District 42-Chapter 309: City in ruins

Casper could control his body in middle-air with the jet boots he got. It was difficult to stay stabilized, but soon enough he got the hang of it and began to descend through the floors at a reasonable speed.

’The thing that passed here surely is strong. This hole is straight and clean, like a well-made tunnel. It’s even unbelievable. It demands amazing speed and strength to do something like this.’

After five minutes, Casper could pass the floor he was before, appearing on the one below. In his head, he counted the number of floors that he passed for. He needed to do it to get into the one that he needed.

’Just as I thought, the other places where there aren’t cities within are not destroyed. Jomurgand shook this place by doing this huge tunnel on the ground, but that’s all. Also, people might have been stuck here since the start of the attack. After all, the Teleporting pads probably stopped to work even before the raid began.’

More time was spent in his traveling. The soldier wasn’t worried about the energy supply for the boots, since it was moved with Indigo Energy, and the Castle had plenty of it within.

As he crossed other floors, his theory from before just reasserted itself. That tunnel was the only hint of destruction on it, but no signal of war, nor any other kind of conflict.

While he was going down, Casper saw that the people living or working on those floors were desperate. They looked at him with a hint of hope in their eyes, but fear was the predominant feeling.

It was heartbreaking to see such a scene, but the soldier knew that it would get even worse as he went by the floors.

’You need to bear it. Don’t let these negative feelings enter your mind. You will be driven crazy if you let it dominate you. There is still a lot more to see below.’

His prediction was right, obviously.

’Yes. Now I am certain. They attacked all the floors that kept the cities of the Castle. There is no mistake. It can’t be a coincidence.’

Casper finally arrived at one of the cities. He couldn’t believe what his eyes were showing to him. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

That dome was all shattered on the ground, but its shards were disappearing slowly. It was made of Indigo Energy, so it wouldn’t stay in that solid-state forever. Its inclination was to transform into energy again.

The city itself was completely destroyed as if a hurricane passed there and a volcano erupted at the same time.

Some parts of the city were thoroughly melted and transformed into lava. Some had already cooled and were just a mix of different materials. What couldn’t be melted got turned into ashes.

Casper felt a chill run down his spine once he saw such a thing. He didn’t have any idea of what happened, but he preferred not to think that it was a war, or worse, a duel. He couldn’t take that human beings were able to do something like this at all.

While in middle-air, he spotted a group of survivors that was gathering far away from the city. They probably could escape from the city when the dome got broken.

Most of those citizens were harmed, mostly from burning. There were some Ridires beside them as well. They were the majority of survivors, but the most wounded ones as well.

Casper couldn’t spot any hint of threat around, just the remains of a fierce battle that ended a long while ago.

He approached that group quickly. Once they spotted him, the Ridires took their guns.

"Don’t worry! It’s me, the White warrior!" He announced.

The relief on their faces was clear. Now, they wouldn’t need to fight anymore. The Ridires let go of their guns, others sighed and laid on the ground again, resting.

"Someone can resume to me what happened here? I need to be quick."

"The Frelsis invaded the Castle..." Began one of the Ridires. No one dared to help him to tell the story. They didn’t want to relive in their memories those moments of terror.

"...Well, after Ivar finished his fight, nobody dared to move. It was so unbelievable that even the Frelsi were still absorbing it. In the end, even though we fought for some more time, the Frelsis began to retreat once they saw Jomurgand going up in the floors again. For some reason, the Teleporting pads just activate when they are the ones trying to use it. After this, we gathered here with the citizens."

When he finished, Casper nodded his head, looking to the city in ruins behind him again.

"Ivar... Man, you are amazing. That’s incredible, really." He muttered.

Casper moved to that city quickly, giving a quick look at it. He flew on top of it, trying to spot Ivar somewhere. It was easier to find him than Casper thought it would be.

Ivar was standing as if he was still conscious. However, even from far away, Casper could notice that he wasn’t awake. His fists were clenched tightly and his eyes slightly opened. He probably stayed in that position since when his battle ended.

His mask was half broken and Casper could see some of his features.

To Casper’s surprise, that bastard was smiling.

’I don’t know you that much, but I can tell what kind of idiot you are.’ Casper also smiled, shaking his head.

He took Ivar with him and went to the place where the citizens were reunited.

"Please, take care of him. This bastard is alive, somehow. However, I don’t think he has too much time."

"We don’t have the resources to heal him... If we could leave this floor safely, then we could do it on time, but..." One of the citizens said, disappointed. Their morale was really low right now.

"Don’t worry. Soon, we all will get out of here. I will activate the Teleporting pads again!" Casper assured.

He got up, leaving that place without any other words. Then, he jumped on that hole again.