Explorer of Edregon

Unfortunately, once the epic monster had fallen and its screams had stopped, life seemed to return to both the people and the monsters alike within a few minutes. Alka and Vin did manage to dispatch a good number of lifeless monsters during that time frame, but not all of them. At the very least, the effects of the monster's screams wore off for everyone at the same time, which meant Vin didn't have to witness monsters running around slaughtering frozen people like he'd feared.

Despite that, the battle picked up once again, like a dying bonfire that someone had thrown one last log on as an afterthought. It was clear that the monsters had finally stopped spawning at the very least, which meant all they needed to do was finish off the chaff and then run out to pick up the thousand new Earthers that would be appearing in the center of the fragment within the near future.

Finally, nearly an hour after the fighting had originally begun, it was over.

"Terra stands strong!" Spur roared from up on the wall, raising his sword overhead and looking like the pristine image of a true Commander. One of his eyes was sealed shut from blood trickling down a wound on his forehead, but that did nothing to detract from the proud look on his face. Despite the sheer exhaustion running through the combat classes, hundreds of resounding cheers and cries of exuberance rang out to match Spur's outcry, and even Vin found himself grinning at the fact that they'd beaten the monsters back. While some people had definitely fallen to the monsters, and the battle had been far more intense than they'd expected, they had successfully survived the battle for wave four.

Now came the aftermath.

Vin wanted nothing more than to go lie down and rest after facing down that epic monster and running literal laps around the battlefield for the past hour, but there were still things he needed to do. Taking a deep breath and trying to shrug off his own fatigue, he quickly made his way to the hospital Witherson had constructed in the center of town.

As he'd expected, it was a little busy.

"If you can walk and talk, get out of my building!" Frank roared, scaring away a handful of tired and bloodied warriors that had some superficial wounds all over their bodies and making room for two men to drag in an unconscious warrior with what looked like half his face missing. "Vin!" Frank snapped, spotting him as he got closer. "Don't just stand there, get to work! We've got dozens of people on the brink of death, your elf friend just arrived a few minutes ago."

Nodding, Vin didn't even bother wasting the energy to respond. This was why he'd come after all, he knew plenty well what he was getting into. Downing one of Bill's mana potions, Vin shuddered at the unpleasant taste of spoiled mint before he got to work.

Vin was well aware by now that the aftermath of any battle was always going to be gruesome, but that didn't mean he'd numbed himself to the horrors of combat just yet. He did his best to keep his stomach from lurching as he went from bed to bed, healing severe wounds and releasing patients once he'd pulled them back from the brink enough to risk leaving them and going to the next person. It seemed for every person he finished healing and sent on their way, two more were dragged into the hospital to take their place. If it wasn't for Shia and Frank, he would have been overwhelmed in seconds.

As it was, Frank proved there was a massive difference between having a single healing spell and having Healer as an actual class. Vin noticed it first when he realized Frank was purposefully staying near the worst victims that were brought in. It was hard to spot, but Vin could actually feel the soft, soothing aura emanating from the old medic, calming people down and seeping into their bodies. It looked like it wasn't powerful enough to actually heal people, but Vin was pretty certain it was doing wonders for keeping the wounded stable and preventing things from getting worse until Frank could get to them.

Finally, after who knew how long, Frank surprised him with a clap on the back after Vin finished healing someone's leg that had been carved partway through.

"The worst has passed. Your friend and I can take it from here," Frank grunted, giving him an appreciative nod. "Thanks for your help."

"I can keep going," Vin argued weakly, squinting as he tried to ignore the mana-induced headache that had been getting worse with every patient. He'd already drunk his three mana potions for the day, which was the limit according to Bill. Nothing bad would happen or anything if he drank another, but his body wouldn't benefit from the magic. His second potion had already restored less mana than the first had, and the third had barely done anything.

"You've done enough," Frank said, his voice growing more gentle as he looked him up and down. "You more than anyone have earned some rest, kid."

"Shame that's going to have to wait," Shredder said, entering the hospital and spotting the two of them. His armor and face were still covered in blood and bits of monster, but injury wise, the Berserker looked fine. "Spur asked me to relay a message to you. Wants you to make your way over to the center of the fragment."

