Chapter 143: Portal

They could have easily come up with a plan?

Suddenly, the ground trembled and a large change began to take place.

Sylas' gaze snapped upward as a swirling portal appeared at the entrance of Paradise, hovering high above Gabriel's head.

The officer's face paled with fear as he and his partner stumbled backward. They had been briefed on what this event was, but they didn't expect it to appear right above them like this.

"Run!" Gabriel yelled, turning around and hightailing it out of the region. He pulled at his other hip, taking out a radio. "Code Black! One of those fuckers has appeared! West entrance!"

The portal swirled with greens and purples, then with a pulse, a creature leapt out.

[Dire Wolf (F+)]

[Level: 0]

[Physical: 39]

[Mental: 3]

[Will: 11]

However, it seemed that this was just the beginning as another came, and then another.

They rushed forward, some shocked by the new scenery and others not caring at all.

Sylas' gaze flickered as he looked at the back of Lucius' head. The latter had already slowly lowered his hands as though he had never been worried about the result.

'Did he know?'

Lucius looked back at them. "Looks like we'll have to save this town."

By the time he finished speaking, dozens of wolves had already surged in, and some had diverted their attention toward their group, charging forth.

Sylas looked down at his clothing and shook his head.

"This is as good a time as any to establish a point system. We are in the fledgling stages of our little group, so the rules will be more lax now. Anything you kill, you keep. If it's a group battle, I'll distribute. But since there are many targets here, have at it."

Sylas raised a palm and three floating kunai were pulled out of his pack. Although his Madness Key worked just fine, the world didn't need to know that.

'Without Madness, my telekinesis should be able to exhibit 45 Physical right now... that's perfect. Not too powerful, and not too weak either.'

He could feel some glances land on him but his kunai had already moved, slashing across the throat of a dire wolf before they could react. As for the gazes, he didn't care very much; he just didn't want to get his clothes dirty.

Sylas' fingers flickered as his kunai danced in the air. Most others didn't even get the chance to pull out their weapons before the beasts fell one after another.

In the distance, the portal continued to pulse, even beginning to slowly expand as though it was about to swallow the small town whole.

'This situation isn't good,' Sylas thought to himself. If things continued like this, the town would be overrun.

The beasts were rushing out for a reason. If Sylas was correct, then to them, the portal must have the same attraction that Dungeons did, that being the concentration of Aether.

Earth was barren of Aether for now, but this portal had suddenly become a large concentration of it.

Just like Gregory had said, as time passed, more and more of these portals would appear, and it would be precisely through them that Earth integrated with the so-called Aether Plane.

'I'm running out of time. If Aether is the downfall of technology, then it won't be long before the computers I need become useless...'

Sylas looked toward Lucius, waiting for orders. He couldn't just rush forward on his own even though that was his original intention.

Unsurprisingly, Lucius was looking at him as well. Well, somewhat. In reality, his gaze was flickering between Sylas and the floating kunai.

'Have they never run into someone who uses telekinesis before?' Sylas wondered.

From his understanding, all you needed to use telekinesis was high Will and Charisma. Then again, since the Strength of telekinesis was the average of the two stats divided by four, you'd likely be hard-pressed to find anyone with Will and Charisma high enough to make a difference at these early stages.

Lucius smiled and nodded, one part impressed by Sylas' display and another part satisfied that he didn't try to rush off on his own. Then again, he doubted anyone here was stupid enough to try such a thing.

"Let's form a perimeter here to stop the beasts from spreading outside the town. If they scatter in the real world, they'll unleash carnage on the ecosystem.

"As for the innocents on the inside, we'll have to be more careful with how we deal with them. You all saw it just now as well, the police aren't exactly on our side. There will be clashes if we act rashly, and none of us are immune to firearms.

"We'll take things one step at a time. Show me what you all can do."

Lucius handed out his orders. He was unfamiliar with their strengths, so he didn't direct any of them too much. Instead, he split them into about ten groups of three and they were each designated about fifty meters or so of a perimeter.

Sylas, and none of the other draftees for that matter, were paired up with one another. Instead, they were paired with Lucius' men and people who had been in the Brown family long before the Summoning began.

There was a man and a woman in Sylas' group. A Mark and a Bloom.

"I can take the vanguard," Mark spoke. "Sylas, you're an excellent support. Bloom, act at your own discretion. Look alive, ladies and gents. There's money on the line, haha!"

Mark spoke in a much cheerier voice than his somewhat stern appearance would assume. One wouldn't think a man wearing a leather jacket with skulls for shoulder pads would be so carefree, but you could never judge a book by its cover.

With a BANG! Mark took a heavy shield out from his back, one that by coincidence had a skull of its own embedded right into the front. Then, he unhooked an ax from his hip.