Desolate World

It had been an hour since Ace and the others arrived to reinforce the refugees in the clearance. Ace was relieved that they were not too late. 

When they came, Ace found that many of the refugees that were fighting against the monsters almost collapsed. Many of them even couldn't hold their weapons properly. It showed that their stamina almost hit bottom.

In this hour, with the support of Ace and the others, the refugees could defend themselves well. However, the situation was still not optimistic. He didn't know when the monsters' attack could end.

For Ace, this battle was the longest battle that he had participated in. He had even leveled up to level 25. The refugees even had leveled more than one time, including the idle ones. This battle gave a massive experience to all people. It was no exaggeration. At least 2 monsters were killed every second. They became a meat grinder to the incoming monsters after Ace and the other came.

But it could also be seen the battle had been dragging for too long. Ace himself, almost used up the mana potions that he had gotten from Cloud, as his blue potions had been used up in the battle in the cave entrance. If his condition was that bad, the other should be worse.

Actually, if they could find something like a cave, they could defend themselves better. Using the entrance of the cave to limit the number of monsters that came in could reduce the burden of the defending refugees. Then by taking turns defending, the refugees' condition wouldn't be this bad. 

Looking at the conditions of the defending refugees that became worse and worse as time passed, Ace felt the need to end this fight immediately. If not, they would fall apart sooner or later.

"It can not drag on like this," Ace said.

Ace then decisively took Mars's fang and tried to activate it. 

[Do you want to call Mars? Warning, the object will be consumed after it is used.]

"Yes," Ace said decisively. Then Mars's huge fang became fragments of light in front of his eyes.

[Approximately, Mars will come in five minutes. Please hold on for the time being.]

"Five minutes? That is plenty," Ace said while grinning.

He then shouted, "Hold on brothers! Our village head will arrive in five minutes," Ace shouted.

Every eye then looked at Ace with confusion. As if they asked, 'What the hell are you talking about?'

Ace didn't say anything again. He then focused on killing as many monsters as he could.

Then Ace heard Noah say loudly, "Did you hear that? The leader of the village that we will join after this, is coming. Hold on, brother! A dragon lord is coming to save you. Don't give up!"

"Oooh…!" Then many exclamations were heard.

Ace then found that the refugees showed more enthusiasm. He nodded in satisfaction. He then looked at Noah who was getting more fierce. One by one the monsters died because of his axe.

"This will do," Ace said.

Then the battle continued. Getting good news made refugees look as if they were injected by doping. Their fight became more efficient and vigorous. They killed monsters easily as if they just entered the fight.

After waiting for five minutes, Mars still hadn't come. It made Ace feel something was not right. Then as the time passed, 9 minutes, then 13 minutes, Ace became more anxious.

'Mars, what are you doing?' Ace said in his heart as he started to sweat.

Some refugees began to glance at him. It made Ace more anxious.

'What the fu** are you doing? I have tried my best to win them over and save them. Damn you, stupid dragon!' Ace began to curse Mars in his heart.

"Ace, where is the village head? Didn't you misunderstand 15 minutes with 5 minutes?" Noah asked. He seemed to want to help Ace with his predicament.

As he wanted to answer Noah, a meteor-like fireball fell from the sky to an area in front of Ace and refugees, in the other words, in their North, Where the monsters came from. For a note, the mist was still as thick as ever, so the fireball should be bigger than it looked.

All people then looked at the sky at least a glance despite the monsters in front of them.

The fireball then disappeared and then…

*BOOOOOOMMM*

A large explosion occurred far away in the North. But the shockwave made the trees fly and even affected the refugees and the monsters. 

A hard wind hit Ace's chest, almost making him fall from the tree. Some monsters even rolled over and the refugees fell and then landed on their butts. Some monsters even hit them directly. Fortunately, although some people were injured, no one died.

"Don't be entranced! Get up and kill the monsters in front of you!" Noah shouted.

The shout then woke up the stunned refugees. They then got up and killed the somehow frozen monsters. 

Ace was also confused. The monsters somehow were panic-stricken and didn't dare to move. When the refugees attacked them, no one of the monsters reacted. They just let themselves be killed. 

He then looked at Blue and Red not far away from him. They looked normal. Even if they had to stabilize their positions in the air, they didn't look afraid of something.

Ace then stopped his attack. He had a gut feeling it was related to Mars.

"He is crazy!" Ace said. He thought the way Mars did was too extravagant. 

'Who in their right mind would shoot a huge fireball into the forest? How if the forest was on fire? Did he want to burn us alive?' Ace complained in his head.

Then a heavy wind hit him from above. It almost made him fall. Fortunately, after he was almost blown away by the shockwave, he held onto the trunk of the tree.

"I heard it, brat!" A loud voice came from the sky.

"Mars?! You are late!" Ace shouted.

In normal times, it was impossible for him to say it aloud in front of Mars. However, because of his resentment towards the dragon, he didn't think about what he said.

"Hmmm…," An irritated voice came from above. But because of the dark of the night and the thick mist, Ace couldn't see the dragon yet.

***