Doomsday Pillars

"Welcome to the city of Mandurah!"

Mandurah is a city located 80 kilometers south of the city of Perth. This town is a lovely little town located near the coast and surrounded by its own lakes and rivers.

The loud shout coming from somewhere took Alex and Aria\'s attention. They quickly turned their head towards the sound\'s source. Seeing Sergei\'s large build and his iconic red beard, Aria could not help but to jump out of the car and run to the big guy, hugging him in the process. While Alex calmly gets out of the vehicle and bumps his fist to him.

"What are you doing here, Sergei? Why are you staying here instead of inside the pillar?"

"Well... I tried to convince the people here to move to the pillar with my group." Sergei answered while scratching his beard..

"You told them that in 2 months it wouldn\'t be safe to be outside the pillar, right?"

"Yes! I mean, of course I did. That is the first thing that I told them, but they don\'t want to listen to my words." he explained.

Alex raised his eyebrows. He then threw his gaze around the camp and said calmly. "These people would not survive the tribulation."

Hearing the words from Alex\'s mouth, Sergei could only laugh it off.

"Hahaha… don\'t worry they still have some time."

Hearing his reaction, Alex then realized that Sergei was actually hiding something. He then watched Sergei closely, trying to figure out what it was. Facing Alex\'s curiosity gaze, Sergei felt cold sweat run down his back.

Several minutes have passed but Alex continues to keep his eyes on him, even Aria realizes the strange situation between them and chooses to remain silent and observe. unable to stand Alex\'s gaze anymore, he then asked nervously.

"W-What\'s wrong, Alex?"

"What is it Sergei? Tell me." Alex said with a blank expression on his face.

"Well... it\'s a shame to leave this city you know... They have many very good things going on here. You see... the lovely weather, the river, the lake, the swan.."

Listening to Sergei\'s weird talking, Alex feels that he knows where this is going...

He keeps the blank expression on his face and says, "The wine here is amazing, aren\'t they?"

"Yes! Definitely the wine!! They are the best!!"

\'This drunkard!\' Alex silently thought in his mind.

Alex teased this red beard friend of his, "How many bottles did you drink since you got here?"

"25? 30?" Sergei said as he smirked.

Alex looked at Aria and she also looked at him, then they both nodded in agreement. \'Yeah, as expected for Sergei.\' they both thought the same thing in their mind. 

What a blessing from Heaven that Sergei and his team are still alive, being left 6 month here by themself. Alex then kicked Sergei in the butt and said, "Go get something that can sober you up, you drunkard!"

The area south of Perth city is known for their wide-spread farms and excellent wineries. Apparently, the reason they are very reluctant to leave the town and move their bases to the Doomsday Pillar is because they don\'t want to abandon their farms and wineries here.

In the afternoon of that very day, Alex spent time meeting the elected leader of the community inside the basecamp. The leader was a middle aged man that looked kind and reliable, just like your friendly neighborhood uncle. He was called Curtin by the others. When he saw the leader of the community, Alex immediately went straight to his point.

Alex looked at Curtin\'s eyes. "Can you convince your people to move to the Doomsday Pillar?"

Curtin was silent and only kept his smile to Alex. Seeing his reaction, Alex proceeded to ask a question. "Can you tell me how many people live in the town, Mr Curtin?"

"5 thousand people." Max answered

"How many of them can fight?"

"Half of them."

"You see, I\'m going to be frank and tell you the crisis. In exactly 85 days from now, the first tribulation will come crashing down to the world, unleashing many ferocious and vicious monsters. And this is the hard truth for you and your people, this town will not be able to withstand it."

Curtin frowned when he heard Alex\'s words "We are not that weak, Mr Alex. We have a hundred Sky realm Knights here."

"It doesn\'t matter, Mr Curtin. Even hundred times your number will still die if they stay outside of the Doomsday Pillar." Alex then continued, "There will be hordes of creatures that will come out of the abyss and kill everybody."

