Xavier searched through the dead commander’s Storage Ring before he left the mountain’s peak, trying to see if there was anything valuable inside.

To his surprise, he didn’t find much. It appeared as though everything of value that the man possessed had been his equipment. This invasion commander hadn’t been half as extravagant as the last he’d defeated.

And the last one I defeated had a much smaller camp, with nothing more than tents set up. Odd.

Though one thing that Xavier did find was an eye glass—a small, handheld telescope.

This made him head over to the edge of the mountain peak and peer down at the city below. From up here, without the eye glass, he could already make out a good number of the city’s landmarks. But with the eyeglass, he was able to see the city in far more detail, to the point where he could see people walking around down there.

Not just people, either. Beasts, both large and small.

He tilted his head to the side, eyes widening slightly as he watched a pack of dogs take down a lone Denizen who’d been walking through the streets. Xavier felt a twinge of sympathy as one of the dogs ripped out the man’s throat.

The System turned dogs into beasts?

That definitely took him by surprise, though he wasn’t sure why. Everything else he’d encountered here on Earth had been turned into beasts. Bears, bees…

Maybe it was that these hadn’t been wild animals before the integration. Humans had domesticated them. And now they were rebelling. Throwing off their shackles.

Everyone’s pets will have become very aggressive. And not only pets. Farm animals.

He wondered if people needed to beware of chickens now.

Was it possible to tame beasts, to have them as companions? He had a cat, growing up. He’d hate to think what would have happened if he’d encountered that cat after it had turned into a beast…

I’d have to put him down.

At least he didn’t have to worry about that. That cat had been dead for a long time.

Rest in peace, Sylvester.

One thing he found incredibly helpful about the eye glass was that it was able to show him readings on how many active portals were in the city.

There were twenty-four active portals. That fact, perhaps, should have made him worry for the inhabitants of the city and what they’d been through since the integration, with so many invaders around. And, well, it did make him worry about that.

But he couldn’t help but think about the number of invaders he was about to clear off the face of the Earth, and how many quests that would help him complete.

That should definitely earn me a few levels.

He found the closest portal to the mountain, using that as his next target. When he brought up the mini-map, he noticed it didn’t reach the city. He wasn’t close enough for it to.

I really need to learn how to upgrade that thing.

Though the telescope allowed him to see from a great distance, it unfortunately didn’t give him the ability to look through walls, so he couldn’t see the camp that he knew would be around the nearest portal, only that the portal was there.

“Better make haste,” he muttered.

If there were that many invaders in Fronton—or whatever this city was called now—he needed to get there fast.

Xavier deposited the eye glass—which he’d identified as a Basic Viewing Glass—into his Storage Ring and then ran straight toward the edge of the peak at a sprint. For a moment, he wondered if what he was about to do was such a good idea.

He silenced that thought and leapt straight off the edge off the cliff. This side of the mountain was far more vertical rather than sloped than the side he’d come up.

Xavier figured this was the fastest way down.

He managed to leap far enough away that he needn’t fear hitting the side of the mountain on the way.

His robes billowed in the wind as he fell from the massive height. He straightened his body, trying to eliminate drag, dropping like a pin. He didn’t know what kind of landing he could handle, or how much damage he would take if he fell from this height, but he doubted falling off a cliff would do enough to cause him any real injuries.

Still, he figured he best not actually test that theory, and he had never intended to let himself fall the whole way. Once he was close enough to the ground and able to sense the nearest beast, he cast Soul Strike on it. A bolt of pure white lightning shot forth then materialised into a soul apparition. He couldn’t see the beast he sensed through the thick canopy of trees that lay below. All he saw was the brilliant light of his soul apparition coming to life before the aura of the beast was snuffed out.

Then he could see its soul, shining bright, like a beacon calling to him.

He Soul Stepped straight to it.

Xavier looked down at the beast he’d just slain, then blinked.

“A… squirrel?”

He hadn’t bothered looking at the kill notification—he’d been a little busy falling off a cliff.

