A large vehicle convoy was waiting outside the hotel the next day, all set to take me to the location of the portal where I would aid them in conquering the rift.

Not only was there a police escort, it seems like they’ve also brought along the military as well.

This time, the minister was not here to accompany me though he did send a representative to explain that he would be waiting for me at the rift as he was needed there to make sure everything was ready for me.

Instead, a person who introduced himself as one of the generals in charge of this operation was sent to accompany me instead.

I got into the sedan and our convoy was escorted in between a mix of other black coloured vehicles and military vehicles, the road towards the location of the rift already cleared ahead of time so we passed through them without any problems.

We eventually got out of the city and we started moving through the countryside.

There were several locals along the way and most of them gave out cheers when we passed through.

Once again, I wasn’t sure if this was something the government arranged to stroke my ego or it was genuine cheering from the locals.

I would lean towards the former but I would just give them the benefit of doubt and assume the latter.

The one hour car ride was quite uneventful as the general started briefing me on the rift that we would be dealing with and what they know about it.

I already know about the rift from the reports that were sent to me back home but I wouldn’t say no to extra information either.

He started with some information that I already know like the rift being classified as a Level Three in the Danger Class and that the Anomalies seemed to be akin to demons.

The demons themselves were pretty strong that Vanguards needed to team up to be able to take one down. The good news was that the demons seemed to be few in number but there was still a large gathering of them around the Gatekeeper that needed to be dealt with.

Then he went over their plan of attack where they intended to have both a military and the Vanguards fight the demons with the military providing fire support with artillery and armoured vehicles while the Vanguards took care of any demons that managed to slip through their bombardment.

Right as he was done, we reached the last stretch of road leading towards the location of the rift which was located in Sri Lanna National Park.

The entire area seemed to have been turned into a military outpost as there were uniformed soldiers standing guard along the road and placed road blocks to stop unauthorised people from going in.

We eventually reached the large stone sign by the side of the road that read ’Sri Lanna National Park’ with the road turning towards a sort of guardhouse with a road barrier.

I’m sure that under normal circumstances, this would be where visitors would drive in to visit the park but just like the stretch of road that we had passed through, the entire place was blockaded by military personnel and the guardhouse had been taken over by soldiers to watch over the entrance.

The military escort then thinned out, most of them turning away to fill up some of the parking spots while we continued onwards down a road deeper into the park.

I noticed that there were guards almost every few meters down the road which I suppose were not only just for keeping people out but also to keep Anomalies in in case of a Rift Breakout.

Seeing that some of the fortifications had been here for a while, I’m guessing the rift here has been around for a while now.

The convoy then stopped in front of a small open area in front of what looked like the park’s administrative office or something and the portal was right in front of it.

There was already a large gathering of people there where it was a mix of military personnel and people whom I assumed were Vanguards given their weapons and armour they were wearing.

Behind the group were the military vehicles which I assumed would also be heading into the rift with us to provide fire support.

The general and Sergei stepped out of the car and I waited for Sergei to open my door before I stepped out.

Almost instantly, I could feel the gazes of everyone in the area resting on me and murmurs spread throughout the crowd.

There was a mix of Thai and English and while I didn’t really understand the words spoken in Thai, I could at least understand the ones in English.

"That... That is the Mortal God?"

"Seems like it..."

"I thought he would be bigger..."

"Shhhh!! Are you crazy?!"

"He is pretty big though..."

"What do you mean by that? Oh wait, you have that ability to see their... Ahem..."

I couldn’t help but turn my body to the side to hide myself at the last comment.

Minister Ma then appeared before me, quickly giving me his usual greeting of placing his palms together.

"Sawadee krap, Mortal God. I apologise for not being there in the morning!"

I waved my hand at him, "It’s fine. I know that you are busy with making sure everything goes smoothly here. Is everything ready?"

He nods and gestures towards the crowd of Vanguards that were standing in the clearing which made them stand a little straighter when my gaze shifted to them.

"They have already been briefed, Mortal God, and are ready to go whenever you are ready."

I nodded at him and turned to make sure my Guardians were ready as well.

Following alongside them were also Maylene and a few of her bunny sisters who were trying to keep themselves as small as possible to avoid being noticed.

Which somehow kind of worked since my group was made up of mostly other worlders so they actually fit right in.

For someone who isn’t familiar with which other worlder has been naturalised in our World, they would not even see their presence as being weird.

But by how minister Ma was looking at them... I think he might be on to them... At least for now, it seems he was being tactful about it by not mentioning them at all and simply kept his attention on me.

As for the bunny girls’ purpose of being here... They were part of my auxiliary group in name but they were also here to look out for any usable materials that we could gather in this rift as well, something that we did not tell the locals of course. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

I turned towards the gathered crowd and I figured that I needed to at least say something to them before we headed inside.

I sucked in a breath, "Everyone... As you might have heard, I am the Mortal God of Singapore. I come here as a friend who has heard your request for aid and will work with you to close this portal and rid this place of the Anomalies. As people who have chosen to fight to protect the world from these Anomalies, your courage and strength will never be forgotten. Do not fear for I will be with all of you and I shall fight alongside you in this expedition!"

I honestly just pulled that out of my ass but I guess it sort of worked as a number of them ended up letting out a cheer and clapped for me.

Though I had to wonder if they weren’t just doing that just because it was the Mortal God speaking to them and they were afraid I might do something to them if they didn’t cheer...

Anyway... With that out of the way, I took the lead in front of the group with my Guardians

Doing a final check with everyone, I took the first step forward through the portal with everyone else following behind me.

I half expected an Anomaly to be waiting for me on the other side but surprisingly, there were none.

The place I emerged was what looked like the remnants of a battleground with broken cold steel weapons laying around and craters several feet wide dotted across the open field.

I wondered if this was the result of the battle between this world’s former inhabitants or if it was from our own.

There were also no corpses around though I would assume that any corpses would have mutated into those demon Anomalies at this point so it was not surprising to find none.

The rest of the expedition crossed through the portal and the military began setting up shop, the armoured vehicles moving to accompany us while the artillery pieces were deployed around the portal.

From here, the locals would guide us in the direction of the Gatekeeper and we will begin our rift clearing.

Now I’m wondering... How strong are the supposed demon Anomalies here?