《Earth's Hydra》 Chapter 1.1: Nova August 19th, 2020. It was a regular day at first, yet everyone can feel a sense of dread. Like a big event was approaching, something would definitely happen very soon yet scientists defeatedly scratched their heads and shrugged their shoulders as nothing was off or strange at all. Everything was normal. Maybe even too normal. But that changed quickly though. Everything started with a simultaneous message to every human on the planet followed by an unbearable pain for many. ¡°My beautiful children.... It is now for you to take up arms and protect yourselves for I no longer can¡­ If you are still around in after the many years of my slumber I swear to you that I will once again protect you¡­ But for now, Good night and good luck.¡± The vague and mysterious message was sent to every single human on the planet and they all were equally as confused and suspicious about the message¡¯s meaning. The voice in the message was very soothing though and felt familiar to everyone. Following the message, varying pain was felt by all and no one was discriminated against. Maybe this is the first time every human received something without bias towards their skin color or social status and this will be the beginning of a combined struggle for everyone. It was discovered the amount of pain showed how strong you would become, the more pain you felt the more power you held. As for who felt the most pain, the opinion varied depending on who you asked but if you asked for the top 10, three people will always be on that list, as they will become some of the strongest people in Earth¡¯s arsenal. One of those people was Nathan ¡°Nova¡± Jones. After the message, his body fully released its true form and original powers. At the time the message appeared, he was out for a run and stopped when the weird words made their way into his brain. Afterwords a sensation that felt like his blood had caught on fire filled his body.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. As he shook and groaned because of the searing and untameable pain, his body began to emit several small sparks of lightning and his blood took on a bright and blinding color that mixed blue and white stupendously. Unable to hold himself up anymore, he fell down to one knee and was forced to hold himself up by putting a hand on the ground Swirls of black clouds began to form and made the world around Nathan dark and the sound of intense crackling pierced the air, drowning out Nathan¡¯s screams of pain. Torrential rain began to pour down unto the 20 year old and soaked into his body, invading his bone structure. Nathan can feel the power of storms infiltrating his body and the surging power in his body stirs and doesn¡¯t calm down for a second. Wind blows at high speeds and threatens to knock down Nathan and send him flying away, but instead his pores open and absorb the wind. The power of wind fills Nathan¡¯s skin and vibrates vigorously. Nathan just continues to grit his teeth and stops yelling and uses his pure will power to try to control the power flowing and surging in his body like a monsoon. To his surprise, it actually works. The pure lightning that has become his blood begins to stop pulsating, causing it calm down; the water seeping into his bones finally settles down and flows throughout his bone marrow like a tsunami, yet it is controlled by Nathan. Finally the wind in his skin settles down and stops vibrating, causing Nathan to feel weightless. Nathan is finally able to stand and another message pops into his head. This time it comes from a monotone voice that is full of indifference.
¡°Congratulations. You have awoken your true bloodline. Your race is now ¡°Embodiment of Storms¡± and you have evolved into a Rank 7 being.¡±
Nathan doesn¡¯t know what this means but he simply stands up and has a scary wide smile that would put fear into the souls of many. Nathan then raises his hand and a bright flash falls from the sky and crashes into the lone man. BBBOOOOOOMMMM~! A thick bolt of lightning strikes Nathan, making the ground within ten feet of Nathan become void of life, yet nothing at all had happened to Nathan and now he finally begins to grasp what has become of himself. Chapter 1.2: Haku The next person is Tanner ¡°Haku¡± Gump. At the time he was actually taking a nap and was forcefully awoken by the message sent to him by Earth. He simply crooked his head to the side in confusion as the message wormed its way into his consciousness. ¡°My beautiful children.... It is now for you to take up arms and protect yourselves for I no longer can¡­ If you are still around in after the many years of my slumber I swear to you that I will once again protect you¡­ But for now, Good night and good luck.¡± Tanner simply got up and stretched, mulling over what just happened and then finally the pain struck him. It felt as if the whole universe came crashing down unto the 20 year old man and he simply fell to the floor, lifeless. Masses of knowledge forcefully drilled itself into Tanner¡¯s skull and overloaded his brain to the point where he could barely function. Tanner¡¯s vision became blurry and finally several breathtaking images flashed past his eyes. Space, time, black holes, other worlds, dark matter, and even more revealed their secrets to Tanner as if the whole plane of existence unraveled itself to Tanner¡¯s eyes and mind. Yet even with this knowledge, one question arrived within the sea of answers of the universe Tanner received.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡®Is there an end to it? Is there an end to the void we call space?¡¯ This question gnawed at Tanner¡¯s mind, forcing him to seek for the answer, giving him motivation and a goal that feels like he will strive his whole life to find the answer. His brain literally felt like it was going to explode and his body felt as if it was going to be sucked into the vacuum of space any second now, but that never happened. Tanner began to accept the knowledge instead of trying to go through it, he began to absorb it at an alarming pace. The knowledge happily swarmed into his brain and this continued for over a half an hour, and finally, Tanner was able to stand up. The aura of Tanner was weak before this, he had always disappeared into the crowd, but that has all changed. He now lets out a majestic and imposing aura and his eyes sparkled as it reflected the stars of many galaxies.
