The battle was over, but it came at a cost. A large number of people died in the fight above ground. Some of them were the warriors brought by Rixnala. Others were those who came at Rex's request. But most were the ones that already lived in the village, experienced people who gave their best to defend their homes. For the most part, there wasn't anyone that we as a group of newcomers truly knew amongst the fallen warriors.
Those who did not die were wounded, ranging from small bruises to cuts that clearly proved to be dangerous unless they got some help right away. At the very least, Ash was careful enough to have a few healers together with their army, expecting a situation exactly like that. The healers were hard at work making sure that those who could be saved would be saved. The Rodenti would lose as few people as possible.
Notably, there were two people who got seriously hurt during the fight. The first was Ash himself. Despite everyone's request that he not participate in the battle, apparently at one point a more powerful Eater appeared. It was a Tier 2 saturated one that started wrecking havoc along the army lines. Ash, despite still being wounded and struggling to recover, left his command post and personally dealt with the creature. In doing so, he became completely exposed to the army of Eaters who attacked him relentlessly. Or at least that's what he said.
The monsters were likely sensing the amount of particles inside the man. Even so, his wounds were not visible, not really. They were mostly bruises and internal fractures on his ribs, together with the poison that was still ravaging his system. It was much better than he was on the day that Raxzar tried to poison him, but the man was still a far cry from his peak condition. So much so that it wasn't hard to hear some murmurs amongst the army that if it weren't for Raxzar, they wouldn't have lost so many people. After all, above ground, no one saw a Tier 3 creature as Ash feared.
There was some whispering, blaming the chieftain for his rush in coming here. Those whispers were quickly silenced once Rex told everyone that the Nest itself had reached Tier 3 and even attempted to birth a Malformed Eater that was already at Tier 3.
If there was anyone who still doubted the danger the village was in after Rex's testimony, the other group that joined for the infiltration of the Nest added their perspective on things. According to them, at the very top of the Nest spire, there was another Eater very similar to the Hatchery that we saw below. But this one, instead of being something responsible for creating Eaters, it was almost like a brain.
According to their description, there was nothing else it could be. It was a mushy gray thing that kept pulsating and defended itself with some sort of mental attacks that caused the Rodenti to hallucinate, feel splitting headaches, and even try to attack each other. However, the name was the one thing that really made me worried.
Apparently, it was called an Eater Receiver. With that name, there was one question in my mind. If it was only a receiver, who or what sending signals to it? Since it was the receiver, we were more or less sure that the creature wasn't sending any signals, although according to the abilities it had, it shouldn't be impossible to do so. While among my group, I was clearly the only one worried about that. Michael was seemingly the only one who didn't understand why I suddenly became so worried. We had several other issues to handle before being able to talk about that.
For instance, the fact that Carl, Rex's uncle, was one of the people who was gravely injured. As a matter of fact, he was the person who handled the Tier 2 saturated Eater at first. We now discovered was called a Warrior Eater. Carl was the one who faced the creature on his own for as long as he could to take the monster's attention away from the main army. As a result, he was now missing an arm and, just like Rex, his right foot. Only after that happened and the Rodenti was about to be killed that Ash stepped in.
Thankfully, since the chieftain attracted the Eater's attention, it gave a chance for the medical staff grabbed Carl and pulled him to the back line. Due to their quick action Rex's uncle was no longer in a dangerous situation. It would still take him a long time to heal, but at the very least, he would survive with the effort of the Healers.
In the midst of all the death and destruction caused by the Eaters, there was one person, a single Rodenti amongst the entire army, who was completely unscathed. No little cut, no single bruises, not even something that was already killed due to a skill. Michael and Riley also appeared to be completely fine, but that was only the case due to {Body Regeneration} doing its magic.
The one person who managed to defy the odds, despite the fact that she was active on the front lines doing her best to kill as many Eaters as possible, was Rixnala. Yet, instead of being proud of her accomplishment and happy that she was strong and quick enough to not be injured during the fight, she was clearly obsessed and walking around almost as if trying to make up for something. This didn't make sense to me, but all the Rodenti who saw her fighting had nothing but praise for the Chieftain's daughter. It wasn't the type of empty praise that one would get to win favor with someone powerful, but genuine respect, as if they were looking up to her for saving them from danger.
"I guess this is some version of survivor's guilt." Riley was staring at Rixnala, who was digging through the corpses in order to recover any salvageable pieces of equipment and make sure that no one was being left behind.
I gave them another nod. "Yeah. I just didn't expect something like that coming from Rixnala."
"You can say that again," Riley added. "But let's go help her. She's doing something good."
