F-Rank Frank: Chapter 56 Ambush the Ambushers (Patreon)

Chapter 56

Ambush the Ambushers

“What the?” Frank cried out in his mind as he mentally felt around searching the area for the third and final pursuer. Only to find nothing.

Almost like a ghost, he had disappeared completely from the surrounding area. For a moment Frank half expected to see the cursed major appearing from behind the tree that he had taken refuge against.

Yet, in the end Frank could only stand and watch as a moment to strike at a clearly vulnerable attacker presented itself for a moment, but then was removed.

“Ah, yuck.” The skinny soldier exclaimed as they got up and began shaking off the dirt and muck that covered them after taking a stumble from walking into a clearly unstable patch of land.

Frank for his part could only watch and stand still.

For the moment he was apparently able to blend into the surroundings. Despite seeing the gaze of the female and male quickly scan past him, Frank couldn’t help but remember his training.

First, he raised his hand and all but covered his eyes. While still allowing a slit of light to shine through. That slit was more than enough for Frank to still see the world perfectly, despite it getting to be close to near full night right now.

The reason for using his hand like this was part of his SERE training, which was to cover the glare of his eyes.

While the instructors had noted that his hair was much more of a giveaway, learning the basics were still important for his overall grading. This was why even now his hand went up and blocked any reflective glares off of his eyes that might come from him looking directly at a cultivator who might have that moment to see the moon or the stars refract light against his eyes at that exact moment while he is trying to hide from his pursuers.

With this Frank paused and waited, content to let his pursuers actually move on ahead of him, while he waited for everyone to not even think about turning back to find him now.

Mentally he still had a vice like grip on his mental link to Constance. This grip was originally done to prevent his thoughts from inadvertently being linked to the Dark Queen who was listening in on his connection to Constance.

However, there was a second and much more important use of that grip right now and that was the fact that this same grip that kept his trade secrets safe, and kept him from being distracted by constant thoughts from the Dark Queen, also made it so his glowing hair, a sign of his subterranean heritage did not glow while he mentally clamped down on that particular portion of his mind.

Unwilling to give up a good thing, particularly as he had been hunted down relentlessly until now due to his glowing hair particles. Frank used this momentary reprieve to stop, regain his mental balance and for the moment, rest his weary legs.

While he would take a shot at removing one of his pursuers if given a chance. At least, that is what he now told himself, he opted to go a different way entirely and just leave the three to their own devices, while he opted to go on a different route.

A different route that currently seemed to be leading the trio, well duo minus the missing Major, straight into a nest of large corrupted beasts.

This was a fine line, as Frank wanted to wait until that perfect time to move. Right when the pack of pursuers would be too distracted by the pack of monsters before them to notice Frank moving away. But not too soon that the pack of pursuers would be able to notice Frank regardless of prior engagements, figuring taking down Frank would be a more important priority than worrying about a few monsters.

That said, there was also the concern that Frank had about now missing the Major. Someone who should be too powerful to misplace, but yet somehow Frank had managed to do just that.

Pausing, Frank looked around to try to take in everything around him. Only to pause as he knew he was missing something.

Worse, he was missing a predator who had already caught him unaware once, and was now actively looking for him.

One would think that by inhaling the dense miasma that surrounded everyone and everything, that finding the three individuals who were not completely saturated with corrupted energy would be easy. And in the cases of the two cultivators who were working with the Major, that was the case.

In fact, had Frank not known better, he would almost assume that the two were purposefully exposing themselves and their energy to be easier to track.

Then thinking about that for a moment longer, Frank realized that this might be exactly what these two were doing.

All night these three had chased after Frank for hours on end. Going through rough terrain and clearly splashing about violently in water. Yet, despite all that, the male never fell.

Only now that Frank had taken to hiding himself did he do something so blatant that would expose him and leave him momentarily vulnerable.

Realizing the folly, that despite the best of plans and the seemingly wide open back of his pursuer, Frank realized that the girl was too close and too tense.

Almost as if she expected Frank to still strike from the blind spot.

Seeing how the female was ready to strike, Frank realized that the Major who was somehow also hiding his presence was likely ready to strike as well.

Analyzing everything, Frank noted that even if this wasn’t a planned trap, there were just too many red flags going off to try to follow the duo into the nest of monsters.

It was clear from the fact that the other two were moving forward, that they had lost track of Frank. This was why Frank stayed completely still, limiting his breaths for fear that even adding additional heat to the night air would be enough for an Air Cultivator to notice his presence.

