R-a - Volume 3 - Chapter 43 (Patreon)

R-a - Chapter 201 (In editing -v1)

Silverback frowned as he hunched down, dragging his rough fingertips along a perfectly flat chunk of stone. There were a few cracks in this piece of stone, as if it had fallen from a great height, but that was the only uneven thing about it.

“There are no signs of the Fourth Squad or any Farian activity?” His voice rumbled out, dangerously calm as he stood up. His big, muscular body ripped beneath his armor, somehow looking both casual and extremely on guard at the same time.

The Fifth Squad had vanished, likely killed, and now the Fourth Squad had seemingly vanished as well. He could see clear signs of a battle here, but the sheer scope of destruction laying around, and the decrepit state of the warehouse, made tracking difficult.

Around him, the rubble of the rooftop spread out within the collapsed warehouse. The pitter-patter of rain covered up most sounds as the downpour continued, drowning out what little evidence had been left behind.

“Nothing, sir.” One of Silverback’s squad members, both elite soldiers that served as his aides, replied back quietly. This particular warrior had a large ape's face painted on his mask and a long spear on his back. The other squad member, wearing an identical mask and spear, was currently keeping watch, ensuring that no enemies snuck up on them.

After a moment, the leader of the Ape Division turned to his subordinate and asked a rather odd question.

“Have you felt anything?” Silverback’s eyes gazed into his ally, giving away nothing.

“No, sir. The Voice is silent.” The spear-wielding warrior shook his head.

Silverback sighed and then, of all things, sat down on the floor.

“Cover me.” As he spoke aloud, the powerful warrior brought out a small red orb from his Spatial Ring. He tapped on this orb, causing a shield of dim red light to surround him.

“Yes, sir!” The squad member moved to stand off to the side, keeping watch opposite of the other member of their team.

After the shield of light surrounded Silverback, he closed his eyes and began to meditate.

Seconds began to slip away as the Division Leader sat there, remaining absolutely still. Rain splashed down on his red energy shield, deflecting ineffectually off of it.

Finally, after roughly 20 seconds, Silverback opened his eyes.

“Damn. Nothing.”

The Beasts of Providence were famed for many things. One of those things was their unnaturally fast reaction speed to unexpected circumstances, and almost miraculous coordination.

Their units could work with almost perfect cohesion, even when separated or put in positions where communication should’ve been impossible.

Farian researchers had determined this by studying their method of attack, past incidents, and reported records of battle, led by the genius that was Myla Hannis.

They didn’t know how they did it… but they knew that the Beasts could do it.

And it all came down to what the members of the Beasts of Providence called ‘The Voice.’

It was what set them apart from regular beings, what tied them all together and kept their faith strong and steady. Sometimes it came to them as a subtle feeling, other times it came as a directed thought.

An impulse that seemed to come upon them by divine intervention, as if by the word of God itself.

It was this feeling, this bud of knowledge, that allowed them to coordinate so effortlessly.

Intelligence that only a single squad should have witnessed, knowledge that rested with those that had died, critical information that led to adapted plans or even complete abandonment of certain missions in just seconds like, for example, the Lord Justiciar wiping out a scouting squad.

Through this, their efficiency was nigh perfect and their effectiveness reached incredible levels.

Now, however…

For the first time in a very long time, a seed of nervousness wormed its way into Silverback’s heart.

The Voice was silent.

He waited for any type of direction, for any tidbit of knowledge or guidance, something he had long since grown used to taking advantage of.

And he was met with nothing. Not a word, not a feeling, not even an impulse.

Silence.

“Retreat to the rendezvous point.” The Division Leader made up his mind as he passed out his orders, gathering up his squad as they retreated from the scene of battle.

A short while later, he and his team arrived at one of the warehouses that had been cleared first, within the outer edge of the clearing. It was one of the smaller buildings, with a bunch of odd-looking metal antenna attached to its roof.

As he walked in, he was met with several quiet nods from a gathering of warriors that were sitting there waiting.

