...That being said, the accuracy of this giant sweeping device is actually not very high. Although Dhritarashtra claims to "sweep away all the filth and dirt in the wilderness," in reality, when a mop sweeps across a dirty floor, it is impossible for it to completely remove every grain of dust and dirt.
When it's actually an enormous air-suction sweeper, the situation naturally becomes even more chaotic. Some people and objects might be lucky enough to avoid being sucked up and blown away. Others might be sucked into the storm and blown to strange places—for example, westward to the Pacific Ocean, or to other neighboring states, or even fall down and be sucked up again and blown away once more.
Ultimately, this is merely a "phenomenon" created by Mitra Corporation's Americas branch haphazardly tinkering with a massive amount of next-generation energy into the climate control system. It's not some particularly sophisticated machine.
Brutal, chaotic, yet incredibly powerful. Like an immense mass pressing down, leaving no opening.
From beyond the distant horizon.
On the barren land.
It's right there.
【Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha】
Singing incantations, the storm, like a puppet of a god, shrouded in countless pollutants, curses, and toxins, moved forward leisurely.
"Are we going to run away?"
Obviously, any normal person would start thinking about this immediately. In fact, Hayden was already regretting why he hadn't prepared for the evacuation in advance.
Why didn't he just lead the demi-humans and run away three days ago, retreating to the nearest town of Shuainan?
There are many reasons. The first reason is that Hayden knew that the townspeople actually looked down on demi-humans.
Social classes often evoke a sense of superiority by looking down on those of lower social status. Residents of big cities may look down on people from rural towns, while residents of small towns like Shuainan Town look down on the barren people who don't even have legal social status.
Moreover, the demi-humans are essentially primitive people who have abandoned civilized society, and their habits are very different from those of modern people. Hayden himself knew that if he were to forcibly relocate the entire tribe of demi-humans to Shuainan Town, conflict between the two sides would be highly likely.
Who knows how long this giant vacuum cleaner storm will last? Even a normal typhoon takes several days, let alone this thing powered by some unknown "next-generation energy" from the Mitra Corporation. What if it blows across the barren land for a month?
Even if Karen uses the authority of the Peacock King and the money invested to suppress the townspeople, their resentment will surely accumulate.
This is one of the reasons.
The second reason he didn't run away with the demi-people beforehand was that Hayden wanted to demonstrate his strength to them and put their minds at ease.
Hayden actually made a great deal of preparations beforehand.
He prepared food, emergency supplies, a protective barrier around the ley lines, and even a concealment spell to block the vision of the gods. He also enhanced his sensory abilities through the ley lines in advance and prepared a radar network based on natural forces.
He had considered many aspects beforehand, just like those survivalists who worry about the end of the world all day long prepare their own shelters, guns, ammunition, and food supplies.
...But if the so-called "end of the world" is a meteorite that directly smashes everyone to pieces, then what can survivalist people do, no matter how much they prepare shelters and supplies in advance?
Hayden never expected that these capitalist gods would actually unleash a simple yet brutal super typhoon vacuum cleaner!
Now all those concealment barriers, radar detection protection, ley line protection, and preparations for supplies and food are useless!
And this wasn't even specifically targeting him!
Are you kidding me! ?
If Hayden was considered a great enemy by the gods, who specially developed new weapons to deal with him, then dying in battle might be considered an honor.
However, now, it's actually just that big companies have developed a new type of energy to power giant air vacuum cleaners, which then casually run you over.
This was so damn ridiculous that it almost made Hayden feel a sense of absurdity.
"If we try to evacuate the entire tribe of demi-humans to Shuinan Town now... it's definitely not going to work."
He looked at the typhoon wall on the horizon, quickly did some calculations, and then shook his head.
It was too late. He could roughly calculate from the wind speed that even if they took nothing and only sent the demi-humans to evacuate, they would be swept away by the storm halfway there.
Among the demi-humans were the elderly, children, and women, and Hayden had no way to teleport them all to Shuainan Town, not to mention the fierce storm raging outside, making it impossible to use his usual wind magic. As for moving on land by other means, it would be even slower.
What should I do?
Hayden and Angela would always find a way to escape. Just in case, Karen had given them a teleportation beacon that would take them directly to the adjacent town of Shuenan. But was he really going to abandon these hundreds of demi-humans, leaving them to survive alone, letting them be run over by the vacuum cleaner?
No.
If Hayden were to stand by and watch these people die, how could he face Karen again? Of course, it was impossible to save everyone in the wasteland, but the demi-people of this tribe trusted him, so how could Hayden abandon them?
He must find a way to solve the problem.
“Okay. I happened to have read some ancient Middle Eastern wind-avoidance magic before.”
Hayden scratched his head, took out his Moonlight Staff, and prepared to step forward.
"The ancient Mesopotamians believed that storms bringing poison and disease were driven by demons, fallen gods. Therefore, people at that time devised spells to ward off the winds and protect themselves from the demons' calamities. If I use the energy of this mountain's ley lines to activate it, I should be able to protect it..."
However, before Hayden could finish speaking, Angela, who was standing behind him, sighed.
"Owner."
She stepped forward, patted Hayden on the head, and uttered words that were clearly admonishing.
"You're clearly getting a bit stuck in a rut. Try changing your perspective first. Don't give up just because you've encountered trouble, and there's no need to try to solve the problem alone."
Hayden opened his mouth, then closed it, speechless for a moment.
Nevertheless, he couldn't help but retort, "If you don't solve the problem yourself, isn't that just dumping the work on you again?"
Who wants to be unable to do anything all day and always have Angela save their life?
Does he really have to rely on Angela to save the day every time he encounters trouble?
That won't do, absolutely not.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with my master entrusting things to me. You are my master. It’s only natural that you let me fulfill your wishes.”
