The first sign that something was wrong was a slight tremor that rocked the underground complex. It was so miniscule that hardly anyone noticed, what with the vibrations generated from electronic equipment and the mighty buzzing of advanced enchantments that served as protection over the vault-cavern housing the Holy Spring.
Then the walls began to crack.
"?!"
All security personnel were mobilized and brought to high alert. Weapons were drawn. Spells were cast. Non-combat staff began to evacuate to underground shelters built within the complex.
It was those shelters that were first compromised.
The tunnels that had served as escape routes for refugees had been burrowed through, and huge creatures emerged, crawling into the shelters and overrunning the non-combat staff who had evacuated there. The combat personnel had no clue what had happened until several of the victims came screaming toward them and pointing toward the shelters.
And then all hell broke loose.
"Fall back! I said, fall back!"
"To the lobby! We'll create a barricade there!"
"Where is my fire support?!"
"Sector 2A! We're being overrun here! We need reinforcements! Immediately! ARGH!"
"Man down! Man down! Where is the healer?! UGH!"
"HELP!"
"Save me!"
"Please…please…please don't eat me…AAAAAAAH!"
The security staff were experienced and elite mages who graduated from the top academies of Jing Tian City. They gave as good as they got, and wreaked a horrifying toll on the monstrous invaders. Dozens, if not hundreds of monsters were slain in the first hour.
But the monsters' numbers seemed limitless. Over a thousand of them were crawling out of the woodwork, and they were high-ranked. Rank D and rank C monsters were creeping out, unleashing lightning or ravaging fleeing mages with massive claws and teeth. Worse, they were stronger than usual, their aura tinged red.
It was almost as if they were doped…enhanced with steroids.
Slowly but surely, the weight of numbers shifted the advantage toward the monsters and the defenders began to fall. Their morale, already suffering a devastating blow when over a hundred non-combat staff died in the first few minutes, massacred by the rank E Lycanthropes and rank D Dire Wolves that had burrowed through the tunnel, took another hit when scores of elite mages fell to the horde of rank C Thunder Wolves that followed. The combined might of an Elemental class pack was more than enough to electrify the remaining survivors who endured the onslaught from countless Dire Wolves and Lycanthropes from the first wave.
It took five hours for the two hundred staff in the underground complex to fall.
Worse, they were not the only ones. All over Jing Tian City, monsters were emerging from the sewers. Rank E Cyclops Rats burst through manholes and scurried about, lunging at screaming civilians and massacring them. In their wake, Lycanthropes and Dire Wolves followed from larger underground tunnels and complexes, emerging in carparks or shopping malls and tearing a swathe of blood and bone through the fleeing masses.
The entire city became a scene of carnage, even as mages began to mobilize and fight back. Scattered and caught by surprise, they were unable to form a coherent fighting force, and isolated pockets of resistance were slowly being wiped out one by one, the usually more powerful mages being overwhelmed by sheer numbers and slain after grinding battles of attrition.
While the city fell, I was still blissfully unaware, training in the underground Holy Spring with my Constellation spirits and new swords.
*
"It's finally been a week, huh? Time is finally up."
Stretching myself, I dismissed all of my Constellation spirits and sheathed my swords. Creaking my neck to the side and rotating my arms to make sure they were still working, I approached the door of the vault.
"Okay, I'm done…I think."
I was half-expecting someone to let me out, but nothing happened. No one opened the door to check on me and tell me that time was up. I scowled, wondering if I should just return to training until someone came in and interrupted me.
Come to think of it, they never told me the exact time when my training session would expire. Perhaps midnight tonight? If that was the case, then I could spend some more time training. It would be a waste not to maximize my chance with the Holy Spring.
Just when I thought that, the vault door slid open and blockhead staggered in. blood was streaming down his forehead, and he looked half-dead. His entire left side was drenched in blood, and his left arm was dangling uselessly at the side.
"Sir! Are you all right?"
"Get back!" he ordered. Stumbling into the cavern, he spun around and slapped his remaining hand on the panel. The door ground close, but not before I heard inhuman howls and terrified screams from outside.
"What the hell?!"
"The complex is under attack by monsters." Blockhead wasted no time and began explaining. "They got in through the underground tunnels normally used as escape routes for the shelters, and began invading en masse. We fought back, but there's too many of them."
His expression turned grim as his eyes wandered over to the Holy Spring behind us.
"We can't let them get hold of the Holy Spring. If they break through those doors…"
Wham!
Both of us flinched as something massive slammed into the reinforced doors, denting it. I could hear a horrifying screech as something tore against the metal.
"We can make our stand here." I gestured toward the Holy Spring. "The Holy Spring provides unlimited amount of mana. I can summon all my Constellation spirits and fight the monsters off here. I should be able to hold out until they get wiped out, or reinforcements arrive."
"There will be no reinforcements." Blockhead shook his head solemnly. "We received reports from all over. The whole city is under attack. Monsters are emerging from the sewers, from underground, and they are flooding the city. We are on our own."
