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Chapter 375 -Fallout
🕑 Added 2022-01-01 13:01:02 +0000 UTC##### Author's Note ####
Happy new year, everyone! I want to thank you all for the support during this past year. I know things were difficult at times, but we are still here, and with a new year comes new opportunities and chances to be happy.
I know that that line is a bit cheesy, but I do believe in it this time.
I'm not sure if I told anyone, but Patreon was a way just to make some extra cash while my main source of income is working with translations. I decided to change that. I managed to save enough, and these past few months were proof that I could make enough with this story to survive.
This means that I will be able to make more content, side stories, new tiers for the Patreon, and possibly even a new story published along with MAZE in an entirely new world at no extra cost. All these plans wouldn't be possible without all of you, so once again, thank you so so much.
I hope this news doesn't make anyone feel obligated to keep subscribing to the Patreon. I'm not sharing this to guilt anyone into a weird sense of responsibility to stay here. Please, no. Stick around if you like the story and want to know what will happen next. If you don't want to, that's completely fine. You can still follow the novel on the free platforms, and if you ever want to join once more, I'll be here.
Again, Thank you for all the support during this year, and may 2022 be better than the last couple of years. See you Monday!
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Becca's first reaction was to jump to her crew and use a barrier spell to protect them from the incoming explosion. She managed to move fast enough so that no one got hurt, but that was about it. The entire hotel shook, and the dust caused by the blast covered almost a five hundred meter radius. However, whatever caused that wasn't done. Just after everything went flying, something started to pull the debris back to the origin of the explosion. The gravitational force was so strong that even the statues around the center of the blasts were broken apart and became a small ball of compressed materials. This cleared most of the smoke, allowing people to look at what was happening. Becca stopped their team from approaching with the camera. If people got hurt, there was no need to show that scene. Looking towards the central square, the reporter had to cover her mouth when she saw the state that the area was in.
After the parades, there were around five hundred people near the podium, not counting the support staff and reporters. Now, she could only see about a hundred who were still moving. Most people were on the ground, unconscious or seriously injured, but those near the podium were just gone. It was hard to tell if they were blasted away or the gravity pull was responsible for clearing them out. At a quick glance, she only managed to see the leader of the elves, Evandar, and the leader of the Triton, Ashera. Every other member of the leadership was gone. Becca steeled herself before looking at the spheres that were still floating in the air, pulling the dust towards them. She noticed some red markings, but that could mean anything. Undine's statue was made out of gems, and the red could be just the ruby of her dress. Her hopes were quickly shattered as the gravitational orbs fell to the ground and started to bleed. It was very unlikely that what caused the explosion was a monster or something living, which meant that all the blood coming out of the spheres was from people who were unlucky enough to be caught by the blast. An explosion that happened right behind Romeo. She quickly looked around, even trying to call out for the guild chairman, but there was no response. Seeing that there were healers and people already rushing in to help the wounded, something clicked on her mind. Whoever the person she saw running away from the city should be responsible for the situation.
"Go back inside. This hotel is too sturdy to break," Becca yelled to her crew and jumped to another building, running towards the south gate. At the same time, she pulled her tablet and called Kivaru, the beastmen acting as the captain of the guard.
Luckily, they had met previously, and the man knew Becca well enough to understand that she wouldn't be calling unless it was an emergency, "Becca? Did you get caught in the blast?"
"No, my crew and I were in the hotel. I can't explain now, but I've seen someone using a device that looked like a detonator on the south road right before the explosion. That person started running towards the south gate right as everything went to shit. They must have something to do with all this. I'm already in pursuit," Becca jumped from roof to roof. She could be a reporter, but above that, she was an explorer, and she wasn't going to let someone who hurt them get away.
"Got it. I'll tell my man to close the gate. Don't do anything stupid. Chase them, but don't engage. Let my men take care of things," Kivaru replied just as he ended the call.
Becca kept running while looking through her cameras. Whoever that person was, they were doing a good job to keep themselves hidden. Even her cameras were having trouble finding them. It was a shame that the magic constructs couldn't move around much for this skill to work, only change the angle. Still, Becca noticed a black cloak passing by an alley just a few blocks away from the gate. This was nothing short of a terrorist attack, and the reporter wasn't able to find any clues of people who were willing to go this far. Sure there were disagreements and protests, but this was on a completely different level. There had to be a reason for it, a motive why someone was angry enough to want to kill people in a situation like this, but nothing made sense. There were factions among the races that resented humans, but they would just cut ties with those who were forming alliances with the guild. There was never a direct conflict, only sanctions and what was essentially a cold war.
After about two minutes of running at top speed, the south gate came into view. She also managed to see the person she was looking for. They were also running towards the gate, but thankfully, the gates were already closed, and the guard was ready to intercept whoever they were. Becca noticed another figure appearing from one of the side streets who tackled the runner and pushed them behind one of the buildings. One of her cameras was in that street, and she saw this new person pulling a similar device and pressing a button while glancing at the gate. She looked to the guards on top of the gate and yelled, "Run!"
Her voice was muffled as another explosion occurred in the center of the south gate. Becca dropped on the floor of the roof and took cover on the ledge. At the same time, she created another barrier. The smoke and dust covered the area for a moment, but it was quickly pulled back by the implosion. When the noise and movement seemed to stop, Becca peeked from her hiding spot. Most of the gate was gone, but the blast seemed smaller than the one in the central square. The guards on top of the wall went flying off, and none of them seemed badly injured, but the impact caused them to be stunned for a moment. Becca saw the two figures rushing towards the freshly created opening on the gate. She also started to hear the loud sounds of an engine from the other side of the wall. Using her floating camera, she sent it high up in the sky, hoping it would be able to at least see what was going on outside the city. She did that while keeping up with her chase. People who were willing to do something like this when they were just trying to unite all the races couldn't go unpunished.
