In the end, the others agreed with Natalie. While it was a bit risky to fight without Billy, it was the best option that they had at the moment, considering their goal. Their decision didn't surprise Icarus, Lucyna, and Meryl. Billy would do the same thing in their place… they always thought that Billy was a bit too eager to do some things. Still, it seemed that the environment influenced him as well as he influenced others.
"Despite all that, gathering everyone on a single spot will be hard, and it isn't like we can move their entire armies for that," Camilla said. "Until some preparations are made, you three need to stay hidden."
"That will be difficult with the aura that they are emanating," Natalie said. "That being said, if this Zenis guy still didn't find you despite that, he either sucks at that kind of skill, or he is too busy recovering."
Zenis didn't look the type who would learn tracking skills, but since he could create all sorts of devices, then finding them shouldn't be a problem… he indeed was truly damaged by the fight he had against Billy.
"I suppose we should go underground, and that should buy us all some time," Meryl said. "I don't think that Zenis will summon an army of hydras when he can just show up and fight us, but I wouldn't discard that possibility. Most armies in the world won't stand a chance against that, but having extra people to help will never hurt."
Again, getting any army to move to any place across the continent in a few days would be difficult, so they had to choose carefully the best place to fight. In the end, Natalie recalled the battle in the temple city. They had the last defense that it was the temple and the barbarians could move there in a few days. So, they will have two armies at their disposal.
"I am going to warn the others," Natalie said.
"What about the enemies that might appear at night?" Lucyna asked.
"They don't show up any later than this," Natalie replied.
That was a bit surprising. Icarus, Lucyna, and Meryl thought that someone like Zenis wouldn't give his enemies any time to rest. Nevertheless, that was good for them. They needed some time to rest as well, those weeks inside the dungeon had been hellish, and they didn't have any really day off there.
Using his powers, Icarus digs a hole in the city's outskirts as much as he can to hide themselves. After that, they gathered some camping tools to use it… it was a bit disappointing to rest at such a place, but they could do that properly once they won… they didn't want to think that they would lose, even if they feared that pretty much every minute.
"Billy has a nice family here… I don't know anything about who he was on Earth, but I can understand why he wants to keep his two lives away from each other," Meryl said.
"Based on what he says to me from time to time, it seems he died when he was young, and he didn't have the chance to start a family for himself," Icarus replied. "What about you guys? I died of old age on Earth."
"Well, that is… surprising," Meryl said. "That is a difficult topic since we all have bodies that are full of energy and vigor of youth…"
"Agree, you can't ask a girl her mental age like that," Lucyna said while nodding.
"A girl…" Icarus said and then sighed. "Come to think of it, we never asked Zenis for how long the other generations lived… I supposed they would have been lucky if they lived more than thirty years when those things start to happen."
"It would be weird if they managed to live for that long since most of us in the demi-humans continent fought each other even before we were ten," Meryl said. "After fighting for decades over the same reasons, anyone would get exhausted,"
"Billy did some research regarding that. Apparently, the descendants of two reincarnated individuals of five hundred years are still alive today," Icarus said. "They are the leaders of Galatea's followers and the samurai land royal family. However, Galatea and Angus disappeared when they were barely thirty."
"They were the guys who tried not to fight, right?" Lucyna asked. "As expected, running away isn't an option…"
Things got quiet after the others heard that. They have been fighting for years for one reason or the other, but when things were put into perspective like that, it truly felt like a waste of time. Maybe things would have been different if Lucyna hadn't gotten her revenge and Meryl hadn't realized how powerful Zenis was. It was almost disheartening and enough to make their spirits weaken…
"I guess this is the problem of people like us who were brought here to reach the apex of strength in less than thirty years with outside help," Meryl said. "Putting her predisposition aside, Billy's wife sure looked the type of person who would love to train and fight for over fifty years."
"That is because most of her strength was obtained by her hard work," Icarus added. "It seems that Billy only helped them with the knowledge of the skills he developed."
"That is very like him…" Meryl said. "Anyway, we should get some rest. When the fight starts, we need to be at the peak. Failure isn't an option, and if we fail again by letting Billy's family die, after Zenis, he will probably target us."
"Now that is a scaring thought…" Icarus said.
"He wouldn't go that far…" Lucyna said. "He probably won't kill us, but he wouldn't want to see us again. Besides, we owe him a few favors. Many enemies could have killed us, even the conditions of the dungeon could have, but he protected us. At the very least, we need to protect his family until he returns."
