After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World - Chapter 580

Chapter 580: Shaken
Micheal and his team comprising of people from Bright were particularly passionate about the torture of Fargo’s men they could get to. They didn’t bother taking hostages though, as they knew Fargo wouldn’t care.

Gochi and Fufi were also causing major damage. They took advantage of the loss of momentum caused by Belize’s death, closely followed by several others like Sen and Uzon.

Fargo’s eyes turned red as he was left with a few higher-level aborigines, but otherwise surrounded by Alterans. He sent earth spikes around him stabbing several people, but his attack had been weakened after so long and those hit were only a bit injured.

Most of his men had fallen and never would Fargo imagine this war would go in this direction—ever!

Except for a handful of mercenaries that found their way there, the only strong ones remaining were men by the names of Aka and Okra, level 17 and a level 20 mercenary, respectively.

They had been doing the bare minimum all this time—simply defending and blocking serious attacks from Fargo. While they enjoyed pushing Alterans and were indeed itching to hurt them, they knew the penalty for doing so would be too heavy and they didn’t bother to risk it.

Alterans knew they wouldn’t attack (for now) either so they focused their energies on the more direct threats, which slowly but surely trimmed the forces around him until they were surrounded.

Worse, that woman was also targeting them! Fortunately, she didn’t have any mana anymore and her attacks were basically normal, allowing the men around him to still defend him against the attacks.

But what would happen when she recovered? Even if it wouldn’t reach him, it could reach his guards. If this kept up, their remaining part of agreement would be null and he had no doubt they would abandon him at a moment’s notice!

Damnit!

Fargo saw they were useless, gritted his teeth, and opened up the panel, and a few moments later, an announcement echoed across the territory [Anyone who gives the lord a head of the enemy would receive 10 gold each!]

Then, he added with a dark glint in his eyes. [Anyone who kills enemies can free a slave of their choice!]

This was far higher than the previous offer and, unlike the chaos outside, the ones in the interior walls were less likely to go against Fargo as well.

The people flinched and some reluctantly emerged from their houses. However, most didn’t want to join death and remained hidden.

There were still hundreds of people who emerged though. All houses had several people living inside, and it would only take a few to inspire the others to go as a group—after all, it was less terrifying with other people.

They looked terrified and held on to their weapons shakily, but their overall number was not small. Group by group they emerged from the houses, giving the Alterans a closer look at the people they’d be dealing with.

They looked much worse than the leading party with their thinness and tattered clothes, but they were still doing a bit better than those outside where most people lived in shanties.

Among these people, there were those who jumped at the chance because it meant saving their family!

After they left the threshold of their houses, they immediately went to attack the closest Alterans, shaking the formation by virtue of their numbers.

Althea looked at the ‘battlefield’ below her. The battlefield, except for a small plaza area, was basically a network of streets and avenues. Those people who went out could basically enter their formation, some of whom coming from the back.

Of course, these people were weak and scared and didn’t stand a chance against hers, but it was still a distraction Fargo and the remaining enemies used.

The number of people Fargo’s men stabbed while Alterans were distracted was not small.

There were also some who were on the second floor, refusing to get out of the safety of their houses, but they still threw things down in hopes that it could kill someone.

She didn’t have a view of the other areas, but there should also be other people going out of their houses to take their chances as well.

There were also others who got a bit creative with their attacks on them.

For instance, she saw a door open with a middle-aged man with a crew cut leading it.

With his housemates, they tried pulling in a few weakened Alterans. Unfortunately for them, Alteran’s teamwork was strong and they were immediately kicked back.

However, they kept standing up to fight—especially that middle-aged man, and he was obviously desperate despite feeling extremely heavy in doing so.

This was Basil. He knew the Alterans were not bad people as he had been watching them for a while, but what could he do? He was only fighting to get his father back.

Althea didn’t know this yet, but she had seen their expressions—they were just… helpless and trying to survive. She cursed at how low Fargo was—how could he push people to go against their conscience like this!

Not to mention: She didn’t know what the announcement was, but she could bet Fargo was not planning on keeping his side of the deal.

She took out a non-electric amplifier, which worked well enough in the area as everyone had improved hearing anyway.

“People of Fargo, we are from Altera Village! We will take down this territory that made so many of you suffer,” she said. “Don’t fight us! You will be free!”

“There will be no slaves in Altera!” She knew it would be difficult to convince them about this. After all, they would lose their freedom and their money once they become slaves. “I don’t know what Fargo promised you, but you should know by now what kind of man he is! Would he really meet his side of the deal?”

This made a lot of people pause. 5 gold per kill or the freedom of a slave was not cheap. They doubted Fargo would be willing to let go of that money if he had it!

It was more likely they’d die ‘mysteriously’ so they didn’t have to be ‘paid’!

However, they were truly afraid of Fargo. If he saw them back out, he’d definitely torture them once this was over! However, her words definitely weakened the enemies’ attacks and the Alterans made sure not to hurt them too much.

Still guarded heavily from whatever attacks came his way, Fargo frowned at the lack of momentum on his side.

“Releasing a slave from the system cost 5 gold! Do you really think anyone would free you?!”

Althea frowned, not to lose. She had heard of this condition and—while she definitely was not willing to pay tens of thousands out of her own pocket to free slaves from the ‘system’—it didn’t mean she wouldn’t be able to give them freedom in her own capacity!

“In Altera, you will be able to afford it! Even if you are slaves in name, you will not be treated as such—you will be given agency so you can buy your own freedom!”

“As an elder in Altera, I can swear to it!”

Obviously, listening to the enemy was never wise, but Althea simply had the quality that made people want to believe her and believe in her.

At some point, some people stopped attacking completely.

They wondered: Would it really be alright to just… believe?