Chapter 61: Assault on Heaven

Breaking News From Around The World

Riots Have Broken Out In New York And Beijing

UNDF Issues Warning: "The Rioters Are Undead Monsters"

UNDF: "Zombie bites will only turn you into a zombie if you die shortly after"

UNDF: "Seek immediate medical attention if bitten"

NASDAQ Falls Below 7500 As Beijing And New York Are Under Attack

Martial Law Initiated In The Tri-State Area

Chinese Military Deployed To Combat Zombie Threat

"If the UNDF fails, our worlds will immediately fuse," Says UNDF Adviser

VVVVVV

Beijing

It was late at night, but the city's bright lights lit up the area. The colour of the lights gave the city a golden glow with specs of purple, blue, and green colours. The stars and moon were blocked out by the transfer storm that blanketed the sky. Purple lightning streaked across the sky and struck the ground at random locations.

While Beijing was normally a beautiful city, it was tainted with plumes of smoke, fires, smog, and helicopters that flew throughout the sky. Screams could be heard from all over, and the streets were crowded with people running in all directions. All desperate to escape the encroaching threats that infested the streets.

APCs appeared on the Tiantan road alongside Tom. Each side of the streets had various small and medium sized buildings. Each time the APC appeared, Tom would removed his hand from its surface and vanish, only to reappear with a new APC. The model of APC used for this mission was the Stryker M1126 Infantry Carrier Vehicle. Each armoured vehicle was capable of carrying nine passengers and was equipped with 40mm MK19 grenade launcher.

When the occupants of the APCs were able to confirm they were in Beijing, the soldiers opened the back hatch and poured out. They took defensive positions and shot any nearby zombie. The APCs took positions to create a defensive perimeter to allow the UNDF soldiers to kill zombies in safety. As these APCs appeared, this perimeter grew in size.

When all the APCs arrived, Tom approached Garza's and Azikiwe's teams.

"That's the last of the APCs," Tom announced to the two teams. "HQ will be in contact with the Chinese and try to get you all some additional reinforcement from the local military."

"We can take care of things from here," Azikiwe said. He gestured towards a giant tower of blue and purple light that shot into the sky to power the storm. "Now, call it a gut feeling, but I believe we want to head towards that."

Tom chuckled. "A good idea. Be careful. All of you."

"We're big kids, Tom," Sam said in her thick Texan drawl. "We can handle ourselves."

"Good," Tom said. "Because I don't want to be the UNDF's only gofer from here on out."

Tom vanished from sight leaving the two teams amused and slightly annoyed.

"Cocky little bastard," Garza grumbled. "Remind me to smack him in the head later." Garza switched her communicator on to address the soldiers in the area. "Alright, everyone. We are making our way towards the pillar of light. The APCs will take the lead with the soldiers following behind. Kill any zombie in the way, and try to help any civilians if convenient to do so, but that obelisk is our priority. If anyone spots Wendigo, do not, I repeated, do not engage him. You immediately call him out and the SYSTEM-enhanced soldiers will fight him. Move out!"

Garza switch the communicator back to just addressing the two SYSTEM teams.

"Li, I want you to find a vantage point and provide us with sniper support."

"Yes, Captain," he replied.

David ran towards one of the buildings and ran straight up the wall. His inhuman speed allowed him to move up without any problems. Upon getting to the top, he ran from rooftop to rooftop until he disappeared from sight.

The APC perimeter shifted and drove in the direction of the wall that surrounded the Temple of Heaven park. The vehicles had to drive down single lane alley roads past some of the smaller buildings before it found the wall to the park. The wall was made from gray stone and around several meters tall. The APC at the front of the armoured column paused to decide what the best course of action would be to go through the wall.

"Use the grenade launcher," the driver told the gunner.

The gunner popped of the the small hatch and positioned himself behind the grenade launcher. He aimed at the wall and fired several grenades at the base of the wall. Each round exploded upon impact and tore the wall apart. A hole about four meters wide appeared in the wall with the sides still crumbling from the explosions.

The APCs moved through the hole and into the park.

VVVVVV

North Sentinel Island

In the sea between India and Malaysia, there is an island where its inhabitants lived separate from the flow of time. Due to their hostile nature, no one had the opportunity to contact these people that the outside world called the Sentinalese. This tribe was famous for, not only being the last group of people who have not contacted the outside world, but because they were still in the stone age in terms of technology. Their level of technology is so low that they don't have the ability to create fire and rely on lightning to provide it for them in the form of embers.

