Chapter 98 – Evolution, Not Corruption (6)
“…”
The emergency council desperately summoned, including the executives of the Mage Association in Menace.
The atmosphere was heavy with despair. Chairman Dark, along with Roses, who was glancing nervously beside him, and the other legislators and Academy President, were all at a loss for words.
The reason was simple. It hadn’t even been two days since monsters infiltrated Menace, resulting in a staggering 356 civilian casualties, 46 knights and 12 mages killed, and then they escaped.
“I can’t believe it. Do you know how many urgent support requests came in last night? The communication network was nearly overloaded. There have been reported cases exceeding 3,000! The cities and towns in the attacked southwest are around the same number.”
“Is this even possible?! What kind of monsters could strike over 3,000 places at once?!”
A few legislators finally lost their temper. Most of their gazes were directed at a single point.
Roses flinched under their scrutinizing looks. Thanks to the severity of the situation, Austin, who had gained recognition, was once again providing information while exposing Roses’ blunders.
“Stealing and using magic, and in numbers exceeding tens of thousands?! Their power is incomparable to the calamities that once dominated this world. It could have all been stopped early, but you’ve squandered that opportunity, Roses! Is it true that this is your doing?!”
“Y-You’re being loud! I was just…”
“Everyone calm down. What’s important right now is not this nonsense.”
Chairman Dark cut off Roses, who had flared up. While his intention was to protect Roses, the other legislators flinched at Dark’s imposing demeanor, which he didn’t attempt to hide.
Though he was previously renowned as a genius, his recently emanated aura of authority had intensified beyond measure.
“In this situation, I may have been born after that time, but some of you may know. The fierce days of fighting against the descendants of the Dragonkin. And I dare say we cannot claim that our current predicament is better than those times.”
“That statement is absolutely correct.”
Austin nodded grimly. They had fought desperately, ultimately having to leave their homeland and carve out a new world.
But now, things were different. The mere fact that they had settled here was close to a miracle. They no longer had the means to depart elsewhere.
“We must fight. We must survive.”
Above all, Chairman Dark could not afford to back down. The enemies were units, and the purpose of a unit is to stand at the pinnacle of the world.
Somewhere, units might collaborate with other units to kill each other, but the problem was that Dark, who had held the hegemony of the continent from the very beginning, had found and eliminated all other units early on.
Even if there were units that had survived under his radar, it didn’t seem likely they would provide any meaningful assistance.
“So what now? If an estimated hundreds of millions of monsters surge at once, we won’t be able to hold out!”
“Are you just going to sit there and take it? We must mobilize all our resources to stop them! For now, we must expand and accelerate the evacuation orders that are already in effect!”
Fortunately, even without Dark’s prodding, people rallied together, declaring they would fight. It was as if they had drawn a line in the sand.
The enemy was too overwhelming for anyone to entertain any thoughts of retreat.
‘If we can stop them, that is.’
The sky and the earth were the enemies’ playgrounds. To defend all those areas would require astronomical amounts of power.
Dark observed the other legislators discussing defensive plans with a cold gaze.
When the intensity of the meeting briefly waned, Dark discreetly called someone.
“Chairman, what is it…”
“We need to open the gate.”
“The gate? Where will we open it?”
Marcus, the Academy President of Ardos Academy who handles the gate, flinched at Dark’s words about needing to open it.
“REDRIUM.”
“…What?”
Hearing Dark’s words, he was horrified.
REDRIUM, their homeland, now a hell they could never return to.
“If those terrible lizards and the monsters of the abyss kill each other, wouldn’t that be our victory?”
“That, that won’t do!”
A frightened Marcus shook his head vigorously. He knew very well what kind of place that was, having heard countless times from his master.
One of the main duties of Ardos Academy was to meticulously manage the fissures already formed with REDRIUM so that they wouldn’t worsen. That was their mission.
“Absolutely not.”
The young Academy President Marcus’s will was resolute. Dark simply remained silent afterward, glaring at him.
“Well. Fine then.”
And he turned sharply.
Of course, his face twisted in a grimace as he turned away.
“Roses. I need to see you for a moment.”
Immediately afterward, he summoned Roses. With his weakness firmly identified due to this incident, Roses could only follow his orders with a groan.
