Chapter 196: Damn It All!!!!

Tyson gritted his teeth so hard his jaw ached, his eyes burning with cold resentment. Why should he and his loyal guild members sacrifice their lives in a bloodbath when the true rulers of Vaeloria wouldn’t even lift a single finger to assist?!

​KNOCK! KNOCK!

​"Come in!" He bellowed, pulling his knuckles out from the fractured stone wall.

​A tall, sharp-eyed woman dressed in simple outfit stepped inside:

​"Guild Leader."

​"We don’t have any divine backup coming, Amira." Tyson stated flatly, his voice hollow.

​"This...? With the combined high-tier output from every single guild in the city, there are at most three hundred SSS-RANK Awakened among us, even including the hidden elders deployed by the major noble families... Against an organized horde numbering in the thousands, we don’t stand a realistic chance," she reported, her face turning visibly pale.

​"I am well aware of that!" Tyson let out a long, heavy sigh, closing his eyes:

​"Alright... We will have to deploy every single defensive magic array and heavy artillery unit we have in reserve—we must break their offensive formation at all costs. We possess military-grade anti-monster artilleries, high-tier battle mages, and specialized power armaments engineered specifically to hurt SSS-RANK entities! We will hold the line and fight."

​"Fight?" Amira was visibly stunned by his sudden shift in tone.

​"Yes! We have no other strategic choice left! Encircled by this pincer formation, we cannot retreat or escape into the wilderness; therefore, we must strike back with everything we have... These monsters are being mind-controlled, but at the end of the day, they are still wild beasts."

​"Guild Leader, you are gravely mistaken on that point," his Vice Guild Leader shook her head, her expression grim as she pulled up a data tablet:

​"I already expanded my long-range spiritual detection domain across the outer perimeter, and I discovered something horrifyingly wrong."

​"What is it?" Tyson turned his head, looking over his shoulder at her.

​"The monsters... There are confirmed Special Bosses hidden among their ranks."

​Tyson’s eyes instantly went wide in pure shock, while Amira pressed on with her terrifying report:

​"If our frontline combatants fail to instantly one-shot them, our soldiers won’t be able to handle all five stages of a Special Boss—they will run completely out of spirit energy and stamina within hours. And these Special Bosses number more than twenty within the incoming tide."

​"Damn it all!! Why are things spiraling out of control and getting worse by the minute?!! Still... we will not back down! By 6:00 AM tomorrow morning, their forces will have completely encircled the city walls. Our initial objective is purely defensive—the city’s grand barrier can hold out for a time... Go and execute the deployment orders immediately." He instructed darkly.

​"Understood, Guild Leader." She gave a firm nod and turned, walking out of the office and shutting the heavy door behind her.

​"Should I personally reach out and contact the Aetheldawn estate...?" Tyson clenched his fist, hesitation flickering across his face before he shook his head with a bitter scowl:

​"No way... How could a newly established family, no matter how arrogant, possess the raw military strength to make any real difference in a war of this scale? The top guilds will have to handle this crisis alone." He muttered bitterly to himself.

___

​[Another Hour Later.]

[Grand Hospital — Newly Rebranded As Aetheldawn Hospital.]

​"Why on earth were we all urgently summoned here when every other civilian in the district is actively evacuating?!" A middle-aged male doctor asked with a deep, frustrated frown, sweeping his eyes across the crowded atrium filled with anxious medical staff.

​"Direct orders from the executive board... Though even with the mandate, only forty percent of our total medical staff actually showed up; the remaining sixty percent have already fled or gone into hiding," a blonde-haired lady wearing large round glasses answered, clutching a clip-board nervously.

​"I honestly don’t blame those who ran," an elderly, white-haired chief surgeon added softly, looking down at the gathered nurses and junior healers:

"With the current apocalyptic news, those who showed up here today are simply the ones with nowhere else to run... rather than waiting helplessly at home, they chose to report to the hospital."

​"At the very least, we deserve to know the real reason behind this emergency assembly." The blonde lady muttered, her brow furrowing deeper.

​"I also would very much like to know the exact reason why I was urgently summoned to this location."

​"....?!"

​Every head in the hospital lobby whipped around toward the sound of the deep, authoritative voice. Everyone stood frozen as Lord Daniel walked through the glass entrance doors, flanked by Captain Zion and a squad of heavily armed security officers.

​"The Awakened Association?!" The old chief surgeon was utterly stunned, hurriedly stepping forward to greet Daniel:

​"Lord Daniel... What brings a figure of your stature to our hospital in the middle of an evacuation?" He asked, his voice filled with confusion.

​"Someone representing your higher management summoned me here directly... She goes by the name ’Viper’, claiming there is an unprecedented tactical proposal that will immensely benefit the city’s survival during this incoming tide." Daniel explained, coming to a halt in front of the hospital’s Dean.

​"Is that so? Well... We have been standing in this lobby waiting for over an hour now, and still no one from executive management has shown up," the old Dean explained, shaking his head.

​’Huh? If I didn’t already know through my intelligence network that Viper was currently operating under Asher’s personal household, I wouldn’t have even bothered stepping foot here today,’ Daniel thought silently, sweeping his sharp eyes across the rows of waiting medical personnel:

​’Is this institution officially his private property now?’

​Daniel had no concrete idea what this mysterious proposal entailed, but he decided to exercise patience and observe: "Very well... I will remain here for half an hour."

​"That won’t be necessary, Lord Daniel... because we have arrived."

​"...?!"

​Every single eye in the grand lobby snapped toward the main entrance, leaving everyone completely stunned and speechless.