novelMayhem
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Mating?! He was supposed to make them mate?!
This was so unexpected that Daneel had to take a moment to collect himself, but after that, he realized that this solution was definitely better than any he had hoped for.
Of course, this was because of the second part of the system's communication: he could control these mosquitoes too after the mating process!
"System, what should I do to make them mate?", he asked, his ears burning faintly at the fact that he was now playing matchmaker for some mosquitoes.
[Host must find a way to allow the mosquitoes from outside into the barrier. System has already sent a message for them to travel from the Valley to this location. Their path is blocked. After this, the male and female mosquitoes will act in different ways to attract the'gold' strain mosquitoes. After the attraction process, the male uses its clasper to grab on to the female to enter its va-]
"GOT IT! Got it. I'll find a way to let our mosquitoes inside."
Too much information. Trying to get the image out of his head, Daneel started to figure out how he was supposed to contact the man outside.
Clearly, this barrier had been set up by him to protect the entire area, but he must be unaware that he was also killing everyone inside.
"System, how much time will these things stay attracted to this blood? How much time do I have to begin the... mating process?"
[40 minutes. After this time, the gold strain mosquitoes will start to lose interest and go back to the humans. Host is advised to reach an isolated location to slow down the arrival of this eventuality. ]
40 minutes. It wasn't a lot, but he had to do it in this time.
"Luther. Use as many soldiers as you need to clear out a large area to the east of Olympia. I need the entire space to be cleared. Quickly."
Sending this message, Daneel said, "Head to the east side. We are going to handle this problem there."
East was the direction where the Valley lay, so it would be best to make sure that this mating process occurred without more variables coming into play.
[System informs host that there is some crucial information host needs to know. ]
What? He couldn't possibly need to know how they... did it, right?
"What is it?", Daneel asked, trying once again not to see the creatures in front of him.
[There is a short span of time before the mating process during which the gold strain mosquitoes will no longer be attracted to the blood that is with the host. During this span of time, the gold strain mosquitoes can escape the mating process and move to other human prey, where they can reproduce without the need of another mosquito. Hence, the best way to ensure that this doesn't happen is that host must gather all humans in one place. This way, the mosquitoes will stay close by and be mated with. ]
Wait... what?!
Daneel didn't clearly understand the whole thing, but one point had been clear: he needed to collect all the humans in one place?
Wouldn't they be vulnerable anyway then?
Asking the system this question, he got the response:
[Affirmative. Many gold strain mosquitoes will attack the humans. The humans must be defended during this time. ]
The humans must be defended?
The system made it sound simple, but it didn't need to consider the fact that there were actually millions of people under the barrier.
"What about the bodies of those who had already collapsed? Do I need to gather them, too?"
[Negative. The gold strain mosquitos will only go after living prey for the time period which is needed. ]
Well, there was at least some consolation.
Still, realizing the daunting task ahead of him, Daneel shook his head.
He had to assemble millions of people from different nationalities in one place, and he also had to protect them all for a period of time so that the damn gold strain mosquitoes wouldn't have the time of their lives before they came under his control.
In fact, at this moment, it seemed so daunting that Daneel had no idea how he would accomplish it.
"System, is there no other way?"
[Negative. All other scenarios result in much higher loss of life. ]
"What about the satisfaction level right now? Has it increased or decreased?"
The whole point of setting up this event initially had been so that he could raise the satisfaction level in order to finally unlock the empire spirit and also gain more EXP so that he could upgrade the system.
[Unable to obtain concrete numbers. Too much flex. General trend: downwards. ]
Downwards. This meant that the satisfaction level was actually... going down.
Daneel felt disheartened hearing this. He had done so much, but some damn bastard had gone and ruined everything.
What was he supposed to do now? Give up?
Just as he started to lose hope, he remembered a saying that he had always loved back on Earth.
"Leaders are born in times of strife."
Indeed, the satisfaction level was falling right now, but what if the people saw someone act selflessly to protect them?
Wouldn't it shoot back up?
Besides, the level had been constantly going up throughout the entire event, so this act should definitely save it.
"Change of plans."
Putting on a determined expression on his face, Daneel started sending the messages to Luther and Sister Xuan after telling Cassandra to change their route.
He had an opportunity to show the continent something that it had never seen before, and he was damn well going to make full use of it.
...
After being saved, Norcet, his son, and the mage had started to make their way back to Olympia.
This was also the thought mirrored by most among them, as they hoped that staying in a closed space might decrease the risk of coming under attack again.
Around them, everywhere, there was mayhem.
The soldiers of the Kingdoms and the guards were still nowhere to be seen, so some people who had realized that this was the perfect opportunity to line their pockets had started to loot all the bodies around them.
The mage acted at most times to drive away these vultures, but there was only so much they could do.
It was only after the voice of the King of Lanthanor resounded through the stadium that these acts started to decrease.
From the stern way with which he handled mischief makers, Daneel had already become someone to be feared even in the people who didn't belong to his Kingdom.
A few minutes later, a second announcement was heard, and this one made the trio stop their actions.
"All the people of Angaria must make their way to the ground where they will be offered protection. Please comply. The King of Lanthanor has managed to bring the mosquitoes under control for now, but this will not be the case after some time. Then, everyone will once again be at risk. For your own safety, follow these instructions. Please make your way to the stadium."
The mage had already voiced his concerns that sitting inside a house wouldn't help in saving them from the mosquitoes, as they seemed to have a different level of strength and intelligence.
Hence, when they heard this, they actually heaved a sigh of relief and started to head back.
However, through the corner of his eye, Norcet spotted something.
On the stands of the stadium, a few hundred meters away from them, a man wearing the uniform of the Axelorian army had just slung one of the bodies lying on the ground over his shoulder.
After looking around, he repeated the action with another body before heading in the direction of Olympia.
Both of these bodies were those of women, but that was all Norcet could tell from this distance.
His entire business had been built on him trusting his gut, and it now told him that there was something very wrong going on.
"You two go ahead. I need to make a small detour.", he said, before following that man.
"No. Stick together. I'll come with you. And so will little Norcet."
Hearing the mage's forceful words, Norcet sighed and nodded before patting his son's head.
"I saw something suspicious over there. Follow me."
Saying so, he took them on the path of that soldier.
He had the zoom trinket, so it was easy to keep track of the man due to the slope.
After crossing the area in between where there was even more chaos, they reached a building in Olympia which the man entered.
This was in the Royal section, so it belonged to one of the Kingdoms which was participating in the event.
All of the building's windows and doors were locked, but Norcet had just managed to catch a glimpse of what was inside using the zoom trinket due to the Axelorian soldier opening the door to enter.
A single individual, surrounded by dozens of naked female bodies.
Norcet felt he had seen this individual before, but he just couldn't place his finger on it.
It was only a few seconds later did he finally realize who it was.
That man had been one of those on the Axelorian team who were suspected to be outsiders.
With this realization and the possibility of that man's background, Norcet immediately started to scurry back, making the other two follow.
He had to seek an audience with the King.
Now.
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