The sky above the fallen city had sunk into darkness, and only the faint light of the moon passed through the gray clouds.
Cassian’s group retreated in silence through the empty streets. No one spoke.
After the hell they had gone through just minutes ago, no one had the energy to talk.
The sound of heavy breathing echoed in the street. The sound of Marcus’s footsteps as he carried Claire on his shoulders.
The sound of Cassian’s labored breathing, each movement making the pain of his broken ribs worse.
And the trembling voice of the survivor, who looked behind him every few seconds.
Lian was the last person in the group. But even he was not in good condition this time. Several wounds could be seen on his body, and his armor was torn in several places.
Dried blood could be seen on his arms. Still, his condition was definitely better than everyone else’s.
But something was bothering him.
The monsters.
None of them were chasing them. Not the Bloodfang Hounds, not the Gravehide Brutes, not even the weaker creatures.
Nothing.
As if the entire city had suddenly decided to leave them alone. And this was scarier than any pursuit.
Marcus finally broke the silence.
"This doesn’t make sense..."
No one answered.
"All those monsters we had... why did they let us go?"
Cassian took a deep breath.
"I don’t know." But even he knew this was not a satisfying answer.
Monsters never abandon their prey. Especially when they have complete numerical superiority.
But tonight, that had happened. And no one knew why.
Or perhaps... their gazes fell on Lian, who seemed to be thinking as well, and they wondered if it was because they were afraid of him?
He had created a killing ground of those monsters. A scene where it was unclear who the real monster was...
And then they shook their heads. That was not possible, right? Probably the reason was that the strange creature, the Red-Eyed Stalker, had been killed.
Half an hour later.
The massive walls of the military base appeared in the darkness. Searchlights fell on the group, and several guard soldiers immediately noticed their condition.
"Open the gate!"
"The team is back!"
Shouts echoed on the walls. The massive metal gate began to open. Several military medics immediately ran toward them.
But they quickly realized something was wrong.
The group was not complete.
They had left with six people, but now only four had returned.
Commander Gareth personally came out of the command building.
He walked slowly toward the group. His gaze moved over the members. Claire half-conscious, Cassian wounded, Marcus exhausted, and Lian who... well, had relatively no problems.
And two empty spaces.
Two empty spaces that were very obvious.
For a few seconds, he said nothing.
"Where are the rest?" He then asked quietly.
No one answered. As if they did not know what to say. It was clear they were still in shock, and accepting this reality was not easy for them.
This was the first time they had experienced such a hell. A hell that should not have happened.
"They didn’t come back." Lian finally said quietly.
Gareth said nothing and just told them to come to the command center after they were treated, then left.
The group watched him leave, and then the healers began their work.
An hour later.
The command center. The atmosphere of the room was heavy. On the main table, several maps and holograms were active.
Commander Gareth was present, along with several senior officers. Cassian gave a full report of the operation. He had changed his clothes, and no wounds could be seen on his body.
Sarah’s death, Andreas’s death, the attack of the Bloodfang Hounds, the appearance of the Gravehide Brutes, the survivor, the red-eyed monsters, and finally... the Red-Eyed Stalker.
When he reached that part, the room became completely silent.
"What happened after the Stalker died?" One of the officers asked.
"They all retreated." Cassian paused for a few moments.
"All of them?"
"All of them."
The officer frowned.
"Impossible." Monsters are not creatures that feel fear or retreat because their leader is dead.
"It was as if... they had lost their commander." Cassian continued.
One of the officers wrote something in his notebook, and Commander Gareth slowly leaned back in his chair.
"This behavior is not normal."
Monsters do not run away. Monsters do not mourn. Monsters do not have military commanders. At least, they should not.
Unless... the Stalker was not just a monster.
This thought made an even heavier silence settle over the room.
Their gazes then fell on Lian. Apart from Cassian, he was the only other member of the group present here. They also heard the story from his perspective.
And the experience was the same. This had really happened. Such a hell had really occurred. And that meant all the reasoning, guesses, and field realities recorded in their reports were wrong.
And the monsters were much more than they had thought.
"We were sure of the number of monsters. The last satellite image, which is from four days ago, had only confirmed those. It is impossible for a crack to suddenly open and this many to come out." Gareth added quietly.
