Everything was ready for the main scene, all that was left was to wait for it to begin. Mo Fan went to the holy spring a day after my meeting with Lin Yun Er. The next day, I escorted her and her mother to the train station, from where they departed for Xi'an. It was also there that I met her sister Lin Yu Jiaxing for the first time, who was quite cheerful and lively, but then I realized my mistake in saving Lin Yun Er; her sister, heartbroken, was supposed to reveal the secret of the rainwater and the ferocity of the monsters! Damn, I'll have to deal with that too. Time until the invasion of the city was running out. My goal was to ensure the canon was followed. For this, I first needed to ensure Jiaxing Xia's safety before Mo Fan arrived, preferably escorting her to a safe place.
To achieve this goal, I began to carefully monitor Jiaxing Xia, accompanying her everywhere she went. It wasn't that difficult; most of the time she cultivated at home or was at school. Occasionally, she went to the library. A couple of days passed like this. On the third day, after lunch, Jiaxing Xia went shopping, I didn't delve too deeply into what she was doing, let's just say she needed it. But recalling how the monster surge began in the anime, I could understand that the time had come.
I followed her closely, trying not to attract much attention. The main thing was to protect her until she reached a safe place; after that, she wouldn't die until at least dawn the next day. She walked, or rather, went shopping for quite a long time, but at six in the evening, as she was approaching another supermarket, a monster's howl was heard, and the siren's voice warned of a red danger level.
People on the street began to look around, some in fear began to rush back and forth, others stood frozen. Even I, prepared for a sudden monster attack, felt fear and couldn't immediately collect my thoughts.
"Everyone to the shelters! Try not to panic, quickly!" I shouted with all my might. Fewer people meant more room to act, plus Jiaxing Xia snapped out of her stupor and pushed the stroller towards the nearest supermarket, which, incidentally, had a sign: "Shelter." So far, everything is going according to plan. Glancing at the sky, I saw the rain starting.
Soon, the first rats began to crawl out of the sewers. Jiaxing Xia was still on her way to the shelter, so I had to delay them, and then flee myself. But the problem was, it was impossible to use wind blades in front of such a crowd. It's a pity, but I didn't develop the lightning element for nothing. Second-stage lightning magic, amplified by a secondary seed, should be enough to mortally wound a rabid one-eyed rat.
The very first one crawled out almost at the supermarket. Quickly forming the star path, I unleashed the second-stage lightning seal at it, causing half of its head to explode, splashing blood and brains on the nearby people. All the people on the street screamed; they could be understood: a rat suddenly appeared, and immediately after, lightning flashed, killing the rat. But soon people shouted, "Mage! We are saved!" What idiots? Run to the shelter!
"Idiots, run to the shelter! I can't protect all of you!" I shouted back at them, simultaneously forming a new star path, sending another lightning bolt at another rat that had emerged from a manhole at the end of the street.
My shout made many people stand like statues. Fortunately, Jiaxing Xia continued to push the stroller towards the shelter. However, soon they started running to the shelter again. Following those rats, more emerged, which I tried to kill, also keeping them away from the supermarket. But unfortunately, their numbers didn't decrease, only increased! Which was to be expected. They crawled out not only from the manholes, pushing their brethren aside, but also from the neighboring streets.
To my great fortune, there wasn't a large crowd; they came in twos, threes, sometimes fours. I had never formed the lightning star path so many times in a row; my head started to split from it. The rats didn't die immediately but continued to crawl towards me and the people gradually hiding in the depths of the supermarket, in the local shelter. Of course, they would all die later due to their own stupidity, but my main goal was to give Jiaxing Xia time to hide in the shelter. She had already disappeared through the supermarket doors, which was good.
From the neighboring streets, screams and death cries of people could be heard. This also interfered with my concentration, and instead of forming the star path in fractions of a second, I spent at least a second! Which, given the speed of the rats, was quite dangerous. I barely managed to kill the last one from a group when the next one emerged from the manhole. In just five to seven minutes, I killed about thirty to thirty-five rats!
"Mister Mage, hurry to the shelter! You yourself said you couldn't handle everyone!" a respectable-looking man, resembling a teacher, shouted at me when all the people who were not yet killed by the rats, despite my protection, were inside the supermarket.
"Faster to the shelter! I'll give you another minute, hide there and lock yourselves in, help those who can't move on their own!" I shouted back, trying to focus on helping the most vulnerable, so that Jiaxing Xia would definitely be safe.
"Okay!" the man replied, running after the others to the basement floors of the supermarket. I felt that among the people hiding there were a couple of mages, but they were all first-stage beginners and couldn't do anything against the rats.
After our brief conversation, no more rats came from the neighboring street, and they even stopped crawling out of the manholes. But almost immediately after the teacher turned and ran, three one-eyed wolves ran out from the street to my left. They were stronger than usual, like the rats, all thanks to the rain, which was already pouring buckets, also making it difficult to concentrate!
To my deepest happiness, there were no living people left on the street where I was, so I could act with full force. First, I quickly formed the star path to unleash lightning's wrath, with which I struck the closest wolf, scorching its right flank, damaging its paw, and knocking it to the ground. Immediately after releasing the magic, I began to form a new star path, but this time I used the wind element. To my surprise, it was easier than with lightning just half a second ago; apparently, stars also get tired. I directed the wind blade at the second wolf, but it tried to dodge, so it only lost a severed hand. The trajectory of the third wolf was slightly altered by the wind blade, allowing me to dodge its claws at the last moment.
