Chapter 108 - Great Retreat
How did the Deadeye Spiders find their way to the surface? He did not have a good experience with Deadeye Spiders. The situation back then could have been avoided, but he didn't. Now that they arrived at the surface, he wanted to avoid them, but he can't.
The appearance of Deadeye Spiders was startling, and their numbers were terrifying, but he did not fret.
The Deadeye Spiders were busy jumping into the flames of the burning buildings and didn't bother them. They had some time to evacuate the area.
However, once flames are all gone, they would turn their hungry blind eyes on the tens of thousands of commoners in the lower district.
"Oh my god! What are those things! They look so grotesque!"
"T-They have so many legs! Ahhh! And eyes too! That's so disgusting."
The crowd felt a shiver run up their spines when they looked at the giant creepy crawlers in the distance devouring flames. They had never seen anything like these creatures nor learnt anything about them.
Five hundred years was a long time and the common masses have already forgotten what insects were, especially when these giant insects weren't the same as their old kind from before the cataclysm.
Panic began to erupt among the masses after seeing the giant arachnids' appearance.
Leon frowned at the growing disorder. It would be difficult to command their retreat in a steady manner if they could not be calmed.
"BE QUIET!" Leon amplified his voice and roared like thunder.
The crowd were stunned by the magnitude of his volume. All eyes focus on Leon and he used that short period of attention to issue his orders at once.
"Golden Lion Gang, heed my command!" Leon called out. The gang members all stood erected and perked their ears.
"You are to lead the others to the Upper District in a neat and orderly manner. There will be no pushing and shoving! If anyone tries to selfishly get ahead of the others, throw them to the back of line!" Leon issued his command coldly.
"Yes, boss!"
"Beckett, you are take charge of this operation. The others are to follow your orders. Don't disappoint me." Leon spotted Beckett among the members present and placed him in command of the group.
"Yes, boss!" Beckett answered with pride. He felt honored that the boss remembered his name and placed him in charge of such an important role.
Little did he know, it was because Leon ONLY knew his name from among the gang members present that he was assigned a higher role.
When some people among the crowd heard Leon's cold command, they were stunned then furious.
Throw them to the back of the line!? Seeing such terrifying creatures within plain sight, which one of them didn't want to be the first run!? They ones at the back would be the first to die!
These were the people who had stepped on others and ran when the explosion of the city walls happened. Because of the chaos at the time, the injured ones did not recognized them when they were trampled on by others.
"Who are you to tell us what to do!?"
"Yeah, what right do have to order us around?"
Their complaints however were met with harsh scolding from the others.
"Idiot, didn't you hear what the Golden Lion Gang members just call him? They called him boss!"
"Hmph! The divine doctor is doing it for our own good! Did you want people to be trampled on by others again?" Some people who recognized Leon as the divine doctor also chimed in.
"Yeah! Maybe you people were the ones that trampled on us before!" The other injured people also joined into the fray.
"I… I… We didn't."
These people didn't expect to be scolded by others. They had expected the others to join their protests instead, but it was clear that they were dead wrong. They tried to deny, but their hesitation was taken as admitting by the others.
"Enough! Start moving now! The able ones should help carry the injured ones. Do not rush and only take what you can hold." Beckett interjected. Boss assigned this role to him. He had to do it right.
The crowd soon started shuffling out of the square and moved towards the Upper District western entrance. Some people still took their chances to rush ahead, but they were immediately caught by gang members and thrown to the back like they were warned. They instantly regretted their actions.
The square was a gathering point to tend to the injured and held a lot of people, but they numbered less than three thousand. This was only a fraction of the total population residing in the Lower West District.
There were about fourteen thousands of other commoners scattered about. Some still hid in their homes, while others went to smaller gathering points.
Regardless of their location, the lower district soon descended into greater chaos at the emergence of the arachnids. Tens of thousands of commoners from across the four lower districts began retreating madly towards the Upper Districts.
Hundreds of people are bound to die in another frenzy stampede. Leon could only save so much.
…
Upper District walls, western entrance,
"Open up!"
"Please let us in!"
"Why did you all shut the gates?!"
"Please let my child enter at least, he is just a boy!"
The commoners shouted and pleaded at the gates, but despite their cries, the city guards, nobles and aristocrat families watching the scene of the Lower District atop the upper wall looked on coldly and didn't have any intentions of opening the gate.
A softhearted lady looked at the pitiful commoners below and asked, "They are so pitiful… How about we let them in?"
But the suggestion was immediately rejected strongly.
"Absolutely not! We can't let in so many people!"
The unending stream of arachnids appearing out of the black smoky region was terrifying. It was like there was no end to their numbers.
If they let in so many people, when would they be able to shut the gates again!? Not to mention, they don't know how long they must fend off the arachnids once these creatures arrive at the upper wall.
They were basically trapped and that would mean their supplies of goods from the outside world is cut off. In other words, there was limited food. How can they afford to feed all these commoners?
The number people living in the Upper District only amounted to roughly ten thousand, yet there were close to fifty thousand commoners from the lower districts combine. They couldn't handle such influx.
As such, they didn't dare open the gates… unless they received a royal order to do so.
…
Back at the lower district square, Leon looked at Aria who remained at his side.
"You should go with them."
"What are you planning to do?" Aria didn't answer his question. Instead, she stared him straight in the eye and asked.
"I'm going to try and buy some time by reducing their numbers." Leon said.
"No, how can I let do that alone?" Aria protested.
"I won't be alone."
As Leon said that, his palace guards arrived.
"Your highness."
Howard and the others greeted with a helpless expression. This prince of theirs sure likes leaving without a word.
Your highness?
Aria gave Leon a questioning look.
"That's just how it is." Leon smiled wryly.
There were no changes to Aria's expression when he admitted. It didn't matter who Leon was. Her feelings weren't going to change because of it.
…
It took a lot of effort for Leon to persuade Aria to leave with the rest.
In the end, it was her parents that managed to convince and took her away. Before they left, her father gave him a hard look and there were signs of relief.
Aria's father had been skeptical with the boy she was seeing. Her parents had broke into tears of happiness when she went missing for one night and came home with being able to speak.
When she told them, it was Leon who cured her and he was the boss of a gang, her father did not believe her. He thought she was lying to make them feel more accepting of this benefactor she was pursuing romantically.
How could a medically skilled person and a gang boss be that young? The boss of the Black Snake Gang had been a middle-aged figure.
But seeing was believing and he was finally able to put down his worries. How could he let his daughter date a middle-age man?
After the family of three left, Leon looked at his guards and asked, "You guys aren't going to stop me, right?"
The guards smiled wryly at Leon's question.
We can't beat you nor can we persuade you, so we can only follow you! Otherwise the queen will have our heads!
That was what they wanted to say, but they just answered, "No!"
"Good." Leon smiled and focused his sight on the arachnids. They were closing in and were about to enter the square.
He could see the buildings being swallowed one after another by their overflowing numbers.
Anyone unlucky to be eaten by these creatures would probably not be left with anything behind.
Their terrifying numbers meant these arachnids breed like crazy. They had to be killed before they start laying eggs.
"Take charge of your own lives. We kill as many as we can then retreated!"
"Yes, your highness!"
It seems that he was destined to be an exterminator of bugs. He gripped his black spear tightly and charged into the army of spiders.
No strategies were needed against such weak preys. He only needed to;
Kill, kill, kill!