Kill The Dragons - Chapter 54
“Silence, tail after those two. We will maintain distance and follow after you.”
Silence gave a slight nod. He swiftly moved through the forest like a black panther. His footsteps didn’t let a single sound as he moved through the forest. It was as if he had the power of zero gravity.
Wuuoong
Silence had lost the ability of speech after his accident. On the flip side, his reflexes, senses, and physical strength had surpassed human limits.
“Kaah?”
The Elu warrior stopped moving forward and looked behind them. Silence stuck closer behind a tree.
The blink skill was handy, but the Elu tribe were sensitive to psychic energies. Using the blink skill would easily give away one’s position.
Blink was handy for assassination and battle, but not the best for tailing enemies.
‘We’re nearing the dimensional crack.’
The dimensional crack had no particular activity for the past ten years.
Military forces were stationed around the dimensional crack during the first five years, however, countries stopped caring when no dangers turned up and didn’t wish to waste their money and military forces.
It was an unusual change for minions to turn up around the vicinity of the dimensional crack.
‘The superior officers are thinking of two possibilities. Either the minions were gathering around the dimensional crack for a specific goal in mind, or minions had appeared from within the dimensional crack. The circumstances of this place make the latter not likely.’
If the dimensional crack turned into a gate, it would have been easily observable.
‘As Sergeant had said, there are only minions around here. Did we kill all the werewolves that day?’
If there were werewolves, it would have made infiltration very difficult. All the werewolves were destroyed the night the second years were rescued. There were no Elu hunters around which could be for the same reason.
Wwuuoong.
A slight headache was felt in Silence’s head. The dimensional crack was so close they could see it.
A rainbow colored light spilled out from the cracked ground. The dimensional crack in Sinuiju was one kilometer long.
Soft light glowed from the broken ground. The light flowed out affecting even the sky. The sky surrounding the dimensional crack looked chaotic.
‘The dimensional crack.’
Silence was one of the most senior among the new recruits. He had seen the dimensional crack many times before.
He looked over to the open space near the dimensional crack where the minions were gathering. The Elus were murmuring like religious fanatics. They shook their bodies in a rhythmic pattern, bowing their bodies like they worshipped the rainbow lights.
‘It’s an Elu mage.’
The overbearing Elu was the leader, commanding the group.
The Elu mage didn’t carry any weapons, and only had one simple cane. The end of the cane had a blue crystal stuck onto it. They could feel strong, psychic energy from the crystal.
‘That’s a psychic crystal that I have only ever read and heard about.’
A psychic crystal was a mineral capable of storing psychic energy. Elu mages commonly store most of their psychic energies in these crystals, and use them for attacks. If they could get a hold of it, even a normal person would be able to pilot a psychoframe. However, psychic crystals were rare even amongst Elu mages.
“Oooh!”
The Elu mage seemed to be preparing for a ceremony. They had created an alter out of stone and wood. These items looked very much like what the sorcerers of Africa used. Silence quietly typed into his data bracelet. He sent a simple briefing to his squad members.
-Seven enemies. Six warriors, one mage.
Sergeant Red gave a quick response.
-Record a video clip and return.
Silence had already been recording this scene before he had arrived to this place. After recording enough material, he returned to his squad that was waiting in the rear. When Silence neared, the recording was sent to the squad’s data bracelets. The squad members used their helmets to review the recording.
‘They seem to be doing something.”
Han said. They couldn’t figure out the specific details. There was not enough information.
“It’s important to note that they had not escaped ,but chose to gather and remain in this place. After the war, the Elu mages didn’t dare to appear before us. They are very careful and when we attempt to approach them, they usually escape. They are aware that we will return to this place, but they have not run away.”
Han and Simon fell into thought and looked to one another.
“Something more important than their lives? For example…”
“Are they opening the gate or trying to summon something here? Anyway, we must stop them today. We will change the objective of our operation. Priority would be to capture it alive, but if necessary, stop them with as much force as possible- even if it means killing.”
