Chapter 188 – Pull Up A Tree

With all the construction moving forward at an unbelievable pace and kingdoms around the world being evacuated, two weeks pass. 

In this time, Dream had revamped most of the dwarven city and dug out the entire underground haven as well. The haven was a circle 150 miles in diameter. It was also about 800 meters tall. 

Within this space, countless buildings and hundreds of facilities were built from bottom to top, filling up all the space. Everything was organized in a very specific way, and everything that was needed to accommodate an entire population was present. Even if there was something that wasn't present, the space and materials were set aside so that it could be built. 

Not only that, but the haven was modeled with expansion and upgrades in mind. Dream knew that the haven had to be able to adapt to unexpected situations, whether it was supplies running out or demons somehow gaining access to the haven. And so, he had the place be set up like a boat. It would be able to close off and quarantine certain areas, but all the facilities could also be easily accessed.

As for supplies and necessities like food, water, plumbing, air, and other things, those were also taken care of. Dream couldn't expect an economy to be started up right off the bat, so he made sure that food could be distributed to all corners of the haven and to all people. What helped greatly was the fact that his seafood plan had worked perfectly, and he was able to set up bots and facilities in the ocean to catch plenty of fish. This did indeed provide him with an unlimited supply of food. Good food too. In this world, fish were much larger, more tasteful, and nutritious due to mana. It would help greatly with long term food solutions.

As for water, that was probably the easiest part. Many pipelines were created from the haven to the ocean and the water was all sent through filtration plants within the city itself. And with Sophia's knowledge plus Dream's abilities, creating a water filtering system was easy as pie. As a result, the entire city would have all the fresh water they needed for years to come. There would be no such thing as a drought.

Plumbing and air were similarly easy. Plumbing was accommodated for in the initial build plans and they were even made to allow easy access in case of problems. It was the same for air. All kinds of channels were created to the outside and Dream even installed a backup air supply for the entire city. While it would only be able to provide air for a few days, that would theoretically be enough time to solve problems that had cut off the air supply in the first place. Plus, there were also air conversion facilities that could substitute for plants just in case, at least somewhat. 

Overall, the city definitely wasn't pretty. It was filled with cold gray metal and seemed lifeless. Nothing was wood, the lighting wasn't the best, and there weren't very many plants around the place. But it was safe and incredibly functional, and that's what they needed. 

And so, when the city got to the point where it could house people, Dream allowed two populations inside. Humans that were evacuated from various kingdoms and dwarves. 

When he gave the order, the dwarven chieftain had 2 million dwarves move them, their families, and their livelihoods to the haven. Most of these people were ones who were displaced by Dream's constructions in the first place, and the chieftain felt they would be good to test out the real functionality of the city.

And so, Dream's legion of bots proceeded to guide the 2 million dwarves into the haven. Everyone was assigned living spaces and given instructions as to how to attain food and whatnot. Not only that, but they were given bracelets if they didn't have one, something that Dream had decided to restart the production of.

The bracelets would help immensely. With them, people could complain about any problems that cropped up and it would allow large-scale communication. It would also allow Dream to monitor the entire population and react to situations appropriately. 

2 million dwarves were inserted and 5 million human refugees were also brought over. After getting everyone situated, including the orphans that were assigned to willing families, Dream monitored everything for two days. The result? A mostly huge success.

Everything worked according to Dream's plans. Food was able to get on everyone's tables, nobody had problems with water or other necessities, and living spaces were decently comfortable. However, one problem did pop up that he figured would. Entertainment.

People got bored. That was a simple truth. And since Dream hadn't implemented anything to keep people occupied, the first thing that happened was the inhabitants going around and messing with things or starting up little shops in the empty buildings.

While it wasn't exactly a problem, it would definitely become one. Luckily he had at least set aside real estate for shops and businesses. This was to allow an economy to boot up. It would be rough at first, but it would happen. But the main problem was still there. There was little to no forms of entertainment. 

But it wasn't something he could solve in a few days. Entertainment came from the masses, not prebuilt facilities. Only by moving in more people and giving it time would the problem be solved. But he was okay with that. As far as he was concerned, as long as the haven could sustain and protect lives, that would be fine. Everything else wasn't on the priority list. 

...........

At the end of the two weeks though, there were major changes. The demons had finally reached the Empires!

This was one of the things that Dream had constantly kept his eye on. And while they took longer than expected, they eventually made their way to the capital cities of the Empires. And with their arrival, everyone was thrown into chaos. 

