RB Chapter 194 Eric Appears!

On a hill, barren except for a few sparse trees and bushes, plenty of human activity could be observed. Walls of compressed dirt had sprang up turning the entire hill into a fortress. Some humans could be seen patrolling above the walls. These were humans with genetic abilities enabling far vision, seismic sensing, smell and many other scouting abilities.

Inside the makeshift fortress was an arrangement of many tents where one of them was a temporary theatre of operations. There were multiple screens showing the beasts advancing, mostly keeping the images on seven areas where the spectrum beasts were. The time was lunch and everyone was eating a snack while doing their jobs. Chloe was also one of those.

She was seating on a chair behind the desk and people were reporting about how the preparations were going while she was giving out orders to fine tune things. Her tense nerves had gotten settled a bit when the preliminary work of constructing the walls had been completed.

"Commander, the ants are arriving within 15 minutes according to Kampala city." Someone reported.

"Okay, tell most of the people not to waste energy as it will be needed more during the fighting." She ordered another person.

"Yes, ma'am!"

'This is hard. I hope someone else comes and relieves me of my duties.' She lamented. During battle, someone had been arranged who would take over command of the energy channellers, but since the battle hadn't yet arrived, she was occupying the seat as the overall commander.

"What about the spectrum warriors?" She turned towards someone who was acting as liaison with Mugumivu.

"Except for his excellency Lightning Summoner, the others are projected to arrive in the morning."

'So, she's a fan.'

"The beasts will be knocking at our doors in the evening, how am I supposed to hold them off until morning?" Chloe groaned.

"They said that help will arrive with the ants." The person who was from Kampala city said, causing Chloe's eyebrows to raise in surprise.

"Oh! What kind of help?" She asked, her interest piqued.

"They just said that you will be surprised." The man said. He was starting to get uncomfortable. Even though Chloe wasn't consciously exerting any pressure, he still felt threatened by her gaze.

"I will wait and see." She said.

-----

"Chloe is so efficient its like she has done this before!" Elena commented in amazement. Everyone around them was carrying out a task. She was next to Leah and they were moving crates filled with liquid ATP towards the storage tent. The storage tent was next to the command area and was heavily guarded. This ATP couldn't be allowed to be stolen or destroyed! It was going to be the lifeline of the warriors on the battlefield.

"Elena, it will be better if you don't casually utter her name out loud. Right now she is the commander of the overall forces." Leah warned. Already a few people were looking at the weirdly.

"What's the point of hiding the fact that we personally know her?" Elena asked.

"It prevents us from having a target at our backs. There are already many people here who aren't happy that we are still alive, do you want to rile them up?" Leah whispered.

"Okay." Elena agreed.

"Mmmm!? A car is coming. At this time? Everything has already arrived so what could be coming?" Even though Elena and Leah were both curious, they were still on the job of transporting the ATP filled crates.

At the south of the hill in the direction facing Kampala city, there was a narrow path through which vehicles could pass through. It hadn't yet been blocked off because there had still been too many things to transport. An armored car with tinted windows appeared before this path. No one inspected it as that was pointless. Even though the beasts were intelligent, there was no way that they would steal a car and drive into enemy camp, so the car mist have possessed humans, that's why no one bothered with checking.

The car didn't slow down upon entering the fortress instead it drive all the way to the command tent.

As Elena and Leah were coming out after depositing the crate, they managed to see the car coming to a stop. Someone, a youth with black hair, blue eyes, dressed in a military outfit which emphasized his already good looks came out.

The moment they saw him, Elena almost raced towards him only for a hand to settle in her shoulder.

With Elena's question filled eyes turned towards her, Leah answered, "we currently have to observe discipline." Elena wanted to break out, but seeing Leah barely holding out from racing over herself, she ultimately settled down.

-----

Eric breathed in deeply upon exiting the car. This was the first time in a long time that he had finally managed to come outside. Even though he lacked a sense of time when his body had been enclosed in the incubation chamber, he was still elated at this moment. The afternoon sun fell onto his skin, bringing with it warmth.

The car drove off, the sound of its engine causing him to awake from his musings to look at his surroundings. He was only going to take a casual glance around, but after his eyes fell onto another's, they failed to move away.

Eric's heart trembled when he looked into those red eyes, their owner seemingly on the verge of shedding tears. Leah had one hand on Elena's shoulder and judging by the posture, she must have been trying to come near him only for her to be held back by Leah.

'It looks like she's able to be rational enough...but there is no need for that here...' He strode over and hugged both the girls. They both flinched at the unexpectedness of his hug, but he didn't let go.

He felt Leah's body trembling and knew that she was sobbing from the coldness he was feeling on his skin through his jacket.

"Its okay, I am fine." Eric said.