¡°Congratulations. You have accepted the knowledge bestowed upon you. Your race is now ¡°The One Who Gazes At the Stars¡± and you have evolved into a Rank 8 being.¡±
¡°Huh, this is very interesting.¡± Tanner says as he strokes his chin in curiosity. With a slight flex of his hand a small dark orb comes into fruition. An intense force of suction emits from the orb and begins to suck in every item in Tanner¡¯s room. Before Tanner even realizes what is happening, everything in his room has completely disappeared and the walls of the room are beginning to collapse under the unrelenting force of the small black hole. Tanner reacts to the new situation and closes his hand, causing the black hole to disappear into nothingness. With a quick gaze at his surroundings, Tanner is thoroughly depressed. ¡°How am I going to explain this to the Landlord?¡± Sunlight shines down on the man as the roof to his apartment is gone, everything in the room has been disintegrated and the walls are barely still standing. Chapter 1.3: Jeff Crucifix The final of the three is a man named Joey Carmichael, who was weight lifting at the time in a public gym. On August 19th, Joey was finally able to bench press his newly set goal of 265 pounds and he was extremely ecstatic. Then everyone on Earth got the same message. ¡°My beautiful children.... It is now for you to take up arms and protect yourselves for I no longer can¡­ If you are still around in after the many years of my slumber I swear to you that I will once again protect you¡­ But for now, Good night and good luck.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Joey says aloud after wiping his face off with his sweat towel. It looks like everyone else in the room had the same thought, as Joey could see everyone has the same confused face as him. ¡®Well atleast I¡¯m not imagining things I guess?¡¯ Joey thinks to himself but soon he can no longer think at all. Everyone inside of the gym begins screaming in pain and Joey looked around with a terrified look on his face. Some people¡¯s skin began to shake and rumble as it shifted into an entirely new person and some people began to bleed from their eyes and ears, unable to handle their transformations. The weirdest part of the situation is that Joey felt nothing for the longest time¡­ Until. ¡°We have chosen you to be our Guardian. With our power we believe you will achieve great things.¡± *RUMBLE~* After receiving an extra message from the unknown being, the floor beneath Joey began to vibrate wildly and shook with the force of a high tier earthquake. Joey is barely able to stand on his feet and keeps his balance with his immense strength for a human. That doesn¡¯t matter though as the ground beneath Joey contorts and distorts uncontrollably, turning into a liquidy substance. Joey begins to sink into the substance and his face shifts from a terrified one to one of panic.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. As his body sinks, Joey feels as if everything about him is beginning to disintegrate. His body is being absorbed into the Earth and there is nothing Joey can do about it. Joey tried to struggle yet it had no affect, anything that Joey touched turned into the liquid like substance causing Joey¡¯s eyes to glaze over and he begins to have thoughts of giving up when he could no longer see his waist. Everyone in the gym is still screaming or going through some other transformation and it even seemed like some people have fallen over, lifeless, and not able to wake up again. As Joey continues to grit his teeth and bear the pain of vanishing into nothingness, most of him wants to give up, but there is something inside of him burning. Something inside of his soul that is preventing him from just diving head first into the liquid and ending the pain. Joey looks at his hand as he is now mid chest deep into the liquid and it finally hits him. His soul refuses to give up, and is surging with strength. Joey squeezes his fists and can feel his muscles begin to bulge and his veins begin to pump with a green thread tracing through them. Joey reaches down into the liquid to hopefully find something solid to grab on but he finds nothing, but something has changed. The liquid is no longer eating at his body and he has completely stopped going down. Not wanting to be entrapped within this hellish liquid for much longer Joey runs over all of the things he could do to get out of here. Finally thinking over everything Joey looks at his right fist, which is raging with power and life for unknown reasons. ¡°Well, it¡¯s better to try and fail then to not try at all.¡± Joey chuckles, as he finishes his sentence he thinks this plan is absolutely insane and won¡¯t work because why would it? Pulling his fist into the air, Joey punches down towards the liquid to test the new parameters of his strength but no one could expect what would happen next. BOOOOOOOOOOM~! The liquid like ground beneath explodes and along with it the ground is destroyed all the way down to the point where it is a 25 foot deep hole. With Joey being at the top of the whole, he falls straight downwards and lands on his right shoulder. Expecting pain from the high fall, Joey braces himself but the terrible feeling called pain never came. Joey, surprised by this outcome and the fact he is no longer sinking in liquid, looks at his body to see if it is all there and feels like he is at his prime. Getting up, Joey finally takes a look at the hole and sees it is 10 feet wide on top of being 25 feet deep. Looking at his hand Joey laughs and accepts his new found power with open arms.