With a nod, I followed Riley as we joined Rixnala dealing with the corpses. This was the type of thing that no one ever really talked about, even in the old world. What happens after a war, not just when the soldiers come back, but in the battlefield itself? The scavenging and attempt to gather the remains of people you once knew was something hard to do, and at the same time, it was much harder to leave them behind.
No one here deserved what happened to them. Not a single Rodenti. It didn't feel right that even a single one of these Rodenti were killed in a battle like this. It was something that should not have happened because the Eaters should not exist. Those nightmarish creatures were nothing but a stain on our world, an evil that had to be eradicated completely.
Yet despite all my bravado, I had no idea if that was even possible. If dealing with a single Nest was already this difficult, what would happen if we needed to fight something bigger and older, or even the very first Eater, if it was still alive? After all, no one really knew for sure how long those creatures lived. Maybe the first generation was long gone, being killed by the humans before the fall. Or maybe it was still lurking somewhere, gaining power ever since it first emerged. Maybe that was the source sending signals to the Eater Antenna in the nests all around the planet.
It took us close to two hours to gather all the bodies and remove them from the battlefield. It only happened that fast because as more and more people were able to rest, they started to join our efforts. The Eaters, on the other hand, were mostly gone already. Their decomposition seemed to have been activated from the very moment the first of them died. Strangely enough, there were some shards of their shells that still remained.
Pieces of tentacles, plates of their carapaces, even a leg that seemingly refused to rot away. They existed almost like minerals or pieces of wood, just standing there. I tried asking the System about it, but it couldn't tell me exactly what happened. It best theory was a strange interaction of skills that deactivated the skill that made Eaters rot. Either way, we decided to take the pieces that were left with us.
By the time we started moving again, the sun was already setting. A few Rodenti created makeshift carts using rocks to carry all the bodies back to the village. Every single one of the people who fell in this battle was going to receive a proper burial with a complete ceremony, as it was a custom for the Rodenti. As we began our walk back, no one was really talking. This wasn't a celebration, but a wake. Over 200 Rodenti left the village, and now only 75 were returning.
I took the opportunity to briefly check how many levels I had gained during the battle. I had asked the System to hold off on letting me know this kind of thing until the entire operation was done, otherwise I would end up getting distracted, maybe even trying to check if there was a new skill that could change the tide of battle. To my surprise, I gained a whopping four levels during that entire operation.
A good part of me believed that the bulk of it came from the two Tier 3 creatures that we ended up killing. The Hatchery and the Malformed Eater. Even if the malformed one was yet to be born, it still should have had enough particles for us to gain them once the creature was dead. In addition, there was a very real possibility that the entire Nest also had particles in its structure, and as we were running away, they just latched on to whatever they could.
However, before I could even check my attributes, Ash suddenly appeared at my side and tapped my shoulder.
"Hello, friend Cassandra. Could I have a moment of your time?"
"Sure," I replied.
"First, I would like to thank you for everything. Your assistance against the Eaters was invaluable. Unfortunately, I am in a position where I must ask more of you."
I frowned while turning back towards Ash. The Rodenti Chieftain usually was an imposing figure, his face always demanding the full attention of anyone who was looking at him. Yet right now, I felt like I was just looking at a somewhat broken man. Not someone who had lost absolutely everything, necessarily, but definitely someone who was moving in that direction.
"I can't promise I'll be able to help, but if you tell me what's going on, I'll do my best to be of assistance."
He smiled and looked back towards the makeshift cart. More specifically, he looked towards Carl, his brother-in-law. "I understand why you worry about the skill you gave me. Even so, may I give it to my brother?"
I stared at him. Of everything he could have come to talk to me about, that was nowhere near my list. "Sure. You know why I was worried about giving that skill to you. But it wasn't as if I expected you to never share it with anyone. I just hoped you would keep that to people you trust. That way, humans in general have a fighting chance as they start to get the System. But ultimately, the skill is yours. You're free to do with it as you like. I just don't know if it's going to be enough for him to regrow his arm. From what I know, that only works if you are already Tier 3."
Ash nodded. "Yes, I believe that is the case. Still, thank you."
I smiled and was about to turn back to the System when more of the Rodenti came to talk to me. Someone wanted to know how it was inside the Nest, while others were there to thank us for our part in destroying the nest. The mood was still somber, but people were starting chat in an attempt to break the tension. Most of them shared the tales of how the ones that didn't make it died while fighting gloriously.
I pushed the subject of my own level up to the side. In the evening I would have the chance to deal with that. For now, it was better to join the survivors and listen to the stories left behind by the fallen.