over four hundred Awakened ones, no one survived."
A heavy silence fell around the fire.
"So... why doesn’t the World Alliance destroy them?" Selina asked hesitantly.
This was a thought that had been in her, Liana’s, and Marcus’s minds for several hours, they could not understand why a coalition wouldn’t form to destroy such an evil organization.
This time the caravan commander answered.
"Destroying a monster is easy, but destroying an organization that has bases in dozens of countries, whose members have fake identities, and who are willing to do anything for money, is not that simple."
"Besides, who knows what they would do if they faced an existential threat?" He paused briefly and then continued more quietly.
"For the Black Vultures, humans... are just numbers, if killing a hundred people brings a profit of ten billion, a hundred people will die."
"If killing ten thousand people brings a profit of a hundred billion, ten thousand people will also die."
"It makes no difference to them, so think about what they would do if their existence was in danger."
No one said anything more, the flames of the fire were the only sound heard in that silence.
That night... Lian could not sleep, he lay in the tent for a few minutes.
He looked at the fabric ceiling, but every time he closed his eyes, the image of the battlefield appeared before him again.
He sighed, quietly left the tent, the night air was cold, a gentle wind was blowing among the grass.
Without any specific destination, he moved away from the camp.
A few minutes later... he stood on a short rock, from there he could see the entire camp.
The light of the fires... the guards patrolling in silence... and the sky full of stars.
Lian calmly raised his head, his gaze lost among the stars.
Today’s scene was unbearable for any normal human, but what occupied his mind...
Was not the bodies themselves, but the fact that he had seen that same scene again.
The last time he had seen such a scene was back to his first days in the Ruined Realm.
When he was just one of thousands of victims summoned here, he had seen a scene similar to today in the village of the Dreadmaw mutants.
It was still vivid in his mind with all its details, that same basement of those abandoned houses and hundreds of humans who did not even find a chance to escape and all had been butchered and hung.
He thought he would never have to see such a scene again, but today everything had repeated itself.
The only difference was that this time, the killers were not monsters but humans.
His gaze did not leave the stars, in his heart, only one sentence repeated.
Sometimes he forgets that monsters are not the only danger, and how cruel the world can be.
Selina, Liana, and Marcus did not know why a coalition was not formed to destroy that organization, but he knew, not only him but he also noticed that Rindo and Nathan also seemed to have information or guesses.
Seraphina also naturally knew, the main reason is that this organization is secretly supported by some of the most powerful figures in the world to do their dirty work.
Not everyone has this information and awareness, except for people like him who are born into clans that are among the rulers of the world...
After a while, he returned to the tent and finally fell asleep.
The next morning... the caravan set off again.
Five days later.
The route gradually became smoother, paved roads replaced forest paths.
The number of caravans passing by them increased more and more.
Pack monsters, exploration groups, trade caravans, military units, and even caravans like theirs that had come for the Special Area.
All were moving in one direction, toward Base #9.
An hour later... the caravan crossed the last hill, the commander suddenly raised his hand.
"Stop."
Everyone stopped, the students came forward in surprise, and then... they saw it.
No one breathed, no one spoke, because in front of them... was Base #9.
No...
This was no longer a base, a massive city, in the middle of endless plains, stone walls whose height exceeded a hundred meters, like an artificial mountain, had surrounded the entire city.
Dozens of watchtowers rose from the walls at regular intervals, and on each one, mana artillery and giant catapults were ready to fire.
Flags from different countries were waving on top of the towers in the wind.
In front of the main gate, a long line of caravans had formed, hundreds of pack monsters, thousands of Awakened ones, merchants, soldiers, and exploration groups all coming and going.
Even from this distance, the commotion of that military city could be heard.
"...This..."
Marcus, with eyes wide open, stared at the scene for a few seconds and then whispered under his breath.
"Damn..." His gaze still hadn’t left the massive walls.
"...Is this a base?"
And the caravan... slowly, continued moving toward one of the largest human fortresses in the tenth Ruined Realm.