Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes

However, it might be a good thing—

The thought had barely formed when it was immediately extinguished by the scene before him.

The headless winged man simply raised his hand casually.

Boom!

The ground rumbled and trembled, and the massive pile of ruins of Mount Fuji behind him suddenly rose upwards.

Deep within the mountain, a large amount of magma was forcibly stirred up, boiling and erupting once more, with scorching black and red lava spraying into the sky with an aura of destruction.

—What a load of rubbish!

Nobita instantly understood: no matter what kind of sacred being it might have been in the past, at this moment, it was a naked and enormous threat to the world!

It seemed that only then did the winged man notice the tiny figures below.

He pointed his raised hand at Iwasaki Kosuke, who had the strongest presence in the crowd.

"Terrible"

An invisible force instantly gripped Iwasaki.

I don't know if this counts as retribution, but Iwasaki has pinched others so many times with his invisible hand that this is the first time he's been pinched by someone else. Clearly, in his current state, he shouldn't be affected by physical means.

However, given the winged people's incandescent light-like luminescence, he didn't believe it was purely physical.

"open!!"

There is no room for hesitation when life and death are at stake!

Overdrafted, add some more!

As ten years of lifespan burned away, an aura far exceeding anything before erupted from Iwasaki's body.

He poured all his newly acquired energy into the invisible and mage's hand, his body instantly becoming almost ethereal, while the invisible giant hand gripped the binding force fiercely in the opposite direction.

Even so, there was still no way to fight against it.

He could feel the power he unleashed hitting a wall of sighs, able to shake it a little, but only a little.

Oh no, I didn't spend enough money!

Overdrafting is not unlimited; one cannot continuously exploit the life force in a short period of time.

Nobita would not allow Yuuto to attack Iwasaki. Regardless of their past conflicts, they now share the same enemy!

With his jaw clenched, just as he was about to make a final desperate attempt using his last skill cooldown card, an equally invisible and terrifying force instantly enveloped him.

As if gripped in a giant hand, the warrior's armor made a cracking sound, and he was being slowly crushed like a tin can.

If it weren't for that bottle of holy spring water replenishing his life in time, he would have already passed away in that short time.

The health bar is flashing wildly under pressure, slowly decreasing.

Renault, who was pretending to be dead, was thinking rapidly. He wanted to flee far away immediately, but under the terrifying pressure, he was worried that any movement would immediately attract attention. He could only continue to maintain his posture and hope that a better opportunity would come later.

The ground beneath the winged figure suddenly rippled violently, and with a whoosh, countless tenacious climbing vines broke through the soil and rocks, roaring as they rushed toward the winged figure radiating white light in mid-air.

Then, the moment these vines came into contact with the winged man's light, they instantly vaporized, disintegrating inch by inch from the point of contact, turning into black ash that drifted down.

Yingli felt as if she had been struck by a heavy hammer. Her throat tightened, and she collapsed to her knees, utterly powerless.

Nobi, with his health bar dwindling, struggled to draw a card. If he could just get a lucky draw, maybe he could turn the tide of the battle!

Swish!

Above the sky, the thick, churning volcanic ash layer suddenly split open on both sides, creating a straight, ruler-like opening, as if a sword had cleaved the heavens in the sky.

At the crack, a thin, rod-shaped object plummeted rapidly, whistling through the air and almost sparking, pointing directly at the winged man below.

The luminous winged figure paused, and even without a head, it was clear that he seemed to be looking up at something.

Nobi and Iwasaki, who were fighting desperately, suddenly felt a lightness in their bodies.

The terrifying pressure that had almost crushed them vanished instantly. The two could no longer hold on and collapsed to the ground, panting heavily, unable to even move a finger.

The black object in the sky was moving extremely fast. The midday sun shone through the cracks, finally making it barely visible. It seemed to be an umbrella.

A black and red umbrella?

The umbrella surface was faintly covered with an unknown, yet intricate and rustic pattern; the material seemed more like... oiled paper?! How could they see it so clearly from such a distance?!

As Iwasaki recovered from his exhaustion, he realized with a start that it wasn't that their eyesight was extraordinary, but rather that the umbrella was expanding wildly.

