Chapter 164 Expanded
Dilan felt a little bit desperate.
It was as if humanity’s time was running out and they were helplessly watching dangers approach them and their loved ones.
If he wanted to save more humans, he needed more powerful Ascenders; Ascenders that were as powerful as he was right now.
However, the more humans he saved the more space his group would require. This meant that they would have to expand their territory to provide everybody a safe space to inhabit.
For now, this didn’t seem to be a big problem because the Rian mountainside hospital was still fine but a small group of boars had already been enough to damage the building’s walls without too much of an issue.
The hospital was not a fortress with strong defenses, and only a handful of Ascenders had reached Tier-1 until now.
Adding 1000 Survivors in the group, which already exceeded the figure of 600, the tower they used as their temporary camp was bound to fall short of space.
But the number of Survivors was not the only problem that weighed on Dilan’s mind. Everyone required food, water, and other basic necessities.
It wouldn’t be easy for 1600 strangers to live with each other harmoniously either.
Unfortunately, Dilan couldn’t pay much attention to this for now.
‘I will have to apologize to the others for creating more trouble.’
Dilan smiled faintly at the thought, not realizing that he didn’t even ask himself why it was necessary to save more humans.-.
Even if it didn’t help him in becoming stronger, he was actively searching for human shelters and giving his best to rescue the survivors.
He might get some benefits by rescuing them but the gains were certainly not enough to make up for the efforts he had to put in.
Dilan knew this but despite that, he kept talking to the survivors in the underground shelter to convince them to visit the Rian mountainside hospital.
The hospital was currently the safest place, after all.
It was truly against his usual behavior to act like a leader, to feel the need to save each and everyone around him. This might even harm him in the future but Dilan couldn’t think about that for now.
His current mindset was a mess owing to numerous factors, including his past memories that had resurfaced.
Dilan was not sure how to tell wrong from right in this state. Thus, he simply did what he presumed to be correct while trying to make sense of the jumbled thoughts in his mind.
“Are you sure we will not be attacked on the way to the hospital?”
It was Esla, who asked this question suddenly. She felt that her body and mind were slowly changing, and adapting to the Essence she had just absorbed.
That was also why she was not as afraid of Dilan as she had been in the beginning. Of course, Dilan was still a frightening individual, even more so because both his appearance and presence overlapped, further intimidating everyone in the surrounding area.
However, his words and actions were a stark contrast to his looks and presence. That was why Esla found the courage to ask Dilan a question after she had finally gotten her emotions in check.
“I will lead groups of 20 individuals to the hospital at a time,” Dilan answered in response.
“So…you will walk back and forth more than 50 times…just how long will that take??” A rather timid survivor mumbled, feeling that it was a highly risky plan and could go horribly wrong.
It was always like this…the moment something good happened, an incident would occur and shatter everyone’s hope.
But Dilan just smiled at this comment.
“I will send my people to help me later. Don’t worry, we’ll be done before midnight as long as everyone listens to me!”
Everyone was eager to leave, which was why many survivors were worried to be pushed back by Dilan.
The current situation was still surreal for many survivors. As such, they felt as if they were dreaming, which prevented them from asking all kinds of questions that they would love to get to know the answers to.
As none of them knew Dilan well, it was only obvious for the frightened and suspicious survivors to feel that his offer was too good to be true.
But that was only obvious because they couldn’t detect the gains Dilan would make by saving them.
Dilan spent some time answering various questions because he understood the doubts that were flashing through their minds.
However, after half an hour passed, they reached a consensus and Dilan finally left the underground shelter with the first group. His backpack had been emptied of all ordinary Tier-1 Essence crystals and the Tierless Essence crystals.
They had been used to treat the weakest survivors. Some of them had been in life-threatening conditions in which every breath could be their last one.
With Dilan’s actions, more than 200 survivors turned into Ascenders, a feat that they would not have even dreamt of achieving before his arrival. All of them had reached, at least, level 1, while gaining a third of the status points one would procure by hunting a monster on their own.
In the end, they were not only pulled back from death’s door but had also tasted the first sweet sip of an Essence.
Even if one didn’t like to say it, Essences provided an addictive sensation simply because the feeling of regaining vigor and getting stronger was something worth experiencing again.
Dilan clearly understood this, which was why he had to hide his sly smile as he walked up the metal stairway.
Glancing at the group of survivors, whose entire attention was fixated on him, Dilan knew that everything would be fine.
‘Even the other survivors sensed the potency of Essence crystals. We will get at least 300 more Ascenders soon!!’
Because Dilan was deep in thoughts, he didn’t hear what the 20 survivors behind him had been saying.
“The reinforced door…” One of the young female survivors spoke in shock, pointing at the bent safety valve of the reinforced metal door.
The other survivors were also shocked when they realized what she meant but Dilan could only smile dryly when he heard this. In response, he casually commented,
“I accidentally used too much force…”
While it was important to become stronger, it was even more important to learn how to use one’s strength properly and accurately.
This was probably Dilan’s biggest problem right now as his strength had increased by leaps and bounds in only a few weeks.
He had to regain control over his power and learn to utilize it optimally, otherwise, he might hurt his own people accidentally.
When the group of 20 survivors heard Dilan’s comment, they looked at him in shock, their eyes nearly popping out of the eye sockets.
If they thought that Dilan was just proficient in wielding a saber, and could kill the ferocious monsters owing to that, they saw him in a new light when he casually said that he had bent the safety valve, accidentally at that.
For a moment, some survivors were scared about this but they quickly realized that Dilan had taken them under his wing.
He was now their leader and protector. The stronger he was, the better it was for them!
In less than an hour, Dilan and the others reached the Rian mountainside hospital.
It took longer than he had expected but that was owed to the bad physical condition of the survivors.
That being said, Dilan ordered all of his Ascenders to move the survivors in small groups.
Despite being powerful and capable of fending off most monsters, if existences such as the Blue Tiger were to attack even Dilan would have issues protecting his people.
Thus, the Elite Combat unit and the other Ascenders of Dilan’s group did not waste time and moved the survivors from the underground shelter to the Rian mountainside hospital.
In the meantime, Dilan kept a watch over the path between the shelter and the hospital.
Numerous monsters had been attracted by the sudden appearance of so many humans but not a single monster was able to reach the proximity of moving humans to attack them.
Dilan, Kathrine, Williams, and the other Tier-1 Ascenders finished off every single monster that showed interest in attacking the survivors, whose condition was worse than Sven and the others had expected.
They knew of Dilan’s plan to save more survivors, and everyone agreed to it.
Whether they did it out of kindness, or simply due to the fact that they had too few Ascenders with powerful abilities didn’t really matter.
The most important fact was that almost everyone agreed to expand their group and include more members.
“I don’t think a lot of survivors understand how much value the human race holds to all kinds of existences.” Dilan merely mumbled as he was looking over the last batch of survivors, who were brought to the Rian mountainside hospital.
It was almost midnight, and a total of 1053 Survivors joined their rows, with only slightly more than 50 rejecting Dilan’s offer to join his group.
They didn’t want to join Dilan owing to multiple reasons, including that they wanted to search for their family.
Dilan was not sure how they would achieve that while looking like skeletons with just a layer of skin sticking to their bones but it was their decision and he respected that.
They might die, or become powerful existences. He didn’t care about the outcome and wished the best for them as long as they didn’t interfere in his business!