Mathew cursed and had to make a quick choice. Stay here and fight by the gate, or run and find others to protect him. Here, he knew Payne would attempt to keep him alive, but Mathew didn’t trust the old man.

If he could find Henderson and Leo, then he could fight easier. He then cursed, remembering they were supposed to be scouting and more than likely were by the south west gate, or worse, already far away. They left long before The System made it’s announcement, and he doubted they turned back after that.

Two of the creatures flew down near Mathew and shot beams of fire at him. He was forced to dodge out of the way, and ordered his wisps to take them out. The two corpses hit the ground with an audible *thump*.

Mathew took a chance to look at them closer. They were horribly ugly. They reminded Mathew of the baby pigs put into jars to be dissected for college biology. Plump and wrinkly. They even had the smell of rotten eggs coming off their bodies.

“Disgusting creatures.” Mathew said with a shake of his head. They however reminded Mathew of cartoon renditions of devils, just uglier. Wings, check. Horns, check. All they needed were some pitchforks and a goatea and it was a spot on comparison.

Mathew really had hoped these were not devils. He would be heavily disappointed if that were the case. The sheer stupidity of how often Zack was right was going to give him an aneurysm.

He returned his focus to the battle and relied more on his wisps to attack. Mana Drain was the one thing he needed to avoid here and now. If the battle was going to be as long as it seemed, then he had to play the long game.

His ring would be his only aid in mana recovery, since his robes were in his bag. He would find a place to change, but being caught literally with his pants down was a horrible thought.

Mathew glanced around to take in the situation a bit better. He noticed a strong difference in fighting styles. The flying pigs never were close enough to be stabbed or bashed by people with melee weapons. Always far in the sky and constantly moving.

It was a clever plan, if this wasn’t America. Even those who chose to fight with a sword or hammer still carried a small gun with them. That aspect of American culture ran strong through the base and at least 90% of people carried one.

The Imps were falling out of the sky one by one. Those who did fall but didn’t die were soon killed by those with close combat powers. Mathew watched as a familiar young woman, not girl, brought her foot down onto the head of a creature, crushing it instantly.

Madison looked up and saw Mathew and gave him a wave, before she jumped over ten feet into the air and punched one of the monsters down to the ground. She landed ontop of it, then moved toward Mathew.

“Fancy meeting you here. I don’t suppose you mind teaming up do you? Half of these bozo’s keep stealing my kills. I figured since you can’t punch worth a damn, I can take care of anything that gets near you.”

Mathew smiled, “Sure, if you can handle it. You seem to be taking this in a little too well.”

“Are you kidding? I’ve been waiting to fight since I hit Level 5.” She jumped up and kicked away another creature that was soon blasted away by Mathew’s wisps.

“My Profession is called Disciple. Makes me level up skills and abilities faster, plus it gives me an awesome technique at the sacrifice that I can’t learn spells. Wanna see it?” She asked, not carrying what Mathew’s answer would be.

Mathew shook his head in disbelief at how bloodthirsty Madison seemed. “Sure, just don’t use it on me, okay?” Mathew turned to blast three more enemies out of the sky before glancing back at Madison. He was a little interested in what she wanted to show off.

Her hands and feet caught on fire as she leaped up once again. She punched then kicked two of the ugly creatures down to the ground, before landing next to them. She planted both fists onto the bodies, burning them to a crisp.

“I’m a fucking anime protaganist!” She shouted with glee. “It takes up stamina to use, but I fucking love it.”

“New note to self, do not piss off the pyromaniac little girl.” Mathew thought to himself before focusing on the fight.

The two fought next to each other and did very well together. Only once or twice did Madison bump into Mathew after following through with a kick or punch. Any flying pig that didn’t die from Mathew’s attacks, were soon obliterated by Madison’s flaming fists.

The battle continued on for over half an hour. People were exhausted, and some human bodies could be seen laying on the ground unmoving. Madison herself was visibly wounded, while Mathew’s clothes were a mess. The flames from the creatures were not very deadly, but still caught things on fire.

Mathew had several patches of hair on his body missing, and skin turned raw pink from the burns. It was now that he realized how much his old recovery rates were supported by The System. Seeing no more flying enemies, Mathew fell to the ground and dug out two pills. He handed one to Madison.

“Eat it, it’s a recovery pill. It won’t do much right now, but by the end of the day, you should be good, maybe longer actually. Damn, I didn’t realize how badly we depended upon the Tutorial phase’s help. Just how many people should have died? How many are going to die now?”

Madison took the pill and fell to the ground as well. She was physically exhausted, while Mathew was more mentally so. The two differences in fighting styles were apparent.

“I wouldn’t know, I never had a chance to really go out and fight. Is this what it feels like to fight out there?” Madison asked.

“No, it’s far scarier. Those things were only dangerous due to their numbers. Three wolves were equal to probably ten of the imps in overall power. The big one I killed probably was on par with the entire swarm, and wouldn’t have been overly tired at the end.”

“Damn, I have so much progress to catch up on,” She said.

Mathew laid there for a few more minutes before the shouting of General Payne reached him. “Mathew, get over here. We are hosting a meeting, and I want your ass there. Leave the girl, she’s just a child.”

Mathew saw Madison was about to make a very rude and possibly physical retort, but Mathew held up a hand to stop her. “He ain’t worth it. Just go help the others. I’m sure a few of the things are hiding on the base.”

Mathew was puzzled as to why the Battle Summary window has yet to appear. Even back when he fought the wolves it showed up. Was it based on when combat was over, or something else? Did the Imps do something?