"Congratulations. You have been granted the power of the planets. Your race is now ¡°Child of the Worlds¡± and you have evolved into a Rank 7 being.¡±
Chapter 2: Playing Hero CRACKLE~! Blood spurted all over the ground as a man is elbow deep inside the chest of an ugly looking green creature. The green creature¡¯s chest is charred black from the lightning properties of Nathan¡¯s body. Using lightning to heat up his arm, Nathan easily pierced the Goblin looking creature¡¯s body. Nathan pulls out his arm and the creature falls to the ground. A familiar monotone voice fills Nathan¡¯s ears, causing him to say ¡®Huh¡¯ in surprise.
¡°Congratulations. You have a new level record for the monster named ¡®Goblin: Rank 1¡¯. Your new level record for this monster is now Level 7. No Exp is gained.¡±
¡°Not only did I get some crazy powers today, I got some monsters to test it on¡­ This is fairly intriguing.¡± A black and blue vortex distorts space and time, causing more Goblins to come out of it and with them, a huge one comes out that looks abnormal compared to the others. ¡°OORRAAAAAAAAA!¡± it yells while flailing a large cleaver in its hand. With eyes full of blood thirst and hatred, the mutated looking creature begins to rush at Nathan with the intent to kill. Following it are 4 other Goblins that seem to revere the big one as their leader. Nathan looks at the creatures with disdain and shakes his head side to side. ¡°Hehe. I like this new world of ours.¡± B-B-B-B-BOOOOOM! The area is filled with flashes of light as lightning bolts rain down the sky likes Zeus¡¯s judgement. All the bodies of the Goblins and their leader are instantly destroyed and the only thing left is the giant cleaver.
¡°Congratulations. You have a new level record for the monster named ¡®Goblin Warrior: Rank 2¡¯. Your new level record for this monster is now Level 4. No Exp is gained.¡±
¡®Wait, that was a Goblin Warrior, so are the other ones like the villagers or is he a highly trained specimen? Also why is his level lower than the others? Well, whatever it is I do know one thing.¡¯ Nathan looks at the cleaver on the ground and picks it up. It is extremely light considering Nathan¡¯s new strength and he gives it a few swings. ¡®At least I got a new weapon.¡¯
¡°You have acquired a new weapon. ¡®Old Goblin Cleaver: Rare¡¯.¡±
The Old Goblin Cleaver is nicked and not well taken care of but it is better than no weapon. Though Nathan has his new found powers, he does not wish to rely on them and would like to train in the way of weapons like swords, spears, and so on. As Nathan was admiring his new weapon, a new set of portals opened but completely silently and away from Nathan¡¯s vision. Nathan had made his way towards his home after he acquired his new powers and stumbled upon the Goblin who he impaled in the chest with his fist. He of course didn¡¯t just kill the Goblin for no reason as it had ran at him while snarling its teeth and seemed to insult him in a different language. With Nathan being about 3 miles from his home still, he begins his journey back there to maybe get a change of clothes and look on the internet for any clues as to what is going. Nathan begins jogging but is stopped by a blood curdling scream that makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. ¡°Help! No¡­ Don¡¯t touch my child!¡±Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Though the yell can be heard by Nathan, it is about a mile to the east and his house is to the west. Sensing this is urgent and some people might be fortunate to have acquired powers that is nearly equivalent to that of a God, Nathan decides to investigate and wants to be a little flashy while doing so. Literally¡­ Testing out the parameters of his powers, Nathan¡¯s body begins to emit a bright flash and his skin turns into the likeliness of electricity. Being the actual Embodiment of Storms, Nathan can change the properties of his body and he is testing out the lightning side to the altercation of his existence. Nathan¡¯s body begins to burn brightly and a layer of plasma covers his skin, making him look like a bright source of light in human form. Nathan can feel his insides begin to melt and mold into lightning. His bones become like metal as it serves as conductors for the raw power of nature. Coming near to the end of the transformation, 2 dark blue eyes form on Nathan¡¯s head and blink a few times. Nathan can see much further with these eyes and things move a lot slower than when Nathan was a human. The sweaty and slightly bloodied clothes on Nathan¡¯s body begin to burn violently and turn into ashes as Nathan finishes his transformation. The sound of static emerges from within the lightning shaped like a human and this is the sound of Nathan laughing joyously in his new form. Not wanting to keep the woman in need any longer, Nathan flexes the non existent muscles in his legs and dashes towards where the sound came from. Within a literal flash of light, Nathan instantly covered the distance of mile between him in the woman and even he is surprised by the athletic prowess of his powers. Having the body that came move as fast as an electrostatic discharge is no joke but there has always been one downside to how quickly lightning moves. KKKAAAACCCHHHHHAAAAAAA! The crackle of lightning is nearly unbearable to the ears of anyone within