Then he glanced back at the door.
"And while we will benefit from the Holy Spring's mana, the same goes for the monsters. With their sheer numbers, the moment they get hold of unlimited mana from the Holy Spring, they'll overwhelm us with their numerical superiority eventually. I don't suppose you have over a thousand Constellation spirits, do you?"
"…no." At most I could summon three hundred Constellation spirits, but…a thousand? There were a thousand monsters invading the underground complex? "Where the fuck did they come from?"
"…the Dark Church." Blockhead stared at me, his mouth set thinly. "They must be behind this."
"The Dark Church?" I repeated incredulously. "What the fuck are they supposed to be? Why not just call themselves the Black Vatican and ask me to start being a Versatile Mage if you're going to start ripping off other stories?"
Blockhead ignored me. "They are a criminal organization that…seeks to use monsters and Emergence events as a way to trigger Armageddon. They desire the fall of humanity and the destruction of the world. Their apostles view themselves as the chosen ones, the only humans permitted to survive the Apocalypse and lead the remnants of humanity to a new world."
That definitely sounded like some dodgy doomsday cult. I guess you would have that in every era.
"Worst…they aren't religious or anything. If anything, their beliefs are based off scientific principles. The superior biological engineering of monsters. The pollution caused by humans and the mass extinction events we caused. Their desire for power. They wish to tap into the untapped potential of the other dimension and turn themselves into…gods, for a lack of a better word."
As if he had read my mind, blockhead continued elaborating. I honestly couldn't care less their reasons for founding the cult. I was more interested in stopping them and destroying the bloody organization. I mean, seriously, who the fuck wanted to side with monsters and kill other humans?
A group of deranged psychopaths, that was for sure.
"So what do we do? You essentially locked us up in here. It won't be long before they break through the gates."
As if to prove my point, the reinforced metal caved in as something massive smashed against it. Another thunderous howl echoed behind the thick layer of metal that served as our sole protection against the monsters outside.
"I'm sorry to drag you into this…but I'll need your help. You're probably the only one we can trust at this moment."
Taking a deep breath, blockhead proceeded toward the Holy Spring, his right hand reaching into his ruined blazer.
"Don't tell me you're going to take out a magical bottle and then suck all of the Holy Spring into it, and then request for me to bring the Holy Spring to safety…probably General Jiang Jun from the northern fortress or something?"
"How the hell do you know all that?!"
Blockhead stared at me incredulously, even as he retrieved the tiny magical bottle that I accused him of having. His eyes narrowed in suspicion, and then he shook his head.
"No, if you're a spy who intended to steal the Holy Spring, you would have done that a long time ago."
"Why would I steal the Holy Spring in the first place?" I asked, annoyed. Blockhead raised an eyebrow, as if to say I had just asked an incredibly stupid question.
"You know how valuable this Holy Spring is? How much power it contains? Unlimited mana, you know? Well…" he glanced at his bottle. "That unlimited mana and its holy properties will be sealed when contained inside this bottle. You need to let it out into an actual spring for it to actually exert its effects."
"Good to know," I replied. "So you really want me to bring this to General Jiang?"
"That is correct." Blockhead was kneeling by the side of the Holy Spring and placing the bottle on the surface. "He is probably the only one we can trust now, and the one safest place. He is extremely powerful, you know."
"I know…I've met him."
"Then you should know why I'm asking you to entrust the Holy Spring to him. The enemy won't be able to take it from someone as strong as him."
"Even if you say that…how do I get it to him?" I glanced around the cavern, and then winced as something slammed against the metallic door again. The door was slowly being bent out of shape, its creaking hinges (at least I think they were hinges, since it was a mechanical sliding door) almost pried out of the ground. "We're trapped in here, aren't we?"
"Not necessarily," blockhead replied. I watched, not at all surprised when the entire Holy Spring began flowing into the interior of the bottle, like a wet vacuum sucking up a spill. In less than thirty seconds, the Holy Spring was gone, leaving nothing but a damp bed of soil. The security personnel then got to his feet. "Follow me."
He then dropped onto the damp bed of soil that had served as the bottom of the Holy Spring. I didn't hesitate and followed him, thinking that this resembled a certain story I had read somewhere before.
"Let me guess, sir…there's a fucking passage at the bottom of the Holy Spring that leads to the surface."
Blockhead turned to look at me, amazed. "You really know everything, don't you? I really wonder if you really are not a spy."
"I'm not," I assured him. Then something occurred to me. "More importantly, sir, you said that the monsters came from the underground escape tunnels, right? What makes you think there won't be any monsters waiting for us in that underground passageway you're suggesting we use?"
As if on cue, there was a faint scratching on the other side of the solid stone door leading to the hidden passageway.
For the first time since I had met him, blockhead paled considerably.
"Oh shit," he muttered under his breath.