For the moment, he was almost certain that the group did not spot his obvious hiding spot, particularly as they could have easily struck him down while moving past him. The fact that they passed him is the only reason that Frank held onto the idea that he might be safe.

Facing three higher realm cultivators all at once would be stupid.

This was why, he decided to stop and wait for an actual chance where the three were separated from each other.

FWABOOSH!

A burst of flames erupted ahead as the two cultivators began facing off against the pack of monsters that were up ahead.

“Take right,” the male called out.

Hearing that, Frank assumed that the trio had all engaged with the monsters ahead.

In this moment he knew he should break apart and try to get away from this group, but just as he was about to move, his legs buckled.

For whatever reason, Frank’s body held firm. Or as his SERE instructors would note, he hesitated, when given the chance to escape.

“More incoming!” The female shouted from on up ahead.

Crackle-pop.

It was that second shout for help that caused the third member of the hunting party to finally move. With that sound, Frank couldn’t help but turn his head to the left as he saw the third person of the hunting party, the Major running forward.

The only problem was, the place where he started his advancement from was within twenty paces.

Somehow the Major had managed to stay back just enough that he would be behind Frank, especially if he chose to recklessly charge forward and strike at the downed member of the team.

Badump, badump, badump.

Realizing how close the hidden predator had been, Frank’s heart leapt within his chest as he realized just how close he had been to death.

This was also the point when Frank realized that his body’s hesitation might have been a survival instinct. For the Major was close enough to have easily been able to spot his movement had he actually tried to fully move away from the tree that was providing cover for him.

Frank watched as the Major charged forward, his body seeming to glow with the intense burning flames that were erupting up ahead. Flames that despite their heat and apparent size did little to keep back the large horrific monsters that were violently defending their nesting area against the evil invaders.

Pausing for a moment, Frank waited until the Major charged forward and through the flames to begin fighting with the giant beasts. Beasts that Frank could only barely make out, if he tried. Though his mind told him to turn his gaze away from the flames, lest he take away the advantage of night sight for the moment.

Realizing this was his chance to finally get away, Frank took a hesitant step forward.

Wobble.

Despite fear causing his muscles to be unnecessarily tight, he found that his leg could in fact move this time. Better still, as he moved forward, he didn’t have the big fear of instant death filling his body that he had a moment ago, when his body refused to move on him.

Seeing the moment for what it was, Frank took another hesitant step forward, this time with his left foot. Again, the muscles were tight, but that seemed to be all that was needed to work his way through his momentary paralysis as he found the next few steps to be much easier to take.

Though Frank did use the advantage of the bright sources of burning flames ahead to watch his footing. Making sure to avoid any dry branches or twigs that might reveal his position, just as the same branches had revealed the Major earlier.

Fwoosh!

For a moment an enhancement was used to both reinforce the size of the flame wall that was already burning. Then the enhancement caused the color of the flames to shift from a bright orange to a dark greenish blue. Frank didn’t know what the different colors of flames meant, but only after seeing the flames could Frank recognize the now unmasked spiritual presence of the Major.

Realizing how much power the Major now showed and how easily he was able to hide his footprint from Frank’s senses let Frank realize just how much stronger the true elites of the cultivation world are. Especially when compared to people who just began their cultivation journey like Frank.

With the lesson of how much further he still had to go firmly etched within his brain, Frank made his way out and began to leave. Trusting on his SERE training and the idea that he still wanted to head East and slightly southward to reach his final destination.

***

(Constance Evans)

It had been two hours since Frank disappeared from her mind. The moment he disappeared, Constance felt a deep overwhelming cold rise up within her soul. A deep cold that seemed to spread out and seem to encapsulate her limbs.

“Relax child,” the Dark Queen stated, her hair glowing with faint traces of light blue, a sign that she was using her Divination magic. “He is fine, though once again he is proving to be more crafty than any of us have given him credit for.”

“He is?” Constance asked, hope filling her voice as she desperately clung to the idea that Frank would come back to her and once again seal this hole that had suddenly appeared within her.

“Yes child, don’t worry. He just found a way to momentarily block his connection to you so he could hide from the others.” The Dark Queen stated.

“Thank you my queen.” Constance stated.

Then a moment of awkward tension seemed to build up within the courtroom, as Constance found herself looking around to see all the guards that stared forward intently. While none of the guards made overt glares in her direction, it was clear that now that her purpose of was over Constance was not wanted here. The only problem was that Constance herself had been summoned by the Dark Queen herself, and as such could only be dismissed by the Dark Queen as well.

