Akira stood near the open gates watching as civilians evacuated the city, escorted by their own city guard as well as volunteers.

Ding!

Branch three, stage 2: Find more information by killing 100 of each low tier infected has been completed!

Reward: Gold 200, main quest points 200, +20 Fame. Ten levels will be given to the top four contributors: Akira, Zundar, Fluffball, Klyn.

All other participants will receive 5 levels.

Your level is now 120, Fluffball's level is now 95!

Announcement!

Branch three, stage 3 starts now!

Kill 1000 of each low-tier type of infected.

Akira's mood was lifted after reading the message for the large rewards.

He looked over the large gathering of warriors from each demon race and saw that they too looked refreshed and were cheerfully chatting with those next to them.

“This plague has been hell. At least our monster problem had been cleared up.”

“Yeah, but the bad thing is they have been replaced with those infected.”

Akira inspected several of the soldiers around him who had fought against the infected. He found that indeed they had all gained 5 levels with the average level now nearing level 80. The reward for completing the stage was a huge boost to Kodria's military power.

“Were the scouts able to find anyone controlling the infected?” asked Akira.

“They found no one in the surrounding area,” said Klyn with a shake of his head.

“We didn't see anything either while fighting. The only type of a commander, if you could call it that, was from those infected with the gems,” said Varbu.

“Gii gii giiii gi,” said Prince Gobbers nodding.

“How are we to find and confront the culprits if they never show up?” asked Akira with a sigh.

Akira turned back to rummaging through the piles of rubble which was all that was left from the many infected. The piled rubble was filled with both humanoid and monster bodies.

He was searching for any loot that might have been dropped by the demigods.

Nearby, Fluffball was helping him by also digging through the rubble and stone body parts.

“Find anything good?” asked Zundar.

“I found quite a lot of the red potions that the shaman need for creating a cure. Fluffball also found some gold, and a few pieces of armor and weapons, nothing fancy,” said Akira.

“That's good news. We'll need a large stockpile of those potions to keep researching,” said Klyn.

“How many casualties did each of you take?” asked Akira.

“Very few deaths due to the help of Klyn and his holy shamen. Right now we haven't gotten a full count but it is not as bad as I expected.”

“What's more worrisome is that those who were wounded are now showing signs of infection,” said Klyn.

“Send a runner through the streets and see if you can hurry up the people. We need to be completely out of the city before the hour is up. There is no telling when the demigods will come back in force, that or the infected might once again flock here.”

The demon race army stood watch outside the city. They were still on guard for new waves of the molten onyx infected that might come to the city.

The several thousands of civilians burdened with the belongings that they could carry were all gathered outside and surrounded by the demon race army.

During this time they were fortunate to not have any demigods show up.

“We've done all that we could in this area. Let's return to Kodria to resupply and rest up before finding our next destination! Move out!” shouted Akira.

***

Kodria's castle.

Ding!

Announcement!

The Demon hunters have successfully completed Branch 2 stage 1.

They are the second to complete the quest and receive nothing for being 2nd place losers!

Ding!

Announcement!

The gentle fallen has completed Branch 3 stage 1.

They are the second to complete the quest and receive nothing for being 2nd place losers!

The system messages jolted Akira from his thoughts of future plans.

He reread the messages a few times. These were the first messages about the quest being completed by another group. It reminded him that he was not alone in trying to complete the main quest.

Now with two other groups completing a stage and one of them now on the same stage, it really put him under some pressure to not be passed by the demigods.

“The potions that you have brought back will help us greatly,” said grand elder Hegir.

“How is your research on the wounded progressing?”

“Not much, the wounded that have been infected are starting to overwhelm the temporary quarantine hospital. The fatality rate has been 100% for those wounded when they reach the 4th week. By fatality I mean they are no longer themselves,” said Grand elder Hegir.

He took a sip of warmed wine to clear his throat.

“They are constantly in pain during those 4 weeks and even with the demigods' red potions, their pain is only relieved during the early stages of infection. Those guarding the area have been making sure to quietly take care of those who have lost all sense of themselves to not panic the others.”

“And the bodies?” asked Akira.

“They have been safely stored in the new underground research facility. We have made sure that they are out of reach of civilians, fire, or any of the water and food supplies. Until we have a way to properly dispose of them without the negative side effects they will have to stay like that. It won't be long as I have been studying and teaching several others in the use of the new cleansing chants from the ancient scrolls.”

“Then...”

“Awoooooo! Awoo!” Several warning howls came from the east river fort.

“What are they calling me for?” asked Grand Elder Hegir.

“Not just you, they are calling for all the holy shamen...” said Akira.

