Ok... Even though I was the one who came up with that plan... I still feel a little apprehensive about it...

The group retreated all the way back from the hill, leaving a large open space between us and the hill itself.

The military then started ranging their artillery guns as everyone dug in and fortified our position.

Everyone was on high alert since we weren’t sure if the impact of the artillery shell would cause the Anomalies to ’wake’ and rush over towards us.

When the first shell hit the ground, everyone was holding their breaths and waiting to see if anything would happen.

A second passed... Ten seconds passed... A minute... Then three minutes.

Only after that did we relax as it doesn’t seem like the impact caused the anomalies to start running towards us.

Just to make sure, a few scouts went back towards the hill to check for movement before quickly returning to give us the all clear.

The artillery thus went ahead to finish up their ranging while our group took this opportunity to take another break.

Of course, since we were still in enemy territory, we didn’t just completely relax and let our guard down but still posted people to keep a lookout for Anomalies.

That seemed to be the right choice as two Anomalies ended up appearing to attack us but were quickly dealt with before they could reach us.

They seemed to have only wandered over to attack us and were not there because of the artillery strikes.

Otherwise... I could imagine the camp we had set up back at the portal to be swarmed with Anomalies by now.

Once everyone was ready, we got into our positions to prepare to execute the plan.

In the short time we were here, we had also not been idle as people had gone out to build traps along the path that we expect the Anomalies to be running through.

Most of them weren’t really designed to kill them considering the size of the Anomalies but to slow them down instead.

Pitfalls, tank traps, tank mines and even some holes filled with gasoline to be made into fire traps were prepared.

Naturally, the pitfalls were not dug big enough to fit an entire house sized Anomaly but more of just trapping their legs to slow them down or make them sitting ducks for artillery fire.

I already knew where the traps were so it was no problem for me to skirt around them to reach the hill again.

I took out the radio I was given and did a check to make sure it was still connected.

"This is Mortal God, radio check, one two, over."

There was a brief pause before a reply came, "Mortal God, reading you loud and clear, over."

"I have reached the hill, over."

"Understood. Everyone is on standby, over."

"Prepare to execute plan, out."

I put the radio away and climbed up the hill again, peeking over it to see that despite the bombardment we’ve done earlier, nothing has changed in the basin.

The only problem is that we don’t actually know how many Anomalies there are down there...

Ok... Once we start this, there’s no going back...

I sucked in a breath before steeling myself and jumped on my feet, making myself stand out on top of the hill.

At first, nothing happened and I thought that we might have been mistaken about the small dots being Anomalies.

But that was when one Anomaly popped into existence the basin, the demon expanding to its full size where its height was almost halfway up the top of the hill.

That seemed to be the trigger as more and more of them appeared surrounding the Gatekeeper, some of them appearing right under other Anomalies and causing them to fall over each other.

If it wasn’t for the fact that they were now climbing their way up towards us, it would have been a rather hilarious sight.

To give them an incentive to chase after me, I even charged up a bolt of lightning and shot it at one of them, striking them in the chest and causing it to stumble back into its comrades.

It let out a roar and doubled its efforts in trying to climb out of the basin, prompting me to turn around and start running.

I slid down the hill, reaching the bottom just as the first of those demon creatures pulled itself over the top of the hill.

I did not look back and just started to sprint away from the hill, moving towards the rest of the group that was waiting for me.

Right then, an explosion came from the side and I panicked a little, thinking that they had actually started the artillery bombardment before I was even out of the area.

But when the smoke cleared, I realised it was a giant rock and not what I thought was the result of an artillery shell.

I turned to see one of the Anomalies standing at the top of the hill picking up a large chunk of earth that it tore from the ground to toss it in my direction.

Fuck... I was not expecting them to be smart enough to do that...

I leapt up into the air, catching the thrown rock before spinning around to throw it back towards the demon Anomaly that had tossed it at me.

The chunk of earth crashed down on top of it right as it was trying to pick up another one, forcing it to stumble back and fall right back into the basin on the other side of the hill.

But in doing so, I also realised a problem... The Anomalies were running faster than I thought they would and by my estimate, they would be able to catch up to me before I reached the fortified position.

I thought about teleporting instead but that would require me to stand still to summon the door and one of them could just throw a rock on top of me if I did so...

I immediately pulled out my radio, "Start the bombardment!! Fire everything, now!!"

There was a pause before the other side answered, "Bu... But you’re still in the kill box--"

"No time!! Fire it now!! I can handle it!!"

I honestly have no idea if I could but if I delay the firing, the Anomalies would be able to travel through most of the area before we even started firing.

Thus... I have to make them start the bombardment before I reach the safety zone and just do my best to avoid the shelling.

I ducked my head and continued to run, right as I heard a whistling sound coming from overhead.

I looked up and narrowed my eyes, seeing small, dark shapes falling down towards me.

A split second later, the shapes fell all around and behind me, the artillery shells exploding into fiery balls of shrapnel and smoke.

I felt some of the shrapnel hit me but aside from pushing me towards the side and leaving a dull throb which quickly disappeared, there wasn’t really any damage.

Thanks Dan...

But I know that his ability will only hold for a set amount of damage and I can’t count on it to save me from a direct hit so I did not slow down my pace.

Thankfully, the Anomalies were not having a good time as the artillery shells fell around them, their bigger sizes not working in their favour for this as some of them landed directly on top of them and blew open their bodies from the impact.

The bombardment was at least succeeding its purpose in slowing them down and thinning their numbers but I was still in the danger zone of being blasted to bits.

One exploded really close to me and the shockwave sent me stumbling to the side before a particularly large piece of earth flew towards me from the side.

I managed to protect myself by using my arm as a shield and letting it absorb the impact, but I still ended up getting sent flying.

I activated Kris’s ability and spun myself in midair to recover as I tried to find my footing again.

But as I was just about to land on the ground, something red appeared in my peripheral vision and my instincts made my spin around to cross my arms in front of my chest.

One of the demon Anomalies that somehow managed to catch up to me slammed its fist into my arms, the blow sending me flying again.

I realised that it had intentionally swung its fist in such a way that I was sent flying backwards towards the hill instead of closer towards the safety zone.

I flipped myself and landed on my feet, only to see that several more of those demon Anomalies had moved to block my path on getting to safety.

What’s this? It’s almost like they know what I’m trying to do...

The hair at the back of my neck stood up and I turned behind.

There, standing at the top of the hill, was a demon Anomaly that was twice as big as the other demons but had four arms and three eyes instead.

That’s... A Commander Class Anomaly...

But Commander Class Anomalies don’t show up in danger level three rifts...