R-a - Volume 3 - Chapter 40

R-a - Chapter 198 (In editing -v2)

“I don’t like it.” Silverback’s voice was calm, carrying a hint of steely confidence.

As he spoke, a quiet rumbling sound echoed in the air. In the sky above, a number of dark clouds gathered, preparing to unleash a light layer of rain on the world below.

The leader of the Ape Division was currently standing within a large, decrepit warehouse, full of cluttered, old furniture, broken work desks and cracked glass, the remnants of a once-great research lab. As of right now, he was waiting patiently in a small, broken office that he had commandeered as a temporary command room.

Every team in the Beasts of Providence, from the bottom to the top, consisted of a group of three. It had to do with the mantra that they all held to, working in groups to take down targets and complete tasks efficiently.

Silverback’s First Squad of the Ape Division had two other members that were currently standing watch, one in a doorway opposite of this office, and the other just outside of the office.

Standing right in front of Silverback, and the target of his words, was the Squad Leader of the Ape Division’s Seventh Squad, White 1.

“You were supposed to rendezvous with the Fifth Squad once you finished sweeping the small buildings to the North.” Silverback’s words came out as a statement, rather than a question.

“Yessir. When they didn’t show, we followed standard protocol and immediately fell back to here.” The Squad Leader, like most of the Ape Division, was tall and muscular, especially so for a woman. Only a few strands of brown hair were visible behind her mask, hiding her identity.

Silverback rubbed his hands together slowly, staying silent for a couple of moments.

“Their Lord Justiciar can’t be here and if it was any other Farian, they would’ve raised the alarm already.” He frowned beneath his mask as he spoke, a hint of confusion in his words.

Silverback had personally led so many raids on the Farians, he was very experienced with how they would react. This was their very first time probing the Farian’s secretive research center, and while it was possible there might be some crack experts that would act differently, he doubted that would be the case.

They had never once given any indication that they were aware of this place.

He and his team, in coordination with the Sea Division, had spent months preparing for this mission, part of that involving long-term intelligence-gathering operations.

They knew about the elite, hidden Shadow Guard and it’s three Captains, the true power of the Lord Justiciar, the power of each Tribe Leader.

Silverback was extremely confident that he had a good grasp of the overall strength of the Farian Tribes, with the sole exception of the Kowalsi Tribe, which had abandoned the rest of the Tribes and thus wasn’t his concern.

This situation here, however…

It didn’t make much sense.

If the Farians raised the alarm, the Ape Division would immediately abandon all attempts at secrecy and move forward in a mad rush, using some very noticeable, explosive techniques to find the research center.

If that failed, they would have to beat a fast retreat as their actions drew the attention of the Lord Justiciar. However, the Sea Division should be able to finish their half of the setup by then, forcing the elite leader of the Farians to return to the Festival grounds.

Therefore, in the worst-case scenario: they simply fell back and would try again later after regrouping. A setback, but nothing permanent.

“Could it be a stray Magic Beast?” The thought was ludicrous, but it was the only thing he could think of. If the Farians knew they were here, they would’ve activated one of their Alert Beacons, an odd metal tube that was essentially a mid-range alarm to call for help. He had a way of detecting that and similar devices they used, and knew that none had been activated yet.

If nothing else, the activation of the Farian’s Bloodline Magic was something that couldn’t escape his notice. The unique, red Aura and resonance that was sent out was something his senses were especially drawn to. There was not even a hint of Bloodline Magic being emitted from any of these dilapidated buildings.

“…maybe the entrance really is located up there and something untoward happened?” Silverback mused over other options, ones he felt were less likely. He had only ordered these buildings searched just in case, he fully expected the secret entrance to be stationed in one of the large warehouses.

White 1 didn’t respond, but instead waited patiently for his orders.

After a few split seconds, Silverback made a decision, balancing the facts with his judgement and experience.

“Rejoin your Squad and circle around to join the Sixth Squad in searching the south, stay with Plan A for now.” First, he gave out his command, brooking no argument.

“Yessir. Destiny awaits!” White 1 immediately turned around and headed for one of the exits.

“Destiny awaits.” Silverback muttered halfheartedly on reflex, his eyes narrowing as he watched his subordinate break off into an unnaturally silent sprint.

The Fifth Squad was dead.

If they weren’t already, they likely would be soon. As soon as he made this assumption, his plan of action became much clearer.

“They would’ve died within the last minute or two.” Silverback waved at his two allies, motioning for them to fall in behind him as he moved off towards one particular exit on the north front of the large warehouse.

