Return of the last survivor

Ethan, who had become a peak Tier 1 by now, was not qualified to become a Tier 2 during the mana burst. Therefore, he remained a peak tier 1, and was just sitting in his office, watching Merlin massacre the Tier 2s in the dungeon.

Once the broadcast was completed, he received new orders from Phillip through his coms. Currently, the few smart-puppets Merlin had created to help him with the production of artefacts, had made a lot of changes to the sanctum in Merlin's absence, with the urging of Phillip who had followed a protocol created by Merlin in case of his absence.

The ID cards had been replaced by communication device, similar to smart-watched before the Apocalypse, except they were as this as the ID cards, and yet flexible. The single piece flexible material inlayed with mana stones was therefore re-named as 'coms'.

"Current situation: Class 3 threat incoming from the north, and Class 2 threat incoming from the West."

"Solution: All Tier 2s and 50% of Tier 1s will proceed to eliminate Class 2 threat. Master Merlin along with 25% of Tier 1s will eliminate Class 3 threat. 25% Tier 1s will remain in the sanctum to guard against sneak attacks and maintain order."

"Orders: Go to Sector 21D, and exit the Sanctum through Gate 41A. Meet up with the other Tier 1s waiting there, and proceed north."

"Task: Kill of any zombies who escape master Merlin"

Seeing this, Ethan felt a wave of contradictory emotions as he quickly wore his gear and began to follow the orders.

Why was he feeling safe even though he was being sent to the front lines? Was it because of the existence known as Merlin?

As his mind whirled, he arrived at Gate 41A of Sector 21D, and exited it after scanning his coms and other biometrics.

This was another one of the changes brought about by Protocol #2849, which Phillip was to take over control of all bots within the sanctum and grow it in both size and strength, in Merlin's absence or inability to give orders.

Leaving the gate, Ethan saw almost 300 people gathered in and around vehicles mounted with high-calibre machine guns and heavy plating. By this point, every knew that normal guns with low calibres would not even put scratches on the enemy.

Instead, each individual was equipped with differing weapons crafted by merlin's intellectual puppets.

They had copied simple runes like [Strengthen], and [Harden] to increase the durability of the spears, swords, and shield enough to handle All out peak Tier 1 battles.

Some of them also had additional runes like [Sharpen] and some had elemental orbs crafted into them.

Naturally, not all people had such weapons, since such weapons could only be bought with a large sum of money. This much money was enough to last a family almost a whole year of food.

Tier 1s did not require much food, and could last weeks and months without it, however, their families they had brought with them might not be Tier 1 or 2, and thus would require food.

Therefore, most of the people with weapons were either those without families with them, or those who had other family members also earning money.

Ethan was one of the few with a weapon, with the basic strengthen and harden. He had not been a peak Tier 1 long enough to earn enough money to upgrade his weapon. Instead, he was able to allow his sister to grow to Tier 1, by buying near-dead zombies and allowing Maya to get the final hit.

He could not do this himself, since he did not have the authority to bring in alive zombies, forcing him to spend money to buy them from the Rutland corporation.

The Rutland corporation is one of the leading private organisations within the Merlin sanctum. It was mainly formed by a few Tier 1s during the initial phases of the Sanctum's growth, who decided it was wise to employ the sanctum's '$' currency and start a business.

They had started off as a mercenary corps, and had now grown large enough to lead expeditions outside the sanctum on their own.

Naturally, all the combat personnel of the corporation, including the heads, were still part of the Merlin Troops. However, they had gained the permission of Phillip to work in their company full-time due to the sheer amount of work they did, the number of people they employed, and the number of zombies they killed.

Naturally, in emergencies like this one, they would all be forced to act as part of The Merlin Troops, the name that all the combat personnel of the Merlin Sanctum had given themselves.

Ethan had also collected nearly $10,000, enough to buy another basic weapon like the one he had, and had invested it into the Rutland corporation's bank, called The Rutland Bank at a monthly interest of 0.5% compounded. Due to the incredibly large amount of money he was depositing into the bank's 5 year fixed deposit, Ethan had received an incredibly favourable offer, along with some discounts when buying his sister's growth.

While many thoughts were spinning through his mind, the night sky suddenly lit up.

All the people turned to look up. Everyone present, everyone within and without the sanctum, everyone within a 500 km radius of 'it'.

The 'it' was fire. It is not just fire, but fire descending from heaven. It was a sea of fire.

And at the centre of it? There was a rock. A rock falling with unparalleled speed and momentum, causing not only the air, but also the very mana in the air, and within each living and non-living thing to vibrate in terror of its might.

It this point, Merlin, who was the cause of all this, smirked and said, "Class 3 threat? Hmph! I shall rain hell-fire upon you! Hehehe…."