Soldiers in modern military outfit rushed onto the sanctuary walls.

Aiming outside, running the lever-action, they waited for orders in silence.

Here and there, heavy machine guns were being set up. Forklifts brought crates of ammunition into place.

Behind the walls, soldiers rushed onto watch towers.

On the ground, squads of security agents in grey armor stood in block formations.

"Alright boys!" A squadron leader in red armor pounded his chest armor. "Let's show those monsters what we are made of!"

"Oorah!"

"Oorah!"

"Oorah!"

Inside a large tent behind the gates, people hustled around.

In the middle of this tent, there was a digital map, showing the current information of deployment information.

A dude wearing a black overcoat stood there, staring at the map.

About 50 to 60 years old. A toque on his head. Even in this time of emergency, this man gave off a sense of calmness. The time pressure seemed like a breeze to him. One could not read any emotions off this man's expressions. Yet, his gaze was certainly focussed and determined. This was the keyholder of the Sanctuary, the man in charge of assigning critical positions and clearances, the boss of the biggest settlement in Berrystone city.

"Atlas said he will return within 20 minutes. He said there is no need for teleportation in such a short distance." Liam turned to the keyholder, still holding his phone by his head.

The Keyholder continued to stare at the digital map in thought and calculation. "Tell him we need him back right now."

Liam repeated keyholder's message.

A quick moment later...

Liam turned to the Keyholder again. "Atlas refused and hung up."

Hearing this, the Keyholder did not show any expressions. This old fella thought for a moment. "Call Jeff."

A few miles away from the Sanctuary, in a commercial area...

A three-meters tall figure walked down the empty streets. It's a humanoid figure with round eyes like a bull's eyes. In this dim foggy world, its eyes left a trail of fiery red glow

Wearing an expressionless face, this monster moved forward at an even pace. Silver-colored Roman-style breastplates and tassets. Brazen skinned body. A warhammer strapped to its back. Before its chest, a long beard drifted in the wind.

Four smaller monsters followed this warrior:

A good-looking girl in a snakeskin robe. Wearing light makeup and an alluring smile, she looked like an escort. Erhm. That type of escort.

A handsome dude in a white robe, holding a fan made of feathers. Putting on a stone-cold expression, staring forward with a cold gaze, this guy walked forward with an elegant posture. This silent dude looked like he had no desires in this world.

Then there was an ape carrying a machete on its shoulder.

Finally, it's a dude with a lion-like face. His fluffy blond hair flowed down his shoulders, looking like a mane. Half-naked top body, showing his defined muscles. Leather pants. Carrying a single-edged blade by his waist.

Oh also. Staying a few steps behind this group of monsters, there was someone hidden under a black cloak.

Only a few blocks behind this group, a wave of monsters followed. Large monsters. Medium-sized monsters. Small-sized monsters. They all chaotically mixed up together.

Looking at the biggest fellas, there was house-sized crabs, dumb-looking giants, and centipedes that spanned for streets.

A size below these guys: truck-sized geese, tank-sized scorpions, van-sized raptors...

Smaller monsters surrounded these larger monsters, like sand surrounding pebbles.

Coyotes with the size of wolves. Lion-sized lizards. Meter-tall spiders. Human-sized frogs.

All of them had mutated in some sense, gaining a layer of bone-plating or bristles. Moving like a wave, this swarm of monsters headed to the Sanctuary.

Clearly, they weren't aware of traffic rules. Crashing through any structures in their way, pushing forward like a demolition team, this wave quickly left a wasteland behind.

Broken electricity poles. Pillars of water shooting up from fire hydrants. Heaps of collapsed buildings.

As this group moved forward, a human figure came into view.

"Sorry. The road ahead is. Closed." It's a woman speaking in a weird tone.

She wore a tight black waitress shirt. Curly blond hair running down her shoulders. This lady stood in the middle of the road, staring blankly forward.

"Human. Bow before your new lord." Lion-face shouted.

The group of monsters continued moving forward.

"Sorry. But the road ahead is. Closed."

"Boss. Can I crush her?" The ape asked.

The monster lord at the front looked behind the group.

"You wanted to see if we are worthy. Very well." The monster lord looked at that cloaked figure.

"Sorry. But the road-" That receptionist lady suddenly disappeared. Moving at S-rank speed, the girl threw a punch at the monster lord's face.

Snap!

In an instance, that monster lord had turned back. Its glowing eyes left a trail of red light in the air.

With a relaxed gaze, the monster lord held onto the receptionist lady's forearm!

Tightening his grasp, the warrior easily crashed the receptionist's arm.

Tssslap!

Electric sparks exploded out that broken arm.

"Sorry. Sorry. Sorry." The receptionist's voice became high-pitched.

Without hesitation, that monster lord hurled the receptionist into the air.

DOMMM...

A low vibration sound...

Flying in air, that receptionist imploded into a 6-feet long black rift. Looking into it, one could get a creepy otherworldly feeling from the rift.

A violent gust started to blow into that rift. That rift was sucking in air like a vacuum. Except this vacuum cleaner was way oversized.

And it's not just vacuuming dirt. Electricity poles bent towards that rift. Wires popped off, dangling in the air.

At the same time, the vacuum pulled on the group of monsters as well.

That handsome fella in a white-robe let out a humph. The wind surrounding the monsters instantly became timid and peaceful.

A meter outside, it's still like being hit by a tornado though.

That rift engulfed garbage and debris like an insatiable black hole.

A car gradually slid in that direction. Quickly picking up speed, it lifted off into the air. Slowly swirling around, that car got engulfed by that rift.

This group could simply take a detour. Just walk around that rift. However, the monster lord's pride won't allow it. This was a challenge from the sanctuary. A taunt!

Anything in front of them had to be crushed! No going around obstacles! No walking away!

(Also, it's good to find a solution to this, before getting hit harder with the same type of problem. And the lord would look real bad for dodging this challenge. But this monster lord was not going to explain this to anyone.)

In fact, it's not just the monster lord who's up for the challenge.

The girl wearing a snakeskin robe stepped forward. She lightly tapped her foot onto the ground. It's as if she's tapping the surface of a pond.

A watery ripple expanded out on ground. Small droplets of water excreted out of the ground, quickly turning into small spurts.

Water droplets flew into the air. Gradually, these droplets converged and streamed into that void rift. But the water level was still rising. In a moment, it was already at ankle level.