"I can't believe it," Wade said in disbelief. "How did they survive?"
The leaders of the different shelters had seen the traces of destruction as they made towards the Glory Shelter. Several buildings were destroyed, and the remains of a Bone Dragon that laid in a crater, shocked them silly.
However, this was not the thing that surprised them the most. The most surprising part about all of this was that the Glory Shelter was still standing, and looking at it from a distance, it received little to no damage from the Haunting that had passed several hours ago.
"Just what is going on?" Even Swiper couldn't believe his eyes.
During the battle in the Mimameidr Shelter, all of them saw the Bone Dragon fly towards the Glory Shelter.
Swiper was inwardly shocked when this happened, but he also celebrated the unexpected development. With such a powerful creature joining the assault, he already assumed that the Glory Shelter, as well as the annoying Half-Elf, would be burned to ashes, leaving nothing behind.
When Avril proposed that they visit Raizel's Glory Shelter to rescue survivors, Swiper and the other leaders all agreed to accompany her.
For them, this was just a way to pay their respects to Raizel and the people that had stayed behind. All of them thought that they would just be seeing charred ruins when they arrived at their destination.
This was why none of them were able to believe the scene right in front of their eyes.
"Let's go," Avril said after taking control of her emotions. "Let's go and see Raizel."
The other leaders subconsciously nodded their heads as they restarted the engines of their vehicles. They were curious about how Raizel had done it.
They wanted to know how the Glory Shelter survived the attack of countless undead, as well as the fury of a Bone Dragon, which they knew was something they didn't dare to face head-on.
As they neared the Shelter, they saw Raizel standing at the entrance with her arms crossed over her chest.
William and Lilith stood behind her like two bodyguards with indifferent expressions on their faces.
Neither of them cared about the Leaders of the Shelters, the only one they cared about in this God forsaken world was Raizel.
"Raizel, I'm very glad to see that you're safe," Avril said as soon as she jumped off her truck.
Raizel gave Avril a brief nod before replying, "I'm glad to see you, too, Avril."
"How did you do it?" Swiper asked as he walked towards Raizel. "How did you survive?"
The young beauty ignored Swiper and treated him like air. She even didn't bother to look at him and only focused on Avril who was looking at her with complicated emotions.
"Lass, do you know what you've done?" Eldon, the Dwarven leader, asked while playing with his beard. "You've created a miracle."
This time, Raizel shifted her gaze to Eldon. She smiled at the Dwarf who had treated her and her shelter like allies in the past.
"I wasn't the one who made this happen." Raizel shook her head. "It was none other than William and Lilith. Without their help, the Glory Shelter would have long been turned into ruins by now."
All the leaders shifted their attention to the red-headed teenager and the Amazon behind Raizel.
They were well aware of Raizel's fighting prowess. This was why they believed that she alone was not enough to protect the Glory Shelter from annihilation.
"It seems that we need to re-evaluate these two newcomers," Wade commented from the side.
In the Deadlands, the only thing they respected was strength. Only the strong would be able to survive in this harsh environment where death could claim them at any moment.
"Indeed," Lindir, the leader of the Lizardfolk nodded his head. 'Befriending them isn't a bad option.'
Avril smiled and approached Raizel and gave her a light hug. She then approached William and extended her hand for a handshake.
"I know that we parted on bad terms, but I believe that the bridges haven't been burned yet," Avril said. "Let me introduce myself again, My name is Avril Zaleria."
The beautiful elf's long, green hair fluttered in the breeze, and her eyes—that were the color of rubies—looked at William with admiration.
William was about to brush her off, but he saw Raizel's stare, which made him remember that he needed to leave a good impression on Avril in order to help smooth out their relationship.
"William Von Ainsworth," William replied with an award winning smile that would put his Grandpa, James, to shame. "Just call me, Will."
"You're a Half-Elf, right?" Avril asked.
"Yes." William nodded. "I am Half Handsome, Half Elf, so Half-Elf."
Avril chuckled as she playfully batted her eyes to William. "You're not only strong, but you also have a sense of humor. Men like you are rare here in the Deadlands."
"You praise me too much," William replied. "I'm sure that if Miss Avril went all out, fighting against a Bone Dragon would be just as easy as taking a stroll in the park."
"Surely you jest, Will."
"Not at all."
Contrary to his playful demeanor, William was inwardly shocked because he didn't expect Avril to be very strong. He had been around strong individuals all his life, so even if people tried to suppress their aura, he would know right away if they were hiding their strength or not.
Because of this discovery, William decided to be serious in befriending Avril. He had a feeling that the beautiful elf would play an important role in the inevitable faceoff against the Dread Lord in the future.
"Enough flirting!" Swiper shouted. "I smell something fishy going on. How could a small shelter like yours survive the Haunting? What method did you use in order to live another day? Spill it!"
William glanced at the irritating Boarkin that was always trying to find ways to put them in a bad light.
"You smell something fishy?" A smile filled with ridicule appeared on William's face. "When was the last time you took a bath? Have you been drinking your own piss this whole time? Well, considering that you're still alive, you must have put your betrayal plan on hold."
Swiper was about to retort, but he managed to catch himself in time after seeing that Avril's glare was clearly telling him to shut his trap.
Although he was filled with indignation, he chose to take a step back in order to look at the bigger picture. All the leaders wanted to know how Glory Shelter was able to survive, including him, so he had no choice but to swallow his anger and allow Avril to take charge of the situation.
Seeing that this was the right moment to hold an important talk, Raizel invited all the leaders inside her Shelter to have breakfast with them.
William's discovery was something that needed to be known by the public.
The young beauty hoped that they could set aside their differences for the time being in order to tackle this problem together.
After all, this information was something that she couldn't keep to herself. Everyone needed to work together in order to face the Mastermind that was orchestrating everything from the shadows.
A Mastermind, who was making all of them dance on the palms of his hands.
