Chapter 19) Monsters in the City.

The beasts were horrible in appearance. They looked like a cross between grizzly bears and mountain bulls, unlike anything the people of Ferling City had ever seen. The beasts stood over seven feet tall with rippling muscles over their sturdy limbs and barrel chests. What a chest it was! Hard as rocks and covered by rough scales darker than the rest of their bodies.

Thick black fur covered them from head to foot, allowing room for long sharp horns and a tail. Their huge heads had beady red holes for eyes, and a wide maw filled with fangs. One look at their paws told the fact that they could cut through metal with such sharp claws. The beasts were beyond hideous.

[Stats on Grade C Dungeon beasts.]

[Name: Horned Devil Grizzlies.]

[Nature: Master Level beasts.]

[Health Points: 1500/1500.]

[Mana Points: _____________]

[Strength: 500/500]

[Agility: 500/500]

[Stamina: 500/500]

[Rage Points: 1500/1500]

[Offensive Skill: Battle Fort > Grizzlies possess immense strength and resilience in battle. Claws are razor sharp, and can be used to deliver fatal strikes to Mystics.]

[Offensive Skill: Chaos Charge > Grizzlies can gather energy into their hind limbs to power pound through Mystics and obstacles in one swift charge. Horns can deliver deadly blows in quick succession during a Chaos Charge of a Grizzly.]

[Offensive Skill: Berserker Mode > Grizzlies can utilize their Rage Points during Berserker mode. Under the influence of their burning anger, their physical attributes are multiplied significantly. They are faster, stronger and more brutal on attack. Their red eyes glow during Berserker Mode. It lasts for a hundred seconds.]

[Defensive Skill: Tough Top > Grizzlies have strong outer skin that is impenetrable by just any normal blade. They can only be wounded by Soul Weapons of great power. Their most vulnerable point is their tail area, which is impossible to access because Grizzlies always attack up front.]

[Defensive Skill: Swift Limbs > Grizzlies are fast on their feet, and possess high sense of perception that enables them to predict attacks before they happen, and dodge them appropriately.]

[System Remark: There are thirty Devil Grizzlies released from each dungeon. Mystic is greatly outnumbered.]

"Nope, not outnumbered." Master Kim Sao said as he shot towards the ground. "A few Grizzlies is nothing Elsa and I can't handle."

The Snow peacock whistled beside him as the chaos of the street grew closer. The beasts were just emerging from the closest dungeons and were yet to get their bearing. The people had fled into the buildings, cowering to hide from the monsters stalking towards them. If only the walls of glass and steel could keep the beasts outside.

The Million Stars of Light appeared in Kim Sao's hand few seconds before he landed. In one sweep of the sword, he released an arch of sizzling lightning that took out twenty Grizzlies. He blasted some back with Wind Waft and continued to strike with his sword, swerving and gliding as swiftly as a silent breeze. Two Grizzlies Chaos Charged towards him at once. He easily erected a Forcefield Shield around his body, causing the grizzlies to collide with that rather than his body. They staggered back, dazed and allowing room for him to blast them off with lightning.

Elsa was holding her own as well. As a Snow peacock, she had the ability to become one with the Air element. That meant she could go completely invisible by turning her body into air. As wind, she smashed through the horde of grizzlies, throwing them against the abandoned cars, trains and even through the buildings. Her retractable claws glistened as she tore through the grizzlies. Crystal cores soon littered the street in her wake.

Kim Sao activated Lightning Storm, causing long bolts of lightning to drop down from the sky. The blast spread out around him in a wide radius that took out tens of grizzlies at once. This gave him space to absorb the crystal cores into his body. They were mostly blue and red ones that increased his mana and health points. Gold and purple crystals only came from Astral level beasts and beasts of the levels beyond that.

He felt refreshed and vital after the essence in the cores fueled through his veins. The next wave of grizzlies that Chaos Charged towards him got spiked by an onslaught of Lightning Spears. Kim Sao pooled mana into his sword and swept the sword out towards the grizzlies. Miniature tornadoes flourished from the tip of the sword, sending the grizzlies tumbling back for Elsa to finish off with her claws.