None of the ordinary citizens could truly confirm the details of the invasion, and they were only able to listen to their government. But with how sudden things changed, the people couldn't bring themselves to go into such a high alert state. Even if they did, there wasn't much they could do. This was because the Empires never gave the order to evacuate everybody. 

The reason was simple. For the Spire and the Sword School, they couldn't simply send everyone to the Mountain because the Mountain couldn't fit everyone. While they actually did decide to immediately send everyone class 2 and up, that was only a small portion of the population amounting to around a quarter of the population. With each city having around 50 million inhabitants each, that meant 25 million total between the two were being sent away. 

One of the biggest problems with this was the fact that those people were nearly all of their military and hunters, and when they left, the city was turned into a sheep that was just waiting for the slaughter. But because of this, each city also decided to send a portion of the ordinary population. This amounted to another 20 million and consisted of mostly business owners and the valuable people of society. By the end, each city only had half of its people left. All of them were totally unguarded. 

To make this decision was the hardest thing the rulers had to do. They couldn't send everyone, but if they wanted a chance to survive, they had to send the most valuable. But this would doom everyone else, and they would have the blood of millions of innocents on their hands. But they had to do it. This wasn't a time where they could hesitate. The fate of humanity was at stake, and there would be no room for regrets.

But the leaders decided to stay, at least to the last moment. They went around in an attempt to settle their people, but with the fact that so many people had left, nobody was calm. Everyone started panicking as they had all eventually heard what was going on. In fact, several million had left the city and went on their own way toward the Mountain. But this only resulted in them only getting decimated by the demons. 

And so, millions of people were constantly rioting through the deserted streets, demanding to be evacuated as well. But nothing could be done. No ships came for them, and the leaders only sat there, wallowing in guilt. 

The same situation was playing out in the Animal Empires too. While the United Empire was better off in terms of stability, it wasn't entirely okay. They had also moved the majority of their combatants to the Dwarven Empires where they knew a haven was being built for them. The Elven Empire did the same, albeit with much more difficulty. 

The elves were stubborn, and none of them wished to leave their Tree behind. It was their object of worship, their home, their mother. Most would rather die than leave. However, there was a remedy for this, and Dream had planned this remedy for a while unbeknownst to anyone.

Idona had actually been the one to notify Dream about the problem. She had been notified of his plans and knew that the elves wouldn't stand a chance. But they wouldn't move, and she decided to call Dream and ask about what to do. And he gave her a solution. However, the solution was a bit radical, and it needed to be discussed with the elven leaders.

So Dream discussed it. He simply laid out his plan and guaranteed that he could do it. All the elven leaders had to do was agree, otherwise, their Empire would be eradicated. 

After hearing about the plan in detail, the elven leaders were shocked and some were furious. If this plan were to be broadcasted to the populous, the people would revolt. Not only that, but Dream was almost threatening them with the plan. However, it was feasible and it would ensure the survival of their species. So after much deliberation, they could only accept, and Dream started forcibly ferrying elves to the Haven.

Like that, Empires around the world started to send their people to the Dwarven Empire where the haven was. Millions were transported each day. But there was a problem with this: the demons.

Dream was only able to start accepting people when the city could accommodate them, and this was around the time that the demons were getting close. And when the day finally came that the demons showed up on the horizons of the United Empire, Elven Empire, Spire, and Sword School, Dream was still in the middle of transporting people. Naturally, this created complications. 

Eventually, the Empires were finally seiged. 

The human rulers had been prepared, but having it happen infuriated them. It was to the point where they wanted to fight the demons back, but there were three things that stopped them. One, was the hope for future survival. Two, was the amount of class 4's they detected. There were hundreds that they picked up on, and they knew they couldn't fight that. 

Three, was because of a plan that Dream let them know about. 

With those three factors, none of the class 4 rulers went out to fight. They just hovered in the air, looking between the millions of people down below and their approaching doom only several miles away. 

But eventually, they had to leave. The class 4 demons were approaching, and if they waited too long, they would be pounced on. So, they boarded a ship that had been prepared for them and flew off into the sky toward the Mountain. The ships that were collecting the last few batches of people within the city also left, never to return again. 

With that, millions of humans were left without any hope or leaders. They just sat there as they felt the approaching armies and their stifling aura. 

Soon, the demon armies finally made their way inside the city. All the class 4's, 3's, 2's, and 1's piled into the city. But surprisingly, the humans weren't immediately attacked. This was because of the class 4's. They gave the order to stay back. Why? Because they would be converting all these humans into demons. 