Various armored men and women were resting in spots around the warehouse, several of them holding guard near windows or doorways. The group was outfit with a collection of weaponry, the most common being heavy-hitting weapons like axes, maces, or hammers.

“Squad Leaders, status report.” Silverback took command immediately.

“Second Squad, all clear, objective to report.” A man resting with his hands on the hilts of his two maces spoke first.

“Sixth Squad, all clear.” A second man that was resting on the remnants of a leather couch quickly followed up. A large battle-ax could be seen on him, strapped to his back.

“Seventh Squad, all clear.” The last Squad Leader to report, the woman named White 1 that Silverback had ordered to join with the Sixth Squad, replied last. She was currently sitting in the center of the room, a large assault rifle perched in her lap.

“Where’s the Third Squad?” Silverback cut to the chase before allowing the Second Squad Leader to continue his report.

Squad Leaders exchanged glances and then shook their heads. Silverback had been leading them long enough to understand what this meant.

It had been only minutes since the disappearance of the Fourth Squad had happened, yet it now appeared that the Third Squad had vanished too.

The seed of nervousness in Silverback’s heart grew a little larger. At the same time, the air around him began to tremble as an angry red aura of light encompassed his two hammers, Advanced Tier Hammer Energy pulsating from his weapons.

An instant later and all emotion seemed to vanish from his figure as he gained control of himself.

“Everyone, act under the assumption that the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Squads are now dead, killed by an unknown third party, possibly elites from the Silent Sword Sect led by one or more of their Inner Elders. We appear to be undetected by the Farians still, we will continue the mission.” His voice was dispassionate as he replied.

There was no other reasonable explanation that he could think of. Even then, it was still incredibly implausible. The Silent Sword Sect had tossed the Farians to the side like they were trash for the most part. For them to have dispatched an Inner Elder to aid them, to waste time on secret guard duty at a hidden research site…

Nothing made sense here, but given the situation, he would adapt regardless. The mission came before everything and it still appeared completable.

“Blue 1.” Silverback began, motioning at the Second Squad Leader,

“Continue your report.”

“Yes, sir!” The warrior quickly replied and continued,

“We believe we’ve located the entrance to the Farian research center. It should be in the eastern portion of the clearing, in Building 27A.” Before they began this mission, they had marked any and all buildings in the clearing, to better visualize when and where they needed to go.

A few seconds passed as Silverback began to issue a series of commands, organizing the Squads up. The three teams began to group up and then split off, sticking only loosely together as they spread out, preparing to leave the warehouse.

Silverback held up an open hand and then clenched it into a fist.

Immediately, everyone present began to transform.

Human figures shifted into Great Apes with bulging muscles, Blue Tailed Monkeys with lean, muscular builds, and White Tailed Spring Monkeys with wiry limbs.

The two subordinates in the First Squad shifted into Great Apes, the same type as the Second Squad. They towered up a huge 2.5 meters in height, clad in metal armor and looking monstrous in their own right.

Silverback, on the other hand, instead of transforming into an even larger figure, actually began to slim down. His bulky, muscular body transformed to become slimmer, even losing a little height. Bits of silver fur could be seen, just barely poking out the edges of his mask. His stature went on to decrease, giving off a less threatening appearance.

However… around his body, glimmering just ever so faintly, was a notable, silver Aura.

An Aura that gave off a faintly Mythical glow…

“Move in, weapons hot and Abilities ready.” His voice was smooth and spoken a little faster than normal as he added one last line.

“Kill anything that moves.”

.. .. .. .. .. ..

Meanwhile, within the underground secretive Farian Research Headquarters or FRH as it was referred to by those in the know…

“Myla, there was a disturbance in the north sector. I think one of the warehouses has collapsed.” A Farian dressed in a simple brown robe walked into a large room that housed several working researchers.

This room had several large tables spread out, covered in layers of paper containing formulas, charts, graphs, and various pieces of data. There were three men and one woman in here, intensely talking over a series of graphs as they argued about something.

