Chapter 310: Red Storm (Part 1)

The crimson clouds had swallowed the sky, and for several seconds Mythal went completely silent.

Then—

BOOOOOOM!

A crimson lightning bolt tore through the clouds, striking somewhere beyond the outer wall. The ground shook. Several hunters stumbled, loose stones jumping across the road. A second bolt followed. Then a third. Then dozens, the whole horizon flashing crimson.

Kai raised his head slowly.

[Second Disaster Detected.]

[Calamity One: Red Storm.]

His expression hardened.

"It has begun," Tiamat said.

He gripped the Fractured Blade. "Everyone!" His voice carried across the city. "Positions!"

The lightning gave way to a wall of wind, starting as a strong gust before building into a roar.

WHOOSH!

Dust and stone ripped loose from the streets. A few weaker hunters staggered.

"Anchor yourselves!" someone shouted, and boots locked, shields planted, weapons driven into the earth.

Raze jammed Ruinbreaker into the stone, the wind slamming into him, his body shifting several inches. He gritted his teeth. "That’s some wind."

"Stop trying to fight it!" Mira called.

"I’m not!" Another gust hit him. "...Much."

Mira rolled her eyes.

The first wave reached the city, and Lily’s voice cut through the network. "Activate the outer barriers!"

Golden light raced through the streets. One barrier appeared, then another, layers stacking around the city. The Red Storm slammed into them.

BOOOOOOM!

The barriers shook violently. Hunters looked up as the first layer bent, the second held, the third absorbed what remained.

"Outer barriers are holding," Lily reported.

"How much power?" Elden asked.

She checked. Her expression changed. "...Thirty percent."

"Already?"

"That was only the first wave."

The atmosphere thickened without warning, an enormous weight pressing down on everyone at once. Several hunters dropped to one knee, one gasping outright. "I can’t breathe."

Mira moved toward him fast. "Stay calm."

The environmental stabilization system kicked in, mana spreading through the district, the pressure easing. The hunter took a breath. "Thank you."

"Don’t thank me," Mira said, nodding toward the relay tower. "Thank them."

[Environmental Stabilization Active.]

[Current Load: 71%.]

Lily’s eyes narrowed at it. "Seventy-one percent."

"That quickly?" Elden asked.

"The pressure is still increasing."

Kai gave the next order. "First formation!"

The hunters moved fast, exactly according to plan, portable relay carriers spreading through the outer districts, barrier teams establishing overlapping points, healing hunters holding behind the front line, extraction teams waiting beside their markers, mobile hunters ready to answer wherever the network flagged a failure.

Sera fell in beside Kai. "They’re following the plan."

"Good."

"Now we find out if the plan works."

The clouds suddenly stopped moving.

"...Wait," Kai said.

Crimson clouds gathered above the northern district.

"Northern District!" Lily called.

"Barrier teams!" Kai shouted immediately.

Multiple barriers stacked over the district, one, two, three, four layers. Lightning formed, enormous, tearing down through the sky.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The entire district disappeared under crimson light, the shockwave rattling every nearby building. Hunters got thrown backward. Kai braced. Sera planted her shield. Raze dug his weapon in.

Silence. The light faded.

The barriers were still standing. Cracked. Damaged. Standing.

"It held..." a hunter said, disbelieving.

Another laughed. "It actually held!"

Raze grinned. "First one!"

Kai didn’t smile for long. "That wasn’t the dangerous part."

The clouds began rotating.

"It’s changing direction," Lily said.

"Where?" Elden asked.

"Southwest."

The network rerouted instantly, golden lines shifting beneath the streets, barriers activating ahead of the movement.

"It knows where the defenses are," Kai said.

"Yes," Tiamat confirmed.

"The storm is adjusting?"

"It is not merely weather. The Calamity responds."

Kai looked up. "So the simulations didn’t account for that."

"You simulated a disaster." A pause. "Now you are facing one."

Three strikes hit at once.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

The network held two districts. The third’s relay overloaded.

CRACK!

"RELAY DOWN!" someone shouted.

"Mobile relay!" Kai ordered.

A hunter carrying a portable core sprinted forward, nearly thrown off his feet by the wind, reaching the position and slamming the core down.

WHOOOM!

Golden light spread, the barrier reforming just as the lightning struck.

BOOM!

It held. The hunter dropped onto his back. "...Got it."

Raze laughed. "That’s why we brought those!"

Lily watched the network stabilize. "It’s working."