“Whatever it is, it must not be good,” said Grand elder Hegir. He stood up and put on his large fur coat.

Akira joined Grand elder Hegir as he left the castle. Both of their guards, along with Fluffball, followed them to the docks.

Tens of other holy shamen had reached the docks and were already waiting for them.

“The situation is urgent so there is no need for us to wait for everyone,” said Grand elder Hegir, giving out an order to the boat's oarsmen.

As soon as they reached the dock near the east river fort Akira hopped out. He held out his arm to help the elderly Hegir only to have it swatted away.

“I'm not old enough to need such help,” said grand elder Hegir as he pulled himself out of the boat.

The group of holy shamen led by Grand elder Hegir and the guards led by Akira made their way to a small group of werewolf soldiers who were gathered around Klyn and a few of his assistants. They were waiting near the end of the docks.

“What is it?” asked Hegir.

“They didn't say. They only said 'It would be best if you see it for yourselves.’,” said Klyn.

The group was silently led through the snow towards a large gathering of warriors who had exited the fort and were now surrounding something Akira could not get a good look at.

A group of curious residents from the outer city of Kodria, which was still being built around the market plaza, had now gathered some distance away from the main group of soldiers. They were being held back by several guards.

When Akira reached the group of soldiers he found that they all had their weapons drawn and were fully alert, looking at the cause of the commotion in front of them. He walked through the gathered soldiers and...

“We demand to talk to the leader of this city!”

“This is outrageous! Why are you treating us this way!”

“Let us in!”

...in front of Akira were around a hundred people. They were all wrapped in bandages and heavy fur coats that had long hoods to cover their faces in darkness.

“Quiet!” shouted one of the soldiers.

Another soldier jabbed his spear towards one of the people who tried to walk up to him. A solid thud was heard as the spear hit the person's arm and was knocked back.

“We are refugees fleeing from the infected! Is this how you treat people in the time of their need!?” cried the angered man who had been hit by the spear.

Fluffball standing next to Akira transformed into his large size and his ice armor quickly covered his entire body.

“Roar!” Fluffball stood in front of Akira and continued to make threatening growls at the surrounded people.

Seeing this Akira and the others that had just arrived inspected the people more closely.

“They're all infected...” said Klyn in a hushed voice after a few seconds.

“We're not like those infected! We are fully healthy and in control of our bodies!” shouted a nearby person.

“We came here because we heard that you accept refugees! Why are you treating us this way!” shouted a female.

“Commander! When we stopped this group, they refused to let us inspect their bodies, so we were forced to use such measures,” said the officer in charge of the east fort.

Akira stepped forward with Fluffball and his guards arrayed in a protective formation around him.

“I am Akira, Lord of Kodria. If you wish to seek refuge here, you must remove the bandages and your hoods to show you are not infected. We can not allow those infected to cause harm to the tens of thousands of civilians living in both the inner and outer city of Kodria.”

“That...”

“We...”

“You heard the lord! Take off your hoods and bandages and show us you are healthy!” shouted the east fort officer.

The hundred or so refugees quietly mumbled between themselves for over a minute.

“So what if we were wounded! Our villages were destroyed and we are asking for your help and generosity to let us stay here!” shouted an angry woman as she flipped the hood off of her head.

Half of her head was bald and covered in a thin layer of black stone.

“Roar!” Fluffball let out a growl at the woman, warning her to not step any closer.

“Amazing that they are still able to move about with such an advanced stage of infection. It looks like they are in the 2nd week of infection,” said Grand elder Hegir. He had just made his way through the crowd along with Klyn.

“I'll give you two options. You can stay here at our quarantine hospital where we can help you as much as we can while you are still you. Or you can leave and find some other place to spend your last days,” said Akira with a firm voice.

“Screw you! We're not going to die!” shouted the woman.

“Grandfather, what you said before seems to be true. Those who are infected start to become more aggressive and angry,” said Klyn as he watched the infected refugees.

“Come on everyone, let's go find some other place since we're not welcome here,” said an angry man.

Over 70 people turned to leave with the man but there were still several dozen that did not move.

“What are you doing? Hurry up!” shouted the man.

“I'm not going! The pain is just too much!”

“I don't want to turn into those infected and hurt other villages!”

“Fine!” shouted the man. He stomped away through the snow leading the majority of the wounded with him.

“Is it really okay to let them go?” asked Zundar.

“I agree with Zundar. They are only going to cause us more trouble later. We need to take care of them now,” Klyn.

“Would you have me kill everyone the moment they are infected?” asked Akira.

Klyn was silent.

“We can not go to such extremes. Just make sure to have a shaman scout watch them and we will deal with them when they are no longer themselves,” said Akira.