Even though their very purpose was to rescue these Infected, the team felt a flicker of anger in their hearts when they saw the suspicious, wary looks directed at them by the prisoners.
However, deep down, they understood why this was happening. These people had likely been terrified by countless "tests" and traps in the past, leaving them unable to believe in any act of kindness. Even after the rescuers showed the Originium crystals on their own skin as proof, a small portion of the captives still refused to believe they were there to save them, stubbornly remaining in their cells.
Looking at their proud, self-righteous faces, the rescuers realized you can never wake a person who is pretending to be asleep. They decided to leave them behind; they couldn't afford to delay the safety of the entire group for the sake of a few stubborn individuals.
Outside, the sounds of explosions had mostly ceased. The majority of the Ursus soldiers had long since charged out of the camp only to collide with the main Reunion force. Without officers to lead them, they were hardly a threat.
Talulah stood at the center of the fray, surrounded by swirling flames. With every sweep of her sword, she harvested the lives of the enemy. With her expressionless face, she looked like a sovereign ruler amidst an inferno.
The soldiers, by contrast, fared poorly. Their weapons couldn't even touch her; the intense heat would melt their once-sturdy blades before they could make contact. And if they tried to flee in other directions? It was even worse. They faced squads of cryomancers, the terrifyingly massive Wendigo and his elite warriors, and battle-hardened Sarkaz mercenaries. Not a single one of them was a soft target.
At such close range, the soldiers' heavy explosive weaponry had to be used with extreme caution, lest they blow themselves up along with the enemy. No one had expected this force to be so terrifyingly powerful! While part of the reason was their own lack of command and improper tactics, losing such an advantageous position so thoroughly was a disgrace. If word got out to other units, these survivors would be the laughingstock of the military for the rest of their lives.
"BOOM—!"
Finally, some soldiers discovered a weakness in the Reunion ranks: the auxiliary "mishmash" troops that weren't part of the elite core. Some of these people were cowards, while others simply lacked basic combat training. For the soldiers, this gap in the formation was a godsend.
They hoisted grenade launchers onto their shoulders and fired. As soon as the auxiliary members saw the black muzzles of the cannons, they scattered away from the battlefield to dodge the shells. This gave the soldiers their chance. Dropping the now-useless launchers, they sprinted through the gap to escape the encirclement before the enemy could react.
Even so, the number of those who managed to escape was a drop in the bucket compared to the original size of the unit. Furthermore, with only a single weapon each, they didn't have the courage to go back. After suffering such massive losses, the high-ranking officials would surely do everything in their power to distance themselves and find a way to "dispose" of the failures.
It seemed that from this day forward, they could only wander the tundra as deserters. Whether they would eventually join some bandit gang or meet another end remained to be seen.
From a distance, Talulah watched them flee but chose not to send a pursuit team. She had never planned on capturing every last one of them. She knew that if men with explosives were driven to total despair, they might do something truly insane. Their presence here could cause more damage than their escape.
Besides, the tundra was not a gentle place. With their thin clothes and limited weaponry, it was doubtful they could even find the next village. In this region, most villages had long since been pillaged by these very soldiers. To find a village with living inhabitants, they would likely have to walk for seven or eight days.
For a man with almost no rations to walk for eight days in unfamiliar territory and find a populated settlement? The difficulty of that was on par with Kashchey suddenly becoming a devout believer.
On the whole, the battle was a resounding success—despite the fact that many of their own people had bolted the moment they saw the enemy's weapons. Talulah thought of this as she watched the others gathering the spoils of war.
"What's going on here? Why are you looking so happy?"
Jeanne descended from the sky, her hair a chaotic mess. Flying in the air hadn't caused much trouble, but high-altitude winds were absolute killers for a hairstyle.
"Here, give me a hand with some heat. I've been flying up there for so long that I didn't expect my hair to actually freeze."
Jeanne pointed to her hair, which was standing up at odd angles. A layer of ice had formed over her head, locking the bizarre shapes in place. The moisture at high altitudes was so high that after a few dives on the Wyvern, her long hair had been transformed. From a distance, it looked like some sort of avant-garde Victorian fashion trend.
Talulah couldn't help but laugh at the sight of this anti-gravity hair. It was just too strange—Jeanne looked like she had a flailing octopus on her head.
"Why not keep the look? I think it suits you."
If she had a camera or any way to record it, Talulah certainly would have documented this version of Jeanne. Jeanne, hearing Talulah laugh, felt a bit self-conscious. Was it really that funny? It was just wind-blown and frozen hard, right? She hadn't had a chance to witness the "masterpiece" nature had sculpted on her head; she only felt that her hair was quite heavy and was tugging uncomfortably at her scalp.
Jeanne secretly worried that if this continued, her hair follicles might suffer from the cold and lead to hair loss. Terrified by the thought of going bald, she urged Talulah along.
"Hurry up, will you? I was up there for a long time, it's freezing!"
Seeing Jeanne's genuine concern, Talulah stopped teasing her. The temperature around them began to rise slowly, and the ice encasing Jeanne's hair began to melt. Before long, her hair returned to its original state. Jeanne checked it over, relieved to see there was no permanent damage.
She had been genuinely worried. What if I go bald because of this? Does Holy Water even cure baldness?
As Jeanne watched the large groups of people collecting supplies from the camp, she suddenly thought of their "partners" and wondered how they had performed. Before she could even ask, Talulah seemed to read her mind.
"They were... alright. While a group of them did flee, the majority stayed. I'm not sure if that's because the battle went so smoothly or not."
Talulah sighed. She hadn't expected that even in a battle this successful, some people would still take advantage of the chaos to desert. With Jeanne's involvement, this was a battle that almost anyone with a brain could win. If they couldn't even handle a situation like this, how could she trust them in the future?
Furthermore, even those who didn't run were spotted hiding in corners without firing a single bolt. Their behavior hadn't gone unnoticed by the others; Talulah didn't even have to ask to hear the reports.
Jeanne nodded. She had anticipated this and was mentally prepared. She would have believed it even if Talulah said they had all run away.
"At least after this, we can see who is sincere and who is just here for a free meal, right? You can't hold them to such high standards; not every squad is like Patriot's."
Jeanne patted Talulah's shoulder to comfort her. However, a thought occurred to her: since the partners knew Reunion had moved out in full force, would they try to raid her village?
Statistically, the possibility wasn't small. That was, of course, assuming they could find the village. And even if they did, they would have to face the elite warriors Jeanne and the others had specifically left behind. She could only hope those raiders would be "strong" enough to survive that encounter.
"Jeanne! That pile of supplies you blew into the crater—we can't haul it out. Can you come give us a hand?"
"Coming!"