Chapter 28

When the ground first started shaking, I was confused. Such special effects had occurred earlier in the production during some of the fight scenes, but the current scene had nothing to justify such an effect.

It wasn’t until the alarms started sounding from every direction that I truly understood that something was wrong.

“Please remain calm,” one of the actors on stage said, breaking character and addressing the crowd directly. “A portal leading to the Dungeon Complex will be opened momentarily. For those required in other locations, please exit from the side exits near the stage.”

“There must be an attack happening,” I said, turning to Stephen.

“I thought the alarms were supposed to provide advanced notice,” he replied with a frown.

Neither of us had moved since we were supposed to head to the Dungeon Complex, and the crew member responsible for opening the portal hadn’t yet arrived.

“I thought so, too.”

I’d definitely felt the ground shaking, so it seemed likely that whatever was attacking had somehow made it past the city’s patrols.

Since demons were known to have similar abilities as Dians, it didn’t seem unreasonable to think that a particularly powerful demon might have used stealth or illusions to get around the patrols.

Thankfully, no matter how strong the demon responsible was, only first evolution demons would be involved in the initial attack.

Demons were strangely regimented in such things. First evolution demons always attacked first, followed by a wave of second evolution demons, then third, and finally, fourth evolution demons, if any were present.

The only exception was when a higher-evolution Dian attacked lower-evolution demons before their ‘wave’ started. If that happened, all of the demons would attack at once, often causing far more casualties.

It made me wonder why the demons were so set on sticking to their established attack protocols. They had to know that just attacking all at once would have a far greater chance of success.

In fact, according to most sources, the majority of the early losses in the realm had come from Dians not understanding that very quirk about demon attacks.

They’d fought back with everything they had from the beginning, which caused the highest-level demons to intentionally target groups of lower-evolution fighters in retaliation instead of mostly targeting similarly-leveled opponents.

Of course, things didn’t always work out perfectly, and there was a lot of collateral damage when powerful entities fought, but the death toll was significantly lower when the demons’ ‘rules’ were adhered to.

Not every attack was led by a fourth evolution demon, though. In fact, not every attack included even third evolution demons.

In those instances, demons were often wiped out by patrolling silver-ranked or above fighters without ever reaching their target cities. It was why towns and small cities with beginner and bronze-ranked dungeons always had at least one party’s worth of higher-ranked delvers living there at any given time.

Mostly, they were those who’d already entered stagnation and had no desire to chase ascension. Often, the highest-level individual would be offered the position of City Lord or Governor, depending on the territory.

Since the highest-level demon involved in an attack was usually on par with whatever dungeon was inside the city, that often gave the natives a bit of an advantage. They still had to be careful, though.

Sometimes, a group of higher-evolution demons would hide and observe an attack, only stepping in when the city’s protectors moved in to defeat the lower-evolution demons.

Thankfully, higher-evolution individuals, whether Dian or demon, could not enter a lower-evolution dungeon. That protected weaker dungeons from getting outright destroyed by much stronger demons, though it wouldn’t protect them from waves of same-evolution demons if the city’s defenders fell.

Aside from killing people, destroying dungeons appeared to be the demon’s priority. That was probably because dungeons naturally prevented incursions from appearing, either by strengthening the barriers between realms or by some other mechanism.

“It doesn’t feel right to run away while others are fighting,” Stephen commented as a particularly well-dressed man entered the stage with an air of command.

“I agree. But until we get stronger, we’d be nothing but fodder, even with our experience. First evolution demons are just too strong for us, especially with how low-leveled we both are.”

I didn’t like it, but I was also realistic enough to know that my level twenty-one self wouldn’t be able to do much against opponents who started at level 200.

The stage was filled with activity, but none of the actors appeared overly concerned. Identifying them revealed that most were only at the first or second evolution, though there were a few who’d reached the third evolution.

The one with the Portal skill was one of those.

“All those requiring shelter, please make your way to the stairs on either side of the stage,” the man said once the portal snapped into place. “There is no reason to worry. Muforia Company prides ourselves in our ability to ensure our patrons’ safety during any performance.”

I was strangely annoyed at how easily the man had opened a portal to the local Dungeon Complex. I would have had to use a Dimensional Anchor to target a location, which didn’t seem to be the case for the man at all.

It was one reason to consider eventually accepting the Portal skill, eventually, though that wouldn’t happen until I’d opened up a few extra skill slots.

Even then, I might not bother slotting the skill if I managed to gain enough Dimensional Anchors. I didn’t see needing a portal for anything that I couldn’t use Teleportation for, after all, and it seemed more prudent to just upgrade Teleportation instead of adding a second space-based movement skill.

In the rare case where I might need to open a portal, I figured I’d be able to manage by setting a Dimensional Anchor at my target location. As long as I gained a couple of extras, I really didn’t think it would be an issue.

“Let the children enter first, please,” another man called out as most of the crowd started heading toward the exits, while others headed toward the portal on stage.

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Those leaving the venue mostly appeared focused on their tasks. Some looked nervous or worried, but nobody shirked their duties.

Of those who remained, nobody seemed overly panicked as they lined up and started making their way to the portal. Their behavior said a lot about how often they had to deal with drills and actual attacks.

I knew attacks occurred a few times a year, but I still expected everyone to be more worried.

“I guess we should go?” I said, standing.

Stephen frowned but followed suit. About a dozen children were quickly being led through the portal, which eased a bit of the tension I was feeling about the attack.

At least the children are safe, I couldn’t help but think.

“We need to get stronger,” the archer said quietly as we took our place near the back of the line. “I don’t like feeling like this again.”

“Like what?”

“Weak.”

I could understand the sentiment.

As we approached the stairs leading onto the stage, a crash sounded from behind, startling the two-dozen or so individuals who had yet to retreat through the portal.

“Hurry up, please,” the well-dressed Portal Mage said, his expression shifting from confident to strained. His eyes kept darting to the back of the theater.

I glanced behind me as some kind of minor aura attack hit, causing my muscles to lock up and freezing me in place.

“Get through the portal, now!” the man yelled frantically, though I could only imagine his expression since my eyes were locked onto the demon who’d broken through the back of the theater.

Though I’d read descriptions of demons and knew they were bestial beings, my mind had still imagined humanoids with red skin and horns. It was based purely on media from my childhood, I knew.

Instead of the stereotypical demon from pre-integration Earth’s media, the being roaring a challenge at the lingering patrons appeared more like a dirty yeti with gray fur and red eyes.