Chapter 66: Starting the Journey

[02:15 a.m.]

Andrés was beginning the trip and was currently inside the personal armored vehicle that served as the operations center.

The vehicle was modified to have only two seats and was surrounded by screens of all kinds.

Since the seats could be moved to watch the various screens, it was easy to take care of everything, even if there was no one with technology-related talent.

Right now, Andrés was looking at a screen of the scene outside.

Liam had attached small drones to the trucks and engineer vehicles, at the same time, those vehicles had cameras at their disposal.

So even though they were enclosed, he could observe the outside.

“Shocking, isn’t it?” Liam asked, looking at the screen Andrés was watching and with a serious tone, he commented. “Wau City, supposedly before the ‘Great Cataclysm’ had about two hundred thousand inhabitants, however, now only ruins remain. And that’s doubtful.”

They had just left the outpost and were now touring what was once the ‘Wau City’, but looking at the scene outside, one could not believe that this was once a city.

A boundless green filled with trees, leaving only room for the dirt road.

Tree after tree...

Thanks to the cameras that had night vision, Andrés could observe the green trees, the undergrowth, and plants that covered the area.

This place was already part of the Magic Forest that had spread, covering dozens of ancient African countries.

The Magic Forest that covered a large area let see the force of nature and power, which made civilization disappear in these regions.

“So natural. So beautiful. That’s why they call it ‘Eden’, only without Adam or Eve,” Liam teased with a smile.

Paradise without humans... That was the basic way to call it.

Andrés shook his head at the thought.

******

[03:37 a.m.]

“Boring, don’t you think?” Liam asked with a bored sigh.

Nothing more than an hour into the trip, and the most they had encountered was a few magical beasts fleeing at the sound of the vehicles’ engines.

Leading the way was the engineer’s vehicle that, as the military had already traveled to Yuba taking care of the details, had no work to do.

It was boring, Andrés could not deny it.

“Yes it is, but...” Andrés said and looked at the screen, pointing to the magic forest without finishing his words.

The road was dirt and on both sides was the magic forest and despite the vehicles illuminating the surroundings, the dense forest gave a dangerous and sinister feeling.

“Don’t worry, the radars are active analyzing the surroundings. Any fluctuation of magical energy will be sensed, just as it will detect any creature, be it magical beast or monster by air, ground or under it,” explained Liam displaying the different screens.

The radars gathered information at high speed and since they had high power, they would detect creatures around them.

If the enemies were humans, they could hide completely, but if they were monsters or magical beasts, then that was another matter.

Very few magical beasts could hide and avoid the radars.

“Yes, I know,” Andrés replied with a sigh.

They traveled quite fast, so when they encountered weak monsters, they would quickly overtake them and leave them behind.

In case they were wild creatures, then they simply fled because of the convoy.

“The good thing is that we haven’t stopped yet and if we keep going this way, we’ll reach Yuba by eleven in the morning,” Liam muttered, stretching in his seat as the vehicle kept moving.

Andrés nodded at those words, but after hesitating for a long time, he asked. “Are you really an S-Rank?”

He had held his curiosity ever since Aurora had revealed at the meeting that Liam was an S-Rank, just like Akira or Cardinal Brousseau.

That was certainly surprising and sudden since she had been at Liam’s side, but he never thought he was an S-Rank.

“Yeah, but it’s an open secret,” Liam commented with an amused laugh, and seeing Andrés curious, he explained. “Officially, I’ve been an A-Rank for years, a simple member of a group of unknown mercenaries. You know what my job is, and in that kind of job where information was handled, it’s important to stay hidden.”

Andrés nodded.

He had helped him use the information network to identify some people who were wanted in Zerzura to earn some extra money, so he understood that hiding was the best thing to do.

After all, the information network didn’t just sell public and legal information.

“That’s why I haven’t registered my rank promotion and haven’t taken the test,” Liam added and, in a low voice, muttered. “Besides, when I was younger, I was slightly troublesome hacking and going into places I shouldn’t go into.”

Andrés’s expression quivered for a moment.

Why did it sound like he did something illegal and dangerous?

Andrés suppressed his curiosity.

He liked working in the information network, but he still didn’t feel skilled enough to meddle in things that could send him to prison... Unless he had the assurances guaranteed.

******

[05:21 a.m.]

Nicole ate the cookies Shao Ya gave her.

“Can’t you sleep?” Shao Ya asked in a low voice.

She nodded in confirmation and looked at the group in the truck.

Her group of students was with Akira’s team and some members of the church Vanessa was in.

She could see that Clémentine, Érica, and Leslie had their eyes closed, it was hard to tell if they were sleeping or just resting their eyes.

Akira and Aeko were similar, only they were sleeping peacefully.

If it wasn’t for Shao Ya, Santiago, and Vanessa who were awake, it would have been quite lonely.

They had told her to rest as they had a long trip tomorrow as well and, unlike the others, Nicole had trouble sleeping.

“Nervous?” Shao Ya asked Nicole and Vanessa.

“Yes, it’s my first time going out to a place like this,” Vanessa replied in a low voice, and with a smile, she added. “But I’m not afraid.”

