Two people were dumbfounded by whatever was happening. Even after experiencing it they still couldn’t hide their amazement. With Jason's ambushing tactic, they had killed off almost a hundred of these Iron-Bristle pigs in just under fifteen minutes. It took only about three seconds or less to kill off one of them with Jason dealing the last strike.

In a way, they leveled up like crazy. Hakeem reached level thirteen and Esther level twelve. Jason still stagnated at level twenty one but it made sense since all he fought were those lower levels than him.

“Can’t we take a break?” Esther asked.

Although being carried was easy and fun but her mind and body couldn’t handle the motion sickness she felt within Shadow Sneak.

“I agree with that,” said Hakeem.

Seeing these two couldn’t handle it any longer, Jason brought them inside the building storage area. He opened up the shutter and walked inside, the two followed him from behind with their legs weak. It was dark but the light switched on as Jason found the power breaker. The storage area lighted up as he saw shelves of molded iron bars neatly in place.

The shutter door behind them was closed back as they didn’t want any pigs or boars to suddenly giving them a surprise. While Esther and Hakeem tried to sort out their mind and body, Jason went around the place with his gait relax. For now, the difficulty of this area seemed to be at an easy level. He gave thanks to his invisibility since it did most of the work for him.

“Pass me some water,” said Esther as her hand reached out to Hakeem.

Hakeem was designated to be the one carrying the bag filled with rations. Simple snacks and water for fueling up their bodies. As he rummaged through the bag, he found the water bottle and passed it to Esther. He took another bottle out as both chugged the hell out of the bottle as the water kept flowing down their throat.

Then they heard a mechanical clicking sound like something being locked and loaded.

“Hands in the air!” a gruff voice filled up the air.

Esther and Hakeem looked around and saw a bunch of people who were dressed more or less the same as them but those big guns are the difference between them.

“If you move a muscle, I’ll blow your freaking brain,” said one of them at Hakeem with his hands up in the air.

“No, no, this isn’t what it looks like,” Esther turned flustered after being surrounded by these men.

“Shut up bitch! Hands in the air, hands in the air!” the black ops soldier shouted at Esther as she complied with eyes starting to glisten.

“Who are you guys? Somalia? North Korea? Or are you the freaking Chinese?” these people kept on hounding at Hakeem and Esther while asking their country of origin. None of them thought that he and Esther are just your regular citizen of Canada.

Hakeem kept his mouth shut as he experienced this kind of thing time after time again. He knew what to do but Esther never experienced such a thing, in a matter of seconds she already broken down into tears. Although she was an Awaken but inside she was still just a normal university student.

The black ops soldiers around them numbered up to ten people. While most of them were aiming their muzzle at these two a few of them were rummaging through the stuff. One of them grabbed on to Hakeem’s iron mace which couldn’t be handle without using both hands.

“Captain, we’ve found something,” the soldier showed the squad leader the medieval weapon at him. Besides the captain was the newcomer of the squad an Awaken with a rather peculiar ability.

“An iron weapon?” the squad leader wasn’t impressed by it. But the one beside him was already smiling.

“This isn’t your ordinary iron weapon, this here is an artifact from the UC,” said the woman.

“Portman are you sure? I’ve no-” the squad leader words cut off by the brave woman.

“Captain, are you the one who has an ability or is it me?” she said. A blunt remark hitting directly at the squad leader's ego.

“Fine. Bag them private,” said the squad leader.

“So how did you do it?” Miss Portman asked the two of them regarding the scene outside.

Esther wasn’t in her best condition as she was sniffling her snot crying like a baby. Hakeem kept quiet as he just stared back at Miss Portman.

“Answer her,” a soldier struck Hakeem from the back, hitting him with the back of his rifle hilt.

“Hakeem!” Esther shouted his name as she cried even further. She thought she had become strong but her mind was still too weak. With her current strength, she could have taken most of them out with her speed. But seeing these big guns just terrified the heck out of here limiting herself to just a regular woman.

Hakeem endured it as he barely felt any pain. His Iron Body took the brunt of that sudden attack as he only felt a sudden push on the back of his head.

“Oh, you’re quite strong. I can see the lady friend of yours is an Awaken judging by the pale whitish aura surrounding her but what about you?” Miss Portman asked as she was intrigued by Hakeem.

“She’s an Awaken?!” one of the soldiers shouted as all eight people aimed their muzzles at the seemingly weak-looking woman. Esther was surprised seeing the nervous looks on these people's faces, was she being an Awaken that big of a deal? She wondered as she stopped crying.

“You’re right Miss Portman, from the intel we’ve got, the method to identify whether a person is an Awaken or not is to see the thin pale light surrounding them. Boys, peel your eyes open, that’s enough mistake for the night. So what about him? Is he also an Awaken?” the squad leader asked.

“Let me see,” said Miss Portman as her eyes stared at the sight of Hakeem. A subtle flash of purple ran within her iris and it was enough to make her retreated a few steps back.

“But how?” she asked as the surprised look on her face broke her calm.

The squad leader was alarmed as he held Hakeem at gunpoint with his finger very close to pulling the trigger.

“What is it?! Spat it out!” said the squad leader as he was flustered by her sudden reaction.