He shook his head, then looked up at the mountain peak, so far above him, high in the sky. He was constantly amazed by what he was capable of nowadays, and couldn’t help but smile at what he’d just done.

He didn’t pause for more than a few seconds. He zipped through the trees and made it to the city within a few minutes, heading straight for that portal he’d seen with the viewing glass. He’d gathered up his Portal Block and the Subspace Communications Area Blackout Array before leaving the invaders’ base.

He slowed down his sprint a little when he reached the city streets. He couldn’t help but look around. He didn’t know the entire city of Fronton. It wasn’t where he’d grown up, it was… where he’d escaped to. He’d never much liked living at home with his mother, especially with how much she disagreed with his chosen career path, and so he’d found somewhere else to go to university—somewhere that offered a good writing program.

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He hadn’t really told the other members of his party that his mother wouldn’t be here—that she was likely to be somewhere else—but he didn’t really like talking about life before.

The only parts of Fronton he knew well were the parts he lived in, and his campus. The rest was a maze of random streets, but even he could tell that the streets had been changed. Some of the houses and building stood at strange angles. There was one house that had been turned completely upside down—everything except for its roof.

Xavier shook his head in befuddlement. Why would the System bother to do something like this? If he saw this in a video game, he would assume that it had glitched out when creating the environment.

I’m not going to get stuck in a wall, am I?

A tumbleweed, of all things, rolled through the deserted street, the wind blowing making an eerie whistling sound. It almost felt like a horde of zombies was about to appear around the corner of one of the buildings.

Honestly, that wouldn’t surprise him too much. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t come across zombies already since returning to Earth.

He sensed auras in the near distance.

Not zombies. Zombies don’t have auras, as they don’t possess cores.

Red dots began appearing on the mini-map. They were all clustered around the same area. There were a few dozen of them, and every ten or so feet he walked, a few dozen more appeared. The invaders must be clustered together fairly close. He still couldn’t see their camp, but he seemed to be heading straight for one of the buildings.

Maybe they’re hiding inside there.

The building was Earth-made. It looked like it had once been an office building. The structure itself wouldn’t offer the invaders any protection, but that didn’t mean they hadn’t set up other things. He was sure that when he’d been in the mountain base, he’d tripped off some sort of alarm.

I really don’t need to be as circumspect as I was when I entered that base, going from building to building clearing the invaders…

He paused, looking toward the nearest auras, up at the windows. He was in the middle of the street, currently in full view of anyone that might be looking out. He smirked. They were hiding behind the windows, though not very well.

Xavier put down his Subspace Communications Area Blackout Array, placing the rods in a small semi-circle for it to activate. Though he was in full view of the building, he figured he was still far enough away that they shouldn’t be able to sense his aura yet—not that they could sense his aura, but the fact they couldn’t would make them suspicious.

The array should cover the building well enough from here.

Xavier paused. Another red dot had appeared on his mini-map. This one wasn’t in the same area as the building the invaders were hiding out in. It was far off to his left. He studied the red dot. It was moving fast. Abnormally fast.

Nowhere near as fast as him, but faster than he’d seen any Denizen on Earth apart from those in his party move.

Xavier’s brow furrowed. Who was this? An invader from a rival world? Or perhaps the head of this little base?

The red dot made a straight line for the building. At this rate, he would be there within a couple of minutes. Xavier could get there faster—hell, he could send a soul Strike from here to clear the entire compound—but he didn’t want to do the latter. He didn’t know if there were any civilians inside.

Xavier jogged toward the building. He could have gone much faster, but he wanted to see how this would all play out. He contemplated putting down the Portal Block. It would ensure none of the invaders stepped through the portal to return to their home world and alert them about the fact that someone here was able to block their communications, but he didn’t think that was necessary.

When he’d faced Commander Alden Trellot back on the mountain, the man hadn’t thought he was from Earth. Hiding his identity and his full power was important, but he didn’t need to hide as much as he’d previously thought.

Besides, without the portal active, he wouldn’t be able to send another one of his messages.

