RETURN OF THE SHADOW - Chapter 174

“I spread the bait as much as I can so that all of them will get a chance to eat it,” said Balthazar returning to the place where Robert was hiding. “But there is a good chance that few will not be down. Leave them to me you need locate and kill the others in the meantime. Once, we kill a large number, even if a few are missed they wouldn’t be too inclined to pursue us.”

“What? Didn’t you say that you would kill all the ones which are down?” asked Robert.

“You will keep the ones which are not down at bay?”

“OK. I like your idea,” relented Robert and the pair of them waited there observing the pack from a distance. As Robert had told, the first beasts of the packs started to move in a wobbly fashion in ten minutes and began to fall to their side.

“It is time,” said Balthazar as he pulled out both blade in two hands. “Take out one gun. I will be on the lookout for the active ones, but if any escape me, you best shoot them down.”

Balthazar quickly made way to the alpha with the collar while making kill strikes against any beast he came across. They were slow due to the poison and provided easy targets. Subduing the alpha of a pack was always a deterrent to the rest of the forces. So, his main target was the alpha. Being the alpha, it had taken the largest bites from the bait they had used and it was one of the first ones to be down.

“Don’t kill it. It might trigger an alarm,” said Balthazar as he reached for the collar. He actually had no idea what to do but hoped to tie up its limbs and jaws shut. Robert had also followed Balthazar as he killed any

“You mean the collar. Cousin, you must know that even the slightest change in it like reduction in the usual heart rate due to poisoning could be transmitted by those collars. If any alarm was there, it would have already been triggered. But most of such alarms usually have someone monitoring as the beasts might sometimes eat something and get notified to check it manually. So, no need to worry about any automated defences being triggered,” explained Robert as he put his blade through the eye of the collared beast.

“You know an awful lot about the security protocols,” said Balthazar. It was his turn to be surprised. He had gathered his knowledge from working as an assassin and armed forces, but Robert had no such background.

“I don’t know about security protocols, but I do know the limitations and drawbacks of devices which monitor vitals. Any protocol would be based on the information provided by these things,” replied Robert pointing to the collar. “If I know one thing about people who use beasts, it is that they are compensating for the lack of men and tech. Anyways, I can say one thing for sure, if there are any personnel who would be observing the information from the collar, they already were informed when the beast got poisoned. Moreover, based on the ones I have killed till now, they look a bit malnourished. It looks like their caretakers haven’t been here for quite some time.”

Robert went ahead and started to kill the rest of the beasts which were down. He had to use his gun a couple of times, but most of the few Boredrevers which were not down saw him kill the alpha and were approached Balthazar instead.

Balthazar was not even the slightest bit nervous of the Boredrevers. The only reason, he was concerned was the collar and the large numbers. With the poisoning successful, there were only about 15 of them capable of moving and were not at their best either. They were actually easy prey for Balthazar now and they were also afraid of him as most of their brethren had fallen down.

In about ten minutes, the pair of them managed to kill enough with their blades and bullets, that the remaining fled away. The first obstacle along their entrance was clear and they could move into the valley. Balthazar took lead as he had the sensory devices on his suit unlocked. There was a slightly barren land with sparse vegetation and the greenery on increased as they looked further.

“There are some mines present along the way,” said Balthazar as his suit displayed the defences of the place ahead of him. There was a mine field with a number of pressure sensitive mines covered by the grass and other vegetation. Balthazar was surprised that these hadn’t blown up due to the vegetation. He was even more amazed that the suit was able to determine such things as sonic vibration might set off the mines and most of the mines were equipped to be not detected by sensory technologies. His suit also managed to identify the type and their effective radius suggesting him possible paths through.

“I have a marked a path through them, but wait a moment,” said Balthazar. “These mines are always being upgraded to counter the latest sensory tech. It is best if we check it by some other method too. It is common to put mines with better concealment tech in possible paths through the field or other traps in the way.”

“What? You want to throw rocks at it?”

“We need to find really big rocks and we don’t know the explosion radius of these things. Too much trouble. You can throw rocks throughout the path. We need something that could be moved in a controlled fashion in the direction we specify. Usually, military uses bots for this purpose. We put on meat on them as a few traps might be based on light refraction and check for carbon-based signatures.”

“I am pretty sure that we don’t have any such methods at our disposal now. Stop bragging off about your knowledge,” said Robert.

“Ya. I am suggesting something different, cousin. I am suggesting that I will do the job of the bot.”

“Gross. You want to tie up those Boredrever bodies around you?”

“No. I am suggesting we pile them up. Tie them with their guts and to a log which we can use as a handle to move around the area.”

“Oh! Sorry, your words were kind of misleading.”

“Misleading, my ass. What do you think I am a barbarian?” asked Balthazar. Doing the thing which his cousin thought was not something that actually disgusted him. In his past life, he had spent some time as an assassin during which he saw stuff far more gruesome and a part of him got used to it. But he had no intention of letting anyone know about the callous man that he used to be. He hid that even when he got the job playing in vita-nova for five years.

