13 The President

In a large, pristine room, many beautiful paintings were hung up on the wall of various past leaders of Condria. A large, blue carpet covered the entire floor. A crystal chandelier brightened up the room with elegance. Eight politicians were sitting down at the oval table with grave expressions. Many of whom had grey hair and almost at the age of retirement. The politicians adorned themselves with a black western suit and a red tie. They all faced towards the man in front of them.

In the middle of the oval table was a middle-aged man with a solemn look. He had blue eyes and a high bridge nose. The man had brown hair that comb-over to the side that accentuated his jawline. Like the politicians near him, he had a black western suit but had a blue tie. This man was Charles Baynes, the president of Condria. President Baynes was currently listening to the reports by his advisors.

"Mr.President, we reported wormholes, if you will, in many airspaces across Condria." A tall, old man with glasses stood up and spoke.

His name was John Benedict, the Secretary of Defense. John handed the President images taken by aircraft pilots. Each image was taken from different states across Condria.

"What's strange about this were the reports of many sightings of biological creatures of unknown origins." John paused for a moment and cleared his voice. "We believe that this also has to do with the recent attacks against the country's coastlines."

"Did you gather any intelligence on these biological creatures?" Charles asked.

"These entities are hostile and the Army is currently engaging them."

Charles noticed an anxious look on John's face. "Is there something wrong, Mr.Benedict?"

"Our firearms are ineffective against the biological creatures." John shook his head. "However, our explosives and tanks are quite effective in this situation."

Charles pondered the overall situation. There seemed to be a few options on the table. However, he decided to go with a simple plan. "Have more air support ready for our troops on the ground. Make sure to minimize civilian casualties as low a possible."

"Yes, sir." John nodded his head and sat back down.

"Mr. Gene, please give me your report on this summoning system." Charles turns towards a stout, old man who was sipping a glass of water.

His name was Wilfred Gene, the Director of National Intelligence. Wilfred had a balding head with sagging cheeks. He had a below average height when he slowly stood up from his chair. He dropped the glass of water before turning towards Charles.

"Mr.President, I have good and bad news," Wilfred spoke in a serious tone.

"Let's begin with the good ones first."

"We had tests subjects experiment with the system and had many incredible results." Wilfred expression brightened. "This system, through unknown means, transfers creatures from other dimensions as so-called battle beasts."

"What's interesting is that the test subjects were granted an unusual supernatural ability from this system." Wilfred continued. "The bad news is that the origins of this system remain unknown, or how it was brought here."

Charles had underestimated the complexity of the system's powers. However, he knew the future potential of this system for Condria, and humanity as a whole. The only thing that concerned him was its origins. Charles didn't doubt that this was created by another sentient life other than humans. Charles shook his head dejectedly with the lack of information that he had.

Charles nodded his head and calmly replied, "That's wonderful, keep providing future reports of ongoing experiments from this."

"Yes, Mr.President." Wilfred sat back down.

...

Three days had gone by. Ian and the group were currently walking through a neighborhood while Bounye rested on top of his head. During these three days, Strengthed Form had level up three times by consuming Souls.

[Skills]: 1

1] Strengthened Form (Passive): Greatly enhances users physical and mental condition. This includes strength, stamina, speed, accuracy, defense, perception, and immunity to diseases. (Level 4/50)

Cost to level up: 750 Souls

He's able to travel one hundred feet(30m) in a second. Ian's body has gotten stronger, and his vision expanded.

Lily suddenly interrupted his thoughts, "I almost have one thousand souls now! I wonder what my beast will be."

"Hopefully something more powerful than mine!" Ian grinned while holding her hand.

"A cute one is fine." She glanced at Bounye with envy.

"Guys, look!" Ray pointed at a two-story house in the distance. "Maybe this one has a working car!"

"Uncle, you said that over twenty times already." Conner sulked as he said.

"Shut your damn mouth, Conner!"

Ray rushed towards the house with Slimebob holding tightly to his neck. The rest shook their heads and followed after him. Ray ran up to the front door and shot the doorknob with his arm cannon. The doorknob blew to smithereens and the door forcibly opened. The entire house was empty and dark with no signs of life. Without hesitation, he went to the door leading to the garage and opened it. Ray's eyes brightened and had an enormous grin on his face. An old, beige minivan parked inside of the garage. The van's original wheels were replaced by spare tires. Some of its paint was either scratched off or faded away after a long period of time.

"Ian, find the keys!" Ray shouted through the garage door.

"Yeah, yeah. I got it," Ian replied.

Ian walked through the living room and searched every corner. He then searched the kitchen but still found nothing. He was about to inform Ray on his fruitless search before Mrs.Willard tapped his shoulders. She had a keychain jingling around her fingers as she smiled.

Mrs.Willard giggled. "Looking for these?"

Ian grabbed the keychains from her and ran up to Ray to give it to him. Ray took the keys from Ian and started up the car. It took him multiple tries before the engine finally started running up.

"Finally!" Ray threw a fist pump in celebration.

The rest cheered on and entered the minivan. Ian opened the garage door before getting behind the backseat of the car next to Lily. He put his arms around Lily's neck as she leaned on his shoulders. The car backed out of the driveway before speeding off into the distance, leaving a cloud of smoke behind.

"Interstate Twelve is just ahead." Ray glanced at a sign that signaled a highway straight ahead.

Out of the window, Ian noticed a long mass of red flesh coming out of a portal. He focused his gaze and adjusted his vision to peer closer at it. Multiple eyes of varying sizes covered its entire body. The monster had a large mouth with jagged teeth. Long veins protruded out of its body that pulsated violently. Its overall appearance was truly horrifying as if it came directly out of hell. All of its eyes turned towards the moving car and flew at it.

[Name: Galthroworm]

[Rank: F (BOSS)]

[Souls: 2000]

"Ray, drive faster!" Ian shouted. "There's something coming after us!"

However, it was too late as Galthroworm appeared behind the minivan. Suddenly, all of its eyes shined with a dark red color.