Chapter 97: Aftermath

Then Kragsnok looked at the small figures below.

Some were extremely weak, weak enough to die from the fear itself.

Even though he didn’t look back, his attention returned to the construction yard where Alice remained. She was the one keeping him in this world. Killing her through a moment of careless amusement would end his chance to look around.

So Kragsnok decided against it.

His wings beat again as he continued over the rooftops and into the forested area towards the neighbouring city.

...

At a luttle above 1 minute, Alice’s legs had started trembling.

She sat on the low wall surrounding the construction yard and watched the giant black shape moving further away from the city.

"Is he coming back?" A responder asked as he approached, though he kept a good distance from the molten road.

"Yes." She said.

Alice hoped she sounded more certain than she felt.

She could maintain him a little longer. The problem was, she couldn’t do anything else while doing it, because of the strain. The rapid loss of Spirit Energy left her hands unsteady, so Alice pressed them against the concrete beside her and concentrated on keeping her breathing under control.

Kragsnok had spent almost a minute and a half in the sky by now.

She only had a few seconds left at best.

Once would think, just unsummon him... well that was the problem. He was strong enough to refuse to be summoned, and yet strong enough to refuse to be called back until there was no means to keep him out.

"Come on," Alice muttered.

A few seconds later, feeling the depletion in energy, Kragsnok finally descended towards the construction yard, bringing an unnecessary gush of wind with him.

The responder moved farther back with a burst of sprint when the dragon’s shadow passed over them. Kragsnok landed in the deep impressions his feet had made earlier and folded his wings against the rough black scales covering his body.

Looking at him, Alice tried to stand, but her knees immediately gave way.

Kragsnok lowered his head and studied her.

"How have you not grown since last time?" He said, speaking telepathically to her in his deep ancient voice that sounded like a hundred echoes in a valley.

Without waiting for a response, he closed his eyes, "You may return me."

Alice looked up at him.

She withdrew him before he could change his mind or decide to do anything else.

The construction yard became empty again, and the drain on Alice’s Spirit Energy immediately stopped.

Unfortunately, none of the energy he had taken suddenly returned.

Alice released a slow breath and tried standing again. The responder caught her before she could slip from the wall.

"Easy."

"I’m fine." She said, trying not to look exhausted, but that was as good as a wish.

He looked at her shaking hands.

"You may want to sit down." He siad.

"No, take me somewhere with a medic."

The approaches beyond the yard had become quiet. No monsters remained between the evacuated buildings and the shelter route. The Gate boss was dead, along with the three other creatures Kragsnok noticed afterwards.

The road was a different matter.

Alice looked towards the molten section as the responder placed her arm over his shoulders.

"Don’t let anyone use this route."

"Yes, ma’am. They won’t."

Alice nodded and allowed him to take her towards the waiting medical team.

...

The streets around Alice’s evacuation point had become quiet enough for the medical vehicles to finally pass through.

Kragsnok was gone, the Gate boss was dead, and none of the monsters near the construction yard were moving. With the immediate danger over, the responders who had been waiting behind the junction began entering the exposed buildings and calling for anyone still inside.

Alice watched everything from a chair beneath one of the medical shelters. Someone had placed a blanket around her shoulders, and she held a bottle of water with both hands since one wasn’t quite steady enough.

"Stay seated," the medic said when she shifted forward.

"I was only looking." Alice settled back.

The responders continued bringing people out of the surrounding buildings, checking them and moving them towards the waiting vehicles. Beneath the next shelter, the old man from the apartment block was sitting beside his wife.

When he noticed Alice looking, he raised one hand.

Alice smiled and waved back before resting her hand in her lap again.

...

The fighting took longer to end in the other parts of the city.

Alyssa continued moving between reported sightings and routes that needed help, leaving government teams to hold the streets she cleared. Cassandra returned to the response lines after dealing with the larger monsters near her section, while Aaron and the rest of his training group remained with the evacuation workers under the protection of licensed defenders.

Reinforcements from the neighbouring cities also started arriving, relieving teams that had been fighting for hours.

The radio calls slowly changed after that. There were fewer requests for immediate combat support and more asking for transport, building searches or someone to take over from an exhausted group.

Monsters were still being found, but the defenders could now deal with them without abandoning another street in the process.

Government teams secured the area around the original breach, while others followed the paths the monsters had taken towards Sun City. There was too much ground for any single group to handle, so the work remained divided between teams on both sides of the border.

Leon himself heard most of this from the responders around him.

He was still near the workshop route, where his surviving summons continued bringing people out of damaged buildings. With the high-grade monsters being dealt with elsewhere, the Skeleton Warriors could finally work without something coming around a junction and smashing them apart.

"Anything in that room?" One of the responders asked.

Leon watched the Mage turn towards the wall.

’There’s something.’

He could feel a faint impression through their connection, but not enough to tell him what it was.

"Check it," he instructed one of the Skirmishers.

The undead entered through the adjoining doorway and returned with a man who had been too frightened to answer the people calling from outside.

"Come on. You’re out now," the responder said as he took the man by the arm.

Leon sent the Skirmisher towards the next entrance. Unfortunately, they weren’t finding everyone alive.

Near one of the vehicles, several workers suddenly stopped what they were doing and called another team over. A sheet was soon raised between the wreck and the people passing along the road.

Farther down the street, a woman moved between the responders with a photograph on her phone. Whenever someone directed her towards another collection point, she went there and asked the same question again.

Leon looked away when she approached the covered vehicle.

"Help them lift that frame," he instructed one of the Swordsmen. "Wait until they ask."

The summon stepped forward and joined the workers.

By the time the search teams arrived to take over the street, the sky above the buildings had started turning grey, smoke filled. Emergency lights were still flashing along the road, but the local command post had confirmed that the major routes were being held.

Patrols were now dealing with the remaining monsters, while civilians had been told to stay inside the shelters until their districts were checked.