The UNDF and local military were very nervous to come to this island due to this tribe's hostile nature, but upon arriving on the island, their fear vanished and was replaced with sorrow. Every inhabitant was killed.

To add insult to injury, Mordiggian had each inhabitant revived as zombies to guard the obelisk on the island. These undead guards were easily wiped out by the initial landing force. This cleared the way for the amphibious transport docks to park at the beaches.

Amphibious transport docks are naval ships that look similar to cruisers but are much larger and has a massive door on its stern. The ship has a massive hold that was capable of carrying of many vehicles and gear. The ship would park on a shoreline, open its rear door, and allow these vehicles to drive out onto the ground.

Two tanks were used to quickly knock down a section of the trees so the ground soldiers could set up the artillery cannons. Three cannons were set up with several squads and tanks to act as guards in case any monsters were missed. During the set-up of the cannons, several unearthly creatures appeared on the island. Nothing dangerous. The animals resembled a cross between a chicken and a peacock. These animals didn't act aggressive towards the soldiers so they were left to wander. Some of the soldiers actually took pictures of themselves with these Xothican creatures.

As soon as the cannons were set up, the artillery observer used his binoculars to take measurements and spouted degrees and directions to the artillery crews. The howitzers were adjusted according to his orders. The observer checked his work one last time before he gave the go-ahead signal to the commander officer.

"Fire!" the CO ordered.

The cannons roared as they fired off their first round at the obelisk. A whirling noise echoed in the area as the shells flew over the island towards their target. The observer watched with anxious focus as he waited for the shells to land. After a few seconds, explosions went off in the area of the obelisk.

"Direct hit," the observer announced.

The soldiers cheered when they heard the announcement. The commanding officer of the operation approached the observer.

"Can you confirm the destruction of the obelisk?" he asked.

The observer waited for the smoke to clear. The wind was quick to blow away the smoke and reveal the obelisk.

The observer sighed, "Negative, sir. Obelisk still stands."

The jubilation that the soldiers felt was replaced by disappointment.

"Wait!" the observed yelled out.

Through his binoculars, the observer saw a small section of the obelisk break away.

"We have damage. Obelisk must be made of extremely tough material. I'd recommend sustained bombardment."

"You heard the man, keep firing!" the CO said to the artillery crews.

The artillery howitzers fired another round of bombardment. The CO jogged away from the artillery crew so he could contact HQ. He had to do it inside of the UNDF ship. The sounds of the artillery cannons were still audible, but at the very least, he could use his communicator

"HQ, this is Major Reddy."

"This is HQ."

"We have initiated our bombardment against the obelisk. The obelisk are made from some tough material and were only lightly damaged by several shells. We believe it can be destroyed by a continuation bombardment. The explosives that the Beijing and New York teams took are not strong enough. They are going to need stronger firepower."

"Understood. We will relay this information and get them additional reinforcements."

VVVVVV

The company of APCs continued through the trees of the Temple of Heaven park. Garza's and Azikiwe's teams stayed close to the armoured vehicles. As they got closer to the obelisk, they noticed other creatures in the area. Birds and animals that did not belong to their world. Most were harmless and presented no opposition to the military.

They did run into an aggressive alligator-like creature. The creature resembled a Kaprosuchus, a long legged crocodile, from Earth's Cretaceous period. This creature, unlike its Earthly cousin, had a row of spikes that ran down the spine of their back. The SYSTEM soldier were able to identify the creature as an Akidasuchus. Upon its first appearance, one of the APCs used its grenade launcher to injury the beast.

One of back legs of the creature was blown away and it was left to bleed out. The SYSTEM soldiers, out of mercy and the need for more experience points, finished the creature off before they continued to follow the APCs towards the obelisk. When they arrived at the pathway towards the temple, they were finally able to see the extent of the damage Wendigo has done.

The building that was known to the world as the Hall of Prayers for Good Harvests was completely destroyed. In its place was the purple, blue, and black obelisk as it beamed energy into the transfer storm.

"Captain Garza, are you there?" Steele chirped in over the comm.

"This is Captain Garza," she replied.

"We just received word from one of our artillery teams. The obelisks are much tougher than we originally expected. Artillery is having some difficulty taking them down. The explosives that the demolition teams have are no where near enough to take down the obelisks."

"Then what do we do?"

"We are going to get some tanks from the local military to come your way. They will take care of destroying the obelisk. Until they arrive, I want you all to clear the way of any enemy within the operating area. Out."

"Copy that." Garza switched to group comm and said, "We have new orders. Secure the area and wait for the Chinese tanks to come in to take down the obelisk."

