[ A bomb just exploded. ]
Two pairs of eyes were glued on the wireframe models generated by their armors and they looked as Isoluid turned towards Inero-ie, then the ground started shaking as its legs smashed into the ground with tremendous force, accelerating the hill-sized body of the Isoluid. Inero-ie had become the target of its fury.
[ Leader, it is distracted now, this is the opportunity we have been waiting for! Let’s go all in! ]
[ Bring out the equipment. ]
[ Yes! ]
Suddenly the rumbling intensified, and then it jumped. The ground swayed like water but their attention shifted to the equipment that had been toppled by the earthquake. Cracks, finger width wide, stretched all the way to their position.
[ Pick them up quickly! ]
With an unexpected level of dexterity, they picked up and activated the equipment, the hope of getting out of this hellish landscape they had been stuck in for months allowing them to break through their limits. Now that the Isoluid had its attention fully captured by Inero-ie, they fully expected it to mark him as the perpetrator of all that had been happening to it for the past few months. It was the perfect time to bring it under their control and finally return back.
Their eyes were glued on the Isoluid as they watched it drop on the hill, excited and afraid as this was the first time Isoluid had been distracted to this extent. As it crashed into the hill, the earthquakes erupted like waves, one after the other birthing fissures in their wakes, as the ground was torn open, some parts protruding outwards while others sunk downwards. The wide landscape changed completely.
[ Fire. ]
An invisible pulse exploded out, merging with the Qi that was rushing toward the Isoluid.
World suddenly slowed down for both of them as things happened one after another. The moment it crashed into the hill, it exploded, reducing the hill and its legs into bits and pieces, its left arm moved instinctively to catch its falling both while the right arm smashed into the ground with such power that they could hear the impact from kilometers away.
[ Wha… ]
They froze, hairs standing on end with fear as a beam cut its way toward the Isoluid who responded with an equally powerful breath. They were mesmerized as the two terrible forces clashed and at the same time, a voice sounded out, a voice they had been dreaming to hear.
[Too late. ]
[ What do you… ah, I will quickly get it to back out… ]
The beam suddenly tore apart the breath, penetrating through the Isoluid and smashing into a hill that existed far away. The giant body dropped down like a puppet with its strings cut off.
[ Leader, what do we do now.? ]
[ How many of them are there? ]
[ Let me check… only one. ]
[ One? ]
[ Yes. Should we get rid of him at least then we can tell something to the supervisor. ]
[ Do you think we can kill someone who took care of that thing in but a moment? ]
[ No. ]
[ Of course. So, who is he? ]
[ It's a new suit, not a model I have seen before? ]
[ Really? Then do you know of someone that has that kind of fighting style? ]
[ None that I know of. ]
[ Tell the supervisor what happened also that we will be following him. ]
[ Affirmative. ]
***
Inero-ie ran through the tunnel that was left behind by the beam, it was smooth and as his threads moved about, he could sense not even a single crack in the circular tunnel.
‘The beam didn't unstabilize.’
He came to a stop when the threads informed him about the presence of the frozen flesh. Even though not even a few minutes had passed the cold had started invading inside and it would not take too long for the materials to lose their effects.
Guided by the threads, he cut the flesh, careful not to shatter it.
Lub~ Dub~
Lub~ Dub~
Lub~ Dub~
The sound of its heartbeat, was still powerful as he was able to hear it even though it was located on the opposite side but it too would quickly lose its power. He continued heading toward his main objective, the sac, using the information he had received about the Isoluid. Each step was difficult as the metallic foot of the armor would be lodged into the flesh that made up the ground, it slowed his speed drastically as he had to find places that were firm, able to endure the heavy weight of the armor.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
‘Massive.’
Nearly doubling the size of his armor, the sac seemed no different than the flesh wall around it but for him who viewed the world not through his eyes but Qi, it was like he was seeing a massive jewel emitting a beautiful light. But he did not have the time to be absorbed by its beauty.
Slowly, carefully. A single mistake and the dreadfully massive cold aspect Qi stored inside would erupt with power as dreadful as the beam his formation had fired, freezing him to death along with anything that existed nearby but he moved unnerved, the thing he was least afraid of was death.
More difficult than harvesting the sac was storing the massive thing in the storge but after doing that he moved on, cutting through the walls of flesh that compartmentalized the major organs.
Lub~ Dub~
Lub~ Dub~
Lub~ Dub~
Even though he was getting closer, the beat was slowly deteriorating in power still, each beat sent a ripple through the fleshy walls. Guided by the beats, he quickly approached the heart and the flesh around him started to change. He could now sense the veins bulging and protruding from the flesh, each massive in size, getting even bigger as he approached the heart.
The blade shrunk, and he slowly cut into the wall of flesh, careful to avoid damaging any arteries. The sound of blood splashing against the armor was clear despite the beating of the heart. A trickle of Qi froze the small, almost invisible vines that had been cut open. He headed inside.
