"This is actually insane leader. We're still in the first phase and there's already evolved monsters. |Adamantite Wall !| Hey you ! be careful next time ! I won't be there to block that next time !"

  "S- sorry."

  "Everyone, we'll increase our pace. I'll stay at the front, but I want every single one of you to switch with who's behind you. After every enemy wave. Understood ?"

  "Yes !"

  "Good decision commander Jeanne. But don't overwork yourself either. You were on leave for a reason. Don't put too much of a strain on your wound."

  "I know Chief...

  Chief, don't you find there's something weird with this Portal ? I've got this weird feeling. A bad feeling. This is not a normal dive. Enemies this strong early on shouldn't be appearing. The Portal is still in its adaptation phase."

  "Yes. We've been there for two hours but these monsters are not supposed to be here. But there's also something even stranger. I've been looking around and it feels like all these creatures are fleeing from the center,which is the opposite of what they should be doing. They shouldn't have swarmed us as soon as we stepped inside."

  "Third squad, status report ! A grand troll has appeared from northwest !"

  "Fourth squad, another broke through foliage from the East ! We're engaging !"

  "Careful ! Break the knees ! Target the genitalia !"

  Jeanne looked at the squad that broke off to confront the giant creature. They were handling it without much trouble. As soon as a Hunter took a bad hit, he was evacuated and replaced by another one. The troll's painful pig-like cries were a good sign. Its club had been kicked away by a shielder so it could only rely on its fists to attack.

  The two groups that went to intercept the monsters would catch up in no time.

  "Hiya !"

  A stab from her lance and Jeanne exploded the head of an hybrid between a bat and a goblin. She searched in her space bag and got out a stamina potion she hastily chugged down.

  Cough...

  "Alright men, forward."

  "Team leader. My |Intuition| is ringing."

  The young Hunter turned to the speaker. Nolan, a freckled ginger-haired boy with an androgynous aura. He looked frail, but his morals had led him to the path of the Hunter. One of his skills was |Intuition|. Just like Spider-Man's sixth sense, Nolan could detect dangers very early on, allowing the teams he was in to prepare a lot faster. And when Nolan did detect something, that often meant trouble.

  "Can you sense it ? How close ? Mid-boss ? Elite level ?"

  "N-no. It's too fast. And I can't really pinpoint. The miasma is creating too much interference... I know it's around here but I can't say where."

  "Okay then. Slow and steady. We look out everywhere."

  The march of the Hunters resumed, this time they let the mobile base catch up to them, unsure of what was laying ahead.

  -

  "Why are they slowing down ? Can someone get me on Leo's channel ?"

  With the push of a few buttons, the radio of the LTPDV came to life and a distorted voice came out of it.

  "What is it ? I hope it's important. I don't have all the time in the world."

  "We wanted to know why you slowed down. The first vehicle has caught up to your frontlines."

  "One of my guys sensed big trouble nearby. We're tightening the ranks just in case."

  "Right. Thank you. Be careful."

  "WYVERN !" a youthful but powerful voice came out of Leo's side of the radio, startling the Hunters in the prototype base. The transmission cut off and a muffled explosion rang in the main deck.

  A shadow passed by, hiding away the sky for a few instants and a powerful screech announced the foe's presence.

  SKREEEEEEEEE-

  "This is-"

  "Bad !"

  The cry wasn't just for show, the Returnees among the Hunters knew it. The cry was a rallying call, a pack leader calling its followers. Soon enough, reptilian entities burst out from the ground, slithered their way from trees and water, surrounding the Hunters, the two vehicles and the military. The Hunters under Leo the SpearFlame were already on the move, casting their defensive skills and buffs.

  "So that's why regular enemies were afraid from. Reptilzs. As expected."

  "There's lots of them too, Pierre. We have to be careful. It's not big but still. Isolate that thing so that we can kill it in a single strike."

  "Easier said than done. This thing won't let itself be fooled that easily."

  "True. The wyvern already set its sights on us. But it's patiently waiting for something."

  "...We're making an entrance Hunters of Courage ! Gather your equipment ! We'll crush them !"

  Kill the preys. Burn them all.

  [ As you command, Ashen Fire. ]

  Casters and metal beasts. Are top priority. Burrow and dig. Breach the defenses. Do no let them pass. This vermin must die. We cannot allow ourselves to let them reach The Mother.

  SKREEEEEEEEE-

  Ashen Fire gazed as the underlings he had rallied, then at this vast hunting ground. One period of light ago, he and the ones he commanded were still ravaging remnants of another dying world. A planet His mate corrupted all by Herself.

  Then at some point, a rift appeared and he knew he had to get on the other side. It was instinctual. As a spawn of Her corruption, he could hear Her beckoning. Naturally, he obeyed and with the rest, he went in.

  Since then, he had been preoccupied to chase away the inferior creatures that were living in the area and persuade the strong ones to fight alongside The Horde. Most refused and died by Ashen Fire's breath and claws. The rest turned out to be too pathetic to even approach Her Darkness. They died from sensing Her presence when they were escorted.

