Chapter 94: New Demonic Skills Unlocked

[All five Beast Captains have been defeated in combat! The Event has ended. The Beast Lord’s forces will remain distant from this Zone for a while.]

“F-five?” Angelica repeated, stunned. “That hasn’t happened since last year…”

The hotel doors opened. A few people stepped out, weapons still in hand, their faces pale with tension.

“Please focus on helping the wounded! Keep the children inside the hotel!” Paul shouted, taking control of the situation.

Others quickly responded to his command.

“Someone run to Bastion and ask for permission to fill the barrels with water! We have to put out the fires!” Jonathan called out.

Luke stood still for a moment, watching everything—the collapsed tents, the relieved faces, the injured survivors sitting in the mud, some still in shock.

He thought of his mother.

If the tutorial she entered was anything like this one… she would’ve been among these people. Scared. Hiding behind fragile doors, praying that no monster would break through. Or maybe it was in a moment exactly like this that she died.

In the distance, the silhouette of Bartholomew’s fortress loomed under the dark sky. The people inside were safe. Unconcerned with what had happened beyond their walls.

Luke clenched his fists. That made him angry.

More than ever, the fortress of the Second Mechanism needs to be taken.

Now he understood why some people let their shoulders drop in relief when an invasion event ended. Because it meant one thing:
Peace. Temporary, but necessary.

“At least we know it’ll be a few months before the next one,” Jonathan said to Anna. “The danger level on this one was way too high.”

Cecília signed to Anna: ‘I’m going to help the wounded.’

Allison walked up to Luke, wiping the blood from her face.

“We did it.”

Luke stared at the destruction around them.

“Yeah… we did.”

***

Thiara was treating the most seriously wounded. Anyone with even basic first aid knowledge was lending a hand. Not everything could rely on magic. But luckily, thanks to Luke’s efforts, the civilians had managed to retreat to the hotel in time. The other warriors had done what they could to hold off the monsters. The camp was already being rebuilt.

The rhythm was familiar now. Rebuild. Assist. Restart.

People organized themselves with eerie efficiency, as if the night of hell had been just another day. Some mages conjured small clouds above the streets to extinguish lingering fires, while others moved supplies or tended to the wounded in near silence. Behind a few forced smiles, Luke could still see the exhaustion etched into their faces.

Bartholomew’s men remained distant, running between structures inside the Safe Zone, likely inspecting the wooden walls for damage. The sky had already begun to lighten, and somewhere in the distance, a bell rang at six in the morning.

The sun rose slowly over the horizon, casting its pale light across the scorched streets and broken homes, as if nothing had happened.

“What a night…” Paul said, eyes locked on the tyrannosaurus corpse sprawled in the center of camp.

“What are we gonna do with that thing?” he asked.

“You’re seriously asking?” Jonathan replied, half-smiling. “We’re gonna eat the damn thing.”

He clapped Allison on the back.

“This blonde right here fought practically solo. We only showed up at the end, and because of the fire, we were pretty much useless.”

“She really was incredible,” Paul agreed.

“Can we throw a party in her honor?” Jonathan asked, looking at Angelica.

Angelica replied without a smile. “After we help the wounded. And the dead… if there are any.”

She glanced around the camp at the exhausted faces and sleepless eyes. “They deserve something good. Not just the panic of tonight.” Then she turned and walked away.

Luke kept watching her. The bow still hung in her hands. He had always seen her wielding an axe. He thought about asking but chose to wait. Another time. Another day.

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He sat down on a log. The group who had fought was finally resting while others moved through the area, busy rebuilding the camp.

“Do you think many people died?” Luke asked Anna, who sat beside him.

“Civilians? None,” she answered without hesitation. “They know the protocol. Some of them have lived here for six years. They already know what to do.”

“And our side?” Luke pressed.

“You mean frontline?” Anna pointed toward the tyrannosaurus’s corpse. “When things get this tough, the regular monsters are weaker. System balance. Most of them were level ten to twelve hyenas. Nothing we’re not used to. But in exchange…”

She nodded toward the direction where the gorilla had been fought. “We got five captains. Those were the real threat. That’s why we prioritized them. Three came here—we handled them. The other two were probably taken down by Bartholomew’s men.”

Jonathan gave Luke a light pat on the back. “Don’t stress. It’s not the end of the world. If you, Charlie, and Allison hadn’t bought us time to deal with the gorilla, yeah—it would’ve been a massacre. Someone else would’ve had to give their life to stall those captains.”

Angelica walked over, wearing a crooked smile. “Alright, enough with the funeral faces.” She dropped a wooden barrel in front of them. “We survived another day in this hellhole. I say we drink.”

Luke exhaled.