Chapter 314 Chapter 314 Meteorites
Just as Hogan was about to mock Zach for the pathetic attempt at humiliating him, the mages around him began to frantically jerk their heads towards the sky that was now filled with glittering spots that shone brighter than the sun in sky. It was as if numerous stars had rebelled and had begun to encroach into the territory of the sun instead of waiting for their turn at night.
"Oooh~ what's that?"
"Look at those things...in the sky..."
"Don't they look like...."
Hogan's men suddenly went out of control as a hint of truth to Zach's words began to show on the azure tapestry known as the sky.
His men weren't the only ones who lost their marbles at that moment. Hogan wasn't faring any better as he began to reevaluate his earlier decision of rejecting Zach's second chance.
Panic spread among the ranks of Hogan's forces like plague in the Middle Ages. The chaos that ensued as a result was beyond Hogan's control, especially since he was the reason that the soldiers were about to face such a catastrophe.
…
While the forces of the Hunter family were busy running around like headless chickens in their panic, the soldiers and the servants of the Smith family were enjoying a rare period of leisure after months of constant labor and the fierce battles they had been a part of since then.
The gruesome death from the meteoric impact on Greenland was supposed to be their fate had it not been for Zach who received the system's warning. Following Zach's command, the whole Smith family had evacuated their home in the middle of the night in groups led by competent soldiers who took different routes and congregated back together at the agreed upon destination. Zach's order had two reasons as its basis.
Firstly, he had already figured out that Hogan wanted to invade the island in the absence of the major forces of the Smith family. And secondly, Zach wanted to allow his people to avoid the impending catastrophe that was surely heading their way at a celestial speed.
Although the people of the Smith family were reluctant to leave their homes behind once again, their trust in Zach by that point was almost blind. The man had led them through despair and held their spirits afloat even during the troubled times. Therefore, none of them protested and the mass exodus was carried out without a hint of news reaching the ears of their enemy.
As a result, Hogan and his forces ended up becoming the new targets of the heavenly disaster. They were the new sacrifices meant to appease the wrath of the heavens. Zach had carefully lured all of them into that position.
Therefore, while the Smith family witnessed the heavenly punishment falling from the sky just as Hogan's forces despaired and cursed their leader for damning their fates by bringing them there.
It wasn't just the Smith family people who were viewing this scene of utter beauty, the whole city was mesmerized as their gazes lingered on the sky in amazement.
While the Smith family could watch the whole spectacle from the private estate of the Windsor family leisurely, Hogan's forces couldn't do the same. They could neither tell the beauty of the falling meteorites nor the mesmerizing scene it created in the sky. They could only see the grim reaper's scythe about to cleave their necks from their bodies in the next few minutes.
Obviously, none of them had come with the intention of giving their life for Hogan's cause. They only wanted the benefits that came with raiding the Smith family's base of operations.
At first the scene only sparked interest because of the beauty of it but the more the people in Byzantium city noticed the phenomenon, the more they began to panic because the falling meteorites seemed to be headed straight towards them in their ungodly descent. They didn't even want to imagine what would happen should one of those tiny sparks in the sky fall in the middle of the city. The devastation in such a scenario would be so great that it would leave behind any wars that might have ravaged the lands in the past.
"Father, those pretty lights are coming right towards us? Can you get me one.... please.... please?" a child pestered her father into getting her one of the meteorites. But she didn't know that her father was no longer listening to her demands. He on the other hand was about to pull his hair out in panic.
Her daughter was probably right because the meteorites did look like they were heading straight towards them.
Similar scenes repeated themselves in the entire city as people began to gossip. Trouble mongers made use of the precarious situation to spread whispers around the city, threatening the peace.
Some boasted just as Zach had boasted in front of Hogan's forces that the situation had all been caused by him.
The religious ones prayed to whatever god was out there listening to them. The religious propaganda spiked during the few minutes that terror reigned in the atmosphere of Byzantium city.
Of course, the inhabitants of Byzantium city were not the only ones who witnessed the trajectory of the falling meteorites. To begin with, Byzantium city was not that far from Greenland. They were only separated by a small stretch of ocean between them. Therefore, all of them were witnessing the same sight as they looked towards the sky in that moment.
Nelson, who had been beside Zach this whole time, began to tremble at the thought that Zach had brought forth such a world ending disaster. Just what kind of a monster did one need to be in order to pull something like that off. Couldn't he just destroy the whole world if he had that kind of power in his hands?
Nelson couldn't help but think that it wasn't fair that his father and his people had to face such a monster on their own.
Life was never fair. The rich couldn't tell the suffering of the poor while the poor could never understand the hours and hours of hard work that went into maintaining that gap.
Nelson tried blinking his eyes a few times to make sure that the scene in the sky wasn't an illusion and it was still there after he scrunched up his vision a few times before getting it back to normal.
Only after a few desperate measures did the reality of it all finally set in. Nelson came to acknowledge the fact that Zach was about to kill his father who was stranded on the island with his people. Even though the bastard had a temper, his father had always been the umbrella that shielded him from all kinds of rain.
Fear stricken and pale, his voice caught in his throat. Nelson was so terrified that he was seconds away from falling on his knees to keep himself from offending the god like figure capable of calling in a disaster with a mere thought.
While Nelson was terrified of what might come next, Hogan didn't share his feelings at all. He wasn't going to gamble his life away like an idiot. Unlike lesser minds, Hogan wasn't arrogant enough to claim that his plans were a hundred percent guaranteed to succeed. Therefore, he never went anywhere without taking contingency measures.
Just as Nelson had his own means of escaping in troubled situations, Hogan had one too. He had been betting on that trump card to save himself if the need arose.
That had also been the reason that despite the situation devolving into a chaotic mess, Hogan had still retained a cool and calm head on his shoulder. As the leader of the group, it was expected out of him to go down with his ship like the sea captains from the stories who preferred to continue their journey into the underworld aboard their beloved ships.
But Hogan wasn't a fool. His ego wasn't big enough to not care about his own survival. If even Nelson carried a spatial scroll on him at all times, it was only natural that Hogan did too as the most important person of the entire Hunter family.
Hogan pushed his hand inside his shirt and pulled out a sheet of rolled parchment that looked like it would crumble at the slightest touch. But of course, spatial scrolls wouldn't be destroyed so easily. It was an ancient scroll that was even more powerful than the one that Nelson had in his possession.
Obviously, Hogan took his personal safety very seriously.
Before he could tear the scroll in half in order to escape the mess that he had created, someone around him yelled as if to inform everyone, "We can't teleport out of here. The space has been restricted. None of my scrolls worked."
"It's true...my scrolls aren't doing anything. Is there some sort of restriction on using scrolls in this place? Other scrolls work just fine. It's only the spatial scroll that is unbale to keep its utility intact." explained another one who was probably very wealthy or addicted to using the scrolls he obtained using his meager wealth in battle. Obviously, these scrolls were nothing more than imitation goods in front of the real power ones.
Their words made it seem like the fault didn't lie with the scrolls but with the location. The location was somehow restricting them from using spatial scrolls to teleport out before the place turned into a high heat furnace.
Hogan couldn't help but despair hearing those words.
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