Is this really a Game?!

The army was exhausted, they had fought with everything they had, as did Wolf and the others. The healers were barely conscious as they had used everything they had to heal those that were heavily injured. During the battle, they had focused on only healing such players as healing everybody, no matter the injury, was simply far too taxing, which would lead to them losing their mana quickly.

Heavy injuries, missing limbs, and near-death conditions were the only ones they had healed, and yet, even then, they weren't able to heal everybody as their mana was dwindling rapidly, even with them using mana potions to recharge themselves.

Using any more potions for the next couple of days would lead to them suffering side effects, so they had to stop. Laura had done what she could to heal Wolf and the others during the battle as well, but with 30 Tier IV beings present, even she was unable to heal everybody, especially since she was also fighting and was thus using her demonic energy and life force.

With the abundance of demonic energy present here, and the incredibly high number of deaths,  Laura was able to quickly recharge her demonic energy and life force, allowing her to heal a lot of people, but the mental fatigue that had built up thanks to that was not low and easy to deal with.

Reign was sleeping, and from how it went the last time, Wolf and the others were certain that he would continue sleeping for quite a bit, probably around a day or so.

Beast only took about 15 minutes to go to the monster portal and bring it back, while Wolf and the others constructed a new portal for the players here.

Building a portal near the wall would allow them to quickly respond to the monsters coming from the depths, and it would also allow the players to hunt Tier III monsters and demons just like they were able to do before, only that the strength of those monsters would be a bit higher.

They had thought about destroying the old portal that was placed somewhat between the wall and the first mountain, but they decided against it in the end. Their funds were still good enough for them to build a couple more portals without putting too much strain on their finances, so they simply decided to build another one here.

Upon doing so, the players slowly started making their way over to the portal. With the healers exhausted, and even Laura getting a bit too tired to continue healing them all up, they knew that the best course of action was to get to the temple and the elves, who both had very good healing rooms available.

The elves and the monks had anticipated such a thing to happen, which is why they had made sure to be ready to welcome the influx of injured people. The players divided themselves and went to each of the two places, fully knowing that each one was more than decently equipped and would be able to help them out.

Those that had been heavily injured were being carried by other players who were quickly making their way over to the temple as they were the ones that were closest to the portals. There were even some tents placed right in the center of the city by the monks and elves, and those that were heavily injured were to be placed there so that they could immediately start working on them. 

The elves had helped out during the battle too as it was not just Aelrinder that had joined, but the royal guards, together with all the other Tier III combatants that had joined the player army and were fighting alongside them.

The other elves were let to stay here so that when they were finished with the battle, the players could receive immediate medical attention from them. After all, healers were rare and very valuable, during a battle, they would be the ones that the enemy would target first, doing their very best to get rid of them.

Luckily, that didn't happen during this battle as the demons mostly ignored the healers and were hell-bent on just killing what was in front of them.

Upon reaching the wall, Beast immediately placed the monster portal down, thus allowing M'azgara's monsters to start bringing her the nutrients. In a span of about 20 minutes, M'azgara had already created two Tier IV monsters.

She was, unfortunately, unable to make an elite yet, after the death of one elite, she needed to wait three days before being able to create another one. It mattered little to her, however, as that only meant that she had three days to experiment with creating different kinds of monsters from the nutrients given to her by the demons and the abominations present in Pripyat.

It was when M'azgara had created her 4th Tier IV monster that Wolf and the others stared at the wall. They could sense something coming, and upon getting up and looking at the depths, they were able to see monsters charging at them.

There were 8 low-grade Tier IV monsters coming at them, with more definitely coming soon. Luckily, M'azgara had already been able to create four monsters, and Wolf and the others were healed a bit by Laura before she was forced to take a break.

With the monsters charging, Wolf and the others quickly got down from the wall and met their charge.

Even though not all of them were present now, there were still more than 10 of them here, which should be more than enough to deal with the monsters. The most powerful monster that would appear was a mid-grade Tier IV, and the monsters coming from the depths were usually weaker compared to normal ones, which should allow them to defeat them.

For M'azgara, this was also more nutrients that would make their way over to her. Demons were some of the best monsters for her to get nutrients as Reign and the others didn't use their bodies for anything, they would only take the demonic core and sometimes the horns, so she was able to get everything to be used as nutrients, which was different compared to what they did to other monsters, taking a lot from their bodies as they could make a lot of different items that way.

As the battle beyond the wall started, the players were still getting healed up, none of them even knowing about what was going on. Wolf and the others knew that the players would definitely want to help them out, at least attacking the monsters from the wall, but they didn't want them to worry.

They had just gone through a large and dangerous battle, they deserved some rest.

Wolf's flames danced around the battlefield, even though he was injured and could currently only use about 50% of his strength, he was strong enough to face a low-grade Tier IV monster by himself. Rare were those that were uninjured, so they all knew that they had to do whatever they could in order to defend against the monsters.

The responsibility that the demons once had was now passed on to them as they were the winners of the battle. Guarding the wall and not letting the powerful Tier IV monsters come out was needed if the players were to be able to safely hunt in the mountain range, well, as safe as one could be with monsters and demons still present.

One interesting thing was that the monsters were only trying to get out here. The depths were surrounded by mountains, as they were in a mountain range, but where the wall is located at is not the case. It was a valley, and it was the seemingly only place the monsters were able to use to get out, there was some sort of power making it impossible for them to cross over the mountains and they had to use the valley, which was why the demon had created the large wall as soon as they could and defended this place with everything they had.

With the mountain range successfully conquered, Reign and the others could now fully focus on exploring the depths and finding out just what was causing the fog. They would also be able to level up more and reach Tier V, which was when they would be able to go to the desert and fight the powerful monsters over there.

Of course, reaching Tier V also meant that they could potentially cross the sea and reach New York, finally allowing Shadow and Reign to meet up with Shadow's parents and Reign's uncle. The long-awaited reunion was right in front of them, and they couldn't wait to finally reach it.