Worst case scenario, a dragon would be summoned, but they didn’t want to think of the possibility. If a dragon was to appear before them, Squad Whiskey would be wiped out. They didn’t have the necessary gear to confront a dragon.
Sergeant Red watched through to the end of the recording. He zoomed in to a spot of the video clip and sent it to the squad.
“Is this a psychic crystal?”
Simon said with uncertainty. Sergeant Red nodded. It was the crystal attached to the end of the Elu mage’s cane.
“Everyone should be aware of the psychic bombs which shot down our planes. The Elu mage was the perpetrator. The driving force behind the attack had been this psychic crystal. They will reserve psychic energy in these crystals for a long time. This is the reason why they could attack with as much power as dragons. They will be able to make one more attack of the same power.”
“How do you know this?”
Han asked. Sergeant Red pointed to the crystal.
“The color of the crystal is a faint sky blue. This is the proof that there is not much psychic energy left inside. If the crystal is completely spent, it turns white. If you look at its size and color, you will be able to estimate the amount of psychic energy stored inside it.”
Sergeant Red had numerous battle experience. He had fought against dragons and of course countless minions.
Elu mages were threatening existences, Sergeant Red was aware of their unique characteristics. He had come to learn of these facts after losing countless peers.
‘My role is to teach everything we learned from our sacrifices to these brats.’
Official squads which Ark deploys always include a minimum of one, first-generation psyker. The first generation psykers are instructed that if they are to fall into a life threatening situation, the students’ lives come first. If necessary, they are to die in order to save the students.
“Catching the wizard will now commence. The most important point is our speed. We must suppress the Elu mage before it gets to use its power to attack. Silence will be responsible for this, while Han will be the second attacker. If Silence’s situation becomes unfavorable, Han will face off with the mage. No, if it turns to that point, just kill the mage.”
Sergeant Red planned out tactics based on the information they had gathered. We will try to suppress the mage with an ambush, and afterwards eliminate the warriors.
-Moving out. Eight meters in distance.
Han focused. Now, any sort of mistake was unacceptable.
“Huu, huu.”
He inhaled and exhaled. He remembered the time he tried to steal food from the military food truck. He snuck past the soldier who was taking a smoke break and snuck into the back loading space. He had no idea when the soldiers would return and had to try to sooth his rampaging, fearful heart.
-arrived at an observable distance.
Han peered across through his helmet shield toward the Elu tribe.
‘What are they doing?’
The Elus were putting something onto their alter. He could see bits and pieces of a familiar cloth. They were pieces of the Ark training uniforms.
Thump, thump.
Han’s heart drummed heavily. He couldn’t hear any sound from his surroundings, only his own heart’s loud thumps.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
‘Can’t be.’
The Elu tribe had skewered something to the end of a stick and propped it onto the altar. Blood flowed down the stick.
Ba-dududuk!
Han grinded his teeth. The Elus had skewed corpses onto the stick. These were the dead youths of Ark; even in death they could not rest in peace. They had become the Elu’s sacrifices.
-Calm down, Han.
Sergeant Red’s voice sounded distant. Han breathed hard while getting a hold of himself. Anger boiled from his chest.
“Ah.”
Han let out a tiny groan. He saw a familiar face from the dead youths. The two members that had gone missing from Squad 13. The members of this squad had become cold corpses and were being mocked by the Elus.
‘They are my squad members. Domingo, Qassim…..’
Han had always remained calm and made logical decisions. He had a coolness that stood out from his peers and was shocking even amongst adults. The Elus had ruffled the one thing that kept his emotions at bay.
‘I had already known they were dead. However to be put into this state…..’
He tried to calm his heart, but his heart thumped like a wild animal that was raging inside. Han’s chest began to ache.
Guuuoooo.
Psychic energy spilled from Han’s eyes. His psychic energy and mind melted together. His mind shook and killing intent boiled, igniting his psychic energy.
-No! Han!
