SOS CH 40 (Patreon)

A few moments ago, when Noah entered, he realized that they were once again in what looked like a forest. He did not know if it was some kind of teleportation or VR but.

“Can you still feel the pull?”

—Yes. It’s even stronger here.

This told him all he needed to know. This was reality and if it wasn’t then people were seriously messing with their perception.

Then let’s go.

The mission was simple.

Kill and Devour.

Once he had enough energy, he would finally complete the goal that had been haunting him for so many years.

At least this should have been the case but —

Shit!

He felt more than he saw. A chilling sensation went down his spine, a warning of incoming danger.

All his senses seemed to sublimate at this moment, his perception increasing in such a way that he had the feeling that time seemed to slow down for him.

His muscles tightened and thousands of Dark Tendrils immediately came out of his armor before forming a semi-circular shield in front of him.

Damnit!

Deafening sounds and multiple explosions followed the shock that went through his body as Noah found himself propelled more than a dozen meters away. His bones rattled from the shock but he was otherwise safe. The small wounds he received, already healing.

Not bothering to turn to look behind him, Noah immediately started to run while making sure to not keep a straight line in his course. Meanwhile, two creepy red eyes opened on his back and his vision immediately changed as a screen appeared in front of him, allowing him to see what the parasite was seeing.

This was when he understood what had attacked him and immediately cursed out.

“Knightframe.”

Over the horizon, he could see one giant of steel of around 5 meters. This was one of the mecha belongings to the pirates.

The test was not some man vs man fight but one where everything was allowed.

Noah immediately assessed his chances of victory and determined that they were minimal at this distance.

The saving grace was that this mecha was not designed for ground warfare. Much less one in a forest filled with so many obstacles.

He doubted he would have been able to outrun a mecha on even ground.

.

.

.

Back to normal time, Noah continued to curse as a missile missed him by an inch.

He was sure that he could recover from it but this fight was becoming a pain to deal with.

But Noah wasn't just running aimlessly. Whenever he moved, he would make sure to barrel straight into any tree that was in his path.

This barely slowed him down but it was a nightmare for the mecha.

Furthermore,e he had another goal. The mecha was nothing more than a hunting hound. Herding him in a certain direction.

A trap was most likely awaiting him.

But it was alright. It was also what he wanted.

—Do you truly want to gamble?

“Life is always a gamble.”

The only thing that confused him was that — The one chasing him seemed pretty unskilled.

***

On Omid's side, things were silent. The mood was somber.

“Captain…The prey is approaching. Do we move?”

Nineteen.

Out of the nineteen, the majority who survived were foot soldiers rather than mecha pilots.

This did not come as a surprise for Omid as after inquiring he realized that all the mecha pilots were relatively more complicated.

Even so, this was a huge blow and at any other time he would have been devastated but now…Omid clutched the small core with glee in his face while sitting in his mecha.

The death of his soldiers? Nothing more than an afterthought.

Once he came out of this gate, he would be stronger and he might even be able to stand as a hegemon of this part of the galaxy.

“All of you guys. Surround him and put him down. Be careful. I do not know who we are facing but it does not matter.”

His voice was calm, hiding his excitement, “As for me, I will digest the reward in preparation for the next phase. Whatever you guys obtained, I will not take. You just have to do your job.”

The pirates, who had been worried all released sighs of relief. None of them had managed to obtain a core but even so, they had been rewarded with small condensed essences.

This thing was useless to people like Omid who could use Dark Matter but in the Market,, it could sell for hundreds of thousands of credits.

The reason?

It allowed those who swallowed them to open their minds to the cosmos and finally observe Dark Matter.

Of course, the reason such things “only” sold for hundreds of thousands rather than millions was because such an opening was filled with impurities and the one doing so would never amount to much.

The pills were also a kind of psychedelic drugs and the chances of one losing their mind as they entered in contact with what was theorized to be a higher dimension was quite high.

Unsafe, risk of brain death, limited potential.

So many faulty points and yet the pirates were holding it like it was the greatest treasure.

“Don't take those pills now as it will make you helpless. Those who received mecha training can choose one of the empty ones. As for the last mechas, leave them here. We will find a way when we go back. I already disabled the navigation system so they are unusable.”

There were 21 mecha and only 19 pirates. Even then not all of them could pilots

“Understood!”

Once he finished giving all the orders,  The Scorched, his Knightframe, started moving away from the groups.

For one, while he wanted to completely assimilate the core to his Mecha now, such a thing could not be done simply because he wanted to. The only thing he could do now was change the core and let his frame adjust itself slightly while he also did the same and attuned himself to the power.

He would need to find people he could trust and a skilled mechanic to rework his frame in its entirety so that it could truly become suitable to the core and bring the greatest amount of power.

Should I contact Gepeto through Cassim?

Omid shuddered, he was sure that Cassim would not develop greed for his gain. His other fellow pirates had higher chances of backstabbing him.

But Gepeto…

Omid discarded the thoughts and focused on the situation at hand. The reason why he was not following his subordinates and wanted to power himself up as fast as possible was simple.

Omid was feeling threatened.

He realized this through the last trial but those trials were fair and in fact gave only a slight handicap that could theoretically be overcome.

If the mission was 19 vs 1 then…He couldn’t even imagine what kind of monster they would have to face.

Please, guys. Die for my sake and send me the information I need.

His eyes were cold. He was too close now. Too close to simply give up and gamble on his life. To succeed, he would sacrifice everything.

He could always create a new pirate group.

(AN: What do you guys think of Omid? I wanted to develop him enough to not make him too 1 dimensional.)