Thousands of panicked voices rose to fill the air, as everyone read the ominous contents of the System’s message.

People began running a handful of heartbeats later, sprinting toward the tower in a fearful mass. Many of them started leaping through the first door they came across, their assigned location and group forgotten as they fled for their lives. In the end, all Jim’s planning had come to naught, and Nick’s strategy hadn’t been implemented either.

Regardless of the method, with team Earth scattered across the region, it was going to take time for everyone to enter the tower. There were going to be people trapped outside if the hunters didn’t get them first, but there wasn’t anything that Nick could do about it now. There hadn’t been enough doorways to begin with, and he prayed that as many people as possible survived what was coming.

As bad as this development was, he refused to panic. He had to find the other members of his team, then leap through an unclaimed door before the fresh hell that the System was brewing descended upon their heads.

With any luck, he would make it in time. He couldn’t see any blackmist yet. Hopefully it would take a few more minutes before the hunters and their master arrived. I need to get to our meeting point fast, then wait for the others.

But matters were not fated to be resolved so simply. Because that was when Nick felt the ground beneath his feet begin to pound and shake. A heavy, rumbling beat that he recognized from soloing his beast-based trial back on the Searing Isle.

Something was headed their way fast, and Nick could already tell that it was going to be big. Now near the spot that his team had picked to meet up during an emergency, he planted his feet and fought to remain where he was, pushing against the press of the crowd while looking for a friendly face.

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Unless he was left with no other choice, there was no way that Nick was going to leave Sophia and the others behind. He knew that she wouldn’t be able to hear his voice over the clamor of the mob, and it was hard to see anything with all the bodies in the way. He called out anyway, scanning the faces streaming past with increasing desperation.

Things only got worse when the screaming started.

Uncertain as to what was happening, Nick abandoned his position and started running toward the tower. He needed to see for himself how events were unfolding, so that he could decide what to do next. The tower was the only place where he could get a good look from an elevated position, and he had to get there fast.

Besides, this wasn’t a viable meeting point anymore. The ring of stones they had been using for a landmark was lost beneath the surge of panicked bodies.

The fearful cries were growing louder by the heartbeat, as everyone started diving into the closest door they could find. Nick saw that a fair portion of people were moving as a team. But many more were running on their own, cut off from their groups by the momentum of the mob.

More people must have slipped past Jim’s guards. The arrival and severity of the global event had caught everyone by surprise. Now, it was every man for himself.

Here and there, people were trying to restore order, encouraging everyone to head to their assigned door and wait for their teams for as long as they could. But it simply wasn’t possible now that the closest doors were taken, the entrances vanishing in a flash of light the instant that the fifth person stepped past the threshold.

After another disorienting moment, Nick forced himself through a clump of bodies and broke through into clear ground. Fortunately, there weren’t nearly as many people standing near the closest face of the tower, because all the entrances nearby had already been taken.

He wanted to help, but he wasn’t sure what he could do given the circumstances. Regardless, his next step was to meet up with his own team, then lend what little assistance they could before entering the tower themselves.

No matter what happened, there was no way that Nick was going to get stuck out here when the last door closed. He didn’t need a skill to know that it was a veritable death sentence. But try as he might, he couldn’t spot the faces of his friends.