a 20 mile radius after Nathan moves. Being such a domineering, large, and especially everlasting source of lightning Nathan expected to let of some sort of sound but compared to a regular flash of lightning and the thunder coming after, this exponentially louder. Even his ears are ringing after moving and causing such a loud thunderclap. To Nathan, this will most likely be a problem in future. While rubbing his head, Nathan finally gets a good look at the situation he has stumbled upon. A woman holds her baby while a bubble surrounds them, protecting the woman and child from the dangers on from the outside world. As for those dangers, 24 figures stand around the bubble, some throwing punches at the bubble and some are hitting it with weapons such as swords or war hammers. Half of the 24 has turned towards Nathan and seem to be startled. Upon closer inspection, every figure is the exact same as the other and looks very similar to humans. The only differences is their skin is extremely pale and they have a severe lack of eyes, which gives Nathan the absolute creeps. ¡®Though they could be humans with how fucked up today has been, I highly doubt they are. Well I guess I have a way to find out.¡¯ The woman stares at Nathan with a stare of horror. To the woman, it is like a God has descended from the skies and has the power to smite her if he even lifted a finger. The 12 figures that turned towards the power of storms in human form has nearly the same reaction as the human. The only difference is that they have enough willpower to try and retreat. Static leaks from the ball of lightning as he chuckles at the pale figures running away with their tail between their legs when in the presence of someone higher power than them. Their running is all futile as there aren¡¯t many who can out run lightning. KA-BOOOOM! Nathan palm striked the air and from his palm emerged a lightning bolt that came to life like a snake. Slithering throughout the air faster than most people can see, the lightning bolt strikes through the hearts of all of the 24 figures, making them all vanish into ash. Nathan is surprised on how natural it is to control lightning through the air. Though it takes a lot of concentration, he was able to bend the lightning to attack how he wanted like it was an extension of his body. Nathan expected a message to appear into his head about the type of monster he had just killed and what level it is but the message never came. He begins to rub his chin confusion as he expected this omnipotent message deliverer to help him out here but it seems he was wrong. Maybe it was the monster itself. Maybe those were all apart of the same creature, or you truly can¡¯t kill them. What startles Nathan is when they turned to ash, because it wasn¡¯t due to his lightning attack. His lightning would certainly kill them but turning them to pure ash was taking it a little too far. With his brain going overdrive, Nathan kept thinking of all the possibilities and then it hit him. It was a knife, right in the back of his plasma covered head. The knife sizzled and melts as it comes in contact with Nathan¡¯s plasma skin but it still gives him a shock to feel a sudden force hit the back of his skull. Turning around, Nathan can see copious amounts of the same figure standing behind him, all with dead serious expressions and a lust for the non existent blood of the ball of lightning. Nathan smirks even though you can¡¯t tell and his heart begins to race in anticipation. Ready to fight, Nathan begins to hear more screaming across the whole town he lives in and he inwardly lets out a sigh. ¡®Though I don¡¯t like to play hero, looks like I¡¯ll be doing it today. Maybe one of these monsters will actually give me Exp.¡¯ Chapter 3: The Date for The Date of Fate has been set. Joey opens and closes his hand as he can feel an absurd amount of strength pulsating throughout his body. Joey had jumped out of the hole he had created with a single punch and stands in the middle of a gym which is nearing ruin. Observing his surroundings Joey can see a distressing situation that yanks at his heart strings. Out of the 20 other people in the gym, 4 are collapsed on the floor and are trying to fully take in what has happened; 6 more are are stilling convulsing and spazzing as their bodies are going through unpredictable changes; finally 10 people lay on the floor and are not moving at all, not even to breath. Joey assumes the worst and slowly walks up to one of the 10 to see if they are dead. It is a man who is fairly skinny and probably just started going to the gym recently. Picking up his wrist to see if there is a pulse, Joey feels nothing. Putting his hand on the man¡¯s back to see if he can feel any breathing at all but the man¡¯s body has surprising began to become cold. Joey is sure that a body doesn¡¯t become cold that fast after dying as it has barely been over 5 minutes since all hell broke loose, but the proof is in the pudding as they say and Joey accepts that all of the other people on the floor lifeless like this unlucky man are also dead. Giving the deceased a moment of silence, Joey closes his eyes and hangs his head for a second. He doesn¡¯t mourn for long as their cause of death is still unknown. This causes Joey to get goosebumps and be on edge as if he can hopefully stop whatever it