Maids VS Apocalypse

Several jets blasted by and helicopters followed right after. Seconds later they reached the area where the black dragon tossed and turned.

Normal weapons would deal little to no damage when it came to a creature like that, but the soldiers piloting the aircrafts did not have the luxury to care; their job was to shoot the threat and that's what they were going to do.

Missiles dropped from the sky and violent detonations followed them. Machine guns rained bullets on the suffering abomination and Tanks started blowing it with their rail-guns.

The attacks came from every direction, allowing Malarack not a moment of respite. But the dragon himself cared very little about any of that. All his suffering came from other sources.

First, it was the blinding light cast at him by the Awakened, then there was his right eye that had been stabbed.

A new world full of fresh, uncorrupted Souls. No one capable of defying him should've been here, but after all the effort he put into crossing the border, not only did he allow his meal to escape, but he also let a damned ■■■■■■ take his right eye.

'Unforgivable...' a thought arose among the chaos of Madness. 'Truly... unforgivable!'

Under the barrage of fire, Malarak slowly rose up. The pain from his only wound steered up his Madness, severing the restraints holding him back from climbing the steps of greatness. The Aether he hoarded for so long seeped into his Soul, nourishing its growth as it changed into a new form.

The bloody crown hovering above his head turned into a blur that became clearer with each passing second. It revealed a set of shapes and symbols, Runes that spun around in circles, each one overflowing with malice, evil, and Madness.

The jagged Runes morphed and changed, some disappearing with new ones taking their place.

In a matter of seconds, new Runes replaced the old ones, and with the change halting the rings began spinning once more, turning into a blur before melding to the form of a crown.

The new crown symbolized the mad Demon's rise to Lordship, and with it came newfound wisdom and powers.

The Madness that drove him gradually receded, replaced by a kind of evil that didn't require chaos to do the unthinkable.

Raising his head high, the dragon opened his maw and roared. The cry contained nothing but rage, and as if affected by it, the entire world shook in response.

Darkness filled the sky, masking the morning sun and casting a shadowy veil on the entire city. Cracks formed through the air, spreading to the ground like lines through broken glass.

The border separating the new world from the old one was ripped by the Lord's rage. They mixed and melded, each taking the shape of the other until the difference was no longer distinguishable.

Little by little, the Dark Mountain took over the human city.

~[ ]~

[Time left until Complete Dimensional Collapse: 14:14:56:24]

The sudden appearance of a notification forced Mark to slam the brakes. The car would've flipped over if not for a nearby street light.

Mark wanted to check if the kids in the back were okay, but he couldn't rake his eyes off the message.

[14:06:20:11]

[13:06:14:11]

[12:06:02:11]

[11:05:55:11]

The numbers went down faster than he could follow, and before it stopped another day was lost.

[Time left until Complete Dimensional Collapse: 9:09:11:11]

Mark was stunned still. The countdown had lost five days in a matter of seconds. What should've been fourteen days was now nine, and the end was suddenly much closer than it was a couple of minutes ago.

Mark didn't need to ask who was responsible for what happened. When the darkness began to spread through the world, he knew this wasn't the time to be stopping. Before he could get back on the move, however, another system notification appeared in front of him.

[Quest Update]

Before he could do anything it opened itself.

[

Quest: Malakar of the Dark Mountain.

Difficulty: SSS

As the time for the Complete Dimensional Collapse approaches, a rift in space appears, connecting your world to another. Hungry for the souls of your people, a mad Demon crawled out of his cave and crossed the rift, bringing with him death and destruction.

Due to your powerful soul, Malakar of the Dark Mountain has set his sights on you, wishing to make you his next meal. Survival was your goal, but you had your eyes on more. You weaved a plan and used all your resources, going as far as to strike a decisive blow.

The Demon writhed from the pain you caused, but his rage was brewing, and so did the Madness. Until your body is ripped and your Soul is devoured, Malarak has no intention of stopping. He will chase you to the ends of the world, no matter what world, if that is what it requires. There is no hope. There is no escape. There is no place for you to run or hide.

Clear Condition: ???

Clear Reward: ???

Failure Penalty: Death.

]

As he read the quest description, the sound of blood pumping grew louder in Mark's ears. Lara was shouting at him from the side, but her voice sounded distant and her face continued to blur.

There is no escape. That is what the quest said. The clear condition was gone, replaced by question marks. Either the System couldn't come up with a definite condition, or there wasn't one at all.

It hadn't been an hour since he discovered the existence of the System, but here he was getting a quest with an SSS difficulty, the highest it could get if his instincts served him right.

He has yet to level up even once; it was only natural for him to not have a chance at survival.

A sudden impact shook him back to reality. Something had landed right in front of the car. When the dust settled they saw a large lizardman walk over to them.

Mark was frozen for an instant but then switched gears, pulled back then turned the car around.

"Master, I am afraid we are in big trouble!" Lara said while grabbing the AR-15, gritting her teeth as she remembered that it was out of ammo. "The Dimensional Collapse is moving forward! This world is being swallowed!"

Her panicked voice added to the urgency of the situation, but even then Mark didn't let what she said escape his notice.

"Wait, what do you mean swallowed!?" He asked, spinning the steering wheel to the left and barely dodging another lizarman that fell from the sky.

"It means your world is being integrated into a different one!" She paused for a moment then added. "The other world is most definitely the source of all the Fallen hunting us!"

The streets were suddenly swarmed with lizardmen, but that wasn't the worst of it. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

The city around them changed in real-time. Buildings collapsed. Others crumbled to pieces. Fissures spread, severing the road in a matter of seconds.

Unfamiliar terrain gradually replaced what should've been familiar. Obsidian stone shimmered in the dim light seeping through the veil of darkness. Some of it covered the road and building, but it seemed to replace everything in other places.

Mark was forced to make another sudden turn, but at this point, nothing he did seemed to matter.

Everywhere they went, tears in space appeared to reveal the same darkness Malarack had appeared from, and more monsters spilled out of that darkness.

Mark caught sight of several that shared little resemblance with the lizardmen besides their dark colors. Some stood on two legs, others ran on all fours. Some took to the sky with bat-like wings while others crawled on the ground.

The city was quickly swarmed by beasts of different kinds, but as if to show the horror had only just started, red sparks came to life left and right.

Above the heads of every monstrous creature, strange symbols flickered into existence, their color an ominous red and their shapes jagged like the messed scribbles of a child that has yet to learn how to hold a pen. Some died out and disappeared soon enough, others appeared beside them until they joined to form a single ring.

The rings started spinning right away, the symbols making them melding into each other to create a crooked halo only a demon would have.

One by one, the monsters howled and roared. A suffocating pressure swallowed the entire city, and being at the center of it all, Mark began to lose his grip on hope.