Desolate World

The wave of the monsters' attack stopped an hour after Ace had l joined the defense. Fortunately, with Cloud's support, no one died. Her multiple healing abilities were really precious in the team's battle.

A minute after the last monster was slain, hundreds of loot crystals emerged from the carcasses of the monsters. Ace gave up picking them, as his inventory was full of such crystals from the crabs. Ace looked at Noah, and Noah looked back at him.

"You can ask the refugees to collect them, just give my son and Cloud their shares. My inventory is full," Ace said with a bitter smile.

"Then, thank you," Noah didn't try to act of being polite.

After that, he ordered the refugees to clean the battlefield. He also asked them to store the carcasses too. Which made Ace shake his head.

"He learns fast," Ace said.

In the vampire nest, Ace asked the goblins to pick the crabs' carcasses, which made Noah confused. He then explained that many parts of the remains of the monsters could be used as materials in various productions. So they were valuable. 

And at the moment, when they had piles of carcasses, Noah told the refugees to take them all.

Watching the refugees take every remnant of the monster, Ace thought something. Then his expression was hardened. He then approached Noah.

"Don't you forget something?" Ace inquired in a stern face.

Noah looked at Ace with confusion. He asked, "What is the matter?"

"The refugees! Aren't there many of them still outside?" Ace asked.

As if struck by lightning, Noah was stunned.

"I'm such an idiot. Quick! let's go!" Noah shouted.

All people then stopped what they were doing. After hearing Ace's and Noah's words, it looked like they were just realized. They began to make a ruckus.

However, Ace then shouted, "No! Everyone stays here. Let me, Noah, and my family go there. It is faster to fly. 

As for the rest, you must stay alert. We don't know if there are more crazy monsters that will come."

Noah agreed. But some men asked to let them go too. Noah didn't want to debate with then looked at Ace.

Ace then thought for a moment, 'It should be okay if only some people.'

"Only five people including Noah," Ace said. 

In his opinion, it shouldn't be too much and slowed down their journey if Red carried 6 people. Cloud, Noah, and four others, as she had already leveled up 2 times that day. Once in the vampire's nest, and then in the battle that was just finished. Her body expanded again, although not much.

Actually, Cloud, Geo, and all of his pets leveled up two times today, except Torch that leveled up 3 times. It could be said the harvest of this day was abundant.

He then came to Cloud, who was healing some injured refugees, "Ma'am, have you done?"

"In two minutes. Then we go," Cloud said without looking at him.

Ace nodded. Then he found his son not far away grinning. He seemed to communicate with Jumpy. Ace then approached him.

"Hey, buddy! What are you happy about?" Ace asked with a smile.

Geo looked at Ace and "Hehehe… Guess!" 

Ace guessed the reason Geo was happy was because he had reached level 20. But, he didn't say it. He pretended to think, then said, "You got something good from the loot?"

Geo shook his head. He then said, "Try again!"

Ace behaved like thinking hard. He then shook his head. He asked in a defeated tone, "I give up. Could you tell me?"

Geo then said in a smug expression, "Look my status, Dad! Can't you tell?"

Ace then looked at Geo's status and exclaimed, "Oh my God! You have reached level 20. That's great, son! I'm proud of you."

He then ruffled Geo's hair. Geo still showed him a smug expression. Then he said, "In fact, all my pets leveled up a few times. Even Torch leveled up 3 times."

"Wow… That is good news," As he wanted to say something more, he heard Cloud's voice.

"I'm done. Let's go!" She said.

***

It was the first time he turned himself into the bats. It felt weird. First, he lost the sensation of his human body, then he could feel his consciousness was separated into 20 small bodies of bats. He could control each of them. So he distributed his 20 bats around Red and Blue.

By the way, on top of Red, there were 6 people. They were Cloud, Noah, and four men from refugees. As for Geo, he rode Blue that was flying in front of Red.

Before leaving the cave, Ace had explained his new skill to Noah and the other refugees, to avoid misunderstanding. At first, they were shocked by Ace's confession. But, when Ace said to them that they were crystals that could teach a person whose level was 20 and more, they finally could accept it.

Then something surprising happened. Noah showed 2 skill crystals. He said that he got one of them after defeating a death knight when the skeleton soldiers chased them to the forest. The other one, he got after killing a fish that could spit an ice bullet when they took some water on the river.

Ace then recalled the ambush he had experienced back on the river. It could be the same kind of monster that attacked him.

Ace then recommended Noah to learn the skill from the death knight, as he could learn it. It was an aura skill. It could affect the enemies around the skill owner to be afraid of him. So the enemies that couldn't resist the effect of the aura wouldn't be able to fight with all of their power. This skill's name was 'Dread Aura'.

As for the second skill crystal, the skill could be learned by Ace. It taught an ultra-long sniping skill. It was called Ice bullet.

[Ice Bullet]

Rarity: Rare

Description: A signature skill of an Arrow Fish. Shooting an ice arrow to a target from a maximum distance of 500 meters. Dealt 300% of magic damage.

Mana consumption: 100

Cooldown: 60 seconds 

Learnable: Yes.

It was a powerful skill. With Ace's magic value of 270. He could deal 810 damage. Of course, it was just based on Ace's magic stat, when the skill confronted the target's magic defence, it wouldn't reach that much damage.

Knowing Ace could learn it, Noah generously gave the skill crystal to him. Ace wasn't polite to him. He received it and said thanks.

After the two learned the skills, they departed.

Actually, Geo was disgruntled because he couldn't learn the skill. But, Ace couldn't help it. His son was a support-type player. Basically, he wouldn't be able to learn attacking skill. At least in his opinion.

Came back to the journey. The reason Ace distributed the 20 bats around the group was to anticipate any ambush. He was surprised, the sonar that was produced by the bats could effectively scan more than 100 meters of an area. Although he still couldn't fully adapt with his bats shape, he had to admit it was a great skill. With this skill, he was not afraid of unnoticed monsters in the forests 

With the guide of Noah, they flew through the dark forest towards the other refugees' location. Once in a while, Ace could still 'see' many crazy monsters in the sky and the forest.

He just hoped the refugees could hold on until they arrived. 

***