"But what we experienced was also real. So either your satellite information is garbage, or the number of monsters has increased in the past four days." Lian also said in a cold voice.
These bastards definitely had more information, and yet they had hidden it in such a situation. The whole story had been complete nonsense from the beginning.
Nothing was in its place, and he was now sure that the situation in that damn city was not as simple as the reports said.
A terrible event was happening inside! An event that the government had not been able to stop, and it might turn into a disaster.
But if that was the case, why had they sent a few students inside? Could they have been just sacrifices so the government could gain more information?
"I would really like to know, is there actually any survivor from that city? Were you able to save any of the people from that city? Or was all of that a lie too?" And then he raised his voice.
He was slowly beginning to doubt that these idiots had actually been able to save anyone from that city at all.
From beginning to end, there was no sign or evidence of any of the city’s people being saved, nor any survivor. It was just news announced in the media and written in reports.
"I know you are angry, but calm down." Gareth looked at him and said.
"Calm down? This situation could have ended with my death! I will not be calm about something like this! You said the maximum level of monsters in that city was 15! But we faced a level 16 monster!"
"We were lucky it was a normal monster. If it had been a Fallen one, the whole group might have been killed, and even with that, we lost two people."
Gareth fell silent and did not answer, as if he had no answer to give.
The other officers were also completely silent, with their heads lowered. Cassian looked at them. He no longer wanted to defend these people either.
He was just looking for an answer. An answer that could be a reason for the deaths of his two teammates. And unfortunately, none of these people could give him an answer.
He sighed.
"I am ashamed and I apologize, but I don’t think I can continue as captain. I don’t deserve this position." He then said quietly and left the place.
Lian also left without saying anything more.
"Don’t you want to stop them?" Gareth’s deputy asked him.
"Not now."
"But are you going to let them talk to you like that? You are a commander! No matter how angry they are, they don’t have the right to speak that way." His deputy said.
Gareth thought for a moment and looked at the spot where those two boys had been standing a few minutes ago, then answered.
"Their anger is understandable. They lost two of their teammates and classmates."
"But—"
"Enough." And then the commander’s gaze fell on the officers.
"Conduct a full investigation on this matter. We need to find out what happened in that city."
And then he also stood up to go see the survivor.
And now it was necessary to conduct an interrogation of that survivor.
...
In the medical section.
The survivor sat on the bed. Several medics were next to him, but his gaze was still empty.
He was still scared, still trembling, still as if part of his mind remained in that city.
Gareth sat in front of him.
"What is your name?"
The man did not answer.
"How long have you been there?"
Again silence.
"Tell us about what happened in the city."
And still, the survivor preferred silence, until Gareth sighed.
"We need to know what happened in that city, so we can help anyone—if anyone is still alive—and save them. Your words can be the biggest help and save many lives. So speak."
A few minutes passed before the man’s lips finally moved.
"In the beginning... everything was normal..."
His voice was weak.
"The monsters attacked... people ran..."
"But then..." His whole body trembled, as if he was reliving the events he wanted but could not forget.
"Then everything changed."
"How?" Gareth frowned.
The man stared at an unknown point.
"The monsters started gathering..."
"Gathering?"
"All of them... they were going toward the city center... as if something was calling them." Tears gathered in the man’s eyes.
The room fell silent.
The man moved his dry lips and said a sentence that made everyone freeze.
"That thing, that creature, whatever it is... told them to bring all the bodies. The bodies of everything."
"I ran away... I hid... but the others couldn’t..." His tears started flowing faster and more intensely.
As if he could see and feel the screams, the pleas for help, and the terrified cries of countless humans being torn apart by monsters right in front of him.
"Whatever it is... the monsters don’t obey it..."
"They worship it."
"And it will come for us! We will all die! That thing will kill us all!"
"We can’t escape it!" And then he started clawing at himself like a madman, until the soldiers intervened and stopped him.
Gareth looked at his deputy. The situation was worse than they had expected... much, much worse.
Half an hour later.
When Lian was about to sleep, one of the soldiers stopped him.
"Commander Gareth wants to see you."
....
( A/N : I apologize for the disruption in the upload schedule. There was a problem that has now been resolved. So far, what has been your opinion about the arc? Has it progressed well? Or has it been boring? I would be happy to hear your thoughts.