VVVVVV

David Li laid prone on top of a construction crane that overlooked the operation site. He split his time between watching the UNDF and killing any zombie he could spot. His fifty caliber M720 sniper rifle outright liquefied every zombie head Li targeted.

Through his scope he saw many events go down on the streets of Beijing. The police force worked hard to evacuate the civilians while they fought back against the undead, buildings on fire that burned without interruption, and people who were trampled by massive crowds that tried to escape the zombie hordes.

"We have new orders," Garza barked in over the comm. "Secure the area and wait for the Chinese tanks to come in to take down the obelisk."

Li looked back at the area of the Temple of Heaven. He saw the APCs start to move into an arc. As he watched, the screams of hundreds of monsters echoed in the area. It was near deafening.

"What the fuck?" Li muttered.

Li scanned the area to investigate the reason for the howls. The zombie hordes that were attacking civilians suddenly stopped and turned their attention elsewhere. Everywhere Li looked the same phenomenon occurred. After he saw the same thing happen in every direction he looked, Li finally understood what was happening.

"Captain, this is Li."

"I hear you, Li."

"All zombies have now changed their attention towards you. I think they know what you're doing, or at least Wendigo or Mordiggian does. You have a lot of zombies coming your way."

"Copy. Taking defensive position. Out."

David returned to a prone position and continued eliminating any zombie that his sights fell upon. In the distance he heard the UNDF shooting the zombies that poured in through every entrance of the park. As the zombies packed themselves close to each other, Li found he was able to kill multiple zombies with one bullet.

In the corner of his eye, Li saw some unusual movement near the park. It was like moving smoke. David redirected his scope at the moving object.

"Ah, shit."

VVVVVV

The UNDF APCs formed arced lines on both sides of the temple to defend against the attacking undead. Both sides were faced with wave after wave of undead people and animals. Azikiwe's squad took the southern perimeter while Garza's team had the north.

"Never thought I'd be in a zombie film," Sam joked between shots of her M32 grenade launcher.

"They're a little tougher than I thought they would be in real life," Chris added. "They sometimes need multiple head shots just to kill them."

"Pay attention," Garza chided the two. She had her assault rifle on single shot mode and was capable of getting head shots with little effort.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

With the combined efforts of the ground soldiers and the APC turrets, the zombies were mowed down on their way to the temple. They started to form piles of bodies all over the park.

"Captain, it's Li," Garza's comm chirped.

"Garza here," she replied.

"I spotted Wendigo. He's about a click north-east from the temple and is moving towards you with reckless abandon."

"Copy. Can you get a shot?"

"Negative. He's moving too fast. I'll provide cover where I can."

"Understood. Do what you can." Garza switched to her group comm. "We have Wendigo incoming. Leave him to the SYSTEM-soldiers. Focus on the zombies. Hold out until the tanks show up."

The UNDF watched their perimeter while they shot the incoming zombies. Many of them felt anxious and fearful knowing that Wendigo was approaching. They all spent hours analyzing the footage of the fight between him and Everett's team. He was a monster not just from their nightmares, but from the darkest abyss of their nightmares.

The tension made the soldiers jump at any unfamiliar movement within the crowd of zombies. Minutes passed before everyone saw something run through the crowd of zombies. They would see it one moment and then it would disappear in a puff of black smoke.

"Bastard is using the zombies to cover his movement," Chris growled.

"Let me fix that," Sam said.

She took aim with her grenade launcher and launched a full cylinder of grenades. The six grenades impacted the center mass of the horde and created multiple explosions. Fires erupted in the area.

Wendigo launched out from one of the fires at the defensive line towards the APCs and flipped two of the armoured vehicles upwards. The APCs landed on top of several UNDF soldiers who were not fast enough to get out of the way. Wendigo grabbed and picked up another soldier and bit their head off. He didn't have enough time to enjoy the soldier as Garza's team fired upon him.

"We'll take care of Wendigo," Garza screamed into the group comm. "Close the gap and continue killing zombies."

Sam switched to her shotgun and fired several blasts at Wendigo's face. "Come on, you ugly bastard!"

"I will peel the flesh from your bones while you are still conscious," he hissed.

Garza's team retreated up the steps of the temple area towards the obelisk with Wendigo close behind.

"Azikiwe, we need assistance," Garza said into the comm.

"Copy, Captain," Azikiwe replied. "We're coming."