The walls in this room were entirely constructed from smooth, black stone. Overhead, there were several vents and a couple of warm, yellow stones that cast light on those below.

The arrival of the speaker broke up the conversation as the sole female in the room, the elderly Myla Hannis, turned to glance at him with an eye arched.

“There was a rather confusing resonance from the ‘Poisonous Gas.’” The original speaker continued, nodding his head slightly nervously as she looked at him.

Myla smiled reassuringly. Many of her favored aides had gone to participate in the Life Festival, either back with their Tribes or in the Tribal Gathering. This young Farian was one of the newer workers that had received the right to work here.

“Is it still raining outside? Hmm…” Myla’s eyes narrowed for a few seconds before she shook her head. She thought about sending out one of her guards to investigate, but changed her mind. While the Life Festival was going on, it was best that they just stayed inside, just in case. The Lord Justiciar had emphasized that repeatedly, no matter how unlikely it was anything would happen here.

“It’s probably just the rain, those buildings suffer quite a beating each season change. We can’t exactly raise a Rain Dome and block it off here.” The elderly Farian waved off any worries.

A Rain Dome, a magical construct used to redirect rain, could only be supported by a sizable number of Farian Blood Masters and was very noticeable. The Life Festival would have Blood Masters in excess and wouldn’t care about showing off, but that wasn't exactly something they could do here.

“Tell Serena to bring over the Record Book, just in case.” After a half-second's thought, Myla made a rather impromptu decision.

Her favorite aide, and the trusty assistant that had served under her for years, was currently working on deciphering a few kinks in the formula they were planning on using to track their enemy. She had a natural talent for that, such that Myla felt sometimes as if she was slowing the young genius down.

Myla glanced to the shadows of the room and nodded at them. Nothing seemed to happen at first, but a crease on her lined face eased up as she smiled shortly after.

She then turned to look back at the other researchers in the room.

“What are you all staring at?! Back to work! We only have 12 hours to get this done! Move people! Move!”

.. .. .. .. .. ..

On a quiet rooftop off to the south-east, a shirtless, slim human figure sat looking down at three glowing blue orbs. He ignored the water pelting him as he sighed.

“It’s not the worst-case scenario. If anything, I beat the odds pretty well.” Micheal swiped the Life Orbs into his skin with a casual wave as he stood up and got dressed.

Not only had he managed to ambush and wipe out another Squad, he also managed to successfully absorb the Ki from all of the foes he’d killed thus far, using up several more Necrotic Burners.

The more he used, however, the less power he gained.

While he was obtaining large amounts of Ki, his Ki had reached a comparable or even higher quality compared to his foes. As a result, the extra energy could only do so much when it combined with his own strength.

He would need to kill enemies with stronger Ki if he wanted to obtain better results.

All of the Necrotic Burners worked. Unfortunately, however, the very last one he ended up using had a fatal flaw built within it, one that successfully let Micheal absorb the energy, but also killed him, wasting a Life Orb.

To have used 8 Necrotic Burners without dying was already a miracle in itself. Dying a single time was a small price to pay for the large, permanent increase in power. Well, a small price for Micheal, anyway.

‘Status.’ He called up the glowing blue screen.

.

— - Status — -

Name: Micheal Care

Points: 159,928

Race: Human

Age: 18

Physique: Energized Physique - 2 Star

Soul Quality: 3 Star

Strength - 221 -> 268

Endurance - 151 -> 200

Recovery - 128 - > 133

Soul - 38

Abilities - (6/7)

Life Orb Master

Ki Cultivator (Earth Tier - Late)

Grandmaster Sword Mastery (1/5)

Impact Release

Ceaseless Mind

Temporal Bubble

.

‘268 Strength is more than enough, and… I managed to obtain it.’ His eyes zeroed in on one particular data point.

‘Points: 159,928’ Micheal smiled.

“Perfect.” He spoke aloud as his head turned to the north, opening up the Shop with a wave of his hand. He began to flick through several screens, scrolling through the Artifact section.

“Let's finish this.”

.