Chapter 968 Request
[Magus Academy's Mid Test has reached an unprecedented situation]
[You are allowed to end your mission prematurely]
[New function unlock]
[Activate combat suite teleportation to end mission]
[Proceed?]
It was plain to see the notification that came brought untold relief to some of the acolytes, as it basically meant that they would be brought out of their current predicament as soon as they gave their consent.
There were some who immediately, without the slightest hesitation, accepted the offer. Their bodies were engulfed in light and disappeared, teleported out of the planet. Most of these people were members of the sibling's Wage and Ryan Gasa's squads.
Fortunately, not everyone was like that. In fact, most people would not do it without the permission of their captain. As for the decision that the captains of Platoon 3 would make, they were all currently awaiting Emery's response on the matter.
In all honesty, the notification was certainly a shocking development. That meant that even though Emery still had authority on this mission, it held a slightly less meaningful effect as even when the higher ups were aware of their situation, they still allowed them to complete the mission right away for their safety.
Emery was certainly disappointed,
Can't they see the 3 million lives within the base?
Does the alliance or the academy doesn't care about their lives at all?
Soon enough one person step up and said,
"What's your decision, Commander?" Roran calmly asked Emery, using the latter's title to emphasize the severity of the matter. But before he could even open his mouth, Anas quickly interrupted.
"What else to think about?! The Academy has given us their say, as such, we should obey it right away!"
Julian, who had been silent for a while, finally spoke. "Emery, you're the commander, so you decide." He then looked at Anas and a few others before saying, "Some of you have signed a soul contract, to abide by the commander's orders. Therefore, I hope you will follow his decision, whatever it may be."
It was apparent that the Roman used the last resort - the Soul Contract - to intimidate and, hopefully, stop some people from causing chaos.
Although the agreement written in the signed Soul Contract said about not hurting each other and assigning Emery and Julian as commanders, there were actually no clause indicating that there would be punishment for not following order. Even so, Julian's threat and attitude was enough to make Anas worried.
Emery quickly stopped Julian from doing further, and swept his gaze at the faces present in the meeting. Other than Julian, Anas, and the two Harlight, Roran and Lyndell, the other important figures were Orion, Arcana, Rayne, Trish, Klea, Annara, and Magus Bellaine in the room.
He knew that he needed to say his thoughts quickly, or things would only turn worse.
If he was alone, Emery would have no trouble deciding. He would definitely stay for those helpless survivors. Unfortunately, he wasn't alone this time. He was the chosen leader of hundreds of people, and it was his responsibility to lead and make sound decisions.
He knew that he couldn't forcibly keep those who had already set their mind to leave, however, he was worried about those few who decided to stay. After all, if there were not enough people who stayed, not only would it all be for naught, it would also put their lives at risk.
Hence Emery humbly said,
"At this point, you all must know the reason for my reluctance. I can't simply leave these people behind, and without your help, I don't think they can survive this. So, here I can only beg all of you to help me. Please stay with me on this planet a little bit longer." After saying those words, he bowed slightly.
Everyone could see that Emery's request was a sincere one.
There was a moment of silence in the room, before Roran opened his mouth.
"I can understand your request. I too want to help those people; however, I will not stay without a proper plan. As a leader myself, I cannot risk the lives of my own people without the possibility of success. So…" the Harlight Prince stared intently at Emery and continued, "Do you have a plan?"
It seemed that was what others were thinking too, as several people nodded their heads in agreement with Roran's words. They all stared at Emery, waiting for the latter to answer the question.
Emery was silent as he fell into contemplation. Of course, he couldn't just lead with mere hope, he indeed needed a plan. A feasible one, that would allow him and those who believed in him to save these 3 million survivors.
To put it simply, there were only two choices for these survivors. Stay at this base or move elsewhere.
Staying would definitely be safer, as, with the decreased number of Abyss creatures, they should be able to safely defend the base for the next 9 hours. But then, what happened next? What would happen when the clock finally reached zero?
What if, by that time, all acolytes would be forcefully teleported out of the planet? What would happen to these survivors then?
Hence the only answer was to move.
Given that Royal Centipede was heading west, Emery firmly believed that the Abyss creature must have gone to Platoon 2, or rather, where the other transport vessel was. Therefore, the safest destination would be Platoon 1, the Nephilims' stronghold.
"We're moving towards the Platoon 1 base!" said Emery firmly.
Laughter suddenly sounded in the air. Everyone turned to the culprit and saw it was Anas. "Don't make me laugh, Emery." said the Kaleos mockingly. "Taking these 3 million people across the continent to Platoon 1 base; How are we going to do that?!"
There was certainly some truth to Anas's question, the journey will not be easy at all.
They were almost 3000 miles distance to think about, millions of Abyss creatures filled the landscape, and the most troublesome of all was the fact that they only had a little over 9 hours before the mission was set to end, whereupon the Platoon 1 transport vessel would depart from this planet.
Emery calm himself down, opened the map, and explained the plan he had thought up.
"It would be a dangerous task to complete, and even if we manage to transport these survivors, there is a high chance that all points will go to Platoon 1."
Once again after a moment of silence Emery added, "Even so, I still hope that all of you will help me."
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