The three soldiers reached the top step before Wendigo used Shadow Step to cut them off. He took a swipe at them but the three dodged out of the way. Garza, Sam, and Chris focused their attacks on Wendigo's head and chest.

"I was expecting the others," Wendigo said. "But I'm sure you'll still taste delicious."

Wendigo swiped his hand towards Sam. She rolled out of the way and Wendigo created large claw marks into the stone tiled ground. Same spun around and fired off several rounds of her shotgun.

"Everett and the Elementals couldn't defeat me, what chance do you have?" Wendigo asked as he went into a frenzy of slashes.

The three soldiers separated from each other and moved backwards to avoid the rapid slashes.

"You got saved by Mordiggian and ran away like a bitch," Sam yelled back. "Not really feeling intimidated here."

Wendigo's eyes widened in rage and he bared his fangs. His claws grew twice their length and much sharper.

"Mordiggian spent too much time studying magic or scheming to really understand a direct fight. Me on the other hand... Scheming was never my forte. I'm much more hands on."

VVVVVV

David saw that his team drew Wendigo towards an open area away from the other soldiers.He was forced to run many numbers through his head as the heat, pollution and distance severely affected the trajectory of his shots. With zombies, he didn't need to be concerned with how long it took for his bullets to reach their target. With Wendigo, he has to predict where he'll be two seconds in the future.

"Remember your recent training," he said to himself. "You have your second class. Marked Target."

Unlike Sylmae, David received a less powerful skill when he got his Archer class.

Marked TargetTypeActivateStamina Required50Time Limit5 minutesRankBLevelBeginner Level 6 (12%)User may mark a target with this skill. Accuracy of long range attacks do not change when doing repeated attacks against a marked target. As soon as the target is killed, the user attacks a different enemy, or if the time runs out, this skill's effects end.

"Time to die, freak."

VVVVVV

Something struck Wendigo in the arm which caused him to screech. Again his side was struck.

"Looks like David is giving us assistance," Chris said.

Azikiwe's team managed to reach their location with their weapons drawn.

"And Azikiwe's team's here."

"We're far enough from the non-SYSTEM soldiers," Garza yelled out. "No more holding back."

"Oh, hell yeah," Sam said. "Let's do this!"

Everyone had reached level twenty one at this point and thus had their second class. Unlike the Elementals, it seems that the UNDF soldiers only managed to gain a single ability from their class change.

Sam chose Barbarian as her second class. With this class she gained the unique ability of War Cry. With her holler, every ally in the area had their abilities boosted.

Wendigo changed his focus to Chris.

"Erase Presence," he whispered under his breath.

Chris vanished from Wendigo's sight.

"What?!" Wendigo growled.

Chris was a Scout. His ability, Erase Presence, makes him temporarily turn invisible and even removes memory of his presence to an enemy.

Erase PresenceTypeActivateStamina Required60/minuteMana Required50/minuteRankBLevelBeginner Level 5 (37%)Skill user vanishes from an enemy's sight and briefly makes them forget about the user. The enemy's forgetfulness and lack of visual awareness is dependent on their Intelligence, Perception, and Wisdom. Levelling this skill will allow more efficient use and eventually allow the user to fool more than one person at a time.

Chris appeared to Wendigo's flank and fired several rounds into his legs.

Wendigo's body suddenly vibrated. Four translucent shadows emerged from his body that were the same shape and size as him. The shadows shifted their attention towards different opponents. Like Wendigo, they were also able to Shadow Step.

One of the shadows went after Sam and swiped at her like a rabid animal. She back away while firing round after round of her shotgun. One of the swipes managed to reach her and slashed her stomach. Sam cried out in pain. The cut went through her armour and partly opened her stomach.

Sam fell to one knee and held her stomach to prevent any of her organs from spilling out. She looked up in horror as the shadow held its hand and slashed downwards. Sam closed her eyes not to see the coming attack. A loud clunk noise made her realize that the attack was prevented.

She opened her eyes and saw her captain, Garza, standing in from of her with a high-grade riot shield on her left arm and her assault rifle in her right hand. The shield was made of a titanium-magnesium alloy and was 2 centimeters thick. A small five by 20 centimeter slot of ballistic glass was at the top of the shield to provide vision from behind the shield. Green glowing glyphs were displayed on the front of the shield.

Garza's second class was Knight. The skill she gained was Stance Change. With this ability she can switch between defence, balance, or offense stances. Her shield was used to enhance the skill.