Smiling, nearly 800 class 4's made their way into the city. Over 300 million demons were converging from the outside as well. They had stayed spread when approaching, but when their target got closer, they moved together to siege it. This resulted in countless demons surrounding it for miles. 

But little did they know that a certain person had been planning for this. Looking at a live feed, Dream received data on the demons around the Spire and Sword School. 

[They aren't attacking. The surrounding demons around the Spire and Sword School amount to around 300 million, totaling 600 million. Their convergence has stopped with that.]

"...Fire now."

[Understood.]

With that, signals were sent to the Pea Shooter. And after charging up for a bit, the orbital railgun launched out 14 bombs in succession. All the bombs sailed down through the atmosphere at different speeds, and through Sophia's meticulous firing technique, all the bombs approached their detonation point at around the same time.

*Flash!*

With their explosion, over a dozen blobs of light appeared, 7 over each of the surrounded Empires. One in the center, 6 around it. With that, all the surrounding demons were utterly annihilated, including all life within the Empires as well. 

The walls and buildings were leveled under the explosion, living beings were instantly vaporized, and it left one massive crater larger than the city itself in the ground. 

Dream sat there as he watched the explosions. In his mind, hundreds of millions of notifications were popping up in his vision. Eventually he had Sophia block them though as he just watched the fire fade and the mushroom clouds form. 

"...With that, we've lowered their numbers to around a billion."

[1.4 billion. Although it's basically stopped, batches of demons still flow out of the ocean. Plus, they've converted many animals and humans and such through their advance. Over time, it added a bit more to them.]

"...Whatever."

Shaking his head at the number, Dream closed his eyes. Three human Empires were now annihilated. Hundreds of millions have died. The remnants of the human species were now either at the Mountain or the Haven, and they only numbered around 150 million.

"We need to move people."

[That's already in progress. We're spread thin though. We're trying to transport tens of millions from the animal Empires as well.]

"How long will it take?"

[...We won't be able to get the remaining population of the planet to the haven. The United Empire will be sieged soon, as will the elven Tree. We'll have to stop transporting the people at those places in less than a day. From there, the only people we would need to transport are those at the Mountain. The demons are set to reach there in around 5 days since it's a bit farther than the other Empires.]

"...How many do you think we'll be able to move?"

[We might be able to get 100 million humans to the haven. Same for the animals. The eves aren't so lucky. They have a smaller population, plus they're resisting, so we might be able to move 50 million. As for dwarves, most of them are already within the vicinity but they're also in the upper city. Their protection isn't guaranteed.]

"The demons are going to reach us soon too right?"

[They're also set to reach the dwarven territories in about 5 days, yes.]

"So we have 5 days until we're going to be sieged as well. It'll take time to assimilate everyone though. We'll need to defend the upper city for a while until everyone is situated. Then once we're set, we can enact our final plan and close ourselves off. Whether that'll work or not is unknown, but it should yield good results. There's a reason we went so deep..."

[...It'll be fine. We already have 70 million inhabitants, many of which are high level combatants. As far as I'm concerned, it's enough for the survival of all the main species on this planet. Plus, the city is handling it well. Food is constantly being distributed, and we've stockpiled plenty. Water was never a problem. In fact, many people think that life in your haven is better than life in the Empires. It's modern after all, something these people aren't used to.]

"Mm... That's comforting I guess. By the way, how's the operation for the elven Tree coming along?"

[Very good. See for yourself.]

Saying that, Sophia pulled up another live feed. It was of the Elven Tree that towered thousands of meters into the air. Demons were currently approaching it, but that wasn't the odd thing going on. 

Currently, all around the base of the tree were bots. There were thousands and they swarmed the tree like ants. They dug into the ground all around the roots and tons of dirt were being displaced around it.

This was a project and a part of the agreement that Dream had come to with the elves. For him, the Tree was an invaluable natural oddity, one that could be used as the foundation of the Haven enchantment. He wanted it, and in exchange for taking in the elves, the leaders agreed that nobody would interfere with him uprooting the tree and taking it to the Haven to be used in the protective enchantment.

This uprooting was what was currently occurring right now. He built the necessary transport devices and assembled the bots that would dig up and move the tree in its entirety. It was supposedly an impossible task, but with his technology, it was totally possible. 

But part of the plan required him to help out. And so, with the preparations and digging almost complete, Dream stood up.

"Time to head over there I guess. Make sure things are ready to receive it here."

[Already prepared.]

"Good. Then let's go pull up a tree. Hehehe..."