Unfortunately, she wasn't able to catch up in time. As soon as the two figures jumped over the collapsed gate, a pickup truck was waiting for them on the other side. They jumped on the car that barely stopped before going towards the mountain in the south.Knowing that she could never catch up to a speeding car, Becca just jumped on top of the wall to check how the guards were doing. After ensuring they were alive and not in any danger, Becca pulled her tablet to call Kivaru and tell him about what happened. She had the broadcast open and what was currently going on made her stop.
Instead of a picture of the central square, there was a hooded person in front of a black wall. On the corner of the screen, there was the symbol of a brick wall and the letters LLD almost as if it was a watermark. The figure was moving as if it was giving a speech, and Becca increased the volume to hear what was being said.
"… cannot accept this. How could we? For hundreds if not thousands of years, humanity acted like they were better. They acted as if we were inferior, pushing us away from our homes so they could build factories or hoard gold and other resources just to send it back to Earth, a place that was supposed to be bigger than any room. They have all that space and even more. We now can see that they have millions of kilometers worth of land there. They are free from the invisible walls present in every room. Can you understand what I'm saying? They don't need any more space. They have enough to share yet humanity still comes to the MAZE and asks for more land. That is unacceptable. If any other race did the same, we would be up in arms to defend ourselves. The fact of the matter is that this situation has already happened. How many tyrants were brought to justice because they attempted to push others away from their lands? It's not like we don't have enough space for everyone. humanity is free to look for uncharted rooms and take hold of them just like everyone else. But why must we be chased away from our homes when a company decides to buy our land? Why must we obey the whims of the guild? A guild that does little more than the bare minimum for the rest of us."
The figure shook their head and pulled out a children's book, "Humans are raised on the base of prejudice and hate. Even their children's stories have biased descriptions of us," the figure turned a couple of pages and showed an elf in a white castle, "For example. According to this book, which is recommended for children ages 3 to 5, an elven witch cursed a princess because she was envious of her beauty. I can appreciate a fairy tale as much as anyone else, but notice how the word 'evil' is never used. You might think that this is just an exaggeration, but if you tell a kid that a specific race only does bad things, how can they expect something different?"
The figure tossed the book aside, "This is just one of many examples. You can find a list with hundreds of books made by humans that depict our races, our heritages, our very beings as something heinous and terrible in this link," they pointed to the side where the address for a website appeared, "For crying out loud, humanity is racist even among themselves. They treat each other badly just because of the color of their skin. How can we expect that they will be any better with people from a different species like us? Hoping that we can live together is just a lie that the humans tell to make us forget about all they have stolen."
A graphic appeared beside the figure, showing the total population of each race, "When Cyrus created the guild, humans outnumbered us a thousand to one, but now, even after their uncontrolled expansion, they are lagging behind. If we join forces, soon, all the non-human races will outnumber the humans. It's time to show them that we are no longer under their rule, and we cannot allow those who side with humanity to stop us from doing so. What happened during the opening of this 'Union City' was a warning. humanity has lost the trust of all races, and if they want to stay in the MAZE, they must abide by our rules. I ask you to join us in our fight. We cannot let humans get away with this anymore. And, for those who are too afraid to fight, fear not. We are the Last Line of Defense against humanity, and we will protect you."
With that line, the figure vanished from the screen, leaving the LLD logo in view for a few moments before it was cut by the networks that were hacked and finally managed to get control of the broadcast again. Becca had never heard of that group before. She kept wondering how she missed an organization willing to go this far. They were organized enough to make an attack like this and even were prepared to end their message just as the networks managed to cut off their connection. Not just that, but they had to have people inside the guild or at least an informant. Knowing the layout of the city wasn't a challenge. After all, there were thousands of people working on the construction, but the sculptures were a secret that only Romeo's inner circle should know. Her thoughts stopped in the chairman for a moment, they weren't exactly close, but their business relationship was good. Becca hoped that the explosion wasn't enough to kill him. Even if she didn't see his body, that didn't mean he was gone. Romeo was a high-level fighter, and she knew that the new fighter skill could make them even sturdier. Turning her attention to the gate, the reporter remembered the device that the figure threw away right before the explosion. She pulled her cameras and tried to find the last location of the object. Her guess was that the plan was to let the blast destroy the detonator, but in the off chance that it survived, this could be a clue leading the guild to this LLD group. Analyzing the footage, it was hard to tell where the black object was. The cloud of dust created by the explosion obscured most of the cameras. The only thing they helped with was to locate the point where the figure dropped the detonator.
Becca spent hours looking for that device, but to no avail, she even asked for Kivaru's help. She told him that she had a few cameras around the city that caught something that could help. He sent a couple of guards to help with that search. However, his efforts were now focusing on finding survivors. Five hours after the explosion, news outlets of all races were already calling the LLD a terrorist group and debating about the fate of their leaders. Everyone was sad about the loss, but their hopes were renewed when one of the guards suddenly called.
"I found something!"
Everyone rushed to help the guard, and after another grueling 30 minutes, they found the leaders of the races being protected by Romeo. They had some injuries, but everyone seemed to be mostly fine, everyone except the chairman who had lost a leg and an eye in the explosion.