is if Joey becomes aware of it. As Joey decides to converse with someone else within the gym to see if they know what is going on, the world begins to rumble and causes every to fall onto their backsides. Everyone who is conscious in the room begins to look around in panic and are trying to figure out what is happening but soon their questions are answered. A giant monster busts through the nearest wall to Joey and stands in the newly made crater in the wall, looking at all the humans inside like they are all meals. With a strange hunger that makes the monster''s mouth water whenever it sees humanoid creatures, the monster runs towards the nearest person and grabs the lady by the foot. The lady shrieks at the top of her lungs as the giant ogre looking creature dangles her by the foot above his mouth, threatening to take the woman¡¯s life away with a single sickening crunch of his teeth. Joey was finally able to recover after being knocked over by what was most likely this creature merely walking and when he sees the woman getting ready to be eaten, Joey freezes for a second. Several thoughts run through his head as Joey doesn¡¯t know what he can do compared to the freakish body of the monster in front of him. ¡®I have this strength, but I don¡¯t even know how it works. Plus this thing looks like it could flick me and destroy me without even needing a second to think about it, but I can¡¯t let this woman die¡­.. Fuck it¡¯ Joey bends over and gets into a jumping position with his right fist poised for the punch to hopefully be able to save the woman in need, but his was slightly wrong about the current situation. FWOOOOSSHH! Flames emit from the woman¡¯s body and is sent down the giant¡¯s throat like a spear. Realizing that it had just eaten fire that spawned from the deepest pits of hell, the giant monster begins to roar loudly and drops the woman. The giant ogre clutches its throat like it would somehow calm down the flames scorching its insides and the woman who landed on the floor looked at her hands which are covered in flames. ¡®Now!¡¯ Joey thought and jump as hard as his body could possibly handle. Everything seemed to go into slow motion around Joey as he zoomed through the air at the giant ogre at breakneck speeds. Breaking past the physical possibilities of a human, Joey reaches the giant ogre at the speed of a bullet is barely able to react to his own speed and sends his right fist flying towards the ogre¡¯s stomach. Green threads seem to cover Joey¡¯s limbs and reinforce them before impact and the whole world stopped when Joey¡¯s fist reached the giant ogre¡¯s stomach that burns bright from the fire inside. An explosive sound that may or not be a boom because the author doesn¡¯t know many onomatopoeias rings forth. The stomach of the giant dissipates from the force of Joey¡¯s punch, along with it the monster¡¯s chest, shoulders, and crotch area also disintegrate as well.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Joey¡¯s punch cancelled out the momentum from his earlier jump causing him to have a rough landing in front of the corpse of the beast. A monotone voice fills Joey¡¯s head as the man calmly makes his way to the woman still covered in fire.
¡°Congratulations. You have a new level record for the monster named ¡®Mountain Ogre: Rank 4¡¯. Your new level record for this monster is now Level 64. No Exp is gained.¡±
¡®So it was a Mountain Ogre huh? What is this, Dungeons and Dragons?¡¯ Joey thinks to himself and as he finally makes his way to the human woman, she has an amazed and distant expression as she deeply stares into the flame on her arms. ¡°Hey, are you okay?¡± Joey says slowly just in case the woman is in a dazed state and might not understand his words fully. ¡°Yeah, I guess. What exactly is going on?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good question that I do not have a solid answer to. With that being said and since we both want to know what¡¯s going on, I think we should team up and stick together with everyone in the gym.¡± Joey figures that sticking together and working as a unit will definitely work better than doing something dumb like splitting up or going solo in such a time of chaos. The woman seems to think about it but that only takes a second before she nods her head and agrees wholeheartedly. ¡°That¡¯s a great idea! Plus with your insane strength it makes me feel a lot safer.¡± the woman says and Joey helps the woman up off her bottom. The fire on her hands had disappeared when Joey initiated conversation so Joey did not get burnt from the woman¡¯s destructive powers. ¡°Alright, I¡¯m going to check on everyone else, can you please watch that massive hole in the wall and tell me if you see anything weird.¡± ¡°Alright, leave it to me!¡±
¡°You have entered a party with ¡®Lyla: Rank 4¡¯. Exp will be shared and you will be alerted when they die.¡±
Joey and Lyla both make a face full of surprise but don¡¯t question anything as this will be helpful for now and a good way to tell each other their names. The other 3 people who weren¡¯t going through changes or wasn¡¯t dead seem to have finally composed themselves Joey is easy able to rally them up and explain what he knows to them. They had actually saw what Joey had done to that Mountain Ogre and weren¡¯t stubborn in joining Joey and working as a group.
