Skrrrrr!
The space tore open and my Skarnak shot out like a missile while I desperately held onto the reins. Without hesitation, it dove toward the ground as fast as it could, leaving me struggling to hold on—but this is what I wanted.
There were too many eyes in the air while the war dragged on. I'm sure someone saw me lure the orc and his Skarnak into my pocket dimension.
That already was problematic.
But I knew it would be worse if, somehow, I emerged from my pocket dimension with an obedient Skarnak under my command.
A soft groan escaped my lips as the world around me blurred, only the thick dark below was visible.
In a few seconds, we plunged into the black smoke covering everything below, and with a loud bang, my Skarnak landed on a burning car, pressing it down hard.
Bam!
The landing was rough, causing me to slam against the beast face-first before rolling off its body and falling to the ground with a loud thud.
"Aah!" A soft groan escaped my lips.
[-5 HP]
I wasn't sure what was worse—the honking sounds of the burning and damaged cars scattered across the battlefield, the crackling sound of the raging flames, or maybe the notification sound of the system signalling I was closer to death than ever.
"Fuck my life." I cursed while slowly rising to my feet.
Currently, my body felt heavy like a rock. My battle with the orc had worn me out greatly. Even if I wasn't low on energy and health, I would still feel exhausted.
[Status:] Bleeding
[Health Points:] 29/90
[Energy Points:] 10/20
While I tried to avoid it, I couldn't help but gaze at my stats while dragging myself up, and my eyes knitted at the sight. The battle for Louisiana had only started, yet I was already nearing my limit.
Why did I return here?
How sure am I the others survived?
What if the helicopter crashed, killing everyone?
What is the plan now?
Countless thoughts raced through my head as I took in the scene before me. I was in the center of a crossroad, flanked by towering buildings on all sides.
Their windows were shattered, black smoke escaping each building. One of them even had a helicopter half-buried in it, and the honking sounds of vehicles made it hard to think here.
The heat didn't make it any better either.
The streets were littered with cars—some collided with each other and burned brightly. In some of these cars, I could see blackened human figures burned beyond recognition.
But that's not all. Littered around were corpses of orc wranglers and Skarnaks alike. Some fell on vehicles, some on the ground.
Regardless, there was no shortage of green blood here—and it disgusted me.
Just from the scene alone, I could tell people panicked while trying to escape, which led to a lot of chaos. I looked above and everything was covered in thick black smoke, making it nearly impossible to see the battle raging on above.
"We got attacked above here..." I frowned. "I don't see our helicopter anywhere here, meaning they managed to escape the chaos and went further?"
It was a possibility I couldn't ignore.
CAWWWWWWWWW!
Begrudgingly, I shifted my gaze to the Skarnak standing on the burning car beside me. Its crimson red eyes were pinned on my figure, eagerly waiting for my orders.
[Name: Nil]
[Race: Skarnak / Blood Thrall]
[Stats]
Strength: 10
Speed: 10
Vitality: 10
Intelligence: 1
Unlike Lord Ravus, whose stats I didn't get to see before his death, I saw that of this beast. I am well aware that this beast has 15 points in most of its stats.
Upon using the [Blood Pact] talent, it lost five points from its stats. This left me wondering if the same applied to Lord Ravus. If it did, doesn't that mean his original stats were capped at 20 points?
With this in mind, Pamela and Viktor were about to go toe-to-toe with him. Does that mean their stats were also that high, or were they somewhere close to that level?
"Head back... I can't have people seeing you here." I ordered, before turning my attention to the building to my left.
A dark spatial rift slowly twirled into existence, following the familiar ear-piercing cry. I decided to use the territory gateway for two reasons.
The first was that it was free. I couldn't afford to use my [Door] skill recklessly, especially now that I was low on energy points.
The second reason was, this place was already chaotic. While I knew it wasn't as deserted as it seemed, there was too much going on for anyone important to pay attention to the gateway.
Even if they did, who would believe them?
While my Skarnak begrudgingly returned to my territory, I glared at the building in front of me. Judging by the tire marks on the ground, it seemed to have attempted to dodge the car my Skarnak was standing on and ended up ramming into the building.
Half of the bus had dug deep inside the building, and my guess was everyone in the bus was hiding in this building.
Why did I believe people were hiding in these places?
Because the orc horde was not yet here.
The orc wranglers had their flying beasts which allowed them to travel unrestrained. That was until they met our forces and the chaos ensued.
So I'm guessing people were spooked by the scene—but who wouldn't be?
If it wasn't a helicopter falling out of the sky, it was an orc and its winged beast.
"So what do I do now?" I mumbled with a deep frown as I looked into the distance.
Should I stay here or should I move ahead, hoping to find the evacuation team—or Pamela and the rest if I'm lucky?
[-1 HP]
[Health Points:] 28/90
[Energy Points:] 10/20
Once again, the system reminded me that I couldn't stay here or I might just end up bleeding to death. However, just before I could take the first step forward, I heard a sound in the distance.
Vroooooooooooooooooooom...
A vehicle was approaching—and it was moving fast!