The world was wrong. Every sense that Adam had -- sight, sound, touch, smell, taste -- were overwhelmed. It was like sitting in the spinning teacup ride through a constantly shifting hall of mirrors with fog machines running heavily. Except it was like that for all his sensations.

A slight breeze made Adam feel like his skin was going to be blown off. An inhale made Adam's taste buds try to twist off his tongue. Noises tried to force Adam's brain to surf the sound waves.

It was not pleasant. Anyone who saw Adam would have thought he was at the end of a 20k marathon while dead blind drunk. Fortunately, no one could see him.

As soon as Adam left the prison Rift, he fell onto his side on the cement. While lying still, he used the Rift Menu to open a portal to his penthouse.

Portal features are inactive during territory invasion. Clear out hostile forces to unlock this feature.

Adam went to groan, and then stopped himself, remembering how it would make him feel. He needed to get to the Sentinel Army headquarters quickly.

At his best, he could drive it in 15-20 minutes on his motorcycle. He could have run it in under 30 minutes at his top speed. With the number of times he would fall over in his current condition, this would be closer to a full day trip.

He needed faster transport, and one that didn't require him to control.

Opening the Rift Menu for Jackson, Adam ran a search. He filtered it by Carthraga. Then he found the only marker that was alone, running enthusiastically through the territory.

With his target found, Adam opened a communication display.

"Fido," moaned Adam, disappointed that he needed to make sound.

With the amount of time Adam had spent away from his home it would have been cruel to leave the three-headed dog there. Since raids weren't happening, the Carthraga had free reign of their territory. He could take part in battles, scout, or just run freely. Adam's chefs would put out meat for him twice a day.

A bark, whine, and growl came through the display, causing Adam to scrunch into a ball and hold his head.

"I need your help," whispered Adam. "Can you come to the prison Rift?"

This time, three sharp barks were made and Adam whimpered from them. He quickly closed the menu and tried covering his ears. With Fido reaching Tier 3, he was no less intelligent than the Feral Behemoths had been. In fact, Adam suspected Fido was considerably smarter. He always seemed to do what Adam wanted.

So, he waited for 10 minutes.

ALERT: The Rift core for the "Jackson" Rift has been compromised. In 60 minutes, all territory will be lost.

Adam hissed sharply. Then he regretted it.

He opened a Rift search and viewed the control crystal for Jackson and his Rift network. There was no one nearby it. But the warning was clear. Someone was threatening the base. He just couldn't see them.

It was a struggle, but Adam pushed forward and moved the monitoring display around, checking for any compromised entrances or casualties within the high-rise building. Once again, he found nothing.

Adam wanted to scrunch his face in confusion. According to the alerts, they had been infiltrated, but Adam saw no evidence of it. He checked as extensively as possible, even though his eyes and brain screamed at him to stop. Yet nothing caught his notice.

Finally, there was a low growl, and a lot of sniffing, coming from down the street. The slight vibrations were enough to make Adam want to die, but he held on. A canine whine reached him only a second before two wet noses pressed into his face. Adam almost choked due to the feeling that wiggled through his skin.

"Good boy," whispered Adam as he gingerly reached out a shaking hand to pet the heads in order. "Someone is attacking home, and we need to stop it."

Once more there was a bark, whimper, and a growl.

"I'm in bad shape. Can you carry me there as fast as possible?" asked Adam.

Even though Fido had gained more levels since the Scyrric had assaulted their base, he seemed to have stopped growing. Instead, his evolution had made him a bit longer and more maneuverable. And his fur was smoother. But due to the addition of stats, Adam knew he could ride the beast without hurting him, unlike typical pre-[System] dogs.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Adam was only wearing shorts, so the two sets of teeth that gripped and lifted him did so with a gentle bite. The middle head put its nose under his midsection. The three managed to scoop him onto the Carthraga's back, although the sensations made Adam want to rip his own head off.

After reactivating his stealth skill, Adam wrapped his arms around the beast's chest, and they took off.

The next 15 minutes were agony, but to Adam's surprise, Fido ran almost as quickly as Adam could drive a motorcycle. Maybe a little faster due to all the turns that would have slowed the motorcycle once they reached the base. The people there moved out of Fido's way, familiar with him and less worried about loose beasts thanks to the number that the Sentinel Army had captured from enemies.

Adam wondered if that was a good thing. Maybe the people should be a bit more alert to large beasts racing through their city. If anything, people seemed to smile when Fido passed, especially kids. That was probably thanks to the girls taking him on walks.

When they reached the Sentinel building, the doors opened like normal when Fido tried to enter. The receptionist smiled and waved.

"Need any help getting home?" she asked.

The bark in response seemed friendlier than Adam had heard before, and Fido trotted to the elevators. Soldiers and guards were moving around the hallways, and a few were also waiting for an elevator. They all looked down at Fido and seemed to want to give him a pet, which would have exposed the hidden Adam draped on his back, so a quick growl was used to ward them off.

