Empire Building With Infinite Warehouse-Chapter 41: Three Waves of Destruction

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[Dist4_Rat]: RUN DUDE WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!

[Shadow_Sunny]: District 9 is absolutely cooked. GG.

[System_smasher- Donated 50 Credits]: Press F to pay respects.

[SaltyTears]: Ten days? You’re dead in five minutes dude.

[HunterGroupie]: Wait, my brother said District 5 has one too?!

"Guys, if you are just tuning in, the Hunters have already started gathering at the perimeter!"

The young man screamed into his floating camera drone, desperately trying to project his voice over the high wail of the emergency sirens echoing through the concrete canyons of District 9.

He was running backwards down the crowded street, the camera perfectly capturing the sheer terror painting his face.

Behind him, towering over the falling apartment complexes, the sky had been completely ripped apart.

A swirling, violent vortex of energy was bleeding into the atmosphere, brightening the panicked slums in a sickly red light.

"Look at the sky! The Red Gate has finally formed!" the streamer yelled, pointing a trembling finger upward.

"The Association broadcast just confirmed it. We only have ten days, chat. Ten days! If the strike teams haven’t managed to push inside and close the core within that time, we are completely doomed. The monster overflow will wipe this entire sector off the map!"

A massive armored transport truck roared past him, nearly clipping his shoulder as it rushed toward the epicentre. The streamer stumbled, catching his balance just in time to look directly into the drone’s lens.

"Be sure to hit that subscribe button and follow the channel right now so we can experience the doomsday together!" he pleaded, entirely shameless even in the face of the apocalypse.

"My brother is actually streaming live from the inner city in District 5 right now, so check his feed out too! They have a portal opening right over the-"

The streamer’s voice abruptly cut out.

High above the city, the swirling vortex suddenly warped inward, folding in on itself as if the sky was taking a massive, deep breath. The raw magical pressure radiating from the portal spiked so violently that the floating camera drone sparked, short-circuited, and dropped out of the air, instantly cutting the live feed to black.

Down in the narrow alleyway outside the Eternal Rest Apothecary, that same crushing pressure had brought the entire group to a dead halt.

"No," Kiara whispered, her voice cracking.

The brilliant, untouchable genius was completely gone. She stared blankly at the radio receiver still clutched in Blaze’s hand, as the terrifying reality of the Commander’s transmission fully registered in her mind.

"No, no, no," Kiara repeated, taking a frantic step toward her uncle.

"My mother. She’s in the central hospital at District 5. They don’t know where exactly the gate had appeared in the sector. She can’t run, Uncle!"

Blaze’s hardened expression shifted, the cold S-Rank exterior fracturing just enough to reveal the deeply protective family man underneath. He grabbed Kiara by the shoulders, his massive hands steadying her trembling frame.

"We need to move, Kiara," Blaze said, his voice a low, commanding rumble that cut right through her rising panic. "Right now. The transport is heavily armored. We are going straight to the hospital to pull her out."

Kiara nodded frantically, her dark eyes wide with fear. She spun around to sprint toward the idling armored vehicle, but she suddenly stopped, turning back to look at Julien.

The young merchant was standing perfectly still amidst the chaos, the golden light of his system interface still casting a faint glow across his pale face.

"Don’t die yet, boss," Kiara shouted over the blaring sirens, pointing a silver-ringed finger at him.

"We haven’t even started the work. I still have to fix your terrible accounting."

Julien forced a confident smirk onto his face, raising his right hand in a sharp, mocking salute. "Aye, CFO. Go get your mom. Until then, we’ll hold down the fort."

Kiara didn’t hesitate for another second. She turned and sprinted toward the transport, diving into the heavy side door.

Blaze paused, his hand holding the door frame. He looked back at Julien, his sharp eyes evaluating the scrawny merchant and the towering giant standing next to him.

"You know about the shockwaves?" Blaze asked urgently.

"Yes," Julien replied, his merchant smirk vanishing entirely. He looked back at the dilapidated wooden structure of his shop.

"The Apothecary is an ancient building. When the portal stabilises, the initial kinetic release is going to shatter the foundations. Our shop is likely doomed, so we have to prepare for ourselves."

Blaze gave him a single, respectful nod. The kid wasn’t just a swindler and actually understood the mechanics of a dungeon break.

"My vanguard team will be forming a defensive perimeter directly in front of the Red Gate after the third wave hits," Blaze instructed rapidly.

"If you survive the blast radius and you need shelter or medical, go there and tell them I sent you. Good luck, kid."

Blaze slammed the heavy door shut, and the transport’s massive tyres screamed against the pavement as it tore down the alleyway, rushing toward the highway that connected the outer slums to the inner city.

The moment the vehicle disappeared around the corner, Chris grabbed Julien by the shoulder, his massive fingers digging into the merchant’s coat.

"Bro, what do you mean by ’ doomed?" Chris asked, his voice tight with confusion and rising alarm.

"What do you mean our shop is doomed? Is this wave thing really that dangerous?"

"Yes," Julien said flatly, his eyes darting back to the violent red tear in the sky.

"It’s a localised magical earthquake. Buildings that aren’t reinforced with system are going to collapse like houses of cards, and we can’t stay in this narrow street."

Julien flicked his wrist, bringing the golden merchant interface directly to the forefront of his vision.

He didn’t have time to hesitate or calculate profit margins and tapped the glowing inventory screen, navigating straight to the Tier 1 defensive consumables.

Transaction confirmed. Deducting 1,500 Credits.

With a brilliant flash of golden light, three heavy glass bottles materialised directly into his waiting hands. The viscous Iron Skin potions glowed brightly in the darkening alley.

He shoved one bottle directly into Chris’s chest and held the second one out to the floating ghost.

"Both of you, drink it right now! Quick!" Julien ordered, popping the cork off his own bottle.

"I don’t possess a digestive tract, Julien!" Alice yelled, hovering frantically as the air pressure continued to build.

"Then pour it directly over your tether ring and just absorb the mana!" Julien barked back, already throwing his head back and downing the chalky, rubber-tasting liquid in three massive gulps.

Chris didn’t ask any more questions. The giant popped the top off his bottle with his thumb and downed the potion, tossing the empty glass aside.

Alice grabbed her bottle, phased her spectral hand right through the glass, and crushed the vial directly over the emerald ring she wore, allowing the glowing amber liquid to soak straight into the cursed gemstone.

A brilliant, hexagonal blue shield pattern flashed simultaneously across Chris’s skin, Julien’s arms, and Alice’s ethereal form, locking into place just as the sky above them began to scream.

"Let’s move to the open ground!" Julien yelled, grabbing Chris’s arm and dragging him toward the wide intersection at the end of the block.

"Stay away from the buildings!"

They sprinted down the alley, bursting out into the massive, four-lane intersection that served as the district’s main thoroughfare. The streets were packed with hundreds of terrified citizens, all standing completely frozen, staring up at the sky in absolute horror.

Then, something impossible happened.

The roar of the swirling red vortex abruptly silenced, crushing, oppressive pressure that had been forcing everyone to their knees simply vanished into thin air. The clouds stopped swirling, hanging completely still in the atmosphere.

The entire district fell into a strange, eerie silence.

People in the crowd slowly lowered their hands from their ears, looking around in utter confusion.

"What happened?" a woman nearby whispered, clutching her child tightly.

"Did it stop?" a man asked, pointing up at the frozen sky.

"Did the Hunters already kill the boss?"

Julien’s blood ran completely cold.

"Get down!" Julien roared at the top of his lungs, throwing himself flat against the cracked asphalt.

A fraction of a second later, the Gate exhaled.

SWOOSH.

The first wave hit the district.