"It really is pretty scary," Guard A muttered quietly, "I heard from Sister White, who serves the Lord, that she secretly overheard the Lord and his adjutant discussing this. They said these flowers bring bad luck."
"That's true," Guard B nodded, "Look, ever since these flowers appeared in our territory, General Shakun somehow fell to his death."
"Then, right after that, our vanguard took those Sun Worms they'd bought at a huge price out on a mission, only to run into Marsh Poison Frogs. Every single Sun Bug was eaten. In the end, only one person made it back alive by relying on a Sun Lamp."
"And that wasn't even the end of it."
"Yesterday, a huge swarm of Arrow Bees suddenly appeared out of nowhere and attacked our territory for no reason. Several more members of the guard were killed or injured."
"After we finally drove the Arrow Bees away, a few others and I went to investigate the surrounding area. That's when we found... a huge beehive had been blown down by the wind, causing the Arrow Bees inside to go berserk."
"Isn't that infuriating?"
Sigh!
Guard A let out a helpless sigh.
"I wonder when all this will end. Every day there's one endless dan... dan... DANGER!"
"What is it?"
Seeing Guard A suddenly turn pale halfway through his sentence and point in a certain direction, Guard B quickly looked where he was pointing.
He would have been better off not looking.
The moment he did, he was nearly scared to death.
A towering wall of floodwater was rushing straight toward the villa in a roaring surge.
"HELP!"
"A FLOOD! RUN!"
The two guards immediately sprinted toward the villa as if they were being chased by mad dogs.
Unfortunately, the flood was much faster than they were.
Before they could even reach the villa, a massive wave, swept them away.
The guards inside the villa also noticed the incoming flood and immediately began shouting.
"Close the door! Hurry, close the door!"
"The flood's here!"
"Don't close it!"
Several soldiers outside the villa were still digging up flowers in the garden. They hurriedly ran toward the entrance.
But none of the guards inside dared wait for them.
With a loud bang, they slammed the doors shut.
Even after closing them, they ignored the pounding from outside. They even dragged over tables, sofas, and other heavy furniture to barricade the entrance.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Open the door! The water's coming!"
"How can you do this? Hurry and let us in! Glug glug..."
In the blink of an eye, the pounding stopped completely.
Only the sound of bubbling remained.
Meanwhile, the enormous waves crashed against the villa doors, almost warping them.
Water forced its way through every gap the impact opened, pouring into the villa.
"Quick! Bring more things to block the door!"
"And you lot, hurry upstairs and report the flood to the Lord!"
"No need."
At that moment, the new Lord of Area A1, Jack, slowly walked downstairs.
"My Lord!"
"My Lord, there's floodwater everywhere outside! I just ran back from outside, and those waves have to be over ten meters high!"
"My Lord, the flood is overwhelming everything outside. What should we do?"
"Don't panic."
Lord Jack waved his hand, signaling everyone to stay calm.
He then looked toward the villa doors, took out a strangely shaped deck of cards, drew one, and threw it at the doors.
"Seal!"
The next moment, the water that had been continuously pouring through the cracks under the doors suddenly stopped.
The doors shut completely.
They no longer seemed affected by the flood outside, nor did they show any sign of bending.
It was as though the doors had instantly become a solid wall.
"The Lord is amazing!"
"The Lord is awesome!"
Everyone showered him with praise.
However, just after Lord Jack sealed the doors, everyone heard the sound of rushing water again.
They turned around and saw water pouring down the staircase from the second floor.
"My Lord, this is bad!", the maid White Jack rushed down the stairs, shouting, "Water... so much water! It's pouring in through the second-floor balcony!"
"Why are you panicking!", Lord Jack barked at the maid.
But just as he finished speaking, another maid hurried out from the room leading to the storage area.
"My Lord, this is bad! Water is pouring in through every window in the villa! The storeroom is about to be flooded!"
"What?"
Only then did Jack realize how serious the situation was.
He immediately waved his hand, "Everyone, come upstairs with me first. Forget about the first floor."
"My Lord, what about everything in the storeroom?"
"Yeah! We have so many materials and so much food stored there. If they get soaked, they'll probably be ruined."
"And there's a lot of meat and fruit too. If they spoil..."
"What's more important, your lives or your belongings? Even if you save the supplies, you'll need to stay alive to use them," Jack angrily rebuked everyone before taking the lead up the staircase, where water was continuing to pour down.
The others naturally followed behind him.
Originally, they had thought that by reaching the second floor and taking advantage of the higher ground, they might survive the disaster.
But when they reached the second floor, they finally understood what true... despair looked like.
Looking out from the second-floor balcony, everything outside had become a vast ocean.
The water level was almost even with the balcony itself.
Instead, the second floor had become the low ground, and floodwater was continuously surging into the villa.