Chapter 47: The beasts' flock attack (2)

After loading up the buffalo beast on the truck, the hunting group returned back to the compound on the same path they came through.

During the way back, everyone maintained a state of high alarm, ready to spring in action the moment any beast pops up on them.

Luckily, nothing eventful happened. And they returned safely back to the compound with the fat prey.

…

Inside the compound...

Getting off the trucks, the three magicians approached Ramie and initiated a friendly chat. Apparently, they were curious regarding his bloodline artifact, and differences were between his bloodline path and their elemental path.

The three magicians were two men; one seemed to be in late thirties, he was somewhat a fat man with amiable face, while the other was in his early twenties, he was a short man. The woman on the other hand, was in her early or mid fifties. The two men had elemental artifacts with fire class for both of them. As for the woman, she too was of elemental path, but her class was water, and not fire. Of course, the three of them had common grade artifact.

According to the transmitted knowledge; the elemental path artifacts were the most numerous among the artifact's types, which is why Ramie wasn't surprised to see their stat screens.

Finishing unloading the prey, the warriors started dissecting the carcass into smaller pieces of meat to store for tomorrow's consumption, lance was working with them. Ramie and the three magicians started walking toward the housing area, while chatting and exchanging experience.

The standing of the magicians here was higher than warriors on the same rank, as their spells granted them a variety of attacks that could kill beasts in safe ranges. This made the magicians effective against the flying beasts that were capable of conducting ranged attacks from the air… which was something the warriors were helpless against.

Actually, it wasn't only the offensive spells of the magicians that distinguished them from warriors, but it was some of the defensive spells, that not only could it be applied to themselves, but can also be used on warriors and others, which was of great help in group fights.

As for the supportive spells, their efficiency was self explanatory. It wasn't an over estimation to say that one magician with the right spell on the right timing was a trump card that can change the outcome of a battle.

Anyway, now that the three magicians were able to get passed his appearance and treat him normally, it meant that it was only a matter of time before the others catch up. Of course, none of the three got to the issue of his looks, and they pretended that it didn't exist, which suited Ramie.

During the conversation, the three magicians showed a great interest in Ramie's green vine spell, and even displayed a bit of envy about how lucky he was to get his special grade artifact that gave him a huge magic energy pool. Apparently, the two fire magicians had offensive spells that could only be used few times before completely exhausting their magic energy, while the female magician only had defensive spells with similarly high magic energy requirements.

From the conversation, it was becoming very obvious to Ramie the huge gap between different grades of artifacts rarity. It made him look forward upgrading his artifact rank, and obtain even more magic energy.

He asked the magicians on why didn't the compound leader kill other beasts at the river and extract their cores to help them upgrade. To which, they answered that the small beasts didn't have cores in their bodies, which made them essentially like wild animals. As for the beasts with cores, they were usually part of hordes that were overseen by tier-2 beasts. They told him that they had made the mistake of attacking one of these beasts and take its core. However, that day, the compound was attacked by the tier-2 beast of the same type as the beasts they had hunted, and it killed a dozed of people in the compound before retreating.

From that point onward, they refrained from hunting anything other than the buffalo-beasts. As even after hunting few of them, no tier-2 beast came for retaliation.

This was the reason why for the moment, only the buffalo beasts were in the hunting list.

Although there might be other beasts that aren't protected by tier-2 beast, but unless they are out of options, the leader ordered to stick with the buffalo beast for the mean time, and not go after other kinds. At least, not before they grow strong enough to handle the tier-2 beast.

After parting way with the three magicians, Ramie went straight to the house he woke up in.

According to Lance, Neil had received a crippling injury in his shoulder, from the rank-2 magician's attack. As for Reem, she had lost her father in that tragic nightly battle. Among them, she was the one that has lost the most, and with her delicate personality that hasn't seen much suffering in life, Ramie wanted to see how she was coping with the new reality.

Reem's summoned beast was able to sense aura of other beasts and humans. So, that made him a perfect detector for danger. Hence, Reem was exempt from going out for hunt, and she was tasked to stay within the compound and alarm the others in case her beast detects any sneaking beast.

This naturally made her very important in the compound. Lance told Ramie that the compound leader wanted to relocate them to the center of the living area, where the inhabitants were concentrated, to better protect her.

However, and because Reem refused to relocate by herself, insisting that Ramie had to be included with them, they stayed here.

This naturally made Ramie feel grateful for the petite girl. It made him feel even sorrier for her tragic lose.

At first, he was a bit worried that she might blame him for her father's death. After all, he was the target for that attack. Yet, he was now alive and kicking while her father was buried. However, the act of her refusing to leave him alone indicated otherwise. It also spoke of how kind and compassionate this girl was.

'It seems that I have a great debt to repay now…' Ramie added a mental note to repay this favor to Reem when she needs it the most.

Returning to the house, Ramie saw Neil.