  Some of the Lifeforms he had been chasing were familiar to ones he had encountered on the many worlds he helped to destroy since his hatching. Because of this, a sense of familiarity had been brewing ever since his arrival here.

  But...

  BOOM-

  Fire flared from the wyvern's nostrils at the sight of a Lamia being blasted to bits by one of the metal beasts. Ashen Fire was no fool. These strange beasts were powerful. The little creatures inside of them had the scent of Stars. They too were powerful. The usual entities and slaves species corrupted by The Horde wouldn't stand a chance. He needed family. True members of The Horde. Dragon-men at the minimum. Wyverns like him if things turned ugly.

  He snarled a command to a half-Lamia some time ago, this little one had surely relayed the order by now. Ashen dusted off his wings and propelled himself in the air. It was time for him to deal some damage.

  -

  "Wyvern INCOMING! Shields at the ready ! Elemental resistance buffs ! Taunters ! On the front !"

  What the fuck ?! It's bad enough already without it being around ! Kh-

  This heat. How many of these guys are there ?

  "Jeanne ! Yamhal ! Report your statuses !"

  "Three wounded so far ! One of them has severe burns !"

  "Two casualties, got dragged down the tunnels those monsters made !"

  Merde...

  This is completely nuts, there's way too many Reptilzs, even with the help of the other Houses. They're swarming like crazy.

  RHAAAAA-

  About time... Berserks are always slow as fuck to enrage. But at least they'll give us some breathing room now.

  "Watch out !"

  A fireball from above streaked across the sky in Jeanne's direction, who didn't have the time to turn around. Instead of scorching her, the projectile passed through a bluish circle and appeared again far away in the enemy lines.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  "A... teleporter ?"

  "You okay ?" a soft voice came out of the other side. Then a patch of white hair and a round, innocent face. Jeanne lifted a thumbs-up to answer and the head nodded back."

  "You're... Phase, right ?"

  "Yeah. But be careful. You were lucky. This fireball could have done serious damage." the Returnee said while pointing at a shadow in the sky.

  "... The wyvern. Miss Phase, can you look at it from your System window ? I exhausted my uses already and you have more mana than me. You'll get more information out of it than I could."

  "Right. It was too far away but I think I might be able to do it. Just protect me while I'm contacting the others."

  "|Shield of Light|" a golden dome of about five meters in diameters materialized around the teen Hunter and some others profited from the occasion to rest for a few instants. "All set."

  "Phase to general. I'll be attempting to see the wyvern's stats now that it's close. The warp will make me vulnerable when I free-fall. I'm asking you to cover me while I recover enough mana to warp again."

  "Understood. Lightyear's on his way. If you're not sure you can do it, he can catch you in mid-air."

  "Alright, now I just need to time this when the wyvern comes..."

  "What do you mean... ?"

  A teleportation anchor popped below Phase and she fell down an instant later. Many Hunters and monsters stopped what they were doing to look at the tiny form falling from high up until it landed on the back of the flying creature, who began to thrash around and loop around in the air.

  "Let's see..."

  The now familiar translucent interface appeared in the woman's vision. She swiped through notices that warned her of being in a dangerous place and other useless fluff.

  "Show buffed stats, of course. Here we go. Appraise."

  Phase got cut off from the window as she felt hot air blowing in her face. The wyvern was about to unleash its fire on her. But she had everything she wanted and the rest of the window was unreadable because of the magic miasma. So she let go and let herself free-fall. Her eyes shone a bright blue and a warper of the same color got her out of danger.

  She teleported in the control room of the second mobile base and rushed to the comms. What she saw was not reassuring. Especially that fist skill it possessed. What the fuck was 'ignores death for three minutes' ?! That was unfair. And the boost made that thing's stats ridiculous for an A-rank threat.

  "Pierre ! It's not good ! I'm sending everything I could gather to everyone !"

  "This... is bullshit. And the System assesses it as A-minus rank ?! Those are peak A-rank stats dammnit ! Leo, can you break its defense ?"

  "No can do, I'm already holding off its minions !"

  -

  As the Hunters argued about a strategy, the ground rumbled, startling everyone. Then two forms erupted from the earth, two forms that looked like bulkier version of the red wyvern.

  "You've gotta be..."

  "Kidding me..." Jeanne finished Leo's sentence.

  WAAAAAAAGH-

  Not one, not two but three wyverns. All of them beyond the A-rank. The first one landed besides the newcomers, and one of them began to anchor himself in the ground. A wave of black and brown dust swept across the battlefield and all of sudden, enemies felt tougher and harder to hurt.

  "Kh- So they've got buffers too. What bullshit..."

  The second twin wyvern lowered its head and spread its wings on the ground. It started to advance, dragging its limbs along, crushing boulders, slamming down in tree trunks, and stomping on whatever unfortunate creature was on its way.

  "Wait... it's charging like a bull."

  Many turned towards Leo the SpearFlame and his top brass, who started shaking their heads while fleeing.

