Panic tasted like copper and ashes.
Leo sprinted, his boots tearing chunks of concrete from the ruined asphalt. Wind roared in his ears, a violent gale whipped up by his own impossible physical speed. Behind him, the dark smoke of the eastern wall faded into the gray, lifeless sky. He had won that fight, shattered the mutated war-beasts with a few sweeps of his cosmic rod, but victory felt like a cold rope tightening around his throat.
It had been too easy.
Those monsters were a decoy. A loud, destructive distraction designed to pull the sanctuary's strongest defender as far away from the core as possible.
'Stupid, stupid, stupid,' he muttered under his breath.
His jaw ached from how hard he ground his teeth together. A thick vein throbbed violently at his temple, pulsing with every ragged beat of his heart. Lungs burning despite his monstrous endurance stats, he pushed his legs faster, ignoring the protest of his muscles. The dilapidated buildings of the outer ring blurred into gray streaks of decay, shattered glass, and long-abandoned vehicles.
He should have known.
Sovereign Coalition warlords didn't play fair. They didn't send valuable war-beasts to die on stone walls unless those beasts were meant to be sacrificial lambs. They wanted his reservoir. They wanted his water, his game-breaking fishing skills, and most of all, his head on a spike to show the rest of the wasteland what happened to those who dared to build a safe haven.
'Hold on,' he whispered to the empty air, his voice swallowed by the wind.
Images of Maya's bright smile and old man Samuel's quiet, guiding wisdom flashed through his mind. He thought of the children he had tucked into bed just last night, promising them that they were safe here. If anything happened to them, he knew he would never forgive himself. He would be that helpless little boy in the cupboard all over again, listening to the screams of his family.
Sweat dripped into his eyes, stinging, but he didn't slow down to wipe it away. Every second wasted was another second the monsters in human skin had to do their worst. He leaped over a rusted-out car chassis, his feet barely touching the hood before he launched himself forward another thirty yards, shattering the concrete where he landed.
Crossing the boundary into the inner sanctum, he braced himself for the sounds of battle. He expected the crackle of defensive magic, the clash of steel, or at least the desperate cries of his militia.
Instead, there was only a suffocating quiet.
---
Dead silence hung over the inner district like a heavy weight.
Leo slowed his pace, his boots coming to a grinding halt on the gravel path leading up to the reservoir's main compound. His hand gripped the cold handle of his cosmic fishing rod, knuckles turning stark white. His eyes swept the area, searching for any sign of movement, any flicker of life.
Nothing stirred.
Even the wind seemed to have died, leaving the air heavy, stagnant, and smelling faintly of ozone and old dust. Guard towers, usually manned by three alert archers each, stood completely empty. Their heavy bows were gone, but their leather quivers remained, spilled across the wooden platforms like discarded teeth.
'Maya!' he called out, his voice cracking with a vulnerability he hated.
No one answered.
Stepping forward, he noticed a dark stain on the concrete near the main entrance. He knelt, dipping his trembling fingers into the puddle. It was warm, sticky, and metallic.
Blood.
Not the black, corrupted ichor of a dungeon beast, but bright, crimson human blood. It was fresh, barely beginning to coagulate in the cool morning air.
Anger flickered in his chest, hot and sharp, but it was quickly swallowed by a suffocating wave of dread. He stood up, his gaze locked onto the massive iron gates of the reservoir. The gates were slightly ajar, swaying gently in a phantom draft that rattled the heavy chains.
He approached with slow, deliberate steps. Each rustle of his clothing sounded like a thunderclap in the unnatural quiet. His enhanced senses strained, listening for the faint heartbeat of a survivor, the rustle of a sniper's cloak, or the hum of hidden mana.
Empty.
It was as if the entire population of his sanctuary had simply evaporated into the gray morning.
Desperate for any sign of life, he pushed past the gate and ran toward the communal living quarters. He slammed his shoulder against the wooden door of the barracks, splintering the frame as he burst inside.
'Is anyone here?' he shouted.
His eyes swept the room. It was a scene of sudden, violent disruption. Chairs were knocked over. Half-finished bowls of soup sat on the tables, still radiating a faint, pathetic warmth. A child's wooden toy, carved to look like a small fish, lay abandoned in a puddle of spilled water.
They had been taken in the middle of their morning routine.
There were no signs of a prolonged struggle. No blood splattered across the walls, no scorch marks from defensive spells. It had been fast, silent, and incredibly professional.
Sovereign Coalition tacticians had planned this down to the second.