Angela tilted her head to the side.
"And when I said 'not just one person,' I wasn't just talking about myself."
……ah?
“Master, you are not the only one on this mountain.”
She said calmly and composedly,
"Please don't underestimate other people."
---------------------------
The storm is coming.
A massive dark calamity has struck.
So, what is the current situation of those demi-humans on the mountain?
Are they panicked? Are they terrified? Have they already prostrated themselves in despair, trembling at the power of the gods, kneeling on the ground, praying to the gods who are incapable of showing mercy, begging that calamity will not befall them?
In fact, there isn't one.
The demi-humans weren't even panicked.
When Hayden transformed into a white wolf using his beast-transformation magic and ran to the tribe with Angela, they saw the demi-humans—working very calmly and methodically.
"Great wolf! Great god!"
When the demi-human chieftain saw Hayden and Angela arrive, he gladly bowed to them, showing no sign of panic or displeasure.
"The situation is really great now!"
…………What?
Fortunately, Hayden is now a wolf, otherwise his face would definitely be filled with astonishment.
So the demi-human chieftain was unaware of Hayden's astonishment. Instead, he continued in a serious and composed manner, "Thanks to your blessings, this curse storm sent down by the gods was not a targeted 'cleansing,' but rather a rather careless 'sweeping.' With our current strength, we expect the tribe to survive this calamity with a loss of less than 30% of its population."
Ah? ? ?
To his shame, Hayden felt like his head was about to stop working.
What exactly do these demi-humans mean?
"Uh, such a huge storm is about to hit, shouldn't you be scared?"
After a long while, he finally couldn't help but ask.
This question, however, earned it a strange look from the demi-human chieftain.
“Great wolf, even though we have never experienced a curse of such magnitude, this is not the first time something like this has happened.”
He answered with an air of self-righteousness.
“Occasionally, once or twice a month, the gods will send down different disasters and curses. Sometimes it is acid rain, sometimes it is tornadoes, sometimes it is plagues, sometimes it is ferocious monsters, sometimes it is a prolonged drought, and sometimes it will drive people mad and kill others.”
Hayden was stunned for a full second before he truly understood what the chief was talking about.
—Doesn't the Mitra Group also discharge pollution onto barren land regularly?
They have used climate control systems in the past to dump industrial pollution into the wilderness, just not on such a large scale as this time. That's why the wastelands have such severe environmental pollution, while the situation is much better in cities.
The demi-humans had long been prepared to deal with acid rain, hurricanes, and curses that were "normal" – but even so, this storm was far too big, not even in the same league.
However, the demi-human chieftain showed no fear: "Although the scale of disasters is not usually this large, this time we are different from the past. We are prepared, we have enough food and clothing provided by the gods, and we have healthier bodies than before. What is there to fear?"
Upon hearing the chief's words, Hayden turned and looked at him and the demi-humans in the surrounding tribes carefully, and finally understood—over the past half month, these demi-humans had indeed become different.
Angela's aura healed their ailments and old wounds, and Karen provided them with ample food and clothing. These demi-humans now appeared healthier than ever before, with exceptionally abundant magic and physical strength.
So now, even if an even bigger storm comes... they are no longer afraid.
"Fellow countrymen! We have nothing to fear! We have been blessed by three gods like never before! Thank the Lord God for bestowing upon us health and strength!"
The chief shouted to the sub-people in the tribe.
"The Lord God has given us life! Even if this calamity is great, we will not perish!"
"Not to perish, but to live forever!"
Upon hearing the chief's call, the demi-humans echoed in unison. Their fighting spirit was incredibly high, and there wasn't a single demi-human present who felt uneasy.
Angela watched them with a smile, then turned to look at Hayden. Although she didn't speak, even Hayden could understand the meaning behind her expression:
You see?
Hayden could only remain speechless as he looked at the demi-humans' high spirits.
They were not ignorant and reckless. They were professional; they knew perfectly well how many of their compatriots would die in the coming storm.
But they remained fearless.
"……so,"
After a moment of silence, Hayden finally couldn't help but ask, "What exactly are you planning to do?"
“Great wolves, we plan to hide in the burrows we dug beforehand to avoid the direct damage of the storm. Then we will rely on the tainted beast flesh and blood we smeared on beforehand to resist the pollution and curses brought by the storm.”
The chief nodded in reply.
"With the ley line barrier you prepared for us, the caves, the food, and the resistance spells applied to the houses, and we are also healthier now—with these multiple protections, based on past experience, we estimate that only about 20% of us should die."
By the standards of the Ajin, this is already an acceptable loss.
Hayden couldn't help but cover his face with his paws.
These demi-humans had lived in the wasteland for so long that their views on life and death had become terrifying. Hayden, however, couldn't very well follow suit.
On the other hand, even Hayden had to admit that Angela was right.
Don't underestimate other people.
Don't assume that you're the only one thinking about how to solve things.
The other people, the masses, are all very capable. They have their own efforts and their own methods, and they should not be underestimated.
"Angela".
Hayden turned his head and looked at Angela, who was smiling and waiting for his orders.
Do you have a way to strengthen the ley line barrier?
Angela nodded enthusiastically, looking quite expectant. "Of course! Are you asking me to do this?"
The expression on her face suggested that she had wanted to do this for a long time and had been thinking about it for a long time.
To be honest, it looks a little scary. Besides, Hayden remembered the question Angela had asked him when they were planting the tree.
Would you like to plant this tree yourself, or would you like me to plant it for you?
At that time, Hayden chose to grow it himself. He was a little afraid that Angela's personal involvement in growing it would cause trouble, create strange phenomena, and be discovered by large companies.
...But the situation is different now.