"You actually woke up!" surprised to see Ramie, Neil uttered.

"It seems so!" Ramie answered with a light smile.

Of course, due to his covered face, Neil didn't know that he was smiling.

"Your arm…" Neil's eyes involuntarily moved to Ramie's arm and he stared at it for a good while.

"…" Ramie felt awkward at this situation. According to the doctors who lived in the compound, the damage Neil suffered wasn't light, and it had rendered him cripple. Now, Neil lost 90% of his entire arm's motor functions.

While, on the other hand, Ramie had his entire arm severed off his body. And he even received several lethal blow to his chest. But now… not only has he completely healed, he even re-grew an entire arm!

It was hard for Neil not to compare his condition to Ramie.

Cough!

With slight fake cough, Ramie wanted to change the subject. Hence, he said:"How do you spend your time here?"

Snapping back to his senses, Neil felt a bit embarrassed. He smiled bitterly, "With my arm's injury, am afraid there isn't much I can do. So, they tasked me to stay in the compound and partake in the guarding duties."

Hearing his answer, it was obvious from his tone that his injury had left a deep impact on him.

To dispel the awkwardness, Ramie kept chatting with him until Reem came.

"Look who woke up!" Neil said to her the moment she walked into the house.

Along with Reem, another girl that appeared to be 18 or 19 walked in. According to what Lance had said, her name was Etta, and she was very shy girl. In the entire compound, Reem was the only person this girl talks to.

Apparently, at the beginning of the crisis, this girl and her family resorted to the compound to seek protection. However, after the passing of several ordeals on the compound, she was now the only surviving members of her entire family.

Thus, after they came here, she connected with Reem almost immediately, and in a very short time, the two became inseparable friends. Right now, the two of them occupied the upper floor in this house, leaving the ground floor for Lance and Neil.

Talking with Reem, Ramie could see that although she was acting normally, the air of loss and pain around about her gave away her feelings. She was evidently still in grieving period.

Lance had told him that she usually busies herself in doing various tasks in day time and act normally around everyone, however, and once she's alone, or tries to sleep, she would immediately burst in tears. He told him that they could often hear sobbing sounds from her room.

After an hour of chatting, Lance arrived. He told them that the two tankers were sent to the river and brought the water. Having taken part in hunting team, they were exempt from the water task.

Afterward, everyone went to sleep, even though it was still day time. Apparently, this was the sleeping schedule in the compound. People go to sleep around 10 Am, and wake up around 3 Am, in order to stay up throughout the dangerous night.

…

The daytime passed quickly, and the night started descending…

The moment the sun started fading behind the horizon, the atmosphere in the compound underwent a drastic change. In mere moments, a chilly air of darkness descended upon the compound like a curtain.

Everyone in the compound started rushing back with haste back to their houses. Doors and windows were locked and barricaded quickly. And in no time, the streets went quiet.

In mere seconds, a desolate stillness pervaded throughout the compound, rendering the not few minutes ago lively place, into a bleak and deadly silent ghost town that contained no hint of life whatsoever.

The reason for such behavior was the wood that was located to the north of the compound, which spanned for over several tenths of kilometers. In that area, a frightening number of beasts settled in, rendering it a death zone for humans.

So, since that wood was only few kilometers away from the compound, it thus became the danger source number one for the compound inhabitants. That area was the main reason for the casualties in the compound.

Anyway, over the span of few ordeals, the compound inhabitants had worked up a certain system to cope up with the new reality.

The system was, at night time, the people would stay up within their houses, and no one gets out outside. The moment any house is attacked or in case anyone hears a weird noise outside, then, they would ring a bell or blows a whistle to alarm the others. At that moment, the warriors and the magicians and few other tenths of capable individuals would gather at the center of the living quarter, forms pre-arranged teams, and defend against the presumed threat.

Before this arrangement, they used to form teams and patrol the living area at the night. However, and as people are unable to see in the dark, they resorted to using the oils from the buffalo carcass's they hunt to lit up torches. Unfortunately, that arrangement gave rise to a certain problem – the flaying beasts!

It turns out that every night, multitude of beast emerges from the wood in the north and starts hunting for food. So, lighting up torches or any other source of light in the night was similar to pin-pointing themselves as preys for these beasts. It had led to the death of a many people.

Beasts simply dived down from the sky, picked people up and flew away… just like that!

They had learned the hard way that not a single spark of light should be lit up from within the compound, not during the night at least.

The solution they came up with to the problem was to stay indoors, to stay awake during the night, and maintain a high level of alarm in case of possible beasts' attack.

As for the sleeping time, it was now during the daytime, after finishing their daily tasks.

Of course, it wasn't that everyone in the compound sleeps during the daytime and stays up during the night. But the rule was, the capable individuals, the warriors, and the magicians had to abide by this schedule, as they represented the defending force of the compound. Thus, they had to rest in daytime in order to maintain top condition, in case of beasts' assault at night time.

…