"Of course he does," Vin sighed, fighting the urge to sit down and rest for just a single moment. He knew there was a very strong chance he wouldn't be getting back up anytime soon if he did so. "Thanks, Shredder. Need any healing?"

"You're off the clock, no more healing for you!" Frank all but shouted, pushing him toward the hospital exit. "Now get going, that brat isn't the most patient of sorts."

Grinning, Vin thanked Frank one last time for his hard work before putting the hospital behind him and looking around in shock at the center of town. He'd been so busy running around the wall and helping people he saw struggling, he hadn't really paid any attention to the town itself during the battle.

It seemed there had been more flight-capable monsters than he'd realized, as there were quite a number of winged monster corpses lying all over the place. Razor sharp quills were sticking out of rooftops, and a number of buildings had cracks and chips all over them. Luckily, it seemed like all of the damage to the town was superficial, and Vin let out a sigh of relief that they wouldn't have to rebuild the town for the third time.

"Keep sweeping!" A familiar voice called out, and Vin glanced over to spot Abby ordering a good dozen tired-looking faces, each one wearing one of the new Guard badges. Most of them were covered in splashes of blood and had minor wounds, making it clear they'd seen plenty of combat despite staying within the town walls. "I know you're tired, but we need to ensure every single monster that made it past the wall has been put down and dealt with! Check every nook and cranny of this town, and keep your eyes peeled for wounded! We keep going until we know for certain that the citizens of Terra are safe and sound!"

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"Yes, vice-captain!" the exhausted guards responded, perking up at her order as Abby's Righteous Action Capstone seemed to give them a second wind. After giving her a quick salute, they ran off in pairs with weapons drawn as they continued sweeping the town. Nodding, Abby turned to do the same before spotting Vin standing there.

"Vin," Abby called out, walking over and looking him up and down. "Good work out there. Any chance I could ask for your help sweeping the place? Your magic would make the task go by much quicker."

"I'm sorry, Abby, I'm running on empty," he admitted, gesturing to the empty bottles hanging from his belt. "If I drink any more mana potions, I think I might just throw up."

"Ah, understandable," she said, giving him a respectful nod. "In that case, you should go rest up. We'll just have to do this the old-fashioned way."

Wishing her good luck, Vin watched as Abby joined her guards and went on the hunt for any monsters that might have been missed. Vin knew from their many drills that the all clear wouldn't be called for noncombatants to leave their homes until they were one hundred percent sure that the monsters had all been dealt with. Resigning himself to the three-mile run he was about to make with a stomach sloshing full of potion, Vin tucked his head down and took off.

There was something strangely quiet about running through the empty fragment immediately following having been besieged by a giant horde of monsters. Vin allowed himself to zone out and let his legs carry him to his destination, having made this run enough times by now that he barely even had to call up his Mental Map to check where he was going.

Spur should build some sort of road or something from town to the center of the fragment… Would make gathering people from the future waves that much easier. Especially the ten thousand people we're supposed to get with wave 9.

Vin blinked, just then realizing the sheer number of people that the final wave was going to entail. Their town already felt pretty big at the moment, and that was with barely two thousand people. What would ten thousand fresh faces do to it?

He let his imagination run wild as he traveled, and before he knew it, he spotted the familiar sign of Spur, Phil, Myers, and Witherson waiting with a contingent of combat classes by the usual spot. Though this time, Captain Reonelli had joined the group as well, and even Golrim was standing beside them, in a strange parallel to the arrival for wave three a few weeks back.

"Took you long enough," Spur snorted, absentmindedly touching at the bandage wrapped around his forehead as Vin approached. "And here I thought you'd taken a nap or something."

"A nap sounds really nice right about now, if I'm being honest," Vin said, smiling at the group. "They still haven't arrived yet? Honestly, after helping out Frank in the hospital for so long, I expected to find you guys leading them back already."

"No, they haven't," Myers confirmed, frowning as she glanced at a primitive sundial she'd constructed on the ground. "Though they should have. We've never had such a long wait in between the monsters showing up and the wave arriving."

