Chapter 92: Outside in Chaos III

Leon found Lex , approaching him.

"I need you to send a message," Leon said, getting his attention.

"What is it?"

"I’m going to use my summons to get people out. Tell the other summoners they’re friendly, I don’t want someone attacking them when they come around a corner."

Lex glanced towards the Great Swordsman pulling another passenger from a car.

"Through the emergency channel?"

"As widely as you can."

Lex nodded and called over a responder carrying a working radio. The man asked Leon what the summons looked like before passing the warning along, while Leon returned to the verge. Of course, the only description needed to be passed was skeletons.

By then the Skirmishers had already brought up the people trapped below the road, while the Swordsman handed another passenger over to two workers.

Leon directed all three undead towards the supply vehicle before Lex called him back a few minutes later.

"It’s gone through dispatch. They’ve relayed it to every summoner team and repeated it on the local channels," he explained.

"Good."

"Keep them away from the fighting if you can."

"I will."

Lex turned when one of the medics asked for help. Leon waited until another responder took over near the vehicle before returning his three summons to his summoner’s space.

There were still people trapped farther down the road, closer to the city, and probably within the city.

Leon found a bike parked there with the key and all still on, about a 350cc motorcycle . He pulled it upright and checked the wheels for a moment before getting on.

The Leon born in this world might never have ridden a motorcycle, but he had, not often enough to call himself a biker or anything close, but he knew how to use the clutch and throttle, which was all that mattered at the moment.

The engine started on the second attempt, and with support from his legs, thankfully he was tall, Leon carefully moved between the stationary cars. There wasn’t enough space for him to move quickly, but the motorcycle still allowed him to get around the traffic better than any car would have.

Once he was in the clear, he sped off. He rode towards the city, passing people heading in the opposite direction. Whenever he reached an obstruction, he slowed down and checked the road beyond it before continuing.

Smoke covered the roofs ahead of him. Something struck farther inside the city with enough force to send a dull vibration through the handlebars as he kept going, but he didn’t stop.

After a while, he turned onto a side street where fewer people were evacuating. Part of a shopfront had collapsed across the pavement, cars were abandoned beneath a damaged traffic light, and someone was shouting from the next block.

He stopped beside a delivery entrance and switched off the motorcycle.

There was no one close enough to watch him.

’All right.’ He thought to himself.

Leon reached into his summoner’s space and pulled out his summons.

The two Great Swordsmen appeared first, followed by the Skeleton Mage. Nineteen Desert Skirmishers filled the space around them, each carrying a pair of sickle-shaped blades. Following them were twenty-five Skeleton Warriors, before the final three Skeleton Archers appeared with their bows lowered.

Fifty undead now stood across the street and delivery yard.

Only the two Great Swordsmen and the Mage were Grade Three. The Skirmishers were Grade Two Peak, while the Warriors and Archers were Grade One Peak.

It was an impressive number of summons, but most of them had no business fighting whatever was causing those impacts beyond the buildings.

Fortunately, fighting wasn’t what Leon needed them for.

"Rescue work. Get people out of any cars or buildings you can safely reach. Carry those who can’t walk and clear small obstacles," Leon instructed before adding, "Don’t remove anything supporting a roof." He couldn’t say for sure everyone of them understood perfectly, but he at least believed they understood the crucial parts.

"Go." He pointed towards the evacuation road. "Take everyone that way and hand them over to the people directing the evacuation."

The closest Warriors immediately turned towards the route.

"You two," He called back a few Skirmishers, "check the streets ahead and find safe paths. Guide the others through and stay away from anything too strong."

He kept one Swordsman beside himself and sent the other with the first group of Warriors.

"Mage, you’re with me. Protect the people wherever we stop."

He looked over the undead once more. "If you find anything you can’t handle, get the people away from it."

The summons spread out after that.

The first group of Warriors reached a car that had crashed into a lamp post. One held the damaged frame while another pulled at the door. A third crouched beside the broken window and reached towards the woman trapped inside.

She screamed the moment she saw it.