Lub~ Dub~
The beat carried such power that it penetrated through multiple layers of isolation and rattled his bones.
'This much power despite being dead…'
Lub~ Dub~
Brought back to reality, he got to work. One by one, he infused the massive vines originating from the heart with his Qi, freezing the blood inside but when he saw the Qi being used up rapidly, he had no choice but to constantly supply the Qi while he carefully made cuts to harvest the heart and the core within it without any damage.
He had to do that much if he wanted the harvested material to retain its quality.
***
He leaped, plunging the blade into the jumble of ice, rock, and metal that made up the outer body of the Isoluid. The thruster erupted, propelling him upwards, and once again, he stabbed the blade before gravity could pull him down. The moment he got out, the shield that had been protecting the armor from the cold started flickering. He started running, zigzagging through the numerous holes that dotted its massive body.
Even though it was dead and he had looted everything of value, he could still feel the Qi being attracted into the holes.
‘Do they create some natural Qi attraction formation?’
He wondered while running because even though the speed was incomparable to before when it was alive, it still resulted in a sheet of Qi, thin as a cloth, warping around the massive body.
In but a moment ran up to its head that had crashed on the remains of the hill, without stopping he jumped, landed on its arms, and ran down towards what had been a wide plane just a few hours ago. Isoluid had run for just a moment but it changed the wide place into a landscape filled with massive cracks and unevenly protruding ground.
Upon finding a sufficiently hidden place he came to a stop.
Inside the armor, Inero-ie held in his hand a depleted refined core. He had changed it just before starting this hunt but it had lost all of its glow because he had overloaded it for a few hours.
‘What a waste, how many have been used up all this time… including how much would be consumed on the return… 7 sounds good.’
Having replaced the core, he operated the armor at full force, rushing out of the area before the floor of monsters swarmed in.
***
Frown. Once again he surveyed the area with Qi-location but the world was just as dark as before. He knew it would be useless, he still had not recovered enough to be able to truly use the Qi-location and the only reason he had been able to sense the Isoluid was because it was surrounded by the abnormally dense cluster of Qi that to his sense, shined brightly. Its brightness was comparable to the solar crystals that lit up the top layer of the Rozcast. It was bright and intense.
'Where?'
Knowing it was useless to try and find whoever was spying on him, he decided to just shake them off.
He jumped into a fissure, threads spread around and the sensors of the armor helped him in understanding the surroundings. He tried to use the maze-like cracks to make it difficult for them to follow but the disgusting feeling of being spied upon did not disappear.
From the underground caves to unstable tunnels that caved in once he passed through them, he ran through the treacherous mountains to the dens of aggressive monsters, always choosing such a path that would leave the pursuers no choice but to follow it if they intended to continue spying on him.
***
They had no choice but to fight the monster while their target kept getting farther away, eventually leaving their range of detection but what made them most furious was how he would repeatedly slip past the dens of the monster while they had to constantly fight for their lives.
[ It happened again! Why don’t these fucker chase after him, sir? ]
The subordinate fired his gun blasting a sizeable hole in the incoming monster and with the sound of thrusters bursting, the leader charged forward, his massive shield based into the monster that was trying to stabilize from the gunshot only to be thrown away from the impact. The blade flashed and it stopped moving.
[ Focus on the fight, we will be retreating now. ]
[ But… Okay, sir. ]
[ Incoming, be prepared. ]
[ Yes. ]
A monster rammed into the shield but while the impact slid him back before the monster could do anything, his blade stabbed into it, completely sizing its attention.
The gun discharged a condensed packet of Qi and the next moment its legs exploded and the blade flashed again, cutting through the monster. They slowly retreated, while chipping away at the monsters one at a time, being stuck in this relatively narrow canyon at least made it only possible to be attacked from the front.
[ Tell the supervisor we lost the target and send the data as well. ]
[ Done, sir. ]
[ Good, let’s harvest the core and return. ]
Once they had harvested cores from all of the dead bodies they turned back, exhausted. These few days they had spent chasing after Inero-ie had exhausted them more than the months they had spent trying to bring Isoluid under control. There they could relax but these past few days had forced them to pass through places that would take their lives upon the slightest mistake.
***
He kept pushing himself, going through the worst paths he could find, pushing his body to limits, shaking off the rust that had accumulated on his skills due to the muscle memory he had lost after the regeneration. He was so focused on it that he did not even notice when the unpleasant feeling of being spied upon had disappeared.
He reached the mountaintop, abruptly breaking out of his trance-like state when he saw the Core Barrier ahead.
‘A few more months utmost for the core to fully recover.’
[ Successfully returned. ]
He messaged Sline the moment he was reconnected to the web of networks that was spread through most of the Core Barrier. He slowly moved through the valley, all alone to enjoy the melody of winds that, despite their destructive power, were filled with calming effect.
[ Come to these coordinates. ]
[ Yes. ]