625 Gate Claim
[The Gate Claim mission has been completed. The Gate in the Crimsonwood Forest has been claimed, congratulations!]
“Huh?”
Exclaims of surprise reverberated through the burned-down settlement, confusion spreading through everyone’s heads. The half-dead Ascenders looked at each other, too worn out to come up with proper thoughts.
“He…he really did it…he killed the 12 Apostles?” Yvonne asked, looking paler than the dead, dried blood smudged all over her face.
She looked in the direction of the mountain with the remaining power she had left in her body and began to smile weirdly
“I guess…he is really different…” Kathrine mumbled
Dilan had yet to return but everyone could already imagine how Dilan would look…as always, of course! They didn’t expect Dilan to look different than normal because most of them had witnessed him facing various terrifying situations, just to end up looking exactly the same.
And now that his Origin ability had grown stronger, there wouldn’t even be any long-lasting marks of his injuries as it had been the case when the meteorite shower had nearly ended Dilan’s life…or did he die at that time?
“He killed the Apostles all by himself? While we nearly died in a matter of seconds…he just killed them?” Nicolas mumbled, looking down on his body, the fickle body that had nearly been torn apart from one of the Apostle’s Unique abilities. His arm was twisted and he couldn’t move it no matter how much he tried, no matter how painful it was.
“Within one hour, he killed the 12 Apostles, yet, we, 10 Demi Gods, couldn’t even last 10 seconds against…” Ben mumbled weakly. His right eye was covered with huge bruises while his left eye was red from all the blood that had poured down his head. He nearly lost his arm which was barely hanging to a threat of his flesh and skin.
His eyes were filled with horror, and he was glad that Dilan was on their side. He didn’t even want to imagine what would have happened if not for Dilan.
Ben regretted that he had disregarded Dilan when he first met him. It was only obvious that he couldn’t accept a Tier-4 Ascender as their boss after they had fought together without a single leader for several years.
Dilan’s return pulled the entire Undying Group under one banner, Dilan’s banner. The reappearance of a measly Tier-4 Ascender had changed everything. Wasn’t it obvious that Ben was against this that he was…envious of the trust the Undying Group had in Dilan, envious of the power his words held?
But now Ben knew better.
Dilan worked hard to gain the trust of his allies, he would never leave his people behind, no matter what would happen to him. That was something Ben had witnessed first-hand when Dilan had sacrificed his body to protect Katja! He had healed afterward, but that didn’t mean his body would react subconsciously to the threats he perceived, or that one wouldn’t hesitate from the excruciating pain one would inevitably feel.
However, Dilan was different. He just acted on impulse, and rescued everyone, no matter how much pain he would have to go through. In one way, he could be considered the best leader anyone would wish for in the Era they lived in.
As for the fact that his words possessed a certain power, it was completely understandable. Ben would listen to everything Dilan said as well, at last after fully realizing just how powerful he was.
“Oh? You guys are still here? Shouldn’t you go and look for a Healer? Your wounds look really bad…” A familiar voice rang out from above and everyone’s heads flicked up, as fast as their body allowed them.
A moment later a soothing feeling spread through the surrounding area. The mana in the surrounding was altered to accelerate the healing of the wounds the Ascenders had sustained.
Dilan had appeared in the air above everyone and he moved in front of his comrades before forcing them to swallow the content of the black potions he had retrieved from his storage ring.
Some of his dear comrades gagged when they were forced to swallow but Dilan shut their mouth and forced them to swallow everything up to the last dripping droplet.
He smiled in satisfaction when all of them finished their potion.
“I hope Sarah didn’t lie about the potion’s effect,” Dilan mumbled quietly to himself but everyone could hear him clearly. They began to move again as they felt that the exhaustion of their body was wiped away…no, that was not it.
Their exhaustion and pain didn’t disappear, it was just delayed, and postponed for a short period.
“We should leave, otherwise, Ben will lose his arm, Nicolas’ arm won’t be fixable anymore, and everyone will bleed to death right in front of me. That’s not really funny…” Dilan declared, scratching the back of his head as he continued to exude nature-attributed mana.
He was trying to help as much as possible but he was definitely not the right target to pick when someone were to shout for a doctor, ignoring the fact that this was not something an ordinary doctor could fix.
Ten Demi Gods and a little Siegfried were injured. Siegfried and Rory were probably faring the best if one ignored that Siegfried was still unconscious.
Dilan picked up his nephew and he made sure that he would be moved through the air like a sleeping angel. Controlling the winds around Siegfried, it was not difficult to make his situation as pleasant as possible.
As for Kathrine, Dilan could only sigh deeply. The poor girl had thrown herself in front of her student to protect him. That was truly remarkable, and it made Dilan proud. He was extremely grateful and gently picked her up using strong gusts.
“How…did you do it?” Katja asked all of a sudden. Dilan walked on the ground, mostly focused on their surroundings and on his Green Magic to give Kathrine and Siegfried a pleasant fly back to the flying island.
Katja emerged by his side and Dilan quickly noticed that everyone’s attention pulled over to him.
“You mean the destruction of the mountain’s tip, how I survived, or what kind of master artisan I have to be in order to create such a beautiful plateau out of the mountain range?” Dilan asked lightly, trying to hide his exhaustion. Even he was a little bit worn out after unleashing the killing intent and bloodlust he had naturally formed after dying so often in the City of Trials. His life hadn’t been easy there, but back in Milarn, he was only a Tier-4 Ascender, and not on equal terms with the Soul Shards of the True Gods around him!
“I have no idea what you did to the mountain range, and neither do I care about the mountain’s tip…” Katja answered, trying not to feel frustrated by her exhaustion. The others nodded their heads subconsciously, which was enough for Dilan to sigh inwardly.
That was good…very very good!