They chuckled at the interplay, but when the elevator arrived, they became more businesslike. Three men with Sentinel Army jackets came out of the newly arrived elevator, looked at Fido, and then continued on their way. Then those waiting got on.

"What floor did you need?" one soldier asked after pushing the button to floor three, where their offices were.

One of Fido's heads reached up and pressed the penthouse button with his nose. That caused another of the men to make an impressed sound.

The elevator had been made with magic, removing the feeling of movement that traditional elevators had. Adam was glad of that, but the door opening and closing was making him desperate to reach his destination.

As Fido exited the elevator, Adam triggered [Soul and Body Shaping]. He drew in 60% of its power to increase his stats. Each pulse of his heat made his body feel like it was going to explode. The movement of the river made Adam's eyes and ears feel like he was endlessly spinning down a waterfall. But this was too important for Adam to ignore.

"Wait out here until I check things out," Adam ordered Fido as he used the wall to regain his feet.

Once more he checked his Rift Menu and saw no one around. There were no signs of anyone nearby. Using his [Soul Resonance] pseudo-skill to sense strong souls nearby, Adam still didn't feel anything.

"I sure hope this is just a Rift error," grumbled Adam as he nearly fell over. He checked to make sure he was still in stealth before he opened the door to his penthouse and walked in.

Everything looked fine. There were no marks, scuffs, or dirt on the floor, and the door was locked like normal. Still, Adam was cautious as he entered. He cast [Kinetic Impact] on his hands since he didn't have a weapon.

He crept into the condo, then looked around the corner slowly. No signs of entry. Crossing the living room while staggering, he reached his sitting room. The door looked untouched. He kicked it open and fell backwards, barely catching himself before falling.

Taking a moment to steady himself, Adam once more checked his soul map, but found nothing. He entered the room and went to the closet where he kept the Rift control crystal.

The closet door opened slowly. Adam looked at the control crystal. It was still brown, but there was a glow building in it. A runic formation laid out around it using materials that made Adam's already flawed vision glow with power. The energy from the runes and materials were being fed into the control crystal, and Adam knew this type of flow from seeing it over and over in the [System] memories while hacking the Blaze Scion.

He was preparing to use [Arc Shockwave] to disrupt the runic formation, when he heard a growl and whimper. Instinctively, Adam spun back towards the sitting room. The movement threw Adam's balance completely off, and he fell sideways into the doorframe.

Fido was in the doorway across from him, all three heads growling at something that Adam couldn't see. Each mouth was preparing to cast its elemental breath but were aimed so that they wouldn't hit Adam.

Then Adam felt a sharp pain in his back and abdomen. He looked down to see a curved dagger sticking out from his stomach. He began to choke, and a little bit of blood dribbled from his mouth.

"[Arc shockwa…" he began as he looked behind him to the closet, where a Scyrric with leather armor that glowed with hundreds of runes was smiling a toothy grin. His tag read "Unfound Assassin [119]".

Then six more blades stabbed into his torso and tore through his body as more Scyrric became visible in his sitting room.

****

"I'm just saying that we need to start going on the offensive!" roared General Carmichael. "If we spend all our time defending, we'll eventual wear down."

"Then what do you propose?" demanded Lucas. "If we leave to set up other bases then Jackson will fall."

"Don't you have other bases with that impenetrable defensive barrier? Ones not merged with the planetary reality?" questioned one of Carmichael's officers.

"You think we can hide hundreds of thousands of people in them?" asked Abbey appalled.

"It will keep the civilians safe while our army marches out," suggested an intelligence operative.

"You want to run away again?" scoffed Tom cruelly. "How did that work out for you last time? How many tens of thousands died?"

"You disrespectful whelp!" shouted Carmichael. "Things were different then! We understand things better and your group are stronger than those out there."

"What a great leader you are," taunted Carlos. "Always wanting others to fight your battles."

"That's right," said Andrea forcefully. "This is our city, and we won't give it up!"

"How can we protect the world if we can't even defend our homes?" asked Alissa coldly.

"Now, now," said Davian, standing and putting his arms out as if separating the people around the table. "We're getting a little heated, maybe we should take a moment and…"

Suddenly the building shook. What felt like a severe earthquake trembled the entire structure. Many people looked around in confusion and fear, but Adam's group had a different reaction.

Every one of them grabbed their chests and bent over in pain. Then they all made hurt noises, from grunts to screams.

After several seconds of shaking, the sound of an explosion powerful enough to destroy the building sounded out, dropping many people in the meeting to the floor.

"What the dickens is happening?" screamed Carmichael over a continued rumbling.

The door flung open and one of the reception guards stumbled in.

"Sir!" he shouted without bothering with a salute. "The top floor of the building just exploded!"

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.