Stance ChangeTypeActivate/PassivePercentage Shift16%RankBLevelBeginner Level 7 (45%)Skill user can change between Offense, Defence, and Balanced stances. Offense stance will increase the user's damage output, but inversely decrease their defence. Defence has the opposite effect and Balanced removes the percentage shifts.

"Heal yourself and get back to your feet, Smith!" Garza groaned as she struggled to hold her shield up against the shadow.

Garza lifted her assault rifle up.

'Offense,' she muttered in her head. The glyphs vanished from her shield and appeared on her assault rifle. Garza unloaded upon the shadow.

The shadow hissed and stepped back from the attack. While it was distracted, Sam quickly used Heal to fix the wound on her stomach. She stood up and placed her shotgun back into her Inventory. Sam then equipped her minigun.

"Out of the way, Captain!" Sam yelled.

Garza glanced back and saw the minigun. She quick rolled out of the way. The shadow briefly followed Garza's movement, but then looked at Sam to see the minigun spin its barrel. A line of bullets erupted from the minigun and overwhelmed the shadow. The bullets ripped the shadow apart and made it vanish.

One of the other shadows was attacked by David. Due to the distance David attack from, the shadow did not have the intelligence to figure out where the attack was coming from. The other two shadows charged towards Azikiwe's squad.

Azikiwe's squadmates ran in front of him and equipped their shields. Every soldier under Azikiwe's command had picked Knight as their second class. The shadows were stopped by the wall of shields.

Azikiwe pulled out two machetes from his Inventory and a sadistic grin came across his face. He charged forward and jumped up into the air. Unlike the members of his team, Azikiwe was not a knight. He sailed by the two shadows and his arms slashed in a series of movements too fast for the eye to see.

Azikiwe landed on the ground with his machetes held outwards from his side. The two shadows stood there like statues.

"Aaaaaand..."

One of the arms and legs popped off from each of the two shadows.

"There we go."

Azikiwe was a Lone Swordsman and his class skill was Swift Strikes.

Swift StrikesTypeActivateStamina Required100Melee Damage Increase15%RankBLevelBeginner Level 6 (78%)Allows user to make many fast and powerful slashes with their weapon in a single combo of attacks.

"Finish them off!"

"Oh!" his team roared as they pushed forward and slammed the two shadows to the ground.

The soldiers each took out a grenade each, pulled the pin, and then tossed them next to the shadows. They quickly jumped back away and held their shields in a protective wall. The grenades went off and blew the shadows into pieces that dissipated as they flew into the air.

With the shadows gone, the only threat left was Wendigo. Chris kept the monster busy while the others killed the shadows. Chris sparingly used his Erase Presence skill as it took a lot of Mana and Stamina to use it continuously. His strategy was just to use it for a few seconds, change position, and then attack. The biggest threat he faced was Wendigo's claws. Just one direct hit would be enough to kill him, so he kept his distance.

Wendigo felt his anger grow as the fight went on. He didn't understand. Even if he was weakened after centuries without eating souls, he still should have been able to easily tear these Humans apart. He spawned those shadows of his just to help him but the Humans were still able to eliminate them.

Out of desperation, Wendigo made rapid Shadow Steps to confuse the Human he was fighting against. He found the technique to work as the Human stopped using Erase Presence. With this opportunity, Wendigo appeared behind the Human.

Wendigo struck downwards and missed as the Human dodge rolled out of the way. The Human quickly got to his feet and fired upon him. Wendigo raised his arms to defend himself, but still took the full damage of the gun fire. Between the gunfire, Wendigo heard the other soldiers run up to his location.

"How?" he roared. "You are inferior beings!"

"We all trained alongside the Elementals and Everett for months," Garza explained as they all formed a firing line. "We're used to teleporting assholes."

The UNDF fired upon the Old One. The force of the bullets forced the monster back towards the obelisk.

"Don't let up!" Garza yelled.

Thanks to Inventory ability to instantly reload their ammunition, there were only brief pauses in anyone's attack.

Wendigo felt his back hit the obelisk and felt electricity jolt through his body. Between the shock of the obelisk and the pain of the bullets, Wendigo lost all sense of himself, went into a spasm of movement, and swung his arms all over the place. He accidentally swung his right arm into the obelisk and it went into it.

Wendigo stopped his movements and realized what he's done.

"No!" he screamed. "No, no, no!"

The UNDF soldiers stopped their attacks when they here the obelisk give off a loud whirling and buzzing noise. Wendigo struggled to get his hand out of the obelisk. An unknown force held his hand in place.

Garza connected the dots between the weird sound from the obelisk that seemed to get louder, and Wendigo being unable to escape from his predicament.