---
Pushing his way back out to the central courtyard, he winced as the metal hinges of the reservoir gates shrieked.
Directly ahead was the central control room, its glass windows shattered into thousands of glittering fragments. On the main metal door of the reservoir gate, something glinted in the dim light.
Leo walked toward it, his legs feeling like lead. His heart hammered so fiercely against his ribs that it felt like it would burst from his chest.
Pinned directly to the center of the heavy metal gate was a single, oversized fishing hook.
It wasn't one of his cosmic lures. This was a crude, heavy iron hook, the kind used for catching deep-sea predators. It was driven deep into the metal, requiring a monstrous level of physical strength that could only belong to a high-level Coalition hunter.
Dripping from the barbed tip of the hook was a fresh smear of blood.
Beneath the hook, a piece of torn, grease-stained parchment fluttered in the breeze. It was pinned to the door by the heavy iron barb, shaking like a dying leaf.
Leo reached out, his hand shaking violently as he pulled the parchment free. The iron hook groaned against the metal door but didn't budge.
He unfolded the paper.
Written in jagged, mocking charcoal strokes were five words:
'The bait has been taken.'
Leo stared at the words, the paper crumbling in his tight grip. His breathing became shallow and rapid. His vision tunneled until all he could see was that single, mocking sentence.
Every action of his had been anticipated.
Coalition commanders knew his fatal flaw, exploiting his desperate, obsessive need to protect everyone.
Using his love for his people as a leash, they had dragged him to the edge of the territory while they slipped into the heart of his home.
'No,' he whispered, his voice trembling.
He had built this place to be different. He had promised himself that he would protect them, that he would never let another family die because he wasn't strong enough. But his strength didn't matter if he was too stupid to see the trap.
A low, guttural growl escaped his throat, rising into a scream of pure, unadulterated fury.
Crumpling the note into a tiny ball, he threw it against the metal door. His gaze locked onto the blood on the hook. Whose was it? Maya's? Samuel's? One of the children he had sworn to protect?
'Show yourselves!' he screamed, his voice booming off the concrete walls of the reservoir. 'Cowards! Come out and face me!'
Echoes were his only answer, bouncing hollowly off the concrete.
No hidden enemies emerged from the ruins. No Coalition warlord stepped forward to gloat. They had already delivered their message, leaving him alone in the quiet ruins of his own failure.
Frantically, he began to pace, his mind racing through a hundred different scenarios. Where would they take them? The Sovereign Coalition's nearest stronghold was miles away, through highly contested territory filled with high-level dungeons. It would take a massive caravan to transport dozens of hostages.
Yet there were no tire tracks.
No heavy footprints led away from the gates. There were no signs of a massive struggle, no signs of a forced march.
How could they have moved so many people so quickly without leaving a single trace?
Perhaps they hadn't left.
Leo stopped. He closed his eyes, forcing his panicked mind to slow down, to focus on his passive sensory skills. He had fished up attributes that pushed his perception far beyond human limits, and he needed them now more than ever.
Focusing entirely on his hearing, he filtered out the sound of his own heavy breathing. He filtered out the distant, fading sounds of the eastern wall's aftermath. He focused on the immediate area, searching for the tiniest anomaly.
Below him, deep beneath the concrete foundation of the reservoir, he felt a faint vibration.
Metallic humming hummed rhythmically, followed by a faint, scraping sound.
Opening his eyes, he sprinted toward the maintenance section of the reservoir.
---
Slamming through the double doors of the maintenance shed, he kicked aside broken tools and shattered crates.
His eyes swept the concrete floor until they landed on the heavy steel hatch. This hatch led down into the deep overflow chambers, a subterranean labyrinth of pipes and massive water tanks that sat directly beneath the reservoir.
Normally, the hatch was secured by a simple padlock.
Now, a thick, ugly bead of hardened gray metal sealed the edges of the square hatch.
Someone had used a high-grade welding torch—or a fire-element skill—to fuse the heavy steel hatch completely to the frame. It was sealed tight, airtight and watertight, turning the underground chambers into a giant, subterranean tomb.
Leo rushed forward, dropping to his knees. He pressed his palms against the hot metal. The heat from the weld still radiated through his skin, a cruel testament to how recently his enemies had been standing here.
Pressing his ear against the cold, welded steel, he held his breath.
For a long, agonizing second, there was nothing but the rushing of his own blood in his ears.
Then, he heard it.
He hears a muffled scream from beneath the reservoir's heavy steel hatch, which has been welded shut from the outside.