Curtin\'s frown deepened as he heard Alex\'s words, he then sighed deeply, "I can\'t make this decision alone, Mr Alex. I need to discuss it with others."

Alex nods at his words. "I will go first then, Mr Alex." Curtin then leaves the room. Seeing Max\'s back disappear, Alex also sighs deeply. \'I hope they make the right choice.\'

Alex is only worried about his fellow human\'s fate. That\'s why he insisted on asking them to move. With only about 100 Sky realm Knights, they would not even be able to defend themselves against the incoming hellhounds, let alone the gargoyles. It\'s just impossible.

As Sergei said before, even though he was influenced by the allure of excellent wine, what he said was still the truth. These people are reluctant to leave their riches behind.

Seeing Alex stepped out of the room, Sergei quickly asked him.

"How is it, Alex?"

Alex shook his head and answered. "They need time to make a decision."

"What should we do then, Alex?"

He sighed before saying, "If they don\'t want to leave, we can\'t force them. Let them be."

A moment later, the rest of the Sergei team arrived after patrolling the city. Oscar, Tommy and Theo.

Everyone is glad to see Alex and Aria, especially Theo. That afternoon, he brought Alex to a place in the corner of the camp. To his surprise, Alex saw two familiar faces. 

"Evan! Karina!"

The two are Alex\'s old friends from college. Same with Christina and Theo, they all spend their youth in the city of Perth. Evan was the friend he warned about the apocalypse while Karina who also his old friend now has married Evan during the apocalypse. That evening, they spent time together reminiscing the old time.

"You guys should come with me to Bali. It\'s much safer there" Alex said suddenly.

"There\'s no need, Alex."

"Why? It\'s safe there. You and Karina can live in peace." Alex asked, puzzled.

"I have a lot of people and friends I care about in this community. I can\'t just leave them alone."

"Then, help Curtin convince them to move to Bali. You can bring all of them to the island. I\'ll accommodate them." Alex said firmly.

Evan was silent for a moment before saying, "I\'ll think about it."

Hearing his response, Alex could only keep silent and decide to switch the conversation.

After the evening, Alex feels bitter in his guts. He wanted to save as many people as possible but he can\'t force them to listen to him. These people don\'t know him and are still underestimating the incoming tribulation just because they are strong enough to handle the zombies. This thing annoys him so much. Thank god, Theo is always a good listener and counsel for him.

The next day, Alex called out team 4 and 5 to gather. All 120 men followed him to the Doomsday Pillars.

"What are you planning to do, Alex?"

"We will clear out until floor 40 for them. Whether they use the pillar as shelter or not, it will be their choice later on. We will help as much as we can."

As instructed by Alex, the team has only been clearing floor 1 to 30 for the last 5 pillars. They have managed to reach level 15 by just doing that. Tommy and Sergei as an A aptitude Magus has also reached level 15 of mid rank Sky realm stage. Meanwhile, Theo and Oscar with B aptitude have only managed to upgrade into the Sky realm Magus. 

There are also a few B aptitude Magus that manage to reach Sky realm after practicing their cultivation of spirit element the last 6 months. At this stage, Alex believes they are already strong enough to climb the 31st floor especially with him joining the team.

All his 120 men gathered inside the pillar, Evan and Karina also joined their group with 2 dozen skyrealm fighters of the community. Although Alex is not sure if they will have much impact on the result, he thought it will be good for these fighters to learn more from his team. A total of 150 men enter the Doomsday Pillar. 

Evan told Alex how one of the reasons they hate to move to the pillar is because the 30 floors have taken dozens of lives of their best fighters, especially the 31st floor that they were unable to clear.

It doesn\'t take long for them to finally reach the second hall on the thirtieth floor. Alex then immediately climbed the stairs and opened the 31st gate.

It was the same huge dark corridor that appeared on floor 1 to floor 30. But this time, they saw the enemy they would face after a short walk. There were only a dozen figures that approached their location, but their size would make people think twice about fighting them. Their figures were roughly five times the size of a normal human, towering over the dark corridor.

"The trolls have come! Everybody prepare for battle!"