Chapter 48 - Destroyed cities

Chapter 48 - Destroyed cities

Scenes of something you wished were only in your nightmares were making themselves prevalent as I flew across the skies of the desolate Barrens. A semblance of society lay destroyed on the ground, with patches of monsters roaming free.

Many of these monsters were either being led by a TITAN, or you could occasionally find a few traveling alone. Many of them were cleared after the appearance of dungeons the first time, with the occasional teams being sent whenever a dungeon appeared and a dungeon break occurred in the Barren lands

After the stabilization of the cities, more hunting squads that handled these monsters would have to be sent out so that they don’t form into larger groups and begin targeting the walled-off cities.The inaugural upload of this chapter took place via N0v3l-B1n.

I had passed by two cities so far, cities that I had seen while driving to Star City not too long ago. Their serene atmosphere was broken as you could see destroyed buildings and smoke, but they were still standing. There were significantly more casualties in other cities that were not lucky enough to have strong hunters stationed

I was forcing myself to not prioritize a city that I couldn’t keep out of my mind, as there were more cities near me where I could save more people in time. I would move at the fastest pace towards the place I awakened in, Outer Bank X

The two cities I passed were still trying to clear any monsters running around inside, with a few patches of monsters slowly getting together outside the city walls. I began with the inside of the cities and sniped the monsters with [Doom Bolt]. Hunters would be chasing the beasts only to see of a flash of lightning and a charred corpse right after, looking to the skies to see my figure flashing away with [Instant Transfer] to my next target

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Early in the morning when dawn broke, I rose from the destroyed building and continued my way towards Outer Bank X. There was a long-distance with only the Barrens to look at before I reached the next city. The cl.u.s.ters of monsters were becoming more frequent as I went further out of the Empire, leaving me with a heavy heart as more of my conjectures were turning out to be true. The groups of beasts in the Barrens were only met with death as dark flames, explosive cold blasts, or chaining lightning decimated their ranks. I was releasing all of my anger onto them, but it seemed to be ever so increasing.

I passed through another city that I recalled was right before Outer Bank X, and the sight did not bode well for what I would be seeing from now on. All around me was carnage, with beasts running rampant and very few survivors in sight. I looked at the city below me in anger and sadness as the bloody sight laid itself bare

Lightning rained down as it chained from beast to beast, destroying anything it came across as my rage continued to build up. I was angry at the beasts, but I was also angry at myself and many others in the empire.

The most powerful hunters were stationed and concentrated in the cities further inland. It seemed only natural as they held higher-ranked dungeons and they were required to clear them. Even I left Outer Bank X to go to a core defense city that held higher ranking dungeons. But this natural thing meant there were very few powerful hunters in the outer cities of the empire

Nobody had ever expected dungeons to appear en masse again, but they did. With these cities having a few rank B hunters and many more lower-ranking ones, how could they handle it if a rank A dungeon appeared and a dungeon break occurred?

Unless they were lucky enough for more powerful hunters to naturally awaken and take the lead in defending them, some cities faced complete destruction. Similar to the first advent of the apocalypse, many deaths will occur throughout the world until those truly powerful begin to fully mobilize.

The only sliver of hope was people hiding in underground bunkers as the monsters roamed above them, only left to wait for a chance of survival. I looked at the destroyed city while taking down the beasts in the most excruciating ways possible, hoping many people were able to hide themselves and bunker down in some of the purposefully created shelters.