Chapter 168: Bitter victory

I have no words to say right now, as I look at this battlefield with the remains of bodies and blood everywhere all I think is how horrible this is. 

So many dismembered bodies, so much blood spilled that it's making puddles all over the place. 

I've fought monsters, killed people, and even watched some bastards suffer inside the Dungeon but this is the first time I've seen such a huge battlefield, this is the first time I've seen such carnage. 

"Are you all right, master?"  (Leo) 

"Me..." (I) 

"I…I think so."  (me) 

I don't know it's over, so I look around trying to ignore the bodies on the ground as I look for any monsters around. 

At that moment Diana puts her hand on my shoulder to talk to me. 

"It's over, master."  (Diana) 

"He is sure?"  (I) 

"Yes, Mari is making a sign to show that she doesn't have any more monsters from above the walls."  (Diana) 

"If you look at the gate, you will soon see soldiers coming to the aid of the wounded."  (Diana) 

I look up at the city gates and see exactly what Diana said, so I calm down a bit. 

"Let's get together with Érica and Freya."  (I) 

"The best thing would be for us to start gathering what we can from the battlefield as our group is one of those in the best condition, but we can only do that in our area where we fight."  (Diana) 

"Other adventurers are already searching the battlefield and collecting materials from monster bodies."  (Kira) 

"..." (I) 

I'm not in the mood for this right now, but I can't let an opportunity we've struggled so hard to slip away, it could yield good money for everyone. 

"I'll tell Layla to bring them to us so let's start dismantling these monsters."  (I) 

I tell Layla to bring us Érica and Freya, while the others and I get knives and start dismantling the monsters to get everything that could be used or sold. 

We spent the rest of the day doing this, while we were at it I looked around and I didn't see anyone happy they won, all I saw was people crying and dead bodies lined up next to each other. 

I couldn't see them up close, but I imagine they must have dismembered bodies, devoured and with horrible wounds, I don't want to get close to see that, so I stayed away. 

Around the corpses were some people showing different emotions like sadness, anger, and disbelief. 

I could even see a woman crying loudly holding one of the corpses in her arms. 

I asked Kira to look up information for me and she left alone for the night just before we were done, so we were done before we took everything to the Guild and I gather everyone in one of the Guild's second-floor rooms while we wait for Mari. 

"What information did you get, Kira?"  (I) 

"I found we were lucky, master."  (Kira) 

"Luck?"  (I) 

"The Dungeon Boss of the Great Serpent didn't appear on our side, but those who were fighting the Blood Dungeon's wave of monsters had to face a larger number of strong monsters and also the Dungeon Boss, a Grade S monster."  (Kira) 

"..." (all) 

Has a Grade S monster actually appeared, now that I've stopped to think about the battle across town? 

"(I'm in no condition for this, my head hurts, my muscles are aching and I'm so tired I can barely think.)" (I) 

"How did they kill the monster?"  (I) 

"Guild master Carlos killed the Grade S monster."  (Kira) 

"Looks like the wave of monsters we faced came before the wave of monsters that came from the Blood Dungeon."  (Kira) 

"I also found that our monster wave had a larger number of monsters, but mostly they were weaker with fewer Grade A monsters, so Guildmaster Carlos went straight to the other side of the deity after confirming that he didn't. there were no Grade S monsters on our side."  (Kira) 

"That explains why he didn't participate in the battle after giving initial orders to everyone."  (Diana) 

"Do you know how many people died in the two battles?"  (Irina) 

"There were 930 adventurers who participated in the defense of the city, of these adventurers more than 400 died, more than half of them were on our side of the city."  (Kira) 

"I saw many adventurers trying very hard at the beginning of the fight, but as time went on they got more tired and then died to a monster that would normally be strong enough to win."  (Irius) 

"Yes, the lone adventurers in the back died too quickly, they made the mistake of fighting alone instead of cooperating with each other."  (Sophia) 

"From what I found there were fewer kills across town because the Mages and Alchemist Guilds were there with half the Adventurers, meanwhile we had higher ranked adventurers on our side."  (Kira) 

