They left him in the hands of Sara and Berry. The two wanted nothing more than to secure William to the top of the hills, and then they'd go down there and help others to collect arrows.
They all knew without the need to talk that their lives, William's life, were now depending on how many arrows they got. Yet the moment they went up there, they found a piece of bitterly shocking news.
"The arrows are about to finish?!!" The two of them looked at the masters and friends around. Without the need to say anymore, they all knew what to do.
"We'll leave him here in your care," Thomas said, before Lang added, "we'll go down there and stop them. Make sure… Make sure the boss is going to be ok and get out safely from this."
The atmosphere went all down by these words. Many masters here didn't say anything, while all looked at William as if they were saying their goodbyes to their legendary leader.
"Thanks, boss for everything you did for us," just before they'd all leave, one of them suddenly turned, bowed deeply towards William's direction, "I won't say I feel bitter for ending my adventure here at such an age, but I have to say the past few years were a hellish ride with you. You inspired me with things I never dreamt to think about or feel, made me take revenge over my enemies, feel safe and strong for the first time ever in my life. Please, stay safe, keep living, and don't feel sad for any of us."
"You helped us before, and stood by our side when you didn't need to. And today, such a debt is going to get repaid."
"Thanks, boss!"
"Thanks, boss!"
All of them cupped their hands, and bowed deeply, while memories of the time they met William surfaced in their heads. Many just joined the guild and followed him recently, but there were a lot who stayed by William's side for years. It was true, especially for those old friends of his, the ones William first handpicked when he was weak and young when no one ever heard his name or trusted whatever he said and promised.
All the things they experienced together appeared and flashed in their minds at this moment. They all felt a warmth deep down their spirits and realised for the first time how deeply indebted they were to him.
And with such intense feelings, they threw themselves off the hills, running fast towards their enemies. Even if they were going to pay their lives for it, they were totally willing and accepting this. All they asked for was to last a bit longer, last long enough, and kill too many of the enemies, enough to let William get out of here.
They landed on their enemies and used their deadliest techniques right from the start. They imagined what William would do if he was in their shoes, and took tons of elixirs out, and gulped them without even reserving any for the future.
They threw grenades, explosive arrows, and dangerous ores like the vibrants. They did everything exactly like how William did and decided to exhaust all their ring's content down to the last war supply, as they all gained these thanks to William.
They didn't want the enemy to get his hands on a single scarp of any war item, even the weapons they got were taken out, thrown like they were darts or knives, hitting masters all over the place.
Yet they were few, and their enemies were endless! After half an hour, they started to suffer wounds, and slowly few started to fall down.
That didn't discourage them. Instead with every member of them falling down, they got pumped up, shouting: For boss! And then the flame of fighting burning inside their spirits caught another surge.
The enemies facing them felt shocked and terrified by this bunch of masters. Even the leaders who watched all this from far felt cold shivers down their spines when they watched this scene.
It was common to see masters fall down on their hands, but it was the first time to meet real lions like them. The more they killed them, the more they got more courage and grew stronger, as if losing any of them was like losing a part of their family, like opening a door locked up, gushing out power from an unknown source.
"It's indeed remarkable how that youngster managed to turn these masters into such a state…" Just as everyone was fighting without care over themselves, when they lost one-third of their numbers, and the rest were already riddled with different wounds, a weird sound erupted, making the entire battleground freeze.
It wasn't just for hearing such a voice, but because all of sudden, an irresistible force appeared, one that was so suffocating to all.
And then flashes appeared, and many silhouettes came out of the blue. When everyone saw them, William's friends and guild masters recognised few.
"Sloth!"
Anjie was already on her way to the top of the hills, bringing all the rings she collected. All of them contained arrows, and she already knew what was going on.
Just seeing their friends and comrades throw away their lives to protect their boss, their man, drove all the girls crazy. They all worked harder than they could usually do, collected everything, and returned fast toward the hills.
Yet midway, they saw thousands of new faces appearing, with few known figures among them. They were the kingdom's elite forces, the high-end masters sent from the other world to safeguard the talented youngsters sent to William.
There were also a few leaders there as well! After all this time, the few who returned back with their captives caught wind of the news, learnt about the deadly situation William was facing.
They gathered up a large team of high-end masters, raced the wind, and pushed themselves over the limit to arrive here just in time. And they truly arrived at the darkest hour.
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