¡°You have entered a party with ¡®Derrick: Rank 3¡¯, ¡®Gabbie: Rank 2¡¯, and ¡®Chad: Rank 3¡¯. Exp will be shared and you will be alerted when they die.¡±
Joey goes and checks the other 6 people that were still transforming when the Mountain Ogre arrived and only 3 are still alive from then. All of them have now finished their transformation and like the others are easily persuaded into joining Joey¡¯s group. Their names are Kyle, Cole, and Kevin, all being Rank 2 respectively. Having a group that is 8 strong, Joey is ready to venture into the city and try to figure out what the hell is going on. Joey and his group make it out to the street through the big hole caused by the Mountain Ogre and all they see is utter chaos. Beasts in the air are making horrendous screeches and some are even carrying humans to their deaths. Sounds of fights of the supernatural kind echo throughout the whole area, causing a shiver to go down everyone¡¯s spines. Dead bodies of all kinds already litter the streets and Joey can see several humans in dire situations and his fists tense up. Though he is in the dark about what is going on and he wishes to find his friends and family, everyone around Joey is in need of help and he refuses to simply to ignore them. Joey has grasped that everyone has different powers and some are most likely weaker than himself so Joey finally makes up his mind. ¡°Everyone! Our first objective is to help everyone we can and persuade them into joining us until we rid this town of all of these monsters! If you don¡¯t want to fight at least help the injured and save the people stuck under rubble. Is that okay with you all?¡± Feeling a majestic aura exuding from Joey, everyone is filled with determination and in their eyes a strand of green shows that looks like the ones that whip out from Joey¡¯s body every now and then. ¡°That¡¯s fine with me Joey, don¡¯t worry. We got your back!¡± Lyla yells as her hands are once again wrapped in flames. Everyone else agrees with Lyla and afterwards the power of Joey fully infiltrates their bodies. A message appeared inside the minds of the 7 standing behind Joey.
¡°You have received the buff called ¡®Strength of the One Chosen by Worlds¡¯, physical strength increases by 100.¡±
They all look at their hands and arms in amazement as power flows their veins while Joey decides on who to save first. Joey spots a group of kids being approached by some ugly creatures and Joey¡¯s rages blows up. All of the kids seem to be injured in some way and they are stuck in a corner that leads them towards death. ¡®Even the kids are brought into this. Whoever planned this will get and all exclusive date with my fist for their skull.¡¯ Joey says in a menacing tone in his mind and in the distance a bright flash explodes throughout the sky and dark clouds begin to form above the city of Charlotte, North Carolina. Followed by that thunder echoes throughout the air and it is so loud that it breaks all of the glass within the viewing distance of Joey. Not worried about the ringing in his ears that causes him immense discomfort, Joey rushes towards the monsters try to kill the kids with his fist back and ready to kill. Chapter 4: Leader *Tremble* The plasmatic chest of Nathan rises and falls quickly and his shoulders tremble as he can feel his control over lightning weakening more and more each second. He has killed 3,254 of these phantoms but they never stop coming. Nathan has managed to save around 534 people scattered throughout the city of Charlotte but he doesn¡¯t know what happened to them after he left so he can only assume the worst and pray for the best. At this point, Nathan is feeling extremely pissed off because whatever power this being or collection of beings has is too OP and he wants to kill it as soon as possible. He has at least found out a few things while fighting non stop for the last 30 minutes. ¡®It¡¯s a good thing that not more than 100 of these fuckers be around at once or¡­¡¯ KACHA¡­. BOOM! ¡®I would be in a much worse position than I am right now. Though I can only count there being 70 or them alive right now, 20 dead in front of me, so that makes it so 10 of them are missing.¡¯ Nathan makes this observation while simultaneously sending out shots of lightning that causes the bodies of 10 more pale monsters to turn into ash. They will only be ash for a minute though as they will reform from the ashes like a phoenix and continue fighting and trying to kill humans. The most disadvantageous part of this fight is that Nathan¡¯s power is very wide range to the point it will most likely hurt other humans so Nathan is restricted to using precise lightning strikes and is forced to ignore the 3 other elements he has barely any control over but are just as strong as his lightning. One of the pale monsters seemed to sense Nathan¡¯s electrifying and horrifying aura begin to sway and become weaker, causing it to smile and stare at Nathan with it¡¯s non existent eyes. Nathan resolved himself and realizes something he can maybe pull off with the loud booms caused by his body. With the plasma on his head prying itself apart, a wicked mouth that constantly shifts due to the constantly moving state of his body forms. A loud boom erupts from within Nathan¡¯s body but it has words attached with it. The sound echoes throughout the whole city of Charlotte and then some. ¡°EVERYONE DO NOT WORRY ABOUT FIGHTING THE MONSTERS. JUST ESCAPE AS FAST AND AS FAR AS POSSIBLE, IF NOT THEN YOU WILL BE KILLED BY MY HAND ALONG WITH THESE MONSTERS.