"It was surprising to see so many people dying, but I was more concerned about the master who was constantly pulling away from the others to fight."  (Érica) 

"That's true, whenever I could I would send some arrows to give you a little support, but it was hard to see you guys fighting so persistently without being able to participate more actively."  (freya) 

"Don't be modest, Layla told me that you and Erica continued to stand shooting spells and arrows until you couldn't do it anymore, you two did everything you needed to."  (I) 

"The master is right, Lady Freya, you saved me several times with your arrows when I was being attacked from blind spots."  (Leo) 

sigh 

"I couldn't let Caryna be a widow just because her husband was someone who didn't pay attention to her surroundings."  (Freya) 

"..." (Leo) 

"I'm sorry, next time I'll fight more carefully."  (Leo) 

"I think so, I don't want to see my daughter sad."  (freya) 

I can understand Freya's concern, but I say nothing as I'm still shocked by the death toll. 

I knew a lot of people had died, but I didn't know the number had been that big, those numbers are almost half of the Adventurers who participated. 

While we were talking Mari opens the door and enters, she has a terrible face, I can see her red eyes and dark circles, she looks like she is tired. 

"I'm sorry for the delay, I was organizing some things."  (Mari) 

"Alright, I imagine the Guild has a lot of work to do now."  (I) 

"Yes, but one of the first things we have to do is reward the adventurers who participated in the special mission, then we have to take care of the dead and a few other things."  (Mari) 

"And to sell the items we collect?"  (I) 

"I'll ask you to come back tomorrow or the day after tomorrow for this."  (Mari) 

"Okay then."  (I) 

"We've already received a report on the number of monsters killed, the race of most of these monsters, and where their bodies were."  (Mari) 

Mari takes a reading crystal from her storage item and starts reading something in it. 

"Of all the adventurer groups yours is second in number of monsters killed, the only other group that had more monsters killed than yours was a Grade A group."  (Mari) 

"Your reward will be 35,000 gold coins, plus I'll give another 3,000 gold for the adventurers Diana and Layla helped save in the middle of the battle, also for the help of Erica and Freya on top of the city walls."  (Mari) 

"The people in your group will get a boost in their rank as an adventurer without having to pass any tests either, so I'm going to ask them to come back in two days."  (Mari) 

"What will happen to the remains of the battle outside the city."  (I) 

"We are letting the adventurers harvest the monster parts to sell in the Guild, this will help a little with cleaning, but tomorrow morning the soldiers will clean up the entire battlefield and the Earth Element Mages will take care of repairing the damage to the ground. "  (Mari) 

"After that, some priests will cleanse the site of the two battles to make sure the Undead don't show up."  (Mari) 

"I'll get your payment, give me your Guild cards too please."  (Mari) 

Mari leaves for a few minutes and comes back with a small bag that must have our paychecks and our cards, so she hands it to me. 

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to give the rewards to other adventurers as well."  (Mari) 

"Let's not get in your way then, I'm leaving."  (I) 

"But before we leave, I'd like to thank you for letting Tanya, Caryna, Nira, Nolan, and Anton stay here."  (I) 

"No thanks needed, I heard from the Guild members that they helped a lot while they were here."  (Mari) 

After that we go downstairs, we are all tired, my head is hurting from spending so much mana to zero just to recover and do it all over again, doing that took its toll but it was also what helped me during the fight. 

I leave the Guild and instead of going straight to the mansion, I go to a restaurant to eat and drink with everyone. 

I haven't seen the notifications yet, but I don't have the time or strength for that right now, I can do it tomorrow when I'm feeling better maybe. 

In the restaurant everything was full, there were many adventurers eating and drinking like there was no tomorrow, I paid fifty gold coins to have a private place for myself and everyone in my group. 

This was one of the most expensive restaurants in town, normally only nobles and merchants come here, but I decided to stop by as a reward for all the effort everyone made today. 

After being escorted by an attendant to a room on the second floor we order the food, then after the attendant leaves, I sit at the large table in the room and turn to everyone. 

"Before we start eating, I want to thank everyone for everything they've done today and I want to thank everyone even more for everyone being safe."  (I) 

"Thank you very much."  (I)