“Come on. It was just a tiny doubt. Consider it a joke.”

“Bad joke and a bit far-fetched.”

“Not really. You are using the intestines of these beasts as a rope. I doubt even hunters and surgeon are would be as used to it as you.”

“Ok. I had a few experiences that you won’t find in the reports,” said Balthazar and didn’t elaborate further.

“Now help me with the beasts and you are the one in charge of making it. It will be a useful experience. Trust me,” continued Balthazar as he smiled at the expense of his cousin’s nausea.

Robert had seen guts and worked on both human and animals before, but not like this. Under his cousin instructions he had to pull out the intestines and use them to tie up the beasts which make him puke a couple of times. Balthazar used this time to get a log which could be used as a handle to move around the pile of meat.

“You could have had a few more pieces of wood for weight instead of this gross thing, you know,” said Robert feeling queasy to tie up the things.

“It is not just useful as a weight. If we just wanted a weight of couple of the beasts would do. I wouldn’t make you tie up more than 5 would I?” asked Balthazar shaking his head. “Meat is heavy but soft when compared to the woods here. Even the bones of these beasts wouldn’t be as hard as they are not native to higher gravity environment. So, in case, an explosion happens due to a hidden mine. These will cushion it effect better with meat.”

“Wow. You were really thinking this through,” said Robert who half-suspected that his cousin was just playing around with him.

“Ya. Not really. Just practice. Any padding against explosions should be hard to breach and if broken or affected by the explosion, it shouldn’t get brittle and end up causing more damage. Our suits are quite sturdy, and I can’t see anything tougher here. So, choose to go with something that would dampen it instead. Remember this, based on the situation always find some decent cover when dealing with explosions,” said Balthazar explaining to Robert about the precaution to take while one circ.u.mvents explosive devices.

“You know this is more like a training session where I am the trainee and you are the trainer than a joint trail for the both of us,” remarked Robert.

“It is not. But I am sure that I can arrange a better training session if you want. I can even get you to see the training that the military conducts. You can be a personal guest of mine,” said Balthazar.

“No. No. I am getting tired of an impromptu one. You honestly think, I would ask for a planned training session with you,” said Robert rolling his eyes.

“Fine. The offer is always open. Might be a good thing to see, once you are an elder. But let us get on with the work at hand,” said Balthazar as they formed a temporary makeshift appliance to make sure that the path he could see through his suits sensor was safe. Luckily, there was no issue and they managed to get through the mines.

A stretch of vegetation and trees followed after that at the end of which there was a mesh. It had a bunch of creepers growing on it which made it seem like the place wasn’t really under upkeep for some time.

“I guess we are near the main place,” said Robert as he noticed it at the end of the land.

“It looks like that. The system shows no mines in this area at all. I guess we can trust it, since we managed through those,” said Balthazar pointing behind him.

“But you still want to move that pile of beast ahead of you, just to be sure. Right?”

“Well, I am glad that we are of the same opinion cousin. Why don’t you move it this time,” said Balthazar handling him over the log to whose opposite end the pile of beasts was tied on.

“That’s unnecessary,” said Robert. “Your paranoid.”

“The same way you are paranoid and are fixated on training?”

“That is different.”

“No, it is not. It is the same. That was just a person trying to kill you personally because he didn’t have enough time to make a plan. Else, it would be a bomb or poison or some other tool for that purpose,” said Balthazar. “You won’t be able experience this in a safe environment again. It would be hard once you become an elder. Make use of it.”

“You know, you are awful preachy about this stuff,” said Robert as he took the handle and the pair of them went towards the mesh. Balthazar kept mapping the terrain till they reached the mesh, but found nothing different. The mesh was about 7 feet high and spread along the entire width of the valley and went into the two hills on either side.

“You sure there is nothing here?” asked Robert. “Check again.”

“I did already. Let us cross over this thing. There is a gate about 30 feet to the left,” said Balthazar as he pulled out a piece of meat from the pile that they were carrying and threw it on the mesh. There was no reaction to the event.

“No electricity running through it,” said Robert as he pulled up the piece of meat. “It would at least sizzle if a current capable of harming the suit is passing through.”

Balthazar moved to the place where the gate was supposed to be on the mesh and kicked forward opening the gate. He was about to enter the place when a couple of voices sounded in his suit.

“Wait for a minute. We are joining you,” said Lucius as he and Richard ran to join them. The pair of them managed to catch up to Balthazar and Richard when they were making poisonous bait for the Boredrevers but stayed a decent distance away from them after activating the stealth feature of their suits.

Lucius words had both Robert and Balthazar a bit tensed. Balthazar immediately went to the conclusion that something happened again, or they have found trail of someone else on the planet.

“What’s wrong?” asked Balthazar through his comms.

“Just stay put. We are coming,” replied Richard.