“What do you mean by that? You want me to gather a thousand healthy people?”
“You don’t need to know the details. Just carry it out as I said.”
“Ugh…”
Dark dragged Roses into a corner, his eyes glaring openly. Roses’ gaze trembled at the sight of his prominent fangs.
“Please don’t be frustrating. You must understand! This is a survival competition. Only one peak will remain alive in this ruthless competition! Am I doing this for power? I’m struggling to survive! In the process, I’ll also save your lot! If you can’t help, then at least don’t hinder me!”
“Ah, I understand…”
In a moment of outburst, Dark grabbed the hesitating Roses by the collar and roughly shook him.
His coarse actions revealed the extreme stress he was experiencing as a unit.
Although he was usually arrogant and sinister, he was now very different from the past when he didn’t cross the line.
“Are you going to use your Execution Authority, Vice President? Unfortunately, that won’t be of any use to me.”
“I-I had no such intention.”
“Then go gather people as I said. Since the Academy President of Ardos won’t cooperate, there’s nothing I can do. I will have to consume that ability myself.”
Now revealing his intent to kill openly, he left and returned to the meeting hall.
Left alone, Roses slumped down to the floor, painfully aware of the immense pressure he was feeling these days.
*
“What is happening?!”
“Legislator! Right now, above the city… Aaaah!”
At the moment Dark was shaking Roses by the collar, the meeting hall—or rather, the entire city of Menace—was shaking.
Austin, who rushed in with the other legislators, was left speechless as he looked up at the sky.
The protective barrier was cracking as if it would break at any moment, and a massive shockwave was rippling through it.
” One more is coming!”
“Long-range magic artillery?! But how can it be this powerful?!”
In the meantime, another flash shot across the sky and struck the city once more.
Beside Austin, an elderly Academy President named Seidel, whose back was bent, gaped in horror at the power of the magic.
“We must… we must respond…”
The usually composed elder Seidel stuttered. Instinctively thinking of a response, he couldn’t even pinpoint where it was being fired from.
“Everyone, calm down! First, we need the eyes of the mages!”
Austin, who regained his composure the quickest, commanded the mages.
The mages hurriedly gathered and began casting the magic known as the Eyes of the Mage, capable of surveying the distant areas.
Austin also lent a hand.
“What is that…”
However, what appeared before the spell’s enlightened eyes were a group of black creatures hovering far away in the sky.
Their appearance resembled the monsters that were plunging the entire continent into crisis.
Among them, a prominent figure with a staff, golden hair flowing in the wind, began to approach towards them as the magic circle dissipated.
Realizing its intent was to fire the long-range artillery, Austin gritted his teeth. It was certain that they intended to shoot from long distance.
They all raised their staves in a synchronized motion, and simultaneously activated their magic circles.
“Those arrogant…!”
“How dare they!”
The mages, now able to see the black dot above with the naked eye, erupted in outrage. It was an action that completely trampled on their already crumpled pride.
“Reinforce the barrier more!”
“Hurry! If we amplify it momentarily, we should be able to block it!”
They rushed to communicate with the defensive towers to increase the barrier, even forcing more resources to bear down on it.
But despite their efforts, the limits of the defense system, which hadn’t faced any intrusion until now, could not be raised too high.
“Uaaah!”
Ultimately, the increased power of the long-range artillery shattered the protective barrier over the sacred capital city of Menace, as the mages maintaining the barrier were sent flying, vomiting blood from the backlash.
“…Who are you?”
While others were panicking and at a loss, Austin locked eyes on ‘it.’
It too had fixed its gaze on him. Instantly sensing something from its golden hair fluttering in the wind, Austin’s heart ached sharply.
“It’s artillery! Counter it with gunfire!”
“To shoot straight at this distance… cough.”
The enemies began casting magic again, initiating a massive bombardment.
Response was impossible. They were too far to shoot straight. There was no time to calculate for an indirect hit.
The bombardment randomly blew up parts of the city with no mercy or acknowledgment, leaving the people with the only choice to either scream and flee or be burnt alive.
Austin shut his eyes tightly. For some reason, he felt a deep sense of resentment emanating from the shells flying towards him.
