"We'll bring in one more group of soldiers to support you. "Marcus commented.
"Also... There will be more groups rescuing civilians around the area. If you find any of them who are in trouble, please help them if possible."
"Mhh "Viktor nodded, as he absentmindedly averted his gaze to 2 civilians behind Marcus.
'So small...'Viktor thought, as he saw a girl who looked 5 years old standing there.
The little girl seeing Viktor looking at her, looked at the young woman next to her and stood a little behind her.
And in a low voice she remarked, "A KNIGHT!" with an excited tone.
Viktor heard her even though she had lowered her voice, and he smiled as he was amused by this...
His armor certainly now made him look like a medieval knight.
He had a new half-heavy plate armor, similar to his old one, but with a harder metal.
'This armor could at least take a few hits from that orc's heavy sword' He thought, remembering that his previous armor barely survived being badly wounded from his previous battle.
When he had unlocked the smithy system function, he had also unlocked new and better weapons and armor, which previously seemed expensive to him, but now that he could take on more than just goblins and zombies, they were worth it.
The girl smiled as she saw the " knight" smiling back at her, and the young woman also smiled towards Viktor, and then apologized for her little sister's shout.
The backup group that Marcus spoke of, arrived shortly after.The same group consisted of 4 male soldiers.
After introductions and a brief conversation, Marcus and his group left, and Viktor asked the soldiers to lead the way, as he felt they would know best how to go where they were going.
Viktor knew where the place was, but he couldn't remember the way without a gps.
Even less if we count that they were in an apocalypse where it was not even known if the streets still had their same structure or if some monster collapsed a building, which would cause the whole road to change.
In the fight he was watching just now he realized that what was said on Syscon Web was not an exaggeration, the more levels passed, the more difference in strength there was.
Even though that monster was "only" level 25, this one could still take down an old building if he tried hard. While he, being level 10, could at most punch a hole in a wall of the same building, and that with several hits and taking quite a while.
The monster literally measured more than an average house, measuring about the size of a 2-story building. Its blows shattered everything and the "old man" blocking them was forced to retreat with each blow.
Occasionally Viktor would glance that way, as they walked carefully avoiding as many golems as possible and guiding the civilians.
From the civilians' conversations, Viktor learned a bit about their situation.
He was quite lucky that he was no longer a regular civilian...He began to feel quite empathetic towards them.
In particular, it struck him how a little girl was going hungry and her sister was sacrificing so much for her.
He felt bad thinking about what would happen if he was in this situation.Would he help his family like this despite sacrificing himself?He probably would, but he would also feel bad, hopeless.
'I don't know...For now I'm going to help them in the ways I can.'
Looking towards the fight, he realized that he still didn't know how to use the new function of his vision well, but it was getting better with time. It didn't seem hard to learn, as if it was second nature, a natural reflex that he just had to learn to control.
Some time later, the first group of golems caught up with them...
Heavy as they were, their blows seemed to exceed the normal strength of the same level.
But their slow speed and their weakness, their mana core, still made them vulnerable.
They had to fight. Civilians would be involved if they turned and ran. They might be heavy but the destruction caused by a golem's fist, or worse, when they threw things, would inevitably involve civilians who were slow, tired and hungry.
It was relatively easy to defeat them successfully.
Viktor charged with his ax, cutting through the mud that covered his mana core, which varied in position between golem, always being a glowing part on his body, making it easy to find.
These 3 had their cores in their chest, leg and...ass.
Respecting this, the family and soldiers broke their chest, leg and of course, the last one had his ass broken.
***
It was night, 2 hours had passed since they started walking.
The civilians were very tired, the soldiers and the family, even more.
They had fought with golems for hours and were already tired, so they decided to make camp.
Too bad that the night in the wilderness in a post-apocalyptic world with mana would not be the most peaceful place to rest...