"The redundancy is holding," Elden said.

"One relay failed," Lily said. "But the city didn’t."

Kai smiled at the confirmation. "Good."

"You built your city well."

"We had help."

"You learned quickly."

The wind doubled without warning.

WHOOOOOOOSH!

Windows shattered across three blocks.

[Environmental Stabilization — 89% Load.]

Lily’s eyes widened. "Eighty-nine."

"How long?" Elden asked.

"I don’t know."

"Estimate."

She checked the trend line, swallowing. "...If the pressure keeps climbing, we won’t have much room left."

"Then we stop trying to stabilize everything," he said.

"Controlled sectors."

"Exactly."

The network divided instantly, Mythal splitting into independent defensive zones, each with its own barrier, mana supply, teleportation, mobile relay support, healing, and stabilization, no longer one connected system that could fail all at once.

"Kai, we’re beginning Phase Two," Lily said over the network.

"Do it."

He turned to the hunters around him. "Everyone, stay within your assigned sectors unless you’re on a mobile team."

"Understood!"

A massive gust tore toward Kai’s sector, and he raised a hand, Water and Storm Authority responding, wind spiraling around him, redirecting the worst of it away from the nearby hunters.

Sera watched. "You can control it?"

"Not really." He fought to hold the shape. "I can influence it."

"You’re forcing it," Tiamat said.

"Then help me."

"No."

He looked annoyed. "What?"

"You need to learn to use it yourself."

He laughed despite the strain. "You’re terrible."

"And yet you’re still listening."

The wind broke around him, and he released the technique. "One day."

"Perhaps."

The clouds began rotating faster overhead, crimson lightning spreading through them like veins, the wind screaming louder, the whole city trembling under it.

[Environmental Stabilization — 94% Load.]

Lily’s expression tightened. "It’s getting worse."

"How much longer?" Elden asked.

"I don’t know."

More notifications stacked up.

[Barrier Network — 76% Load.]

[Mana Redistribution — 81% Load.]

[Emergency Relay Network — 68% Load.]

"All of them are climbing," Elden said.

"The storm hasn’t even reached its peak," Lily said quietly.

In the streets, a hunter looked at his partner. "Was this in the simulation?"

"Not this strong."

"Then what do we do?"

The veteran beside them gripped his weapon tighter, watching the barrier flicker overhead. "What we’ve been doing."

"Hold."

Kai scanned the sky, something bothering him. The strongest strikes kept landing exactly where the network had just been reinforced.

"It’s testing us," he said.

"Testing?" Sera asked.

"Every time we reinforce something, it attacks there."

"It seeks the weakest point," Tiamat confirmed.

"Then we don’t give it one." He keyed the network. "Lily."

"I heard."

He smiled grimly. "Then let’s show it Version Three."

Every system activated at once, golden light racing through every district simultaneously, barriers strengthening, mana redistributing, mobile relays flaring, healing systems primed, underground conduits glowing, emergency teleport points humming to life.

For a moment, the entire city looked like one enormous machine.

Raze grinned. "Now that’s more like it."

"You really like dramatic moments," Mira said.

"Of course."

The storm went unnaturally quiet. The wind stopped. The clouds stopped moving.

"...Why did it stop?" Kai asked.

Tiamat said nothing.

"Tiamat?"

No answer.

Then the entire crimson sky began rotating, a gigantic mass of lightning forming overhead, larger than anything before.

Lily saw it, her face going pale. "Kai."

"What?"

"The energy—" she checked the readings again, "—it’s everything. The entire storm is concentrating."

"Everything?"

"It’s not attacking a district," Elden said, looking up. "It’s attacking the whole city."

The formation kept growing, the sky turning fully red, the wind screaming back to life, buildings shaking on their foundations. Raze gripped Ruinbreaker. Mira raised her weapon. Sera planted her shield. Elden activated every defense he had left.

[Environmental Stabilization — 97% Load.]

[Barrier Network — 91% Load.]

[Mana Redistribution — 94% Load.]

Lily’s eyes widened. "We’re almost at the limit."

Kai raised the Fractured Blade slowly, looking around at every hunter braced and ready.

"Everyone!" His voice carried across the whole city. "Hold the line!"

"YES!"

The enormous mass of lightning began its descent, the sky flashing completely red.

"Kai," Tiamat said quietly.

He tightened his grip. "What?"

A pause.

"This is the first real strike."

The crimson lightning crashed downward.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!