The third wolf was ready to pounce on me again but received lightning's wrath in the face, flying back a couple of meters. However, the second wolf was ready to pounce on me and kill me, and although the first one was still trying to get on its feet, I preferred to use the third-stage wind step and get out of here before more monsters arrived. I was already at my limit!
Flying back a dozen meters, I struck the second wolf with lightning's wrath, completely burning its paw, after which I ran further down the street, looking for a more or less safe place to rest. Jiaxing Xia should have definitely managed to reach the shelter. As for the wolves, they liked me more than they liked eating people, so all three of them ran after me.
Reaching the intersection, I stopped, turned around, and unleashed another lightning's wrath, because it was the spell that could kill them with a successful hit. My spell successfully hit the closest wolf, which was the first one, incinerating a small part of its face, exposing its brain, and burning its back. From the wounds received, it fell and died. Without thinking, I dashed to the right, using the wind step.
However, the second and third wolves did not lose their desire to chase me, and a group of rats appeared on the horizon. Damn, did I overestimate myself when I decided on this plan? But there was nothing to be done now. On the go, I formed the lightning star path, launching the spell at one of the four rats that were devouring people on the street. From my spell, its head exploded, and the other three noticed me.
Not wanting to continue fighting them, I darted into a side street, ran another ten meters, then stopped again, turned around, and unleashed lightning's wrath on the second wolf, which was just running after me into the side street at that moment. The narrowness of the side street played into my hands, not allowing the wolf to dodge, so my lightning pierced its skull, thus killing it.
However, the third wolf followed, which clearly felt unwell, if not to say worse, it was barely alive! And also three rats, which were running quite fast, but the wind blade was already ready. One elegant wave of my hand, and the wolf lost its head, and the rats, after getting scratched, flew out onto the street. I, not missing the moment, ran further down the side street.
Reaching a dead end, I stopped. The rats were still chasing me, and first, I had to deal with this tail. I didn't use lightning's wrath; instead, I used wind blades, directing them at the rat running in the middle. This time, I used the third stage against the rats, not the second. From this wind blade, half of the rat turned into mince, and the other two were thrown back, with scraped sides and damaged paws.
Taking advantage of their weakness, I finished them off with lightning magic and finally could breathe calmly. However, I couldn't stay in one place for long, and I still had to return to the supermarket and check the cameras to ensure Jiaxing Xia's safety!
Before peeking out of the alley, I looked around, noticing no one, and quietly walked towards the supermarket, trying to stay as close to the building walls as possible. The screams and cries of people could still be heard from everywhere; someone was being devoured, someone was trying to escape, and someone was desperately fighting for their life and the lives of others. Honestly, it made me uneasy, and the seafood I ate for lunch was coming back up, just like the sight of the blood-soaked street.
About twenty minutes had passed since the monster invasion began; it seemed like a short time, but this was only the beginning. The main forces of monsters, such as pack leaders and the commander-in-chief, would come later, bringing a whole horde of servants with them. For now, they were fighting their way through the military's defenses. However, even now, all the streets were covered in blood that hadn't had time to dry, and the cries of people and monsters echoed throughout the city.
Words couldn't describe what you felt being in this place; you just had to experience it. The nauseating feelings were very difficult to control, but what truly chilled me to the bone was the fear that permeated me to my very core. The fear that monsters would rush out of an alley, an intersection, or a building and attack me. From the excessive and frequent use of magic in the last twenty-odd minutes, and because my lightning nebula reserves had dropped significantly below half, my head ached and felt slightly dizzy.
I was heading towards the supermarket, had already turned onto the right street and was almost there. Fortunately, the first wave had ended, and no new monsters would be arriving through the tunnels for now. But to my great misfortune, a rat crawled out of a manhole right in front of me, and a second later, its head was gone thanks to a lightning blade, not forgetting to splash blood all around.
Upon reaching the supermarket, I heard a piercing wolf howl that sent my soul into my heels; from the sky came the flapping of wings. Looking up, I saw him, the commander-in-chief, the winged ash wolf, in all his glory. His aura alone made me shrink in fear; I had no strength to even scratch him, and it wouldn't be anytime soon. He flew towards the tall building in the center of the city, followed by most of the pack leaders, so it would soon be very unsafe on the streets. It was better to hide in the supermarket for now and catch my breath.
Entering, I noticed the devastation that was already there, although the monsters couldn't have gotten in here in sufficient numbers to cause it. The answer was simple: people themselves had caused it, saving their own skins. The first thing to do was to find the security room where the monitors showing camera feeds were located; the guards were unlikely to still be guarding their post.
This room was found quite quickly and easily on the second floor. As I suspected, there was no trace of security. Firstly, their duty was to open and close the shelter, and secondly, they had to save their own skins too. After rummaging through the equipment for a couple of minutes, I managed to bring up the shelter's camera feeds on the screen. I had read about their existence in a textbook; their main purpose was to let the mages who came to rescue people know if there were any people in the shelter at all and if it was worth going to.
In this case, the shelter was a warehouse with thick walls and an iron door, and the cameras provided a full view of it. It was easy to find a beautiful girl in a wheelchair in the crowd. Jiaxing Xia had successfully made it into the shelter, as the canon required. Now I could breathe a sigh of relief.
After going to get bagged ice and food, I locked myself in the security room, ate, and applied ice to my head, reducing the pain, and began to cultivate. The magical elements had transformed after the monster invasion; they had become more like those I encountered in the wild. This was to my advantage, as I absorbed such elements better. In this situation, I had to conserve my strength and restore it at every opportunity. Although it was difficult to cultivate in a moment of danger, I had enough skill for it.