"Everyone fall back!" she ordered.

They all ran away from the obelisk. Cracks ran up and downwards from the hole that Wendigo created. The light of the obelisk started to pulse at a faster rate at the same pace of the sounds. It pulsed until it was a solid pillar of light. The light brightened until it consumed everything around it.

"I can't die!" Wendigo yelled out as the light disintegrated his arm. "The barrier... Must not... Fall..." He uttered his final words as the light consumed his body and turned him to dust.

The light blasted outwards and the UNDF soldiers jumped down the stairs to avoid the light. They all tumbled down a good distance down the steps before they righted themselves. They all heavily breathed.

You gained 11200 EXP

NoticeYou managed to kill a being of unknown origin. You are now given the title "Old One Slayer". This title grants to buff of additional 5% damage towards other Old Ones and spawn.

Garza looked back up the stairs and saw that the light that the obelisk shot up at the sky was gone. She looked to the soldiers around her and gestured that they need to check what happened. They followed behind her. When they reached the top step, they found that entire top surface of the temple area was no longer tiled but was a glassy gray surface.

While the SYSTEM told them that Wendigo was dead, seeing it was what they needed. Both the obelisk and Wendigo was gone. The soldiers released their breath in relief.

"He's gone!" Sam declared.

The soldiers cheered in celebration.

"It's finally over," Azikiwe sighed.

"I heard him say something before he died," Chris said. Chris' Perception was fairly high and is second only to Li.

"What did you hear?" Garza asked.

"He said, 'The barrier must not fall'. I have no idea what he meant."

"Isn't there a barrier around Almawt, the Demon Continent?" Azikiwe asked. "He probably means that."

"I guess," Chris shrugged. "Just seems like an odd final words."

"Captain Garza," a voice came in over the comm. "This is Corporal Wu of the thirty-first tank division. We are ten minutes out from your location."

"Corporal, we no longer need assistance with the obelisk," Garza replied back. "It has been destroyed along with Wendigo. I repeat, the obelisk and Wendigo have been destroyed."

"Finally some good news," he said back. "Do you still require any assistance?"

"We still have zombies all around our location and could use assistance with eliminating them."

"Understood. We'll be over in ten. Out."

"Hey, look at this," Chris said. He picked up a skull on the ground. It was immediately obvious that it belonged to Wendigo. It resembled a Human skull but with smaller eye sockets and razor sharp fangs in its mouth.

Proof of Death - IthaquaRankSSSThis item can be used to prove the death of Ithaqua.

"Well that confirms it," Chris said as he looked at the skull. "Wendigo is definitely dead."

"I hope Tom's team is doing alright," Sam said. "With Mordiggian and all."

"I'm sure they're fine," Garza said. "They're much stronger than us. Hey, look. The sky is clearing."

Everyone looked up and saw that the storm was clearing up. The lightning had ceased and the purple light from the clouds faded away. The black sky peeked through the gaps of the clouds.

"What the fuck is that?!" Chris yelled as he pointed towards one gap in the clouds.

Through the gap was a moon, another moon, that was halfway through a disk of purple light. Unlike Earth's moon, this moon was light blue and was pocked with more crater holes.

Garza quickly direct her comm channel towards HQ. "HQ, this is Captain Garza. We managed to destroy both the obelisk and Wendigo."

"Acknowledged," HQ replied. "We have received reports from all over of obelisks being destroyed. However, we are at highest alert and the US has entered DEFCON two."

"What happened?!"

"We don't know for sure. We lost communication with the Manhattan team a few minutes ago, and the entire east coast has been cloaked in darkness. We will send a transport your direction to get you all to the nearest Portal. We want you to join Tom's team as soon as possible."

"Copy. We are currently at the Temple of Heaven."

"Transport should get there in twenty. Be ready. HQ out."

Garza switched the comm to her team and said, "Li, we are going to New York. Everett's team needs our help. Regroup at the temple ground."

"Will be there soon," he replied.

------------------------------------------------------------

I realized I never explained two of the skills that Amber got when she became a Buffer, so I added them here.

Status ShieldTypeActivateMana Required40Time Limit15 minutesRankALevelBeginner 1 (0%)Makes the person, that this spell is casted on, more resistant to status effects, eg. Sleep, Confusion. At maxed levels, this spell protects the person from status effects.

AlertTypeActivateMana Required30Time Limit30 minutesRankALevelBeginner 1 (0%)Creates a magical alarm that notifies the party if a member is suffering from a status effect or is low health.