>>5219006>>5219011>>5219012"LISTEN!" You round up the homeless group near you who are still fighting each other, as if being the last one alive to then be eaten by the God Hand creatures is a grandiose accomplishment. "Your salvation will come from the spears and the lights, where did your faith go?"
"What do you know about faith, you damn ghoul!? This is all your fault!" The brainwashed knights have enough time to curse your name, despite being panicked from the ongoing mayhem.
"Shut up, you ignoramus!" Isidro throws his torch at the wave, which makes them contort in pain a lot more effectively than any sort of physical attacks they were doing for the past hours. "It's time to leave, You're all a bunch of losers! I'm not seeing any of you fixing this mess either!"
Isidro's love of spiting adults seems to work in your favor, as they observe that playing keep away might lead them to an early escape.
"We can't leave yet! Commander Farnese has not returned! How can we cross that long pathway when we're not in the clear?"
"If there is no pathway, we'll have to make our own! Gather as many torches as you can, the blazes will be our fuel to victory!"
Taking as many soldiers and refugees together in a straight line, all of them gather hand in hand to slowly march their way towards the safe zone. You didn't turn back to see how many people were in the second troop, but if you had to guess, it was somewhere around the mid 40s.
Serpico was still fighting in the distance the last time you saw him. With how slowly you'll have to walk to make sure no one gets lost, it will be hard to say if you will come back to save him and Jerome... Hang in there, you squinty eyed swordbreaker!
You are starting to understand what took Farnese so long to reach the wards, plenty of people are screaming, pushing and trampling others in and out of line. Brave soldiers fight the creatures beyond their comprehension and give their lives to protect the innocents. As much as Farnese has the reputation of being a bad leader, when pushed to the brink, they know exactly what to do.
You are forced to walk as slowly as possible thanks to your wounds, being unable to use your foresight or using Od sensing to see where Guts is, not wanting to risk a possession and killing the troop yourself. You might not want to admit it, but it's also due to your fear increasing exponentionally. Not exactly from dying, but there are a lot worse conditions than dying here, and that includes being the only one left alive, having to deal with more guilt from the dead crawling on your back.
Several more hours pass, and the wards are nowhere near sight. The torches are close to running out as their flames grow weaker. The monsters are enclosing on the entire group, but even at the worst of conditions, a miracle appears to happen from someone you would least expect to be useful in this scenario.
"Aaaah..."
