Compared to others, Liliya was actually even more worried about the situation on the battlefield, but unfortunately, just like everyone else, she could only wait in silence now. The only thing she could probably do was pray, praying that the gods would bestow their blessings.
Regrettably, such prayers seemed futile, as more and more wounded soldiers were continuously brought back in the time that followed, undoubtedly proving that the battle was still ongoing and had become even more brutal.
Time slipped away minute by minute, and the sky went from broad daylight to sunset. During this process, the number of wounded steadily increased, with soldiers from the Guard Corps and Backhill Village, amounting to dozens of people.
In this situation, Liliya and Dusa didn’t even have time to worry anymore. They did all they could to treat the wounded, which was the most they were able to do.
“Sister Liliya, listen…”
After an indeterminate amount of time, just after she finished bandaging a wounded soldier, Dusa suddenly lifted her head. She looked towards the outside of the tent and said to Liliya, “Sister Liliya, the artillery fire has stopped…”
“The artillery fire…”
Dusa’s words made Liliya listen carefully, realizing indeed, just as she said, the constant bombardment that was heard before had unknowingly ceased!
The cessation of artillery fire—could it be that the battle was over?
With this thought, Liliya quickly put aside everything in her hands and hurried out of the tent.
Upon leaving the tent, she immediately ran toward the high wall, but after only a few steps, she faintly heard a series of noises coming from beyond the wall—that sound… it was cheering!
Cheering… had they won? Could it be that Rocky and the others had already won?
The faint cheering from the other side of the wall made Liliya pause for a moment before rushing toward the wall!
But just as she arrived in front of the wall, before she could climb up, the gates of the wall were opened, and soon after, people appeared, carrying a large number of stretchers.
It looked like the battle had indeed ended, and as soon as it did, the casualties from the battlefield were immediately brought back to the village.
Under normal circumstances, this would all be expected, but when Liliya saw those carrying the wounded appear before her, she panicked because among these people was Monte!
Monte was not lying on a stretcher; he was actually carrying one!
Who could be injured that would make Monte personally carry a stretcher?
The answer was self-evident!
So Liliya immediately rushed toward Monte, and when she reached the stretcher he was carrying, she saw the scene she least wanted to witness—Rocky, clad in Void Magic Armor, was lying on the stretcher!
“Rocky!”
At that moment, Rocky, who lay on the stretcher, was covered in blood, his face as pale as paper, which left Liliya completely stunned. Even in times when she had been seriously wounded without as much as furrowing her brow, she now suddenly burst into tears.
“I’m fine…”
As Liliya uncontrollably started crying, Rocky on the stretcher lifted his arm and slowly grabbed her small hand, then he revealed a smile.
It was evident that Rocky was trying to make his smile appear as manly as possible, but given his current condition and pale face, his smile wasn’t reassurance for Liliya, but rather it increased her heartache.
So, without waiting for Rocky to finish speaking, Liliya eagerly asked, “Where are you injured?”
“Do you still recognize who I am?”
“Where does it hurt on your body?”
“Can you move your leg?”
As she ran alongside the stretcher toward the camp, Liliya bombarded him with questions in rapid succession, so quickly that Rocky simply couldn’t keep up with the replies.
Left with no choice, Rocky had to muster all his strength to make a stopping gesture to her, and only then did the incessantly questioning Liliya pause, and at last Rocky had the chance to speak.
“I’m not injured… It’s just… It’s just that the Void Magic Armor is out of mana…”
“You don’t need to… worry…”
Although it was a short sentence, Rocky spoke in fits and starts, indicating that he had no energy left even to speak.
But he was not lying. Even though he lay on a stretcher being carried, he was indeed uninjured; the reason he was on a stretcher was entirely due to exhaustion, and on top of that, the Void Magic Armor had run out of mana.
The battle that had just ended had drained all of Rocky’s strength, so as soon as it was over, he collapsed completely, unable to even stand.
At the same time, the Void Magic Armor had also depleted its mana during the fight, and once the mana was gone, the full weight of the armor immediately pressed down on Rocky’s body, making the already exhausted warrior feel as though he wore a small mountain, and leaving him no choice but to be carried back on a stretcher.
This explanation did not come from Rocky himself, as he lacked the energy to explain, but from Monte, who told Liliya. After hearing Monter’s words, Liliya’s breakdown eased, and she ran back to the camp alongside the stretcher.
The troops outside the city walls returned to the village in succession shortly thereafter, and the outcome of the battle was self-evident—they had won!
However, Liliya did not know how exactly they had won. Having returned to the village early, she had not had time to ask before she joined the ranks of those treating the injured.
In fact, even though the troops led by Rocky and Lin Feng had won, the victory had come at a colossal cost. The casualties of the battle were staggeringly high, leaving those who heard about it dumbfounded.
In this battle, Rocky and Lin Feng had led their respective units into the fray; a total of 300 warriors had entered the battle, but by the end, the number of those either wounded or killed was as high as 63, with 45 injured and 18 dead!
With 300 joining the fight, 63 had become casualties, a ratio of one in five!
But even this high casualty rate was not accurate, for out of the 300 who participated, a full 100 were part of a ranged unit. This means that these 100 supported the fight but did not engage in direct combat with the demons, leaving only 200 warriors who truly fought hand-to-hand with the demons!
So, if we talk about the casualty rate among the warriors in this battle, the number would be even more staggering, exceeding one in four! That is to say, after the battle, on average, one out of every four warriors was injured, and out of every ten, a warrior was killed by the demons!
The battle against the demons was just that brutal!
A hundred years ago, there was a reason why the demons swept across the continent as soon as they appeared; that reason was that they were too powerful, so mighty that human strength could hardly compete.
And today’s battle served as the best proof of this. And please do not forget, the number of demons Rocky and Lin Feng faced today did not exceed a hundred!
So when the battle was over, there was no time to revel in the joy of victory. Treating the wounded, reorganizing the troops, and other matters awaited their attention because no one knew if the demons would attack again tomorrow, and everyone needed to continue preparations for the next battle.
That night, no one in Backhill Village got any sleep; they were busy until dawn, when they finally got a brief moment to rest.
“How are you feeling?”
Sitting beside Rocky’s bed, Liliya saw that he had woken up and handed him a glass of water while asking with concern.
Since Rocky was carried back, Liliya stopped attending to others, devoting all her attention to caring for him, and Rocky had fallen into a deep slumber upon his return, sleeping through the whole night before waking.
“Much better…” Taking a sip of water, Rocky looked at Liliya and noticed she looked haggard, obviously having not slept all night.
“You don’t have to take such care of me, I’m fine.”
Seeing that Liliya had been taking care of him, Rocky felt a pang of discomfort, but at the same time, his heart was warmed. Even though he knew his words would likely be in vain, he still hoped that Liliya would take some rest.
As he had anticipated, Liliya gave him an indifferent look. “I’m not seriously affected.”
After saying this, she eagerly asked, “What happened after I left yesterday’s battle? Did more demons come?”
Liliya had been very concerned about yesterday’s fight, even now that the battle was over, she still wanted to understand what had happened.
Hearing her question, Rocky simply nodded. “They did.”
At this point, he took another sip of water and then continued, “After you left yesterday, the fifth wave of demons arrived, followed by another, making it a total of six waves of demons.”