"What do you mean, you're level 35?!" All of them exclaimed when Matthew told them.

They were now patrolling the city center near the innermost section of the invasion area where the Howling Spear's headquarters were and also the center of the gate above the city.

Gunfire and explosions were heard all around them with some screams in between. If they looked up, they could often see military helicopters coming and going together with an occasional fighter jet passing by.

The area around the headquarters was marked by the military as a red zone. A zone where they would only accept the help of adventurers level 20 and above. That excluded most of them, save for Faynn and Matthew.

When Vanessa told the others about her real intentions there, all of them offered to help her with no hesitation. That's when the talk about a plan to infiltrate the Howling Spear headquarter began and when Matthew revealed his level to the others.

"I don't believe this." Tina said taking out a ring from her Inventory. "Put this on, show us."

Matthew did as told. He put on the ring that revealed to the others his own stat screen. However, when he put it on, his Secrecy skill activated and only an empty screen appeared.

"Sorry about that. I have the Secrecy skill now. Let me see if I can turn it off." Matthew said while fiddling with the ring and trying to find within himself how to deactivate a Passive Skill.

It took a score of seconds, but Matthew finally discovered how to. He concentrated and soon his screen was visible to everybody.

They all looked incredulous at what they were seeing.

"You got Miko?" Tina said surprised.

"I see you have Shadow." Faynn said with a smile.

"I got so many classes and different skills that sometimes I forget some of them. You got to teach me how to properly use Shadow Form someday, Faynn." Matthew said a bit embarrassed by all the attention.

"We can talk about all that later." Mia said. She was a bit distant ever since Matthew and Faralynn started dating. "We're in a war zone." She added.

"She's right." Vanessa said taking the ring from Matthew and giving it back to Tina. "Now that we know it's true, let's keep moving."

While they walked around the city checking buildings and alleyways for survivors, they met several imps and some dretches. The girls fought the demons with vigor while Faynn and Matthew just watched over them from the rear.

"You ok, Matt?" Faynn asked seeing that he was trembling a bit.

"Kinda." Matthe answered with a forced smile. "It's still hard to face them… After all that we went through."

"I see. Can you do it? When it's needed?" Faynn asked not judging him.

"I can." Matthew assured her and nodded to Faralynn who was just decapitating an imp with her sword clad in holy mana. "How can she do it so easily?" He asked to Faynn.

"She was a mess when you two came out. Much worse than you." Faynn said while impaling an imp with a shadow spike that was sneaking behind them. "It took a lot for her to get over that trauma. She's still not all out, but she's well. How she did it? I don't know. She had a shrink, she took some medicine… But it was her. She's very strong, like her mother."

Mathew kept watching his girlfriend fighting with admiration in his eyes. He hoped he could also fight like that when needed.

Lost in this thought, he was called back to reality by Faynn. She poked his shoulder and pointed towards a building.

"I sense civilians in there." She said.

"I'll go. Stay and watch over them." Matthew said running inside the building she pointed.

Now that he was inside, he could feel the civilians. They were in 3. One adult and two children. Or just small people. All he could tell with his Sense Others skill was the size of the person, not gender nor age. They were on the 7th floor.

Matthew ran upstairs as fast as he could when he felt some imps flying towards the building. When Matthew got the door of the apartment, he hesitated. He froze in front of the door. His mind started to play tricks on him.

He saw himself opening the door and seeing a dozens of bodies in there with blood scattered all over the place. He could hear the imps singing. He could smell the blood and the stench of the dretches.

Matthew started to hyperventilate again. Ffyr caressed his face.

"Matt. It's all in your head. You got to move." She said gently. "Snap out of it."

Matthew could hear her, but his mind didn't process what she was saying. He looked back at the stairs. He thought about running away. Going back to his family. To somewhere away from those demons.

Then he heard the sound of a window breaking. Screams from inside.

"MATT!" Ffyr screamed at him, but he did nothing.

The screams inside got louder.

"Mom! They're in here!" A child's voice could be heard.

"MOM!!!" Another child screamed.

The second child sounded a lot like Sarah, when she was a kid. That scream invaded Matthew's mind bringing Sarah's face to him. He saw her in there covered in blood with a blank stare. Her body naked and abused.

Ffyr prepared to enter the apartment on her own while Matthew was stunned in place. But, just when she turned ethereal to fly through the door, Matthew kicked the door down, drew his blade and dashed inside. With a few steps and precise strikes he killed the three imps that went inside.

He looked around. No one was hurt. Other the window and the imps bodies and blood, the apartment was clean and in order. He looked at the mother using her body to shield her children. A boy and a girl.

When Matthew looked at the girl, all he could see was the face of Sarah on the child's.

The mother slowly got up looking at Matthew who was looking stunned at her daughter.

"T-thank you." The mother said still scared a bit confused about Matthew's behavior.

The daughter got close to her mother, and hiding behind her, she peeked her head to the side and said:

"You saved us. You stopped them."

You saved us.

There were no dead there. He saved them.

You stopped them.

Matthew looked at his hands. He had the power to stop them. He could stop them.

He laughed using Purification on himself to avoid the demonic mana coming forth.

He didn't need to be afraid. It is as his father said. He had the power to not let it happen again. He looked at the red gate from the broken window. He could stop them.

"Sir?" The mother of the children called to him when he didn't say anything.

"He's dealing with some things." Ffyr said flying towards the family.

The children opened huge smiles after seeing the fairy.

"Mom! Look! It's a fairy. We were saved by a fairy!" The boy said pointing at Ffyr and jumping in place.

"We should come down. My party and I will escort you and your family to a safe zone." Matthew said sheathing his sword. "And sorry about that. I got a bit distracted."

Matthew took the family downstairs where his party was resting after defeating a demon raiding party.

"Just the three of them?" Tina asked.

"I couldn't feel anyone else inside." Matthew said.

"There isn't anyone else." Faynn said.

"I got scared when the evacuation order came. I thought I would be safe in my home." The mother said almost in tears. "I'm sorry." She said to her children.

"Let's move. There's a safe zone 13 blocks that way." Vanessa said looking at her phone that held the map.

As they walked to the safe zone, they walked slowly and carefully. Hiding from demons to avoid fighting and putting the civilians at risk. Also searching for more stragglers.

They found a homeless person who refused to with them. An old lady who couldn't walk properly and had no one to help her to the safe zone. A man who refused to leave without his 2 cats. And an injured adventurer who they healed and took with them.

When they arrived at the blue zone, the old lady, the family of three, the man and his 2 cats and the adventurer were taken to a building that was surrounded with a magic wall to protect those inside.

The army offered them mana potions and healing potions and gave them a place to rest for a while before returning to the field.

However, Matthew never had that luck.

An explosion took down one of the anti-air machine guns sending waves that made the small tent they were resting in shake violently.

"Incoming!" They heard someone scream.

"Enemy attack! All men to your posts!" Someone gave the order.

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