Mathew followed the team back to Paynes meeting room. He noticed everyone who fought with the General seemed mostly fine. The little freaks of nature had numbers, but lacked any sort of threat to the life of someone strong, or properly armored. On the other hand, everyone in the group was over level 10, with Payne more than likely the lowest level. Madison was around Level 5 and she looked pretty rough, but survived while taking out over a dozen of them herself.

Dozens of still bodies belonging to people were starting to be checked by medics, to see who was truly dead or not. The sight would be unnerving to most people, however Mathew just walked by without a care. It wasn’t that he didn’t feel bad for them, he simply assumed they were idiots and got them selves killed by doing something stupid. Madison was a Level 5 and she survived, so how did the guards who were all higher than that in level not live? If they were not strong enough alone, why not work with others to keep you alive?

Inside the building, Mathew sat down. He pulled out a thermos filled with tea to drink. He was starting to regret not buying a magically enchanted one from Di. The kind that could keep liquids a set temperature. Something that now is a rarity.

“Just what the FUCK was that!” Payne yelled at everyone once the door was closed.

Nobody said anything since nobody knew. “I thought the Dungeon was Beginner rank! I even saw it myself, what the hell is going on. Aren't those Dungeons supposed to be easy?!”

“Sir, are we sure those things came from the Dungeon?” Holly asked.

Mathew agreed, how did he know it was from the dungeon? It was only a couple hours after the announcement when they showed up, maybe a bit longer than that. Way too quickly for anything to come from there by foot. Then again, they were flying…

“Damn right I’m sure, I had a giant blue box yelling at me about it. Saying we were being attacked by the Infernal Dungeon! Why the hell is a dungeon attacking us? This is supposed to be a safe zone damn it! Now there are no shops to buy answers!” He slammed his hand on the table.

“Melton, I want every one of those god damn geeks on this. I want scouts all over that mountain. I want a forward base. DAMN IT, I want the entire base on alert at this point, we are not going to stand for this. We are going to declare war on those hellish freaks and send them back to where ever the fuck they came from!” Mr. Melton slipped away without a word at the request of Payne. Mathew did note a facial expression of annoyance, one he himself shared.

Mathew sipped at his tea silently listening and observing. Everyone at the table that was the task force from another base had neutral expressions. They seemed ready to follow whatever next set of orders came for them.

Holly, Samuel, and Lucas on the other hand looked worried, and rightfully so. If that’s what the dungeon sent now, what else would be coming? What else would be left in there to fight? Right then and there Mathew considered himself lucky.

Lucky that he never went into the Dungeon. He was wrong. It was absolutely ready for him to enter and fight. He would have had no chance alone fighting that many enemies, even as he stood now, let alone before his most recent accomplishment. He would never admit it aloud though.

Payne drummed his hands on the table in thought, “Well? Anyone have any wise thoughts?”

Mathew was about to say something, but the leader of the task force spoke up first. “Are we still planning on invading the Dungeon? This is the first Beginner rank that was supposed to be taken, per the Secretary of Homeland Security’s orders.”

“We are. Just not now. We are severely outmanned and outgunned.” Payne looked around and stopped at Mathew. “We are going to set up a forward base first. What was it Zack called it, Mathew? When a large group of people go into dungeons in video games?”

“I believe he called them Raid Teams sir. Large groups, typically around 20 players working to clear out difficult dungeons. Are you planning on bringing more than the ten you currently have at this table? Minus myself of course.”

“Damn right I am. They want to try and take what’s mine, they are going to get the largest of asswhoopings.”

The door suddenly opened, standing between two guards was Damian of all people. Mathew was confused as to why he was there.

“General Payne sir, this is the scout you asked us to retrieve.” One of the guards reported.

Payne waved Damian in. “Good! Boy, come here I need you to tell me what you saw.”

Damien looked worried. When he saw Mathew a wave of relief flashed over his face. “Well, what do you want me to say? The giant swarm of Imps? The countless fires? I mean, a lot just happened….uh, sir.”

Payne composed himself well. “Imps you said? You have the [Analyze] skill right? It tells you what monsters are?”

Damien nodded. “It’s Beginner rank, and the upgrade I chose informs me of their Level, and I can now focus on at most five at a time. All those things were called Imps. The highest level being five that I saw. However, I only saw a small few Imps that were that level. I am willing to bet at least half of the swarm were only Level 1.”

Mathew frowned slightly at that news. If those Imps were only Level 1, that explains how he was able to take them out so easily. A single blast, maybe two for the stronger ones lined up with that thought. It did burst his bubble on how strong he felt, but to take out dozens of them was never downplayed in his mind.

“Imps you say? Like small fiends from fantasy?” Payne asked for clarification.

Damien nodded. “Yes sir, Zack could explain them better. He did comment he never imagined them being so ugly and smelly. He expected Imps to be slimmer and a bit more cunning. These guys were fodder in his mind.”

Payne patted Damien on the shoulder. “Thank you son, you answered an important question I had. You are part of Henderson’s team, correct? How did you come back so fast?”

“As soon as the message appeared, we decided to head back. The risk of dying was higher. Leo was close to getting his First Aid skill to Beginner. We rather let him train it out and upgrade it versus risking our health. If you want a better answer, ask Captain Henderson, it was her order.”

Payne smiled and thanked Damien. He was then escorted away by the guards. “Gentlemen, and ladies, I am putting a seven day timer on the attack. Peterson,” Payne said to the lead task force soldier. “You find more people to fill our ranks, along with a team to scout out the Dungeon. We are going to war with those monsters.”