The street was soon clear of beasts. The dungeon towers remained though. There was still more to come. There was also the other dungeons yet to Erupt.

"System, how are we doing?" Kim Sao asked as he absorbed the nearest cores.

[Three dungeons have been partially conquered. Fifty Seven dungeons still active. Half of that will Dungeon Erupt in two minutes.]

Even as the System kept on speaking in his mind, a scream broke through the air, drawing his attention towards the building far right of where he stood. It was a shopping mall of multiple floors and stores. The glass structure was a beauty to behold because of the transparent walls that provided a fine view of the glamorous interior.

At the moment, most of the last floor was broken through by cars and trains. A hovercraft had even crashed through the floor above that. A dungeon had appeared right in front of the mall. The dungeon's metallic doors were wide open, meaning that it had already erupted. And all the grizzlies from the dungeon were now inside the mall mingling with the humans hiding there. Kim Sao could here crashing, shredding and more screaming sounds as the beasts raided the mall.

"Quick, Elsa." He called out to his soul creature. "Save the people in the mall and other buildings."

Before Elsa could obey, the doors of the nearest towers swept open again to release an army of grizzlies into the streets. This ones were even larger, and weilded weapons like spiked clubs, spears, scythes and even others that Kim Sao couldn't describe but surely had to admit how deadly they looked. The beasts poured out from the towers and just kept on coming, waves and waves of grizzlies until the wide street became crowded.

Kim Sao now realized what System had meant by 'Outnumbered'. The Astral Mystic could take them on without breaking a sweat, and with Elsa at his side things would be more easy. But the grizzlies were just too much to handle alone. The beasts were all over the city, possibly breaking into the buildings to harm the people hiding in there. There was also the other dungeon towers to think about. Even those would soon Dungeon Erupt to release more horrid beasts. And he also had to get to Xavier to stop the Domination Rituwl from completing. All that was too much for one mystic and his soul creature to handle.

Kim Sao didn't get another second to think about anything. The beasts swarmed around him, all their eyes glowing as they went into Berserker Mode at once. Their shoulders expanded beyond measure and muscles split out of their limbs to make them even more massive and sturdy. The beasts formed a thick circle around him before Chaos Charging to meet him at the centre. The hard ground cracked under their feet as they pounded towards Kim Sao.

He called for another Lightning Storm, raining down bolts of raw energy over the beasts. Wind Waft and Tornado Blast followed after that, using up a good portion of the Astral Mystic's mana. But the beasts kept on coming, their numbers just too great. Kim Sao slashed and swung with his sword, even using his Manic Warrior skill to decimate tens of them. Even that was not enough. He could feel his strength waning, his speed and stamina reducing.

If he could reach the cores dropping from the vanquished beasts, then he would've been able to regain his energy. With the beasts coming at him in such waves, he could barely even breath, much more walk around to absorb crystal cores. He was getting overwhelmed and sloppy. A spear barely missed striking his face. A spiked club almost took out his legs from under him. He rose into the air but a steel chain wrapped around his left ankle and dragged him back to the ground. He quickly erected Forcefield Shield around his body. Swords, scythes, clubs and power weapons pounded against the shield, gradually reducing its strength.

As Kim Sao rose to his feet, he felt the earth under him tremble with mana sparks. The beasts felt it too because they suddenly stopped trying to break the shield to look at something in the distance. A new threat, maybe?

If Kim Sao hadn't been looking around he would've missed what happened next. All it took was a few seconds. Thick metallic spikes shot up from the ground around the Forcefield Shield to vanquish the surrounding beasts, raining down crystal cores. The spikes may have been metallic, but they twisted and slithered about like a million snakes to strike the beasts. This went on until none of the surrounding beasts remained. Only a Phantom Mystic of the Earth Affinity could achieve something so powerful.

With most of the street lamps and neon signs destroyed by the beasts, the street was dim and barely visible. But as Kim Sao squinted into the distance, he picked out a lone figure marching slowly towards him. Though he couldn't see a face yet, Kim Sao already knew who it was. This was the only Phantom Mystic at Celestial Academy.