Dilan had a lot more to say, including that he hoped everyone would show their will to stay alive by working hard.
In testing times like these, everyone should support one another in every possible way if that was necessary to survive.
However, upon seeing the expression on the Survivor’s face and the admiration in the eyes of the Ascenders, Dilan ended his speech without adding anything else.
He jumped off the bus and returned to the others, while Sven replaced him on top of the bus’ roof to give further instructions.
“Everyone, pack up. We’re leaving. Let’s find a new place to call home!!”
Raising his right arm in the air, Sven looked extremely proud of what he saw.
He saw Dilan from the corner of his eyes and felt like roaring out so that everyone would follow him.
But the little push he wanted to give the Survivors was not even necessary as the first few Ascenders began to roar out, ready to fight with their life on the line if that was necessary for the sake of their group; for Dilan’s sake.
Earlier, Dilan had never really noticed the influence he had on others.
However, right now, as the thunderous roars of more than two thousand Ascenders and Survivors reached him, even the young man couldn’t help but feel baffled.-.
‘Did Sven do something, or was that through my speech? Or…maybe was it the title [Beyond the Stars]? Everyone in my range gains courage through it, so that might be it?’
While Dilan was baffled, the roars died down and everyone began to pack up. Storing everything away didn’t take long and the buses’ engines were started only half an hour later.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtTheir group consisting of more than 2500 humans was able to pack up and leave in just half an hour. This was beyond anyone’s comprehension.
Yet, it caused a bright smile to emerge on the face of Dilan and everyone else as the buses set off on the highway, in the search of their new home.
“Shiron is the next closest city. That’s what you said, right?” Dilan asked once again, glancing over to Williams, Xenia and Sven, who were running next to each other.
Dilan didn’t want to rest anymore. He was outside the bus he had been resting in earlier, and running next to the others, while paying attention to the surroundings for any surprise attacks.
The monster that had followed them for the entire last day didn’t attack at night, so many Ascenders believed that it had left.
However, Dilan didn’t believe so. He knew that some monsters had gained far more intelligence than most Ascenders believed ‘dumb animals’ to possess.
That was why he stayed on high alert.
“Shiron is the next closest city. But it’s only a city that had 50,000 citizens before. We shouldn’t stay there. Let’s just get some gasoline for the buses and increase the distance from the Red Dragon as long as we still can!”
Xenia was most worried about the Red Dragon’s existence. Furthermore, she believed that it was not helpful for them to build their new home in a city that was bound to get destroyed by the Red Dragon sooner or later.
Every single small city they had passed until now looked no different to Rian.
There may have been some districts and streets that were less damaged, and a handful of unscathed buildings but the overall condition of most cities was bad.
Every place showed the telltale signs of death and destruction that tens of thousand monsters had brought forth.
But Dilan merely smiled at Xenia’s comment.
“You know, there might be other powerful monsters somewhere else. If we keep running away from the Red Dragon, without knowing if it is even interested in us, we might end up in the maw of an even more terrifying monster.
And, to be honest, I actually doubt that the Red Dragon can be bothered about our existence. It shouldn’t care much about us, not as long as we’re still as powerless and of now value to it as right now.”
Just when Dilan took a short break from speaking, Williams came to back up Dilan and added,
“He is correct. The Red Dragon didn’t seem to care much about us. It would have caught us already if it was truly interesting or felt threatened by our existence.
As for your concern about living in a destroyed city, and a small one at that…we can either clear one of the unscathed or less damaged buildings or build our own comfortable space if we’re willing to stay somewhere.”
Even if Williams didn’t know the reason for Dilan showing interest in Shiron, he felt that there must be something that attracted Dilan’s attention.
And just the fact that Dilan was considering the option was more than enough reason for Williams to believe that it might be worth a shot if they wanted to build their hideout in Shiron.
“Well…I never said that I wanted to build our base in Shiron. I just noticed that there are many villages and cities in Shiron’s surroundings. Furthermore, there are quite a few Gates on the Shikan plains all around this area.
So…I felt like it would be great to conquer the Gates and possibly find out which Gate has the best treasures so we can improve our equipment, gain more treasures, and of course ability cr–…”
Just when Dilan was about to finish speaking, his body jolted. His expression turned serious and without a trace of hesitation, he activated [Thunder Step].
In the blink of an eye, Dilan blasted ahead. He passed by the tree, turned toward the right and disappeared from his earlier location.
[Gale]!
[Gale]!
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmAfter he used Gale twice, Dilan twisted his body once again before using the third and last use of [Gale], disappearing from the location he had just appeared in.
The moment he re-emerged ten meters ahead of his prior position, he unleashed the Blazing Serpentine Blade.
Slashing out with the Serpentine Blade, Dilan didn’t bother to engulf it with blazing flames.
Instead, the enlarged blade lashed at one of the youngest Tier-1 Ascenders in their group.
The young man’s eyes were filled with horror as he encountered Dilan’s ice-cold eyes that had appeared out of nowhere.
And just a moment later, the tip of the Blazing Serpentine Blade pierced through his skin, flesh, and bones.
Blood splattered through the surrounding, making the young and old Survivors in the bus next to them scream in fright as blood spilled on their windows.
They thought that Dilan had just killed one of his own people on a whim and without any reason.
However, the moment the first few of them had calmed down, their eyes widened in shock.
“What…is that?!”
The young Ascender’s eyes were wide as saucers as he looked at Dilan in terror.
However, there was also a trace of gratitude, fear, and confusion in the young man’s eyes as he looked down at his chest.
The Serpentine Blade had nearly cut into his chest, missing it by merely a few centimeters.
But even then, Dilan didn’t miss his target, at all. His strike had eliminated the perpetrator, who had killed his Ascenders the day before by taking them by surprise.
And it was exactly as he had presumed beforehand.
“So it was this little piece of shit that did everything?”