Doomsday Pillars

The dust puff grew larger as the herd of large monsters came closer. 

"What kind of monsters are they, James?" asked Elizabeth, hoping James knew about these monsters charging toward them like the critters.

"I have no idea," replied James.

The enormous beasts charging toward them were truly intimidating as they were as large as an elephant with its whole body covered in fur. Especially the curved horns on its head which were clearly not for piercing but for crashing. 

"I have a bad feeling about this," said James.

Captain Markus remained calmed as he watched the incoming beasts while stroking his mustache. He was confident with the skill and accuracy of his troops and had ordered them all to get ready. And once beasts had entered their firing range, Captain Markus ordered all four grenade launchers to simultaneously fire at the monsters.

SHHHTTT SSHHHTTT SHHHTTT SHHHTTT

KABOOOMM KABOOOMM KABOOOMM KABOOOMM

"Yes!!!" Captain Markus shouted in joy as he saw the beasts were directly hit with the four grenades. But it was too early to celebrate as the beasts looked unharmed as they appeared from the dust still making its way straight toward them. 

The troops were all momentarily stunned and the ground they were standing on was starting to shake from the heavy steps of those monstrous beasts. They woke up from their disbelief when they heard Captain Markus shouted another order. 

"Fire at will!"

The 150 soldiers fired their M16 as well as the 20 soldiers holding MX16 with .50 cal bullets. The same went for the machine gun operators on top of the trucks and ASVs. They rained down bullets on the charging monsters.

TRATATATATATAT TRATATATATATA TARATATATATATT

The location of the convoys were still far away, but Richard could clearly see that even .50 cal bullets were ineffective against these hulking beasts. The secret service guards then formed another circle to protect the presidential vehicle. Richard opened the door and informed Elizabeth of the situation. "Madam President, please stay in the vehicle. We might have to escape if we will not be able to contain this situation."

Elizabeth nodded and looked for James but he was nowhere in sight.

"Wait, where is Mr. James? Did he run away?" Elizabeth was confused. He had always thought of James as being someone who was brave and reliable. But she must've expected too much from him. After all, James was a civilian, not a soldier.

TRATATATA TRATATATATA

The loud bangs of .50 cal rounds didn't stop as it continued to somehow injure the monsters but then, a sharp sound mixed with the loud bang.

Zzzzzziinggggg! Zappp!

A beam of light struck the head of one of the monsters, making it stop its tracks causing the monster behind it to collide with it. Two monsters fell in one shot.

Elizabeth looked at the direction where the shot came from and found James Randal standing on top of one of the humvees holding his laser gun with its muzzle still steaming from its most recent shot.

"Good shot, Mr. James!" she said.

James smiled and then exclaimed, "Richard! Catch! Also hurry up and send your team here."

James threw the laser that was in his hand at Richard before touching the ring on his finger. A slight flash appeared from the ring and out came seven briefcases, four of which contained the same laser weapon. He distributed it to the secret service guards and the contents of the other three boxes were revealed, the secret service guards couldn't help but look shocked.

[Short sword - Tier 2]

[Weight: 3.8 kilograms]

[Double-sided ax - Tier 2]

[Weight: 18.1 kilograms]

[Spear - Tier 2]

[Weight: 9.6 kilograms]

These were artifacts James had managed to collect in the past month. He had been wanting to keep it a secret and planned to give it to his team, who were at Doomsday Pillars training but the dire situation they were in right now forced him to reveal these artifacts.

James lent these three artifacts to the secret service guards with not much expectation of them being able to use it to its full extent. After all, they were still on peak stage mortal realm. However, at this time, James only thought about improving their fighting abilities.

The members of the secret service were now equipped with new weapons. Richard had already fired the laser gun in his hand several times and managed to stop two more monsters. Still, several giant beasts were near at the rear line. 

"Get ready to dodge!!!"

Fortunately, even though the beasts' movements were fast despite their large bodies, they only ran in a straight line. The soldiers on the ground scattered to avoid the beasts' charge and rammed through the vehicles on the rear. 

CLAAANNGG!!! CLAAANNGGG!!!

The large monsters collided with two trucks and three humvees, throwing them upside-down. The forces of these monsters could even capsize a 12 ton ASV. Any human being hit facing them head-on would definitely die.

