CHAPTER 491: DIFFERENCES (1/2)

That’s right, I was planning to run away. If I had to choose between helping some Human villagers and protecting Nicole, I would definitely choose the latter. Even if those monsters were all One-stars, their sheer numbers were nothing to scoff at.

In a head-on fight, my hundred Assassins were clearly stronger than a horde of One-stars, but were they all One-stars?

I did not wish to see any casualties amongst my Assassins. Not only that, I wanted to protect Nicole as well. And I meant perfectly to protect her; not a single scratch!

“There are, in fact, monsters heading here, but I do not know how many. Even so, I would need everyone to return to their homes first while we engage with them.” Just as I was mulling over how to take Nicole away with me, she suddenly interrupted our conversation then swept her eyes over the uneasy masses. Finally, she declared in a voice with unprecedented conviction, “as long as I’m alive, I vow to fight to the death!”

“But there are too many of them, how will you all stop them…” Hearing that someone was willing to shoulder this burden with him, Leeder smiled gratefully at his newfound savior. However, this smile only lasted a few seconds before he realised a key problem. “We just vanquished that Vampire… do you think they are here for revenge?”

Well. I don’t know about that last part. What I do know is that if we don’t leave now, we are screwed. While I still have some doubts as to how these villagers even knew about the invasion, but now’s not the time for such questions.

With no time to lose, and seeing as she’s dead set on fighting to the death with those monsters, I quickly reached out to her neck, in hopes of knocking her out. Unfortunately, she was already on guard for my hand chop. Her back turned around at the last second to reveal a sharp glare, “what do you think you are doing?”

“I’m trying to take you away.” I stared right back at her. “You staying behind will achieve nothing but your own death. I can’t just stand here and watch you die!”

“But if we all leave, what will these villagers do?”

“It’s not like you can change anything by staying behind!”

“Neneth is staying behind to accompany Sister Nicole as well!” Just as I was arguing with Nicole, Neneth suddenly interjected herself into our heated debate, walking up to her side at the same time. “Neneth will be here with Sister Nicole!”

“Neneth, stop messing around like Nicole!” I reached out to grab Neneth in hopes of bringing her to my side. However, she vehemently resisted, and thanks to that monstrous strength of hers, I couldn’t make her budge no matter how much I pulled. In fact, she almost dragged me to her side in the process… awkward…

Since we were already at this stage, there was no point holding back anymore. “Zurnalin, help me take Nicole away.”

“Understood.” Zurnalin immediately reached out to grab Nicole. Being an Eight-star, she was immensely strong, even without her Blood Drake with her.

Yet my plan was doomed to fail as the screams of the villagers soon filled the air, “Save us!! Zombies… there are so many zombies… Save us!!”

The sudden turn of events meant that Zurnalin was no longer able to capture Nicole. That was because the moment the screaming began, an uncontrolled stampede of Humans followed soon after.

“Ahh… mama…” Amidst the chaos, a small girl, roughly nine years of age, was mercilessly pushed to the ground by the mob, several adults stepping on her in the process. But being as young as she was, she couldn’t pull herself to her feet and could only cry helplessly on the ground.

Seeing such a cruel scene play out before my very eyes, I couldn’t stand idly by any longer. With a resigned sigh, I rushed into the crowd, shoving aside the panicking mob, then scooped up the child. “Are you alright?”

“Weep… Ann is okay now… thank you, big sister…” While she claimed to be fine, her weeping countenance said otherwise. Thankfully, she was only stepped on a couple of times so she did not suffer much injuries. Or maybe children in a fantasy world were just made out of stronger stuff?

I gently ruffled her long, green hair and asked, “where are you parents?”

“Ann’s father hasn’t returned for days. Ann’s mama… was eaten by the Vampire… weep…”

At that point, she wept even louder.

So she says her name is Ann… her mom’s dead and her father is missing… If I’m not mistaken, then her father should be one of the bandits I killed…

“Is there anyone looking after you while your father isn’t home?”

Ann rubbed away the tears in her eyes and replied, “Auntie looks after Ann most of the time, but she’s gone now… no one wants Ann…”

“Don’t be scared… big brother here… big sister will protect you.”