It is getting bigger and bigger at a speed visible to the naked eye!

Until it blocked out the sky, the creaking sound of the umbrella ribs opening made their ears itch.

The shadow cast by the giant umbrella covered everything in sight, and the sky was completely occupied by the expanding umbrella. The surging volcanic ash was mercilessly swallowed up by the newly formed thick black clouds, and countless thick golden lightning snakes danced and shuttled wildly within them.

What volcanic eruption? It wouldn't even touch the umbrella handle. Compared to that, it looks like an earthworm wriggling.

A terrifying suction force emanated from under the umbrella, but it seemed to deliberately avoid the players, instead frantically drawing energy away from the glowing winged figures.

The earth was filled with flying sand and stones, and the terrible dust stained the shape of a tornado.

Even the lava was swallowed up, pulling out several fire dragons that stretched to the heavens and the earth. The earth seemed to be wailing, emitting a tearing sound.

The headless, white-winged being frantically flapped its tattered wings, unleashing a violent aura in an attempt to resist, but it was like a small boat in a tsunami, utterly ineffective.

He was pulled little by little by the powerful suction, irresistibly drawn towards the huge black vortex at the bottom of the umbrella. His broken wings futilely flapped against the void, and finally even the light was swallowed up, and he completely disappeared from everyone's sight.

Swish!

The giant umbrella suddenly closed, its ribs tightening.

The devastating suction force vanished instantly.

The howling wind suddenly stopped.

The millions of pounds of sand and soil that had been swept into the sky immediately lost their support and crashed down, obscuring everything in a rain of mud.

After an unknown amount of time, when the last grain of sand settled, the world returned to deathly silence.

Nobi Tomohiro stared blankly, tasting countless amounts of sulfurous fumes, completely oblivious to the radioactive mud and sand.

In the sky, the umbrella shrank rapidly until it became a tiny, almost invisible black dot, just like before.

Then, it fell into the hands of someone who appeared out of nowhere.

He floated in mid-air, his pure white mask revealing no expression.

He made no unnecessary movements, but simply glanced coldly at the tiny creatures of the earth through his mask.

Without even waving his sleeve, he vanished into the horizon, as if he had never existed.

Not only were the people present stunned and their minds blank, but they were also speechless.

Far out in the Pacific Ocean, in a carrier battle group, US Commander McCullough, who had just recovered some of his military observation equipment after overcoming numerous difficulties, was in his entire operations command center.

Through relatively clear footage, they witnessed the entire process from the sky splitting open to the umbrella closing.

There was a deathly silence, with only the echoing sounds of many Adam's apples bobbing.

"It's him again."

McCullough leaned back in his chair wearily and let out a heavy sigh.

He could guess that the president probably wouldn't get a good night's sleep tonight.

Compared to monsters born purely for destruction, what they fear more are these mysterious beings whose intentions are completely unfathomable, yet who certainly have some purpose.

Chapter 254: Post-War Disaster

"Talos-S team reports: The target at the Banqiao Ward Notary Office experienced abnormal dissolution one minute ago, suspected to be self-destruction, status unknown."

"Maintain vigilance and alternately suppress the advance with firepower."

Amidst the smoke-filled ruins, the Talos soldiers, fully armored, resembled human fortresses.

Using specially made blast shields and buildings as cover, they moved cautiously in groups of three, covering each other, as they moved through the shadows of the collapsed buildings, surrounding a monster they had just been fighting.

At this point, it had melted like a candle, and what was originally seven or eight meters high was now just a few writhing lumps of flesh.

Under the barrage of bullets, the flesh disintegrated under the intense bombardment, leaving only a pool of foul-smelling, hot, and burnt filth, completely devoid of any signs of life.

Tokyo.

With the complete demise of Ashiya Dōman of Mount Fuji, all the monsters in the city that depended on his power gradually collapsed.

One by one, the attacks ceased abruptly, their limbs beginning to crumble uncontrollably, eventually turning into thick, sticky blood that seeped into the cracks between bricks or flowed into nauseating crevices, trickling down the messy streets.

The air around us smelled more than just foul; it had a pungent, choking odor. Even the dead would turn into tear gas and continue to wreak havoc, nearly suffocating the residents hiding nearby.

