"What?! A Dimensional Rift right in the middle of the Southern District?!" The horror-stricken voice of the Lonewind City Mayor filled his office as soon as he heard the report coming from the District Leader stationed at the Southern District.
He then stood up from his very comfortable seat and looked out of his office's window in the direction of the Southern District.
From there, the Lonewind City Mayor could only gulp down his saliva. This was the last year of him being a Mayor of this Secondary City and to misfortune, he experienced what any career-politician like him would call as a career-destroying challenge.
It was rare for the Dimensional Disruptor to fail in repelling a Dimensional Rift from appearing but that didn't mean it was impossible. And to his dismay, it happened in his term.
While lamenting on the number of casualties it would pile up as well as the dirt that would be thrown at him, the Lonewind City Mayor cleared his head while thinking of doing everything in his power to clear his image before the end of his term after this challenge.
A few seconds later, he fixed his posture and fixed his tie before shouting out loud, "Anyone?! Connect me with the City Hall Guards and the Refiner's Association!
"Right away, Mr. Mayor!"
His staff that was awaiting his order was already ready and had long connected to the City Hall Guards Commander, Commander Yun.
In less than ten seconds, a holographic screen appeared in front of the Lonewind City Mayor showing the face of the famed hero of the whole City.
Without waiting for a greeting, he declared, "Mobilize every personnel available and order those near the Southern District to contain it. You have the full authority on how to handle the situation."
'Understood." After acknowledging the order, Commander Yun immediately disconnected and from the outside, sounds of Metadome engines starting as well as running soldiers at the nearby City Hall Guard barracks rumbled around the whole City Hall compound located in the middle of the Central District.
Following that, the Lonewind City Mayor called for the head of the Communications Department who was ready to relay the news to everyone.
Without waiting for a greeting like earlier, the Lonewind City Mayor declared. "Level 3. No. Level 4 Alert!"
There were five classifications for the state of emergency for a Secondary City like the Lonewind City. And even if it would cost him some of his amassed fortunes from being in the seat, he still chose to pick the second-highest alert.
Level 1, Stay at Home for District that would be directly affected in case a Rift creature managed to approach the city. Can be declared if a Dimensional Rift appeared 50 kilometers from the city.
Level 2, Stay at Home for Every District. Can be declared if a Dimensional Rift appeared 20 kilometers from the city.
Level 3, Evacuate the District directly affected to its neighboring districts. Priority: The citizen's lives. Making the whole district as the battlefield if need be. Can only be declared if the Rift appeared less than ten kilometers from the city or inside one of the City Districts.
Level 4, Evacuate the District directly affected as well as the surrounding Districts away from the battlefield. Priority: The city itself. Those who will refuse to evacuate will be left behind and will be left to themselves in a battlefield consisting of Energy Refiners, Metadomes and the Rift Monsters and Creatures. Whether they survive or not was all on their luck. Can only be declared if the Rift appeared inside the city.
Level 5, Abandon City, save what can be saved and evacuate who can be evacuated out of the city using the transportation lines. Can only be declared when the initial District where the Dimensional Rift appeared fell in less than an hour and the City Hall Guards failed to contain the Rift.
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After finishing giving orders to various departments, the Lonewind City Mayor immediately turned off all communication as he prepared to leave his office.
"Prepare my Metadome and send the order to the four Windguards to follow me." He ordered one of the staff waiting outside the Mayor's office
Even though he's a career-politician, he also trained in piloting a Metadome, just that… he's not combat-oriented and it was all for posturing. However, even if he's not, the four Windguards he called for are.
For the sake of his image, the Lonewind City Mayor decided to go to the frontlines himself.
Such was the dedication he possessed. Before the citizens' well-being, his image first.
Nonetheless, considering his responses were quick, he's still considered to have done a great job as the Lonewind City Mayor.
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On the 3rd floor of the Paradise Hall restaurant, Aldrin watched how Renissa, devoid of fear for her life, jumped up to face the Rift Monster that had already leaped down to her.
Those little armor pieces that flew out of her suitcase along with her katana only covered her arm, her temple and her front. It's not a complete Battlesuit that was the standard equipment of an Energy Refiner.
They're made from a special metal that reacts to Dimensional Energy and that metal was stronger than any known ore discovered that was devoid of Dimensional Energy traces.
As soon as Renissa and the winged beast met right on top of the thin ice film she conjured, a blast of ice-cold air and a blast of scalding fire seemingly scattered and filled the room with steam that faded away quickly.
With his eyes focused on the battle above, Aldrin saw how half of the upper part of the VIP Room was frozen while the other half was scorched black.
Moreover, the thin film of ice Renissa made was now cut or rather, melted in half, drenching some of their classmates in scalding hot water, resulting in screams of pain from those affected. Among those were the trio of Oliver, Jacob and Emily.
Some of those that were under the still-frozen ice like Bert and Alisa hurriedly moved to pull them out of that spot.
Renissa, who saw what happened, frowned and expended her Dimensional Energy once more to recreate the thin film of ice that was acting as a shield for her classmates.
If there was no ice shield previously, they would be toast from the fires of the beast she's fighting.
"Aldrin! Hurry up! Let's go!" Bert, who was carrying Jacob on his shoulder, called out to Aldrin who's picking up Oliver.
The others who moved to rescue their classmates also carried one as they all began to leave the room.
This somehow quick response from them was actually borne from the drills etched in their mind ever since they started attending school. They were taught to always be ready in case this kind of event happened.
Now that there's a Rift Monster appearing from above, all of them would be helpless if not for Renissa.
Their Energy Refiner classmate that was a source of fear for some of them earlier was now risking her life to save them.
They're non-combatants and even if they were, they're not trained to deal with the mysterious Rift Monsters that ordinary soldiers, without the aid of Metadomes or any Dimensional Energy-integrated weapons, had no hope to contend with. That's why the only thing they could do was to not become a nuisance to those who could fight.
'I'm not an Energy Refiner yet… and even if I am. What can I do against those… All I ever fought were human-sized ants and caterpillars…' Aldrin thought as he finished deliberating whether to stay to try and help the lone Energy Refiner and someone he had just been talking to earlier or leave now along with everyone to evacuate to safety.
Since he already had the scalded Oliver on his shoulder, he chose to leave despite feeling a slight urge to stay. He's still an ordinary human and not an Energy Refiner, there's nothing he could do even if he remained. He'll just become a liability for Renissa.
When they stepped out of the VIP Room that had no windows at all, Aldrin's eyes were drawn towards the open space that could show the situation outside the building.
And for the first time in his life, he saw a real Dimensional Rift. In his estimate, 300 meters away from the restaurant, a crack in space could be seen floating. And at the moment, the crack was like a gigantic opened eye as different Rift Monsters and Creatures continued to appear from it.
And upon seeing how many there were, Aldrin started to be assaulted by fear.
There's no way for them to run. What would await them outside were that seemingly endless horde of ferocious monsters.
However, it was at this exact moment that a stronger-than-normal vibration was being issued by the phone in his pocket.
Having suspected what it could be about, Aldrin pulled out his phone and as he expected, it's from the IDLE Database.
While still continuously vibrating in his hand, Aldrin read what was written on his phone screen.
[A Dimensional Rift has been detected nearby the Host's location]
[Scanning…]
[The Dimension at the other side of the Rift is currently too dangerous for the Host]
[Advising Host to flee]
[Due to the current circumstances, Idle Adventure Mode will be paused and the current harvested IDLE Points will be credited to Host.]
[Calculating…]
"It's not the time to look at your phone, dumbass! Let's go!" Bert angrily shouted at Aldrin.