A few minutes later, after she had exhausted all of her tears, the trio was standing near each other.

"Are you really recovered? Ate there any side effects or inconsistencies?" Leah asked, concern thick in her voice.

"I have recovered." Eric answered. He didn't know how to really reassure her as it was something hard to do.

"Leah! Can't you see that he's really fine?" Elena asked in exasperation.

"What if he has some hidden injuries?" Leah asked.

"How can that be? If he managed to get out of that recovery pod, then he must truly have recovered." Elena said.

"Anyway, I heard that you were assigned to a team...how is it?" Eric asked, obviously trying to change the topic.

"Its just like that...boring. The others try to avoid us like the plague because of that bitch of a captain." Elena complained.

"Then how are you supposed to work together?" Eric asked.

"Don't worry, we will take care of the matter ourselves." Leah said with a glint in her eyes. She probably already had a plan.

"Hey Eric! How long do I have to wait for you to meet me?" A voice came from inside the command tent. It was Chloe's familiar voice.

"It looks like this is all the time we have. I will try to see whrger I can get a chance to chat with you all again." Eric walked away. He couldn't keep Chloe waiting too long as she was the overall commander. That would just be too disrespectful.

Many energy channellers had crowded around, trying to get a glimpse of his face. Some were his fans. Scales had been covering his face when he had performed that legendary feat, but the dark blue eyes had already given him away, not to mention that he had conveniently vanished the same moment that the person who had summoned the lightning had. He didn't wave as those people just silently stared at Jim without doing anything.

'I can't tell what's going through their minds.'

He entered the large tent only to be greeted with the sight of even more people...and they were all staring at him.

'I hate crowds!' He grit his teeth until he made it to Chloe's table, who had an amused grin on her face.

"Long time no see! I see that you are better than ever." She gave him a once over as the people who had been crowding in front of her desk made way for him.

"So, Chloe, you have now managed to become a big shot. I didn't expect this." Eric laughed off her words, releasing his own in retaliation.

"Oh! Are you insinuating that I can't handle this?" Chloe's gaze became sharp.

"No no no...I could never. I just...well its amazing that you can handle this..." Eric's eyes rolled around in their sockets as he shifted his gaze everywhere but her.

"Heh! I will let this go on account that I have managed to see you for the first time in weeks." Chloe's sharp gaze softened.

"So, what's the plan?" Eric asked.

"As you can see, we are turning this hill into a fortress. We will be defending this position. The problem is that the other five spectrum warriors will arrive tomorrow morning at the earliest, while the beast horde will be upon us by dusk. It will be very difficult for the two of us to defend against seven spectrum level beasts." Chloe sank back into her chair, her gaze involuntarily falling onto the man liaising with Kampala city.

"...apparently, Kampala city has prepared a surprise for us that will enable us to hold out for long. I asked this man, but he reufued to say." Chloe said.

"Oh! Elder Muti must be confident then." Eric gazed upon the man, who visibly appeared uncomfortable.

"We have also released many drones into the air, this battle is going to have a very airtight coverage. The drones and some energy channellers with powerful senses will be put to the task of monitoring the seven spectrum beasts at all times to prevent ambushes."

"That will be hard. Both you and I know that a spectrum domain is a powerful ability." Eric became skeptical.

"Even with the usage of the spectrum domain, there are traces. What we will be monitoring will be those traces. Each drone has been equipped with multi-electromagnetic wave sensor. Its crude, but it works." Chloe answered.

"I know, when our domains warp electromagnetic waves, someone with the right equipment and knowledge of what they are searching for are bound to detect us." Eric nodded.

"I keep hearing something about the lightning summoner and people pointing at me. What's that about?" Eric asked after the others who had been crowding the table went away leaving the two of them alone. He was now seating opposite her. They were being given space so that they could catch up.

"Hahahahahaha...its your legend. Apparently the African federation decided to create a new ranking separate from the spectrum and lord rankings. Its called the legend ranking. Currently, it only has one legend, the lightning summoner. It even has that video of you calling down the lightning to strike the vines." Chloe laughed before explaining.

"Hah! I don't like being the centre of attention, but, what a cheesy name! Its straight out of a fantasy novel." Eric wanted to cover his eyes and probably find a place devoid of anyone.

"I didn't come up with it. Those people in Cairo did." Chloe said.

"Shit!" A curse escaped his mouth while his hand rustled through his hair. He was exasperated. Though, that didn't mean that he didn't feel anything else. He was proud, even a tiny sliver of him felt that his name...even a moniker, just being out their satisfied his ego.

"I bet you are that tiny bit happy. You should be actually...but I hope that you never pull such a dangerous stunt without consulting me at least. We are part...friends." Chloe said seriously. She had been worried too when he had been unconscious, so this was her own way of venting.