Victor walked in and saw several costumes standing around a long wooden table. The table was placed in the center of the tent, and everyone was paying attention to the man in the centre. The man in charge of this forward base; the Old Man of Pui.

The old man saw him enter and welcomed him.

“Ah, Mister Fist. I see you and your men have arrived. Welcome to Forward Base Gamma.”

“It is an honour, Master Pui.” Victor said respectfully, no need for people to think he was going to challenge the old man for leadership. According to Jennifer, most people already expect the two to have a fight sooner or later and Owlgirl said that some betting sites were already taking bets on the result. It might still happen, Victor had to admit he was also a little curious if he could win, but this was hardly the time for a duel.

What followed were polite introductions to the other people around the table. Being out of The Game for so long, Victor did not recognize any of them, but the group included several individuals in Tier A and the others were powerful Tier B. That got Victor’s attention.

Being grouped alongside with these powerful individuals means he has been recognized as one as well. The group were discussing the defence of the forward base, and Victor had to ask.

“So, we are expecting the monsters to attack?”

“That is almost a certainty.” One of the villains in the group replied. The Old Man had introduced him as The Stray, the representative of the Closure Detail. The detail comprising the scientists and magic-users in charge of closing the Gap. “We need to release a massive amount of energy to knock the two dimensions out of sync and that much energy will attract attention. Curiosity, if nothing else, will cause some of the monsters to approach the base. And that is not counting the more intelligible monsters who realized the path back home is being cut off.”

The Stray stopped, and the Old Man continued. “If any monsters head towards the Gap, leave them be. If the monsters want to go home, that’ll just make our job easier. Tell the men to only attack the monsters approaching the base, and I want warning shots to be fired first. Our first, and only, job is to close the Gap. Let’s not fight unless we must.”

Everyone nodded, and the Old Man pointed to the map on the wooden table.

“Now, the Engineering Detail has created some low walls around the base for defensive purposes. That will be our perimeter. The low walls will be our defense lines and Master Fist’s has already spilt his men into four teams. They will be guarding the perimeter with one team in reserve. I want the teams to be rotated to keep them fresh. Stray, have the Closure Detail figured out how long it will take to close the Gap?”

The Stray smiled at the question.

“Good news on that front. Despite its size, the structure of this Gap is surprisingly simple. There is only one powerful interaction point between the two dimensions. Once we knock that out, the Gap will close.”

“And how long will that take?”

“If everything goes well, less than forty-eight hours?”

Eyes widened at the pronouncement. They were expected to be here for days, and now The Stray says they will be done in less than two.

“Are you sure?” The Old Man immediately asked. “I was told it would take a lot longer than that.”

“We are as surprised as you are, Master Pui. Usually for a Gap of this size, we need to knock out several interaction points to close it, but this is a strange one. The Gap only has one point, a very powerful one I admit, but once we knock it out of sync, the Gap should close.”

“Well, get to it then!” One of the costumes standing around the table said. Several others immediately murmured their agreement.

“We already started preparing the ritual. Due to the power of the sole interaction point, Lady Cauldron want a massive assault on the interaction point from all four bases. In theory, a multi-prong attack would have a better chance of success. Once all the energy are released, then this Emergency will be over.”

Victor nodded happily along with several others. Lady Cauldron was the leader of the State of Magic, and she got her position due to her studies of Gaps. If this was her recommendation, then this was their best chance to close the Gap.

“That’s great news. Hope-”

A shout outside the tent interrupted the Old Man. Victor immediately ran out and saw many people running towards the defence wall facing the Gap. Ignoring the shouts behind him to stop, Victor ran along with everyone.

That was where his son-in-law was currently stationed.

Despite his worst fears, all was quiet when Victor arrived at the walls. Dead quiet. Victor easily saw Mister Black in his distinctive power armor standing beside Crimson Fighter and released a sigh of relief. Both were standing safely behind the walls.

Victor ran to stand beside the duo, but they barely noticed his arrival. They only had eyes on the Gap. Victor looked towards it and saw what had their attention.

A giant monster had just walked out of the Gap.

The new monster was well over four meters. Victor realized this because the furry monster was taller than the Gap behind it. It must have ducked it’s head to get through the Gap. The monster looked like some sort of ape, but with sharp canines and a muscular upper body that would not look out of place on a bodybuilder. The muscles could be seen even though the ape-like monster was furry. It’s whole body was covered in a layer of coarse brown fur, and it had a mane of longer fur on its head that falls to its shoulders. The monster has a pair of sharp elf-like ears and eyes filled with curiosity. Looking at it, Victor was reminded of the gorilla-like monsters that were already in the valley, but he knew this monster was something else. It was something that was far more powerful.

Victor could feel it. It had an aura of power that was just waiting to be unleashed. It was so powerful that Victor found it a little difficult to breath. He also felt the aura to be familiar, like he knows it from somewhere. Then, Victor realized what he was feeling.

This monster had a core.

A core that was more powerful than his!