Chapter 41: A Global Disaster

“What the hell are you talking about, damn it!” Jakob barked, shaking him. “What happened?”

“The network… the local infrastructure,” the student whispered, a tear tracing a path through the dust on his cheek. “There is finally news online. Information is coming through from the outside world. It’s everywhere. It’s a worldwide cascade.”

The entire vanguard closed in, Rashid’s expression hardening as a deep dread pooled in his stomach. “What do you mean ‘everywhere’?”

“The portals. The system. The waves of monsters,” the student cried out, his voice cracking hysterically as he pointed out toward the shattered glass doors of the university. “It’s not just the Audimax. It’s not just a localized anomaly in Vienna. It’s not just Austria, or Central Europe. It’s the entire fucking planet! Every single continent, every major metropolis, every isolated village. The structure of human civilization has completely collapsed within a matter of minutes.”

A collective gasp rippled through the gathered fighters.

“There are just posts from individual accounts on social media,” the student continued, his hands shaking as he held up a smartphone displaying a chaotic, rapidly updating feed of desperate forum posts and fragmented video clips. “Thousands… hundreds of thousands of survivors are posting from wherever they can hide. Basements, offices, subway tunnels. They are screaming into the social media, begging for help, calling for rescue. The emergency hotlines are still non replying. No one is picking up.”

Rashid stepped forward, his knuckles turning white as he gripped his iron spear. “That can’t be true. It’s impossible! Where is the military response? Where is the police? We are simple, untrained university students, and yet our small group managed to break through the monsters and hold our ground. If we can survive this slaughter, the police and the heavy armed military should have stabilized at least some areas in the city by now!”

Another survivor nearby let out a hollow, mocking laugh, her eyes wide with unhinged terror. “The military? The government? There is no government anymore! The communication is almost entirely dark. There are no official broadcasts from the government, no military deployments, and no signs of institutional authority.”

She tapped her screen frantically. “The only official announcement that got online was a desperate, final directive from the United States. A broadcast telling all citizens to abandon the urban centers, to flee from crowded areas, and to barricade themselves strictly in remote areas where no portals have manifested. They have no answers. They didn’t even tell that help was on its way. They only told us to hide.”

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Maximilian let out a low, venomous curse, his gaze dropping to the blood-stained floor. “Damn it all… if the global framework is gone, what the hell are we supposed to do locked inside a university lecture hall?”

Suddenly, Anna let out a sharp, choked gasp, her face draining of all color as the pieces of the grand, terrifying puzzle clicked into place within her own mind. “Wait… if the portals are everywhere… if the entire city of Vienna is crawling with these monsters… our families. Oh my god, what about our families?”

The student who had first answered Jakob nodded with a grim, hollow finality. “Exactly. That is why everyone here is panicking. The moment those internet feeds updated, everyone realized at the same time that while they are sitting here, cowering behind makeshift barricades, their parents, their siblings, their loved ones are most likely being slaughtered across the different districts.”

The hall had quickly degenerated into an absolute minefield of shifting loyalties and emotional volatility. The larger mass of weaker students had tried to scream for solidarity, demanding that the strong fighters remain as a singular, cohesive vanguard to protect the collective. They argued that if they stayed together, they could systematically clear the streets one block at a time.

But the logic of human emotion was entirely incompatible with such calculated patience.

“I don’t give a single damn about the masses or their collective security,” Jakob had roared, his unrefined pride warping into a fierce, desperate territorial instinct. “We didn’t bleed out and level up just to act as bodyguards for people too cowardly to pick up a blade! We are powerful now. We have the power, and we have the skills. I am going into the city, and I am getting my people out.”

Rashid had scanned the chaotic, fracturing crowd, his eyes darting toward the shadows of the deeper corridors. “Wait… where the hell is Michael? We need his fighting power. We need his tactical mind before we march into battle.”

One of the secondary fighters who had assisted in the second clean-up of the Audimax stepped forward, shaking his head. “He’s not here. The moment the last monsters life was extinguished, he somehow disappeared. Knowing his efficiency, he probably evaluated the situation and immediately set out on his own.”

Anna’s jaw set into a firm, rigid line of determination. “Then we cannot afford to waste another single second waiting for him. Every tick of the clock is a second our families don’t have. We have to do this alone. We have to split up.”

“In which sectors do your families reside? Let’s plan based on distances. We will form smaller teams based on our destinations. We move fast, we strike hard, and we do not stop for anything.” Anna was planning while drawing a mental map of Vienna.

The logic of survival had shifted instantly. Within a matter of mere minutes, the painstakingly organized community of the Audimax fractured down the lines of kinship and geographic necessity. The students rapidly segregated themselves into small, desperate clusters. Those whose families lived in the outer districts banded together, while those from the inner urban core formed their own frantic vanguards.

Led by the explosive momentum of Jakob, the suggestion of Anna, and the approval of the others, the newly formed factions did not wait. They gripped their weapons, and surged as a collective wave toward the primary university exits. Any lingering monsters that had dared to block the corridors were violently torn apart, dying under a ruthless barrage of desperate, vengeful attacks.

They had broken through the threshold, left the wounded behind to their discretion, and plunged directly into the vast, smoking ruins of the outside world.