59 Monster
Sam: "Jim, we need you in Michigan. Now."
Teleporting over, Jim found several corpses of enormous insects, riddled with bullet holes.
Jim: "What the hell?"
Sam: "Who the hell?"
Jim: "It's Jim, stuff happened, what's going on here?"
Sam: "Alright, but you're going to tell me how you've become half your age afterwards. Report came in yesterday, local police received information of oversized animals wandering around. We got called in soon after, we've found over a hundred of these things."
Activating detection, Jim searched the area. He quickly found a vortex floating slightly above the great lakes, a dozen giant mantis-like creatures tumbled out of it and splashed into the water below. Struggling to the shore, they headed to the treeline.
Jim found thousands of monsters scattered through the woods, even more dead at the bottom of the lakes. He had a bad feeling, these vortices and monsters reminded him of Amgula. The people there had been adapting to the situation for thousands of years, but Earth's people weren't prepared for relentless attacks from all directions.
Jim: "I've found thousands more, they seem to be dropping into the lake from somewhere else. They're on the Canadian side too, call them up, these things keep coming."
During the time he took to explain, another vortex opened and dumped out an enormous wolf. 'There it is.' Below the lakebed he found a small cave, a 10 foot tall crystal was inside, floating above the cave floor. Sensing the mana, a quick burst of neutral mana shot out of the crystal and created another vortex. 'Appraisal.'
[Appraisal Has Reached Level 6]
[Proxy Magic Crystal]
[Allows Magic Usage Over Extreme Distances]
[Created By Apostle Xuntli]
Jim took a minute to see if he could figure out where this crystal was connected to. Connecting his own mind to it, he felt something shudder. There was another entity, another mind. 'This must be that Xuntli?' Feeling along the other's connection, there was a resistance trying to keep him at bay. 'Not on Earth?' Jim worked his mind on overdrive, all five duplicates sharing the load. 'Found it!'
The other mind pulled back, the crystal shattered. Jim smirked, 'A bit late to back out now.'
--- Sam's POV ---
Jim: "I found the source, going there now. Use these."
Sam: "Really? I-"
Jim vanished, a dozen statues suddenly appeared nearby.
Sam: "He can be a real jerk...How do I use statues?"
--- Sam's POV End---
'Damn, it's HOT!' Jim found himself in a cave, the place was sweltering. Nearby he found an altar with a slaughtered animal on it, it looked like an oversized sick albino rat, missing patches of fur. 'Can it be considered sick now that its dead?'
He saw the burnt remains of something at the foot of the altar. Using detection, he found a strange creature not far away. Short and squat, it had a horizontally elongated head, with four eyes on stalks. The creature's arms extended to the ground, the claws scraping the cave floor looked rather sharp.
It seemed to be performing some sort of ritual in front of a carved stone archway.
[Name: Xuntli]
[Race: Imta]
[Strength: 1,000]
[Dexterity: 700]
[Vitality: 1,250]
[Agility: 900]
[Dark Lord's Apostle, Mass Murderer]
Hurrying over, Xuntli noticed him. It began yelling something at him.
[Imta Language Skill Obtained]
Suddenly, a large red vortex opened within the stone arch. Xuntli turned back to look at the vortex, it seemed to be about to go through.
Jim: "You're not leaving."
Xuntli turned back around and continued shouting, Jim still couldn't understand. Jim was somewhat astounded at this guy's ability to shout for so long without taking a break. He began understanding the creature's language.
Xuntli: "My Lord's designs will not be interfered with!"
Jim: "And your lord is?"
Xuntli: "Ignorance! Great Lord Karna will destroy your pitiful race!"
Jim: "Thanks for the info, time to die."
Dashing forward, Jim grabbed Xuntli's head and slammed it into the cave wall. Skull fragments and gore exploded outwards as the concussive force ripped apart stone.
The vortex seemed to be destabilizing, Jim quickly placed a marker here before rushing through. With a terrible feeling like he was being torn apart, Jim landed in another place.
He was on a small island of rock surrounded by a lake of magma. Before him was a massive pillar of fire, occasional gaps in the flames allowed him to see something inside. Reaching detection inside, Jim found a huge demon. Scales, Large Horns, Hunchback, 30 Feet Tall. An intense feeling of suppression overcame him. 'Appraise.'
[Name: Karna]
[Race: Ascendant Chaos Demon]
[Strength: 2,000,000]
[Dexterity: 2,000,000]
[Vitality: 2,000,000]
[Agility: 2,000,000]
[Dark Lord, Destroyer Of Worlds, Great Devourer, Ruler Of The Void, Archmage, Tyrant Demon]
[Status: Weakened, Slowed, Sealed]
'This thing is a lot stronger than me.' A weight pressed down on Jim's mind, an angry booming voice resounded in his head.
Karna: "A mortal has entered my domain?"
Jim: "Why did you attack Earth?"
Karna: "You demand a reason? I do as I please, you have no say in it. Now, I will have you die."
Jim launched six barrages of Light Arrows toward Karna. Karna's right arm shot out of the flame pillar, claw outstretched towards Jim. The light arrows harmlessly dissipated after coming in contact with the arm. 'Okay, something stronger.'
Circulating Great Light Fist and activating Beast Assault, Jim launched all five clones out simultaneously. Six pillars of light and six qi beasts collided with Karna's claw. His scales chipped slightly, but the arm continued forward, slicing through the first duplicant, second, third, fourth, and fifth.
The claw's momentum finally slowed, piercing into Jim's outstretch arm, shredding it to pieces.
Karna: "Oh? Blocking my attack, impressive. Take my curse."
Before Jim could react, dark energy streamed out of Karna's claw and penetrated his body. Jim was BURNING, the pain was intense, the core of his being was tearing apart. True Soul Fire suddenly activated on its own, colliding against the energy attacking his body. Jim's chest exploded outward, his organs on display.
Jim collapsed on the ground, he was losing consciousness. 'Damnit. He's this much stronger?' His muscles were being shredded, blood spewed out of every orifice, bones cracked and shattered. 'I have...to...'
Jim faded away.
