Clovis opened the device and checked the signal. Seeing that he still got some signal, he couldn’t help but call Melody to check whether she was still inside the mall or not.
Kanaria, on the other hand, looked around to see where the terrorists were. This kind of explosion shouldn’t come from a gas leak, after all.
"Melody?" The call was connected.
"You guys are still in the building?" Melody asked.
"You too?"
"Yeah. I’m not that far from the explosion. The people are going in the opposite direction, but I’m staying in the store for a moment. It doesn’t seem like this is an accident."
"Do you want to regroup with us? It’s going to be much safer that way."
Melody paused for a moment while looking at the situation around her. She didn’t seem to find another person in the area. There were some crying sounds in the rubble, but she couldn’t dig them up.
"In a time like this, you should help each other out. I think it’s better to come to this area. If this is a planned attack, they won’t be near the destruction since it might also bury them."
"Got it." Clovis nodded and turned to Kanaria. "Let’s go to Melody."
"Yeah." Kanaria agreed. They could grab a weapon first, but there would be a problem if they were considered terrorists. So, for the time being, they should regroup with Melody first before positioning themselves near the weapon shop.
As soon as they reached an agreement, they moved pretty swiftly.
"You go up. I will remain on the ground floor." Clovis pointed up. "Melody is on the third floor."
"Got it."
When they were moving, they heard gunshots coming from the opposite direction.
"!!!" Both of them raised their heads, trying to look at what was going on.
"Hurry. We don’t have a lot of time."
Clovis and Kanaria sped up while Melody explained, "The first responder has been dispatched. It seems that they are already aware that this is a terrorist attack."
"Do we have information about them?"
"Not at the moment. I heard gunshots earlier, so there might be a few explorers fighting them. We might get their information pretty soon."
"Is there any instruction?" Clovis asked.
"In terms of terrorist attacks, all explorers are allowed to use their weapons to engage with their enemies."
"We don’t bring any equipment with us though." Clovis’s expression turned serious. "And I think it’s better if we focus on helping people. Let the explorers have weapons to engage them. Melody. Can you contact the people outside and ask for their advice?"
"I’ll try." Melody nodded.
"Kanaria. Position yourself near the weapon shop. If the terrorists are moving toward us, bring back some weapons to use. We’re not at the level where we can fight guns yet, so we also need guns."
"Got it."
Melody suddenly added, "We’ve got some information right now. There are two people engaging the terrorists. The first one is a Tier 3 explorer called Jacksia. The second one is a Tier 4 explorer called Ran. There are also several explorers, but they are Tier 0, so it’s not advisable to fight them."
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"The enemy?"
"They are covering their faces, but according to the explorers, the leader is about Tier 4. The rest of the soldiers are ranging from Tier 0 to Tier 2."
Clovis’s expression turned serious. The situation was more terrible than he originally thought. "Alright. Tell them that we’ll help with the evacuation on this side. Make sure they don’t shoot us."
"I’ll tell them about it." Melody nodded. Even though Clovis said evacuation, the only people that remained on this side were the injured ones that got buried by the rubble.
As soon as they saw the escalator, Kanaria immediately climbed to the higher floor while Clovis was approaching the ruined area.
"Do you have any idea how to do this without making it crumble?" Clovis asked. It was horrible.
The left side was destroyed to the point where he could see the sky from the ceiling. The right side hadn’t completely collapsed, but it looked brittle enough.
"Better go to the right side and move fast. There is a chance for it to collapse as well, so be careful not to destroy anything." Melody instructed.
"Got it." Clovis nodded with a serious expression as he immediately moved to the right side, specifically the half-ruined store.
"Are you alright? Is there anyone here?" Clovis shouted while listening carefully.
"I am on my way there. My senses are sharper than those of normal people, so I should be able to find them. Do your best in the meantime."
"Got it." Clovis looked around the empty store. He checked the rubble, especially the big ones, to see if there was anyone underneath them.
"He…lp…" Suddenly, he heard a faint voice coming from behind the rubble.
"Hello? Where are you?" Clovis tried to follow the voice while looking around the rubble. There was a big piece of concrete slab that covered a part of the store, so he took a look underneath it.
He found the first victim. It was a little kid who was leaning on the wall. Her eyes had lost focus and her body was bleeding.
There was a woman next to her, lying on her stomach. It looked like she was her mother.
Without hesitation, Clovis sneaked inside the gap and checked their conditions. Fortunately, they didn’t get squashed by the rubble, so he should have no problem dragging them out.
"Stay with me." Clovis looked at the kid and gently grabbed her. Although he was strong enough to push away this big rubble, he was afraid that the rubble would break apart and a small piece would fly in their direction and hurt them. So, he gently dragged them outside.
While he was at it, Melody had reached the second floor and simply jumped off as though the fall wouldn’t hurt her. She saw Clovis finding two people and was prepared to help.
All of a sudden, Kanaria’s voice came out of the device.
"Clovis. We’ve got a situation here."