Several soldiers were injured and those in the vehicles crawled out. They tried to regroup to fight these monsters but contrary to their expectation, the rest of the monsters who didn't crashed onto the trucks and humvees didn't stay and kept on running and leaving the area. There were three monsters who had been hit by another barrage of lasers, causing them to be enraged and destroy everything they saw. The monsters swung its large bodies in whatever direction it could and managed to hit some troops who were too close. The rest of the soldiers kept their distance, firing at a somehow safer location. 

Richard and the secret service guards kept on firing with their laser guns, and those who were holding the artifacts charged to mitigate the damage done by these monsters. 

ZZZAAAPPPP

Every time the laser fired, it pierced the tough skin of these beasts, exuding a slight smell of burned flesh. And on that burned flesh, blood could be seen dripping, indicating the lasers were truly effective. 

The secret service guard who was holding an artifact stepped forward and tried to take a beast down. He brandished the sword with skill and managed to leave slashed marks on the tough skin of the beast.

James tried to use the bracelet in his hand and pointed it at the animal. The bracelet glowed, a piece of information entered his mind.

[Bighorn Desert Sheep]

[level 35 mutated beast]

[Tier two - low stage]

As it turned out, this elephant-sized monster wasn't from the Abyss Gate and was a mutated beast instead. They were really unlucky to have encountered the critters and a herd of bighorns passing by.

The fighters surrounded the three beasts and not long after, they executed two of the three beasts who had raged. The third beast was also about to fall, but it managed to break through their siege and ran toward another vehicle.

"!!!"

The vehicle the bighorn targeting was President Elizabeth's. The three secret service guards who were guarding it froze in fear as they watched the beast as large as an elephant charging toward them. 

"No!" shouted Richard, regretting why he had left the president's side. He fired the laser gun again but since he was behind it, he couldn't hit its head to confuse it. The beast shrugged off the laser guns hitting it and kept on moving.

"Run!" shouted Richard.

Elizabeth was also a former CIA agent but even though she had received self-defense training, most of her time was spent being an analyst in the office and only received a few field assignments. She also froze in fear as the hulking beast was nearing her. She tried to run but issued a small yelp as she became off balance because of the weight of the bighorn's steps was like a minor earthquake to anyone near it. "Ahhh!!"

The secret service guard broke from fear and ran back to grab Elizabeth. The beast was too close, however, it was only a few meters away. But then, a figure appeared out of thin air that was as large as the beast.

It stopped the mutated beast and pushed it back. Elizabeth looked in awe at the three meter tall figure, which was made of stone. 

[Stone golem - Tier 2]

[3.3 meters high, 420-kilogram weight]

She thought this was another monster but James appeared near her and said, "That's my stone golem. Come on, we have to go!" 

This was one of the artifacts he had also found and kept as a protection for his life at a critical time. He was specifically looking for this because he had seen its prowess when Alex had first shown it to him. In fact, he was envious that Alex had a golem-like this. But right now though, he was happy that he had the same thing as Alex.

Elizabeth ran with James along with the three secret service guards. While running, James kept ordering the stone golem and managed to constrain it. Not long after, this last remaining desert bighorn sheep was also executed. 

"We are grateful for your help Mr. James. I don't think we would've won if it weren't for your help, " said Elizabeth. She truly was grateful for James's help. It hadn't been long since they had met but James had proven himself many times over. 

Captain Markus ordered the medics of each battalion to check the wounded. Richard, on the other hand, went over to check the large beast and found an oddity.

"Madam President, take a look at this."

One of the bighorn's corpses had a wound that wasn't from a gunshot nor the laser gun. This wound looked more like a claw and bite wound.

"I think we should leave immediately, It seems like those beasts were running away from something instead of trying to attack us," James said, looking at the direction where these desert bighorn sheep had come from.

James assumes these desert bighorn sheep weren't predatory animals. It didn't make sense for these mutated beasts to attack them, so the only explanation was they were running from a predator. What kind of mutated beast though was capable of making dozens of giant mutated beasts with thick skins like this bighorn run away?

While James was pondering, gunfires once more resounded the whole area.