¡± Nathan didn¡¯t beat around the bush as he is thoroughly enraged and wishes to end this fight as quickly as possible. Nathan hopes that the people in the city will heed his advice as he really wants to let loose right now. He plans on giving everyone 30 minutes to leave the city and then he will release his full power. Whether people get injured because of that or not doesn¡¯t matter to Nathan as this power can most likely wipe out most of the monsters in the city. What happens to Nathan¡¯s body afterwards is a mystery though, and he is excited to find out. Metaphorically gritting his teeth, Nathan looks at the being he has been trying to kill and they seem to be bleeding from the ears as they were too close to the power of Nathan¡¯s thunder like voice. Also, you might be thinking that maybe there is a main body controlling these OP monstrosities but Nathan has searched while saving people using his power to have eyes in the sky and he found nothing that would even be an inkling to how to kill these guys or what is their weakness. All Nathan saw while flying through the spacious space called the sky was other types of monsters which humans were fighting on the ground. All of the flying creatures made sure to veer away from Nathan as he was the undisputed ruler of the sky. Also Nathan had sent down lightning down to help the humans that were not getting attack by the hellish creatures that never die but were instead being attacked by something else. He now has killed several more Goblins and Goblin Warriors, as well as a Goblin Sages: Rank 3, Lesser Arachnids: Rank 2, Arachnids: Rank 3, Forrest Ogres: Rank 3, and even an Ice Troll: Rank 5, but that took about 3 bolts of lightning judgement to kill. Some had even dropped some bright colored stones but Nathan has no room to hold them as he uses his left hand to shoot lightning and right hand to hold the Old Goblin Cleaver. There is also the fact that his clothes had burnt to ash. The thought of what happens when he returns to base form pops into Nathan¡¯s head as he would not have any clothes on but it is quickly thrown to the side as a future problem as an arrow is sent at the lightning elemental. Nathan easily deflected the arrow with the Old Goblin Cleaver but it was a reminder as to where he was and what is going on at the moment. Deciding that there wouldn¡¯t be an end to the fight within the next 28 minutes and 42 seconds, Nathan mentally prepares himself and sends out several more lightning bolts. *On the other side of town* Green threads come out of Joey¡¯s body and wrap themselves around his arms as he makes a cross pattern with them to protect himself. Another one of those massive beasts that he had killed before, a Mountain Ogre, had appeared and Joey was currently fighting it. His group now number 243 and they are now easily sweeping throughout the edges of the giant city. Charlotte was a city with around 3 million people but Joey was only one man and he knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to save everyone. Even 243 was good for fighting for only 30 minutes. Of course Joey had saved more but they had refused to join the group and they parted away from Joey¡¯s group. The Mountain Ogre¡¯s fist had hit Joey but the green threads absorbed all of the shock and protected Joey¡¯s whole body. The Mountain Ogre felt a backlash in its arm that would be equivalent to punching the mountain it lives on and yelled out in anguish. It took a few steps back and kept holding its most likely broke hand. Joey wouldn¡¯t take this opportunity for granted and readied his now bloodied body. Everything ended for the Mountain Ogre in a second as Joey shot forth with speeds that only lightning can rival and punched the Ogre in its horrified looking face.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
¡°You have killed a ¡®Mountain Ogre: Rank 4¡¯. You have gained no Exp from it.¡±
¡°Fuuuuu.¡± Joey lets out a breath out as he can feel tinges of fatigue begin to creep into his body but he knows not to stop. Lyla begins running up behind Joey to report to him how many more people has been saved when a loud sound rang past their ears and into their souls. ¡°EVERYONE DO NOT WORRY ABOUT FIGHTING THE MONSTERS. JUST ESCAPE AS FAST AND AS FAR AS POSSIBLE, IF NOT THEN YOU WILL BE KILLED BY MY HAND ALONG WITH THESE MONSTERS.¡± Joey looks towards where the ear shattering sound came from and he can barely see a bright dot that is shooting down lightning at objects down on the ground. Joey clicks his tongue and looks back at Lyla who is still rubbing her ears from the explosive sound. ¡°How well do you know Charlotte?¡± Joey asks. He has only lived here for 2 years with his 3 roommates on the outskirts of the city so he doesn¡¯t know the area too well. ¡°I have lived here my whole life, why do you ask?¡± ¡°Well you heard that thing, we need to get out of here as soon as possible. We don¡¯t know how much time we have so we really have to kick it up a gear in how fast we run. Do you know the quickest way out of town?¡± If Joey¡¯s group was smaller than he would confiscate some empty vehicles and drive away but he has 248 people now with him and they all range from the elderly to babies that have to yet live their lives, and with there being so many Joey couldn¡¯t find it in his heart to steal so many vehicles. Lyla thinks for a second but then someone comes up behind her that seems to have been listening to the conversation. It is a young teenage girl that Joey had saved from a giant spider¡¯s web but Joey has yet to see her powers so she must not be offensive in her abilities. Her name was Nina and she was surprisingly a Rank 4. ¡°Leader¡­ I think I can help.¡± the girl says sheepishly. Joey chuckles at the girl¡¯s comment and crouches so he can see the girl eye to eye. ¡°First, I¡¯m not your Leader. I am simply someone who helped you out in your time of need. Now, what idea do you have to give us.¡± ¡°Well¡­. My power, I¡¯m pretty sure it is a portal that can take us out of the city...