“That means there’s only one question left.” Keen intelligence flashed in his eyes as he reached the doorway and silently slipped outside, ignoring the ‘hazardous’ white energy that fluttered in the air.

His hands rested on the heads of the two large, heavy warhammers he had strapped to his waist, rubbing them ever so slightly. A faint, dark glow flickered around the weapons, vanishing a split second later.

“How hard are you to find, little killer? ”

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

“Alright, perfect. That should make it basically impossible to find me.” Micheal smiled as he wiped some dust off his shoulder, looking around at the roof of the mid-sized warehouse he had just landed on.

After he killed his first three targets and stopped the Seeds from returning to the Vile King, he used his Life Orbs to fly away from the house he’d ambushed them in. He kept himself low to the ground, hunching down while creating several accelerated time bubbles to pick up the pace.

He then made several hurried movements, sticking to the outskirts to avoid being spotted by the warriors that were hunting for the Farian research center. Their attention would be directed inwards, not outwards, making his hurried journey significantly easier.

He crossed by several buildings before he picked one warehouse, in particular, to fly on top of. His senses were extremely keen thanks to his powerful Soul and experience, making it easy to avoid his enemies. Luckily, he didn’t actually sense anyone in this area. The rest of his foes were likely searching other buildings.

Because he flew, he functionally left no trail at all. His Aura Nullification Necklace would ruin most attempts at tracing his position, while conventional tracking would be useless. It was a perfect escape.

As he landed on the rooftop, Micheal adjusted the new Silk Strider Glove he had acquired, quickly loading it up with several clumps of titanium.

Every time he killed one of these elite warriors, he obtained a sizable amount of Points. These guys were at least Second Rate Warriors and had a slew of powerful Abilities to match that, making them veritable treasures chests in Micheal’s eyes.

Right after he dealt with that squad, he’d purchased this Artifact from the Shop. He’d opted to leave the house before he finished setting it up, not wanting to risk the chance of being caught.

As soon as he finished stocking the glove up, Micheal stored the rest of the titanium in his Spatial Ring.

Moments later, three bodies appeared on the roof in quick succession as Micheal withdrew the corpses from his Spatial Ring and set them down.

After he finished laying them on the rooftop, Micheal tapped on his Spatial Ring again as he took out three steel crosses. Each cross was slightly larger than his hand, ancient-looking Artifacts that looked as if they might shatter at any moment.

After Micheal absorbed the remnants of Yvvtal into his bones, he had taken a number of treasures from Yvvtal’s Treasure Hall.

Specifically, he took two main types of treasures.

Ones that were useful in a fight and ones that were useful when it came to building up the strength of his body.

These three metal crosses were Artifacts that belonged to the latter group…

A set of Necrotic Burners.

These tools were considered heretic by the Torens, the Byrens, and even humanity once a famous team of British female berserkers managed to obtain them from the Inheritance.

Micheal didn’t let that thought bother him as he methodically placed each cross on the respective chest of each dead warrior. He carefully aimed each one, laying them down just above each body’s heart.

He paused for only the briefest instant as a loud boom shook the air.

Up above, in the sky, the grim storm clouds echoed as they began to unleash a light rain. Micheal shook his head slightly as he ignored this, focusing on the present.

Micheal had only been here for a few months. His current stats placed him as decently strong, monstrously so considering how long he had been here.

However, closing the gap between himself and those that had been here more than 10 times as long, well... normal means weren't going to cut it.

And thus, here he was now, using some ‘less-than-normal’ means.

Necrotic Burners were Artifacts created by a group of ancient Torens that had been obsessed with the concept of immortality. They wanted to live forever, to break free from the river of time and set sail on their own path.

These Burners were their greatest success in the ultimately futile path that led to their demise.

In simple terms: these Artifacts were used to absorb energy from the dead. Specifically, from dead humanoids.

When a human killed a creature, the ‘Shop’ power that was ingrained on every human’s soul acted like an active leech, siphoning off a mixture of life energy away from the freshly killed being.

This was why humans found their efforts to obtain Spirit Crystals foiled, time and time again, whenever they killed a Magic Beast. These efforts grew even more futile the more powerful a human’s Soul became. Some warriors could kill someone from five thousand meters away and still see a Points notification, absorbing the energy from seemingly ludicrous distances.

Micheal, and humanity as a whole, never managed to figure out how exactly the Shop determined who got the Points for killing something, beyond striking the last blow. Dozens of expansive experiments had been done, testing things like one person setting off a bomb while another person threw it, two people striking to kill one Magic Beast at the same time, and more.