Nicole agreed with Vanessa.

She was nervous due to the fact that this was her first important and highly responsible mission she had, but she wasn’t afraid, even though she was traveling through the magical forest.

“Boss, there is a mutated armored rhino standing in our way. The strength of its magical energy marks it as Rank A. It’s quite possible we’ll collide with it.”

Liam’s voice echoed from the driver’s cab and Nicole noticed Akira open her eyes and wake up in an instant.

“Liam warns we will stop, take him out, and depart,” Aurora replied and then leaned out of the window between compartments and ordered. “Akira, let’s finish this quickly.”

“Right,” Replied Akira, and the convoy stopped.

Leslie, who had indeed fallen asleep, woke up and Shao Ya quickly explained the situation.

For her part, Nicole looked out the front window and to her regret, she could only observe Alice in the seat opening one of her bags of chips.

Aurora had been driving the truck, so she was not surprised to see Alice, the problem was that because of the engineering vehicle she could not observe what was going on up front.

“You can connect to the local network in the command center with your holographic watch and see Liam’s drone cameras that he must have already deployed,” Alice mentioned calmly.

Hearing those words, they all turned on their holographic watches and connected to the network by selecting the front camera on the engineer’s car.

“It’s a monster. And it’s been corrupted enough to have mutated,” Aeko muttered with a serious expression.

Everyone could see the armored rhino, but this rhino was very different from any other.

It had mutated illogically.

The rhino had two heads and had sharp fangs in its jaws.

‘Chaos’.

Source of all evil to some and a primordial energy that could corrupt everything it touched to others.

That rhino was affected by ‘Chaos’ and had become a corrupted monster that had already mutated.

That creature was being faced by Aurora and Akira.

Akira stepped in front of the engineer’s vehicle to be seen by the rhino, then when the rhino started to charge, Aurora, who had hidden to the side, hit the rhino, getting it sent to the side of the street.

A thick ice spear was created above Akira and this one just sent it against the monster at a terrifying speed as soon as the rhino fell to the ground.

The difference of A and S Rank was demonstrated in a single instant when the spear pierced the stomach of the rhino that had fallen to the ground.

For her part, Aurora plunged that spear deeper to finish the job, and Akira, for her part, kept the corpse in her space ring.

The armored rhinos had a high defense, but their stomach was where their defense was the least... Of course, the strength of an S-Rank turned that little defense into nothing.

“That’s the strength of an S-Rank,” Vanessa muttered with an impressed tone.

Each individual was different from each other, showing their strength in different areas even among S-Rankers.

Still, that strength to defeat an A-Rank creature was certainly impressive and was what everyone thought of when talking about an S-Rank.

“It’s just teamwork,” Aeko muttered and then commented. “Personally, I’m impressed with Aurora’s strength to send a rhino weighing over three tons flying.”

They took advantage of the rhino’s tendency to charge and then used it to let its weaker side has been exposed... Which made Akira without too much trouble to kill it.

“Aurora, if you want I can drive,” Santiago commented before Aurora entered the vehicle.

“Okay,” Aurora replied, and using her holographic watch, she communicated. “Those who wish to change drivers and escorts may do so.”

Drivers not only needed to be good at driving, but they needed to have the reflexes to avoid any dangerous situations, and while the escort was the lookout who was responsible for keeping an eye on both the driver and the outside while also being the quick response individual.

The affirmations reached the communication channel, and Santiago, along with Oscar, changed seats with Aurora and Alice.

Moments later, the convoy was moving again.

******

[08:01 a.m.]

Nicole opened her eyes when she felt that everything had stopped.

She was drowsy, but when she realized she was on a mission, she quickly tried to wake up to see if anything bad happened.

“Easy, we just stopped,” Clémentine reported quietly, looking carefully at Aurora, who was wearing her holographic watch.

“What’s wrong?” asked Nicole in a low voice.

Some of those present were still asleep and, for their part, the awake ones watched Aurora carefully.

“Quite troublesome it seems,” Aurora muttered, looking at some images on her holographic clock.

“What are we going to do, boss?” Liam asked through the transmitter drones.

“The satellites only reveal to us winged lions that are fighting other types of creatures, but we don’t know if they are allies or enemies. However, we can’t stop and wait. We must go on,” Aurora replied, explaining in passing to those who were watching her, closed her holographic watch, and stated. “It is still three or four hours to Yuba, and if they are still at that location, then we will see it at the time.”

“Got it, boss,” Liam replied, and the communication went dead, then all vehicles got the green light to move.

Nicole remembered the information about the winged lions.

This species of highly intelligent magical beast had smaller numbers compared to other magical beasts and was always moving from place to place hunting other creatures.

They were very aggressive in eliminating monsters, creatures, or other magical beasts, but the lions entered into the treaty of friendship and were at peace with humans.

Of course, this only applied to a certain tribe as well as other like-minded tribes and not for their whole species in general... Just like humans.

“They need not be alarmed, if they are who I think they are, then... There won’t be too much trouble.” Aurora commented with a reassuring smile.

Hearing those words, those present nodded in appreciation of their leader’s confidence.