"That can only be good," Phil said, his lips forming a thin line as he stood there with a hand on the hilt of his sword, as if expecting danger at any moment. "Vin, what the hell was that screaming back during the battle? My memory is all hazy, but one second I was in the middle of fighting an elite monster, and the next, the two of us were all but blinking at one another, as if someone had stolen a chunk of time right out from under us."

"It's a bit hard to explain, but Alka and I ended up-"

At that moment, the sounds of hundreds of tiny rips in the air reached them, and the confused faces of the fourth wave were looking around, squinting in the sudden light.

"Debrief later guys, we've got work to do," Spur said, stepping up and raising his voice as he called out to the crowd that hadn't existed moments ago. "Welcome to Edregon, everyone! My name is Commander Spur, and beside me are General Witherson and Captain Reonelli. Would whoever is in charge of the fourth wave please come here so we can explain the current situation?"

Having seen this three times now, Vin waited patiently beside Myers and Phil for the leader of the fourth wave to walk up and introduce themselves. Though after a few moments, it became obvious something was wrong.

Spur frowned as nobody made any motion to step forward, and a large amount of murmuring could be heard as the disoriented members of the fourth wave looked around at one another.

Finally, a confused-looking woman with short cropped hair stepped forward, walking up to Spur while still glancing over her shoulder as if searching for something.

"What, did you drop something when Sender X sent you?" Spur asked, clearly annoyed this was taking so long. No doubt he was just as tired as Vin and everyone else after the long battle they'd recently fought.

"No sir," she said, snapping out a salute and giving Spur her full attention. "I'm Lieutenant Relentin. Second in command after Colonel Pates."

"Alright, and where is Colonel Pates?" Spur asked, rolling his eyes at the crisp military salute. "Come on, we don't have all day."

"Well, that's the thing, sir," Relentin said, looking all the more confused. "As far as I can tell… he's not here."

"What the hell do you mean 'he's not here?'" Spur repeated, narrowing his eyes. "Did he back out of being sent to Edregon at the last minute?"

"No sir, he was standing right beside me the moment Sender X took us," Relentin said, starting to look a tad worried. "Then I was brought to that black void to select my class, and now… now he's gone."

"Spur," Myers said, her voice hushed as her eyes scanned over the waiting crowd of new Earthers. "…that's not a thousand people. There's at least a hundred or so missing."

"What do you mean, missing?" Spur said, his annoyed tone quickly turning to one of concern. "It's not like they could have gotten lost! Sender X drops them off right here!"

Yet sure enough, Myers wasn't the only one to notice there was something wrong, as a handful of voices began to cry out of the crowd as people realized their friends or people they were looking for hadn't made the trip to Edregon with the rest of them. As unrest spread throughout the crowd, Spur dragged a hand across his face, muttering quietly to himself as he searched for the words needed to calm everyone. Before he could get the chance, however, there was a flash of purple behind them, snatching their attention. Vin turned with the rest of them, startled to see Lumel of all people running up to him.

"Lumel?" he asked, blinking as the hooded Dimensional Mage actually approached him on foot rather than just flashing into existence beside him. "Is everything alright?"

"I'm fine," she quickly got out, leaning over and accepting his arm for balance as she worked to catch her breath. "Sorry… Low on mana…"

"I'm sure," he chuckled, just happy to see that she'd gotten through the battle unscathed. He'd wanted to check on her before rushing over here, but it wasn't easy finding someone capable of teleporting. "You were warping around saving lives left and right. What's wrong?"

"It's… the Underside," she finally managed, sucking in a deep breath as she looked at him with an unreadable expression on her face. "Something's happened. Something big."

"What do you mean?" he asked, frowning at the news. "You didn't try to head back down there now, did you? You need to rest!"

"I felt it, Vin," she said, her entire body shaking like he'd never seen before. "A vibration in the very fabric of reality so powerful I felt it from up here on Edregon proper. I went into the Underside to try and figure out what it was and…"

She paused, struggling to find some way to explain what she'd witnessed. Finally, she gave up, staring deep into his eyes as she just blurted it out.

"The infernals' fragment," she said, her eyes wide with fear. "It's just gone."