"It’s helping!" Leon shouted. "Let it get you out!"

The woman looked towards him, then back at the skeleton.

Before she could decide whether to trust it, the damaged door was torn off completely. Her expression changed once she saw the opening beside her.

Farther down the pavement, four Warriors lifted a fallen metal shutter high enough for a man to crawl out from beneath it.

"My wife," he said as soon as he was clear, pointing behind himself. "She’s still—"

Two Skirmishers immediately slipped through the opening.

Leon remained where he could see both the shop and the junction. His connection gave him an idea of what his summons were doing, but it wasn’t like he could close his eyes and suddenly see through fifty different sets of eyes.

He had already given them their orders.

For now, he needed to trust that they could follow them.

One of the Skirmishers returned from the junction and pointed towards a lane on the left.

"Clear?"

The undead inclined its skull.

"Use that one."

The first group of civilians entered the lane behind a Skeleton Warrior. One of the Archers remained near the rear, turning its skull toward every opening they passed.

A local summoner came running from the opposite direction.

He stopped and raised his weapon when he saw the undead.

"Friendly!" Leon shouted.

The man looked toward him.

"The evacuation summons?"

"Yes. Take them through."

The man lowered his weapon, eyes glued on the skeletons.

"Keep left at the end. There’s a pickup point behind the workshop."

Leon repeated the instruction to the summons nearest him and pointed in the direction the man had given.

The summoner stared at the growing line of skeletons before turning to help one of the limping civilians.

’So much for keeping that quiet.’ Leon said in his mind, even though he wasn’t expecting to hold the secret anymore. He could already imagine the aftermath, he just didn’t want to deal with it before.

A Warrior emerged from the shop carrying a woman against its chest. Another followed with a boy holding tightly onto its shoulders.

More people began leaving nearby buildings when they saw the others being taken out.

Leon sent another group of Warriors down the next line of cars.

Within minutes, the undead were carrying out rescue work in several places at once. Warriors carried stretchers made from whatever the responders could provide. Skirmishers ran ahead, checked the spaces between wrecked vehicles, then returned to guide the groups through. Others climbed over the accessible rubble to reach people calling from the other side.

They left the heavier slabs alone.

Whenever part of a roof had settled onto a damaged wall, Leon sent the undead toward another entrance instead of letting them pull at anything supporting it.

A crash came from the junction.

Leon turned in time to see a Warrior thrown across the road, its bones scattering beneath a parked car.

A second Warrior followed as a plated creature forced its way through the narrow gap behind it.

The Swordsman accompanying that group pulled back immediately. It placed itself beside the civilians instead of trying to fight the monster. One of the Skirmishers caught a man by his sleeve and dragged him into the lane.

A local summoner attacked the creature from the other side.

"Get them out!" She shouted.

Leon sent the remaining Warriors after the civilians. The Swordsman remained long enough to stop the last person from stumbling back into the road before withdrawing with them.

Leon couldn’t see the two fallen Warriors beneath the wreckage.

They hadn’t even slowed the creature down.

Near the next building, the Mage raised a barrier across a narrow entrance while civilians moved behind it. Fragments fell from above, struck the surface, and bounced onto the pavement.

The Swordsman beside Leon shifted a damaged scooter away from the doorway.

That gave two Warriors enough room to carry an injured man through.

A Fire Arrow wouldn’t have made that any faster.

Leon continued with the rescued group, leaving the motorcycle where he had parked it. Every few steps, someone pointed toward another person who needed help.

He sent summons wherever he could see a use for them, having to do more handson management because of all the chaos. Still, a larger number functioned on their own.

Two Skirmishers carried an elderly man between them. Six Warriors cleared a route through fallen shelves at the front of a small store. One Archer put its bow away and supported a woman by the arm while she followed her children.

Responders took the injured from them at the workshop pickup point.

The summons turned back for more.

People were getting through.

Leon could see them gathering behind the workshop wall, beyond the blocked road that would have trapped them before. A responder waved another group forward while a driver cleared space inside a van.

"Back! Everyone back!"

Something heavy struck the far end of the street.