In the end, humanity merely confirmed that the Shop would only give a single person the Points for a kill, that the range a person could get Points from depended on the power of their Soul, and that ‘indirect’ kills could still count as long as there was a relatively short chain of actions caused by a human to engender that kill.

The Shop seemed to tap into the mystical webs of Fate itself when it determined who was responsible for what, beyond the understanding of normal science.

While the Shop absorbed a large portion of energy, the lion’s share present within any being, it didn’t absorb everything.

When it came to human warriors, there was always still a large amount of ‘Ki’ leftover that did not get absorbed, energy that would gradually dissipate over time if a corpse was left alone.

And it was this Ki that Micheal had plans for.

Micheal took a deep breath as he looked at the three dead bodies, and the three metal crosses that were resting on the chest of each corpse.

For the sake of staying alive, for the sake of humanity’s future, he couldn’t afford to back down now, just because of his own squeamishness.

Micheal clenched his teeth as he stuck out his left hand, raising his pointer finger up. He concentrated as a red strand of Advanced Tier Sword Energy enshrouded his finger in a raw glow.

He brought this finger up to the palm of his right hand and, without hesitation slashed into it.

Immediately, bright red blood began to run down his wrist. Micheal didn’t make a sound as he jerked his hand over towards the Necrotic Burners, touching the upright tip of each cross, smearing his blood on the edge of each Artifact.

As soon as he finished doing this, Micheal grabbed the crosses, one by one, and stabbed the opposite ends deep into the heart of each dead warrior.

The air around Micheal shivered. The hair on the back of his neck began to rise, causing his entire body to tense up. Several odd sensations flooded his mind, a feeling of connection rising as he bonded with the Necrotic Burner.

Moments later, a silent blast of invisible energy rocketed upward from each of the three crosses. This energy smashed upward roughly 30 meters into the air, visible only to Micheal’s senses.

The three dead bodies instantly began to wither, flesh, bone, and muscle turning to ash. In just a split second, the only thing left was the armor that had held their bodies, crumpling into a dirty pile atop the roof.

Three invisible balls of energy hovered in the air, standing perfectly still despite the cascading rain all around.

Micheal took a deep breath and then exhaled, forcing himself to stay calm as he looked up. His eyes slowly traced down as he looked at the three Necrotic Burners.

Without the corpses to hold them up, each cross had fallen to rest atop the armor they had stabbed through, waiting almost patiently for him to grab them. Micheal didn’t hesitate as he did exactly that, picking each one up until he was holding all three.

He set them down carefully on the ground in front of him, keeping his movements quick, all too aware that time was of the essence.

“Alright…” He whispered quietly to himself as he picked one up, wiping off any remnants of ash.

“Let’s get this over with.” He raised the cross up towards his own chest.

Necrotic Burners were powerful Artifacts, but they were also very dangerous. They did, indeed, possess the power to transfer energy and life force from one being to another.

There was only one issue with that.

The way the ancient Artifacts had been designed, and the only way they could function under the so-called ‘Laws’ of reality, had a rather stringent requirement. And it was this requirement that ultimately led to the demise of the Torens that pursued this path, and to these objects being called heretic.

To absorb energy from a corpse, you needed to stab the cross into the heart of that corpse.

Likewise… if you wanted to transfer that absorbed energy from the Artifact to yourself…

You needed to stab the cross into your heart.

“It shouldn’t waste any Orbs…” Micheal muttered as he held the Necrotic Burner right above his heart.

The Artifacts were supposed to heal you, using the rush of energy to recreate and reform your heart.

And usually, they did.

But not always.

Sometimes the energy wasn’t enough, sometimes the power the Artifact imbued went straight to boosting one’s strength, sometimes the Artifact simply didn’t fully work.

Each Necrotic Burner could only be used once, they would shatter after use. There was no way to tell if the Artifact would work perfectly, even for the ancient Torens that had made it. Artifacts like this were considered incredibly taboo, ones that were banned from usage and sale by most human organizations throughout the Layers.

Micheal wasn’t too concerned about dying. After all, he could come back to life. However, the number of lives he had was limited in the immediate moment. Losing a life now could have a huge impact.

Micheal grit his teeth at the thought.

He didn’t really have a choice.

He might be able to ambush a few of the three-man enemy teams, but that wouldn’t last, especially if he ran into the leader of this group. These were elite warriors, eventually he would get found out, no matter how careful he was. In direct combat, he was strong, but it wasn’t enough.

It was never enough.

He sighed one last time as he hardened his heart, steeling himself. His right arm flexed as he looked down at the first cross.

A moment later…

Micheal stabbed himself in the heart.

.