Chapter 159 - Evacuation
-Hue, Nam Viet-
Alex looked at the receding shoreline with terror.
There was only one explanation for this.
Earlier on, the minuscule earthquake he felt was probably an underwater one.
Due to the large tectonic movements, another disastrous event followed these kinds of earthquakes.
Towering and relentless waves destroyed everything in their path.
If the first wave didn't obliterate the affected areas, the second and third waves did exactly that.
This was the fear of all seaside communities, the tsunami.
If this hit an uninhabited area, he would not stop in his tracks and simply move on.
However, this was a large city, and unlike him, they could not just fly away from any disaster.
If he abandoned this place to its oncoming, miserable fate, he wouldn't be able to live with himself knowing that he did not save a single person.
Conflicting thoughts spun around his head, but he ultimately came to a conclusion.
Not only did ignoring disaster not align with his own moral values, but as the god of humanity, he had to take his title seriously, unlike some other gods...
He clenched his fist and used Hermes' Incarnation.
'If I go in as a normal person, I'll just be taken for a lunatic.'
Flying towards a square in the downtown, brightly lit area of Hue, his appearance immediately attracted the attention of the celebrating citizens.
"Why is a man flying in the sky?!"
Confusion spread amidst the crowd and fueled their curiosity as they gathered to observe Alex.
Alex cleared his throat, and he asked them, "Has anyone felt the earthquake earlier?"
"There was an earthquake?!"
"Think of it, a vase of mine broke without any explanation, was there an earthquake?"
An older man came out from the crowd and said, "I am a fisherman working along these shores, the currents and waves have truly been rather unusual today, it might really be due to an earthquake."
A foreign man's words were questionable, even when he had an overbearing appearance, but an older local's words were practically absolute truth to the crowd.
"It's been a long time since the last earthquake, is this a bad sign?"
The citizens believed in his words, but they looked back at him for further guidance.
'This is going well, I hope they evacuate quickly,' Alex thought to himself, and worry crept up from the depths of his mind.
"Mister fisherman?" Alex had to play his cards well in order to make an impression on the crowd.
Most importantly, he had to be quick.
The old fisherman had vision problems, but even though he looked in another direction, he replied, "Yes?"
"Do you know what a receding shoreline means? Especially after an earthquake?"
The rest of the citizens were confused, but the fisherman exhaled heavily and said, "Is a sea god's wrath coming towards us?"
"Yes, I need everyone to evacuate to the higher ground safely."
"Mister, what does this strange man mean?" A young woman asked the fisherman.
"When I was young and living in the south, earthquakes were much more frequent there, and after every earthquake, there would be gigantic waves that destroy everything on their path."
Agitation and panic ensued, and frustration broke out amongst the previously joyful residents.
"Why did this have to happen on Trung Nguyen?"
Alex gulped.
He understood what they were feeling.
Normally, they would have been celebrating, but nature did not care about celebrations or emotions, for that matter.
Nonetheless, there would be much more severe consequences if they did not evacuate immediately.
From the corner of his vision, Alex perceived a man that took off on a flying sword.
'F*uck, an immortal from Qin, I hope he doesn't know of my identity...'
The crowd swiftly moved and began alerting the rest of the city.
In a short moment, the peaceful celebrations transformed into a stampede of people evacuating the city further inland into higher ground.
'Now, comes my role.'
Alex approached the coast and triggered off a different Incarnation.
His muscular body became stout and slightly shorter, while his eyes became a beautiful orange color.
'I wanted to save up some faith energy, but life doesn't always go along our plans for it.'
Alex placed his two hands on the sand.
The sand gradually became hotter and hotter, as its consistency altered from a fine powder into a melty glass-like substance.
When he used the powers of Hephaestus, Prometheus turned into a solid hammer.
With that same hammer, he built up a tall wall of hot glass around the entire shore.
He could only do so much, but this would stall the full brunt of the waves and at least give the residents a better chance of escaping.
Meanwhile, the shoreline receded further and further outwards, and every single meter that it covered meant that the waves would be more disastrous.
The barrier he constructed was the height of five ordinary men, but it was unlikely to stop the immense forces of nature.
Perhaps Mazu could have stopped this disaster, but she lived on the coast of the East Sea.
*Whoosh*
An approaching loud noise suddenly replaced the deathly silence of the beach.
Alex knew this meant that it had commenced.
His appearance turned closer to Hermes' again, and he flew away.
In case any residents were too close to the coast, he would save them.
Fortunately, even though the bright lights of the city still illuminated the night, word had spread fast, and he didn't find anyone in the surroundings.
Until...
"Waaaaaaah!" A childish cry rang out in a narrow street.
Alex immediately flew at breakneck speed towards the source of the cry and found a small boy.
He was sobbing endlessly.
When he saw Alex, he exclaimed with tears and snot on his face, "Where did everyone go??!!!"
"They escaped a big trouble, you should come too."
Alex held out his arms to the boy.
Unexpectedly, the boy shook his head and replied, "I-i'm not g-going anywhere without d-dad!"
"Where is your dad?!" Alex clicked his tongue, as the sound of the enormous waves was ominously approaching, and he had to be quick.
"In o-our hous-
"Where's your house?!" Alex took the boy and flew up.
The boy listlessly pointed at a run-down building in a nearby alleyway.
Alex flew into the balcony of the home and immediately entered.
On a straw bed, a man that was lacking a few limbs laid down and breathed heavily.
Alex didn't have any time anymore and flew back up with the man.
Then, he held his son and flew very high, holding tightly onto them.
On the horizon, an enormous mass of seafoam alerted him of the scale of this cataclysmic event.
Alex activated Link and looked for any other humans in the surroundings.
'There's no one here...' Alex sighed in relief.
Then, he flew further inland and searched for more people.
Fortunately, everyone was in the process of evacuating, and Alex left the amputated man and his child in the company of a strong man, who would help them evacuate.
"Now then, I hope there will be no casualties..."
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