The enormous semi-circular shield that had recently covered half of Tokyo has now shrunk to the area of ​​Nerima Ward.

Although the remains of Mount Fuji are still spewing plumes of volcanic ash into the sky, the lava rain has at least stopped now that Ashiya Dōman, the core driving force, is gone.

The shield barely held the line, preventing it from shrinking further inward. Against the backdrop of the boundless gray sky, it resembled a blown-out bubble, ready to burst at any moment.

At the center of the shield, at the top of the Skytree, Muramasa Taki's face was completely bloodless, and his lips were dry, cracked, and peeling.

The guardian jade that had once flowed with vibrant green light in her heart now had almost completely lost its luster, with only a faint trace of emerald green swirling in the center of the jade, about to go out.

The city-protecting talisman could barely hold for a while, but she could also choose to remove it now to avoid exhausting her already dwindling energy.

She's done everything she can. Even if the shield remains in place, there's no threat of it falling. The biggest concern is the volcanic ash deposition in an hour or two.

She couldn't possibly hold on until then.

Moreover, it wasn't ordinary volcanic ash, but radioactive dust mixed with radiation.

Preliminary estimates suggest that the thickness of the subsidence in Tokyo could reach a terrifying 50 centimeters.

This level of dust will cover everything.

Crops will be completely destroyed; that's inevitable. Respiratory diseases and radiation sickness will spread like a plague, and the death toll will far exceed that of the famine in the Kanto region caused by the Hoei eruption. Not to mention the mudslides and floods that will inevitably follow—those are minor issues.

With the power grid paralyzed and a substation short-circuiting and catching fire, attempting repairs amidst widespread radiation is tantamount to suicide.

The drinking water source in Tokyo will be completely contaminated, and this most important region of Japan is about to slide into a desperate situation similar to a nuclear winter.

The Japanese government has absolutely no capacity to rescue tens of millions of people. All it can do is distribute rudimentary survival guides and meager emergency supplies to help the public fend for themselves.

The only good news is that the authorities had anticipated that Mount Fuji would erupt in the coming years, so they have some emergency reserves and plans in place.

Moreover, the smoke had been rising for almost ten days before the outbreak.

From a purely natural perspective, given the size of Mount Fuji, the maximum eruption level is unlikely to exceed VEI5, and the global impact would be minimal. It would not replicate the summerless year in the Northern Hemisphere caused by Mount Tambora. Basically, only Japan would suffer greatly, while neighboring countries would experience minor volcanic ash.

To draw an analogy, it's less intense than the eruption of the Tongan volcano, with only about one-tenth the energy.

Even so, the blow to Tokyo was devastating.

[Moon: Breaking news! The knights are all alive and have emerged from underground!]

[Zheng: Understood. Tokyo is in chaos from now on, so please protect yourself.]

[Moon: Don't worry, I'm not that weak]

Uesugi has returned to his apartment.

The residents of this building are lucky; neither the lava nor the monsters have caused any damage to the place.

In addition, she had stockpiled a large amount of food and bottled water the day before yesterday, enough to last her for a month.

Without electricity, the quality of life would plummet, and a disheveled and unkempt appearance would be inevitable.

It's unclear how long her savings will last. However, given the current situation in Tokyo, money is likely to depreciate significantly; food, water, and medical supplies are the real hard currency.

This situation reminded her of the game "This War of Mine" that she had played before.

The most urgent task is to find a way to contact family members to let them know I'm safe.

However, Tokyo's public communication network has been completely paralyzed. It is estimated that only the official and US military can maintain a few communication lines. It is obviously unrealistic to rely on mobile phones in the short term.

She was frowning at her phone, which had no signal at all, when the ground shook again.

Compared to the devastating earthquake that occurred when Mount Fuji collapsed, this tremor was much milder. However, what followed was not a rumbling sound, but a strange, muffled friction sound, as if something was breaking through the earth's surface.

Uesugi immediately pulled back the heavy blackout curtains and peered out through the dust-blurred glass window.

Her gaze quickly settled on a community square not far away.

There, the ground arches upwards, and soil and gravel slide down. Then, the outline of a stone statue slowly rises and grows taller.