706: Those Who Took Part in the War Earned Glory; Those Who Watched Were Worthy Only of Humiliation

The nightmarish night had finally ended. As sunlight spilled across the land at dawn, the last group of defenders to evacuate Blackflame Pass finally set out, their hearts heavy with conflicting emotions.

When the Astral Rift tore open, they had barely escaped being caught in it.

Like the gnolls who had tried to flee the disaster, they had stumbled all the way to safety in a desperate, panicked run. They had spent three grueling hours in "New Megeva," the village where the shadow elves had stayed earlier, and had witnessed almost the entire process, from the opening of the great Astral Rift to its eventual stabilization.

The pale light descending from the sky and the chaotic currents from the Astral Plane had formed an "energy waterfall" cascading down from the heavens. That bizarre sight would be etched into the soldiers' memories, never to be forgotten until the day they died.

They had not merely witnessed a spectacular phenomenon. It had also foretold that everything familiar to them in this land had vanished without a trace. The completely devastated positions were proof that the old days would never return.

The soldiers' memories of Blackflame Pass stopped at the moment it was destroyed.

Whether they had loved it or hated it, it was gone.

By the time the soldiers left at dawn, they had little morale left. Most were in exceptionally low spirits, but there was hardly any time for them to recover.

They could not even get a short but restful sleep. Shadowvale, the second line of defense, could not accommodate so many people, and the Cadman People's Army troops stationed there could offer the soldiers little more than food and water.

Captain Paula's airship was waiting in the valley.

A large portion of the soldiers evacuated from Blackflame Pass would