After the man's death, a brief discussion broke out among the group. Skyler shared what he knew about the matter, and Austin and Yuris immediately suggested heading north to investigate the villains' activities.
Zack and Isaac offered no objections.
Everyone, however, expected Skyler to refuse—any delay could jeopardize their progress in the Battle Royal. Yet, to their surprise, he agreed. When they gave him surprised looks, his only response was:
"I vowed to become the greatest Light in Eldoria and protect it. How could you think I'd turn away while so many are dying?"
Five pairs of eyebrows twitched at his overly heroic and solemn declaration.
Wow.
His shamelessness just leveled up.
Skyler noticed their weird expressions.
"What? Do you have any doubts?"
Everyone shook their heads at once.
How could they possibly dare?
He was the boss—the strongest among them. If they dared to question his words, the memories of the past days—where they had nearly died at every turn—were enough to make them kneel before him. This devil in human guise would shorten their already non-existent rest if they dared to doubt!
Skyler was satisfied with their reactions.
"Okay. Let's head north."
With that, the group changed direction. Skyler and Yuris both used teleportation, even helping the other four so the group reached their destination more quickly.
They passed briefly in front of the faint boundary of light cascading from above, forming a barrier that separated their part of the Battle Royal from other planets and realms, then cautiously stepped through.
Zack's silver eyes narrowed as he passed through the boundary. Everything appeared the same at first glance—but the air in this area carried a faint metallic tang of blood.
Following the faint scent, the group was horrified to find a sea of blood spreading from the gate of a village not far from the cascading light boundary. The village's tall walls had already been reduced to rubble.
Ruins and broken carts littered the streets amidst the destroyed buildings, while dead bodies were piled outside the village's gate, eerily discarded like carrion for the beasts that prowled among the bloody wreckage.
Isaac, Yuris, and Charles doubled over, emptying their insides at the scene. Even Austin and Zack turned away. It wasn't that they hadn't seen dead bodies before—they had, but only those of monsters. Seeing so many humans, members of the beast race, elves, and even the villagers of plant race dead drained the color from their faces.
Skyler rubbed his temples.
"Are we too late?"
Just as he uttered the words, a scream echoed from deep within the ruins of the village. The sound was filled with agony, and following it came the roars of battle.
Everyone's expressions turned cold.
It seemed the culprits of this bloody carnage were still inside the village.
Austin drew his weapon.
"It's time I kill for the first time."
Yuris, Charles, and Isaac also thought the same, drawing their weapons and readying themselves to unleash their strongest skills and spells. Although none of them had ever killed before, after seeing such a sight, they were resolved to make all the culprits pay.
However, before they could charge, Zack quickly reined in their horses, speechless.
"We've grown stronger, yeah, but do you really want to enter the village where so many strong people—even the plant race villagers—didn't survive, without knowing the number of enemies or their strength?"
Yuris slapped his hand away.
"We know, ah. We are not idiots. But Skyler has already gone in, so we're following. Do you think he—the one who can even stop us from going back home—would rush into the village if it were truly dangerous? If he went in, then that means we can beat them up."
Zack blinked. Only then did he turn around and notice that the ash-brown-haired youth standing behind him had disappeared.
"Oh…"
He blinked again, and the others had vanished toward the village as well.
"Hey, wait for me!!"
He cursed under his breath as he rushed after them, baffled by how quickly they all had formed such complete trust in Skyler.
This blind faith had likely developed after seeing Skyler charge into battles against countless powerful monsters far stronger than himself, dragging their crying forms along and somehow emerging victorious.
Hopefully, they would also survive the upcoming battle and emerge victorious.
It was just that his eyelid was twitching, and to Zack's dismay, his gut feeling was right—they were no match for the villains!
Skyler, that bastard, had only run off into the village to flirt with a beauty! Unlike him, the instant they all entered the village, they were surrounded and captured by the Dark Lights hiding among the fallen buildings.
Those Dark Lights controlled countless corpses with their dark element, giving them no time to even mount a defense.
Isaac gasped as he saw their dear friend Skyler abandon them, rushing toward a white-haired beauty with a pair of wings—who was fighting the Dark Lights to survive alongside her companions far away—and was taken aback by his sudden arrival.
He even hurled a spear toward her!
"Catch it! I'll help you!"
Yuris shouted from behind him.
"And who will help us???"
Naturally, his words fell on deaf ears. But one thing was crystal clear: in that instant, Yuris and the others simultaneously swore that they would never follow him again!
The white-haired beauty blinked in a daze when she saw Skyler and caught the spear he threw toward her, and her companions were even more astonished at the scene.
Their group had been captured by these wicked people called Dark Lights and had just managed to break free from the metal restraints they were firmly bound with. But they were too few in number, so they failed to flee after finally breaking free and had no choice but to face these vile foes in battle.
Skyler didn't spare anyone else a glance. His eyes were solely fixed on the pretty lady with red eyes who wielded the spear she had caught, as he kicked away the dead bodies the villains were controlling to surround her.
She was nearly struck by a corpse, but to her companions' utter shock and fury, the human bastard actually dared to wrap his hand around her waist, turn her aside, and kick the corpse away! Then he whispered.
"Be careful."