¡± Joey raises an eyebrow. He has seen a variety of powers from acid spit, poisonous breath, and even someone who can raise the undead but he hasn¡¯t seen a human who can distort space. Joey refuses to look a gift horse in the mouth and smiles widely at the girl. ¡°Then go ahead and make a portal. How far can you go with the portal.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t necessarily tried it yet but I feel I can at least take us out of the city.¡± Joey nods his head and thinks that this will be enough for now. Giving the young girl the go ahead, Nina puts her hands outwards and a small blue hole swirls into existence. It slowly becomes bigger and bigger until 3 people can comfortably walk through it at once. The girl begins to sweat and keeps her stance. ¡°I can¡¯t hold it open for long and I can¡¯t move while it is active. Get everyone to go through it quickly please!¡± the girl orders. Joey thinks this girl is fairly mature for her age but doesn¡¯t disagree with her judgement. Using the loudest voice he can, Joey tells the group of 248 people what to do, not including Lyla and Nina. ¡°Everyone, quickly make it through this portal! It is the fastest way we can escape that lightning thing¡¯s powers!¡± Everyone sensed the tone of urgency and didn¡¯t disagree with what he said. People hurriedly poured into the portal and went to an unknown location to Joey. The street that everyone was once crowding quickly becomes empty and all that¡¯s left is Lyla, Joey, and Nina. ¡°Lyla, protect Nina for a second and Nina try to hold out till I come back. I will only be gone a second.¡± ¡°Will do leader.¡± Lyla says with a smile as to tease Joey. Joey rolls his eyes at his newly acquired title and jumps into the portal. He had done so to make sure all of the people he had rescued was safe and it would seemed he worried for no reason. Everyone is situated in an empty field about 10 miles away from the city, making it so Joey can only see the tops of the skyscrapers in the massive place. Joey nods his head and begins spouting out orders to everyone here. ¡°Everyone with offensive abilities make a circle around this area and make sure no monsters get near here! Everyone who does not have offensive powers and is not injured try and help the injured! If people can donate pieces of their clothing for bandages, that would be great as we have no medical supplies! Other than that, just try and survive, I will be back soon.¡± As Joey finishes his orders to the group and sees that everyone is doing what he had said, he jumps back into the portal and reappears into the street where he had left Nina and Lyla. Seeing Joey had came back, Nina finally relaxed and closed the portal. Joey sighed as Nina couldn¡¯t use her own portal and realized the sacrifice that Nina might have to make. Though he felt sorry for the near exhausted girl, she still had to reopen the portal. ¡°Nina, can you open the portal one last time?¡± Lyla looked conflicted and confused as she figured that everyone who needed to escape had already done so, so where was Joey trying to go? ¡°Where to?¡± Nina asked weakly which made Joey¡¯s heart ache. ¡°Same place, just so Lyla can make it to everyone.¡± Joey said and Lyla began to burn with rage. She had been Joey¡¯s right hand man this whole time and didn¡¯t plan on leaving his side anytime soon. Her bright red hair began to burn brighter and her eyes flashed with a fire sparking inside of them. ¡°What do you mean by that? Do you think I¡¯m too weak to hold my own against these monsters?! With us together we can easily escape with Nina before that¡­ thing does a cleanse of this city.¡± Joey shakes his head and puts a hand on Lyla¡¯s shoulder. He has barely been with the woman but he has saved her life several times now and she has helped him save the lives of others, which makes Joey feel very grateful towards the fiery woman, but that doesn¡¯t mean he needs her by his side at all times. ¡°You¡¯re not weak but those people we saved kinda are. They need your help plus though you are not weak, you are not fast enough to keep up with me. I can easily just pick up Nina and escape with her but you are different. I can¡¯t carry both of you.¡± Joey makes a really good point that hits Lyla¡¯s ego. Joey has insane speed, power, and fighting capabilities, while Lyla only has destructive power. The only reason she didn¡¯t go with the first group is to protect Nina while Joey went to the other side to make sure everyone was safe and give them commands. Taking a chunk out of her pride and calming down her fiery attitude, Lyla takes a deep breath and lets out a defeated sigh. ¡°Fine, you make some very good points. Nina, can you open the portal again?¡± ¡°Yeah, but for only around 10 seconds, and after I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to open the portal again.¡± Lyla nods and readies herself. Nina once again takes her stance and opens the portal. Lyla quickly dives inside of the blue vortex and it closes the second her feet are no longer visible. Nina collapses but Joey catches the small girl before she falls on the ground. Joey looks at the face of Nina and sees that the girl is now sound asleep due to exhaustion. Joey smiles and puts the girl in his arms. ¡°Good job. Now, leave it to me and you¡¯ll be safe in no time.¡± Joey says to the unconscious girl. As he says the word safe, Joey¡¯s brain begins to wonder and causes him to look in the direction of his shared apartment. ¡®I wonder if they are safe¡­ Then again who am I kidding, they wouldn¡¯t die in a situation likes this, they might even thrive better than me!¡¯ Joey thinks to himself and nods his head to agree with his own statement. Not wanting to see what that lightning creature meant by if you don¡¯t escape then you¡¯ll die by his hands, Joey flexes his legs and runs in the direction Lyla said was the shortest out of the city.