I wonder how that message was received.

It didn’t take long for the other red dot to come into view. By now, Xavier could see red dots huddling around the entrance to the building, readying themselves for whatever was coming. He’d kept a close eye on the number of invaders within the building. The number hadn’t changed, which meant no one had stepped back through the portal. He was glad to find this building wasn’t blocking his Aura Sight like many of the other buildings and tents he’d encountered in enemy territory.

The approaching red dot was human. The man, who looked to be in his mid-twenties, gripped a dagger in each hand. His hair was jet black, and he had an intensely determined look on his face. There was something about the man that Xavier found unsettling. He wasn’t sure why, or what that might be.

Perhaps it was that he was completely covered in blood. Then again, how many times had Xavier been covered in blood after a battle? That wasn’t something unusual in this new reality.

The dark-haired man spotted Xavier. When he saw him, he frowned with a look of confusion.

Clearly, he wasn’t expecting someone else to be around here.

Quest Log Updated.

Xavier dismissed the notification, assuming it had something to do with the invaders in that building. As he intended to clear the building of invaders anyway, and then close the portal when he was done, checking it didn’t seem necessary.

Xavier scanned the dark-haired man. Unfortunately he was too far away to use Identify on.

{Human - Level 25}

Level 25?

Xavier hadn’t bothered scanning anyone in a while, but something about this man piqued his curiosity. Though the man’s level wasn’t all that high, it was higher than Xavier had expected.

And he was moving faster than someone of that level should, at least as far as Xavier was concerned. Which either meant he’d gained a fair number of titles, or that he’d maxed out his speed at the expense of his other attributes.

Considering the reactions of the invaders, it was clear this guy wasn’t on their side.

Is he really just running straight toward the enemy?

Xavier supposed he couldn’t judge the man, considering he was doing the exact same thing, but he was the stronger of the two of them—by far—running toward enemies such as these no longer brought any risk.

Which, admittedly, made the venture a hell of a lot less fun.

Xavier stopped jogging. He was about forty feet away from the entrance to the building where the invaders had congregated.

The invaders weren’t human, this time. They were elves—their pointy ears gave them away. The one who must be their leader stepped forward. He looked a little different to the others. Tall for an elf, that was for sure. He must have been seven-foot-five or something.

The man smiled, then growled.

What the hell? Is he… part orc?

“Tell me, human, how have you blocked our telepathic communications?” The half-elf, half-orc—or whatever the hell he was—had an oddly high-pitched voice for someone who appeared so menacing.

Xavier didn’t reply. He didn’t feel the need. He was too busy watching the dark-haired man with two daggers.

The leader didn’t pay any attention to the other man. His gaze was strictly on Xavier. “Why do you remain silent? What leader do you serve? What world do you hail from?”

Though elf-orc man wasn’t paying attention to dagger-wielding man, that wasn’t the case for his soldiers. There were roughly a hundred and twenty invaders arrayed outside of the building now—with another forty or so still inside. Half of them had their attention on the dagger-wielder, while the other half were focused on Xavier.

Elf-orc man waved a dismissive hand toward the dagger-wielder, who hadn’t halted in his run. A dozen elves broke off from the building and prepared themselves for battle. Six of them had beautiful looking long bows. Two welded short swords and heavy, tall shields, and the other four had slender, two-handed long swords.

They moved well, but their formation lacked military precision, and they didn’t have much uniformity about them.

This isn’t a military outfit like the last invaders I dealt with, is it?

No, these elves looked more like… pirates? Bandits?

I wonder how they made it here.

Elf-orc sighed. “We’ll find our answers by picking through your corpse, then.” He waved a dismissive hand once more, this time aimed at Xavier. “And I’ll get a nice aura-shielding item out of it.” He grinned, revealing more sharp teeth.

The other set of invaders reached the dark-haired man.

That’s when the screams began to sound—not screams from the dark-haired man, but from the elves he slayed. With ease.

Xavier raised an eyebrow.

Perhaps this will be interesting.