“He’s level thirteen,” she said with her voice trembling.

“Level thirteen? Him?” the squad leader stared at Hakeem with his eyes at the point of bulging out. He and Miss Portman are the only ones who knew the significance of Hakeem’s level. One of the top Awaken recruits is Miss Portman over here who was at number four and the top three were beyond the set of skills of Miss Portman. The first rank of the Awaken recruits was taken by that sole person who reigned at the top at level ten. He demonstrated his physical prowess against the special ops barehanded and the result was an utter defeat for the special ops team. In the squad leader eyes he only approved those Awaken ranked three and above, they were strong and would be a valuable asset to the team.

Knowing this man who was kneeling on the floor having a higher level than that powerful Awaken made him felt goosebumps all over his body.

“Who are you?! And who you work for?!” the squad leader asked with his tone higher than ever as his own body subconsciously retreated a few steps back.

It didn’t make sense to him for someone with a level like Hakeem to be in a place like this. The squad leader had already assumed Hakeem to be from a foreign country. Hakeem remained his calmness but inside he was utterly surprised by how they reacted over his level. In Hakeem’s eyes, his level meant nothing since there was a monster who kept training him in leveling up.

Miss Portman suddenly had a bad feeling as she glanced at the woman who was no longer crying. She used her ability which was ‘Scan’ as she peeked through Esther’s status. Then her jaw fell as she couldn’t help but be surprised once more.

“You…” she lost her words not knowing what else to say.

“What is it now? What’s happening?” the squad leader didn’t leave his sight on Hakeem but he couldn’t miss the gasp on Miss Portman’s voice.

While the rest of the squad was confused about why their squad leader and the Awaken in their squad to be this nervous. The looked at each other eyes while nudging their head as if asking themselves what was going on.

In the meantime, while the special ops team was having a crisis of their own, a voice whispered close to Hakeem’s ear.

“You know with your Iron Body, you could just knock the heck out of them,” it was Jason’s voice. But Hakeem maintained his expression.

“are you crazy? They’re probably the military, I can’t put my hands on the one who protects the country,” Hakeem tried his best to slightly whisper.

“C’mon, just let it out. I know you want to beat them, they said you’re from Somalia, they didn’t even ask whether you’re Canadian or not,” said Jason as he fanning the flickering flame in Hakeem’s heart.

Hakeem felt his anger rising as he remembered those words but he took deep breathes as he calmed himself down. Jason was disappointed, he wanted to see his friend raged out like back when in middle school Hakeem protected him from a few bullies. His tall build and his agile movement were exceptional in pummeling down those bullies. But Hakeem was calmed as he didn’t want to let his rage dictate his action.

“We’re not going to kill them you know, we’re just going to knock them out,” Jason tried again whispering directly into Hakeem’s soul. As if he was a little devil whispering to do bad deeds.

“No killing,” Hakeem whispered back. At last, Jason managed to do it as he grinned within his Shadow Sneak.

“You just take care of the Captain who’s point the gun at you, and I’ll take care of the rest,” said Jason. Hakeem slightly nodded.

“Go,” Jason said.

Hakeem broke off the plastic cuff-link wrapped around his wrist through sheer strength. The tall black man lunged at the squad leader as the Captain responded by unleashing a flurry of bullets.

But what the Captain saw only made his eyes bulged out. The bullets ricocheted off from Hakeem’s head as if he was made out of iron. Hakeem grabbed on to the muzzle of the rifle as he pushed it above towards the ceiling, the bullets rained down on the ceiling. The Captain let go of the rifle as he took out his sidearms but he was too slow, the moment he aimed at Hakeem, the tall stature man disappeared from sight as he executed Euro Step and within seconds in that time frame, the Captain was on the ground with a strong pair of arms wrapped over his neck. He tried to retaliate but then he saw his men falling down on the floor one by one by an invisible force. He lost his motivation and soon he blacked out.

Miss Portman stood still during the change of power, she watched everything that was happening with her two eyes. First, she noticed Hakeem assaulting the Captain but then the cry of the squad member made her turned her head around. She saw these special ops soldiers going down one by one by an unknown force, she thought it was the girl but it wasn’t her, Esther too was watching.

Miss Portman tried to used her ‘Scan’ ability at the unknown force but she couldn’t do it not even until the last man went down. Then she saw Esther breaking off from her plastic cuff-link as she stood up while thanking someone.

Her mind was boggled and her body was trembling out of fear. She wasn’t the combative type but she did survive through the calamity that happened in the first crack. Her instinct was to saved herself as her hand reached out to the side arms on her right thigh but her hand stop in motion as she heard a voice.

“Grab the gun and you’ll die,” a raspy whisper rang by the side of her ear and it wasn’t the only stimulus she felt, a cold object touched her throat. It was a cold Steel Dirk dagger, with a bit of pressure then her skin would definitely bleed.

Miss Portman didn’t notice the appearance of a man coming from behind. It was careless of her but she was powerless. She tried to glance at the perpetrator from the side in order to use her ability but out of sudden, a hand covered her eyes.

“Bad move Portman, you think I don’t know about your eyes? I guess you really want to die then.”

To those words, Portman shivered in utter fear.