  "Nope. Can't block that. Not even close." Leo stated plainly before setting off with the rest of his teams.

  "Guys. Shouldn't we flee too ? Wait... is that thing crushing its allies too ?"

  "I... think so. Phase ? Could you get us out of reach ?"

  "I- I can. On it."

  "Don't forget the bases."

  "... Urgh."

  Meanwhile, the Reptilzs frowned at the behavior of the giant among them.

  Rock Crusher. Your brother is killing... No. Nevermind.

  [ Sorry... We're not smart. ]

  ... Sigh

  "How much time have we spent already ? It's daytime again."

  "Almost eleven hours. Some of my men are experiencing miasma sickness. Good we managed to exit the Portal one more hour and it wound have been grim."

  "Allowing so many people in was a mistake. These vehicles too. We took too much time." Buster muttered in a rare moment of seriousness. "How much have we explored ? We can go tomorrow, right ? But only A-ranks and above."

  "About seventy-percent. Some of our mages have sent summons at the start of the dive. There's not much left we haven't seen. Let's just pray there's not a Portal outbreak."

  "We have a problem. They've caught up already."

  "How did they-"

  "Buster, These things can fly and dig faster than we can run. It was as if they were waiting."

  "..."

  The Hunters didn't start getting off they gear right away. Procedures and measures to prevent accidents and miasma contamination had to be followed. They also needed to forcefully close the Portal until tomorrow.

  Many B-ranks were exhausted or puking their guts out from fright or the negative effects of magic miasma. The purifiers and healers of Ophiuchus were at their limits too. The conventional army was inside of the LTPDVs, in a relatively good shape.

  Buster was right. Bringing such numbers had only slowed down the elite forces.

  Reporters were still swarming the place, from a safe distance. Which meant about a kilometer away from site. Right now, nobody cared enough about them. There were too many wounded, dead and traumatized Hunters to take care of.

  The air froze in place as a low but heavy rumble echoed from the insides of the Portal.

  Suddenly, black lightning started coming out of the Portal along with dark smoke. The Portal itself began to shrink and condense. The signs of a Portal collapse. Cracks began to appear in its center and just as it was about to close.

  A colossal fist smashed into the gate to the other world. As it moved around, the arm showed a wing membrane and obsidian scale Maya had already see. Then another clawed hand appeared and gripped the extremity of the Portal to stretch it again.

  A snout darker than black, eyes of red, black and white. A maw with teeth drenched in blood. A thick serpentine neck. Then a powerful body with razor sharp scales and long spine spikes.

  Maya the Sky Seer gulped down audibly. This was the exact same dragon she had seen when using her Clairvoyance.

  The only problem was that its size did not match. The beast she had seen was only about forty meters, not three hundred meters long. The LTPDVs looked like toys in comparison.

  Something was wrong.

  No-one wanted to make a sound under that creature's presence. Even the reporters of all over the world felt the need to not show a single flash.

  For now it was preoccupied with staring at the sky. But still.

  Maya prayed that her System Window would work. Every fiber of her being was telling her to not do it. But she needed to know. For everyone's sake.

  "Appraise..." she whispered much to the two other Arch-Mages' horror.

  The monster's head snapped to Maya's position, pupils thinned out to such a degree they appeared as lines in its eyes.

  "Huh-"

  Suddenly, with a single flap of its wings, it took off high up in the sky at a speed unimaginable for a creature of such size. Pierre Coeur de Lion didn't waste time and activated his trump card. The |Pride of a Nation| as other deployed defensive skills.

  Then it roared. Not just another bestial roar the Hunters had heard all day. A a roar that shook the Skies and the Earth.

  A challenge.

  The dragon unfolded its wings and everyone knelt. The pressure and the amounts of mana being released right now were enough to kill an unprotected rookie Hunters.

  Thank the Stars non-Awakeners could not feel mana...

  A memory came to the collective minds. A decayed body, with tissue and tendons bare for everyone to see, rampaging in the Eastern caost of the USA. The Corpse of Misery. The DracLabs incident.

  But at this instant, even it... Even the origin of the biggest Portal up until now... couldn't compare. There was an insurmountable gap, ... an Abyss of power between the two.

  One dragon against A Dragon.

  Many Hunters sent their prayers to their Stars and their Constellations.

  The reporters were all unconscious from the mana overload.

  Jeanne's shield had barely held on.

  Pierre's buffs had kept most barely standing.

  Leo's lance, embedded in the ground, didn't prevent him from sliding a few meters back.

  The Arch-Mages' protective arcanes were shattered.

  Buster's signature grin had been replaced by a concerned snarl.

  Thousand Iai's broken blades had taken all of the miasma head on.

  The incarnation of Death landed, shaking the ground and the Hunters held their breaths.

  ... Ah.

  Paris... I missed you.

  Nidhogg... reporting.

  Jeanne. Dad. Mom. How are you doing ?

  What... ? was the only thought of about a dozen Hunters in the crowd.

  Paul ? Nidhogg ?