Then almost as if reading her thoughts, the Dark Queen spoke.

“You are dismissed until the next time your lover deigns to make contact with you.” The Dark Queen stated, before adding. “Which, you should hope he does so soon, lest irreparable damage get caused to your connection.”

“Yes my Queen,” Constance stated, as she bowed and quickly exited the throne room. All while hoping that the words of the Dark Queen did not come to fruition, as she was unaware that the bond between them could be broken in such a way. Though she should have guessed that there was something that could happen, as the link had been too amazing. As the link was her only way to truly feel alive again, for the first time since she had been turned by her aunt, she finally felt warmth. As if a bright sun had been allowed to shine within her, only to then have that light blocked and hidden, revealing just how much of her was cold and empty.

As it turned out, getting turned was not the worst thing that had happened to her. For that was a one time catastrophic event that she had learned to deal with. Even when she was captured and tested on by her biological donor, those were things that she could mentally get over and accept.

This though, this sudden light and then coldness, that was something that would break her if she was subjected to it for too many times.

Yet, despite how painful it was, she still could not wait for the moment that Frank once again reconnected to her.

***

(Martial Sergeant Blue)

Wheezing.

Martial Sergeant Blue let out a long dry wheeze. There were many factors that led to this exact moment. Everything from having run for close to a half marathon in miasma infused forests, to purposefully letting his body fall and get coated in a layer of mud. To now having to fight into and through giant walls of flames that were so bright and intense that they all but pulled the oxygen from his lungs if he was not careful with his breaths.

Right now, they were fighting against a nest of giant corrupted beasts.

Well for his part Blue was just providing isolation efforts. The real attacks were coming from the Major and Gunnery Sergeant Pi.

Why were they here? Well clearly that is because the boy was either damn lucky, or better at setting up environmental traps than his entire team was.

Worst of all, had Gunnery Sergeant Pi not gotten so emotional and turned back so quickly to help Blue up, he was almost certain he could have lured out the target.

The only problem was that Pi in her overprotective nature couldn’t let anything happen to Blue. That was part of why he loved her, that protective streak made her an invaluable team member and saved his life more often than he could count.

That said, it was clear that this time her overprotective nature had shown through, or at least shown through too early.

The point was to draw the boy out, let Blue get enough of an energy sample of the boy so that he could track the boy through the wilderness and let the Major have at him.

Of course, the only problem with this plan was that the boy didn’t bite on the obvious trap. Or at least, the trap appeared to be overly obvious to Blue, who saw the protective killing intent from Pi who was easily within half of her maximum effective range.

Still, when the boy didn’t bite, protocol dictated that they continue moving forward in the path last observed by the team.

Given that the boy had been right outside the entrance to this valley, they had to come in here and give a cursory glance around.

The only problem with that was that the glance around meant they had to get within an armored rakatour den during the middle of what had to be nesting season. Meaning not only did you have a pack mentality where the larger rakatour matriarchs would be aggressively protecting their nests. But then you had the bull rakatour willing to show dominance and strike at anything that moved.

Of course, knowing now that this was a nesting site for rakatours, it was clear that the boy had not gone in here. That or if he had, he would have been torn apart within an instant by either starving matriarchs who cannot get food from their nests, or giant bulls protecting their young.

At the very least, if the boy had come in here there would have been some type of noises made to indicate his presence.

Fortunately for Blue and Pi they were saved from their misstep when the Major who had been holding back to encircle their prey, came to their rescue right when they needed him the most.

Slink, slice, chop.

The Major created elemental blades at the ends of his hands that he used to slice into and butcher the unsuspecting rakatours. Better still, seeing the way he fearlessly charged through elemental flames was a thing of beauty.

Even with his own flames, Blue always felt a slight hesitation upon entering, but not the Major. That was the great thing about following the man, he was fearless on the battlefield and relentless when he locked onto an enemy. This was why Blue knew that he would follow the man anywhere, and for any cause.

Wheeze.

Blue wheezed in once, before coughing up dry chunks from his lungs. During this time the flames he had created began to flicker and wane, as his concentration was momentarily challenged.

“Focus!” Pi called out, her presence instantly causing Blue to feel both reassured of his own protection, while also feeling more determined than ever to dig down deeper to survive yet another firefight with his team.