The Rising Of The Anomaly - Chapter 197

“What? You can’t be serious!” Exclaimed Yugi in disbelief.

Can’t exactly blame him, I was seeing it play out and was still having a really hard time believing my eyes…I then shared the live footage with the others, sending the feed to their I-Watches.

“No way…,” Muttered Seila in bewilderment.

The Monke then finished killing all the Landsharks, without sustaining even a scratch worth of damage…and, then…

“What the…? It’s…it’s eating them,” Remarked Suri, her tone equal parts shock and disgust.

“Look at its face…it looks like it’s struggling to eat,” Added Katie.

She’s right…it’s almost like it was forcing itself to eat. Mutants proliferate rapidly, have abnormally fast rates of growth, but also die quickly due to lack of available sustenance. They only eat humans and normal animals, and probably Wights too, but they don’t eat other Mutants…at least, that’s the common belief we’ve been following all this time.

We’ve theorized that Mutants probably extend their lives by hibernating, that’s how Ace Mutants like the Crocsnek stayed alive…but now, I think that theory’s wrong.

The Crocsnek showed a level of intelligence that’s rarely seen in Mutants, it wouldn’t have just let itself starve to death…I’d say that it’s very likely that it ate other Mutants.

This Monke, I don’t know how it’s able to use XFE, but it’s probably more intelligent than the average Mutant…even when it was fighting, it wasn’t just wildly attacking, there seemed to be clear intent and strategy behind its attacks.

It could fire orbs of Water Attribute XFE, which didn’t seem all that powerful, but it seems to know that…it kept using its blasts to stun the Landsharks and then finished them off with its fangs and claws. It was very simple and basic, but it was still very much a tactic.

Don’t tell me…are the Mutants starting to evolve? We can’t just kill this thing, we need to capture and take it back…we’re only a few kilometers out from the base, so it won’t cost too much time to postpone the current Mission.

“Alright, guys, we’re putting the Mission on hold! Stay by the vehicle and guard the clients, I’ll go on ahead and incapacitate the Monke…I won’t kill it though, I’ll try to knock it out or get rid of its limbs or something. Mitchell, come with me. I need you to wrap it up in your tails and fly it back to the base once I’m done restraining it,” I instructed everyone swiftly.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to take it on alone, let us-…,” Seila began to suggest.

“No, this thing’s a complete unknown variable, I’m taking no chances…I’ll keep my distance and use my X-Blasters, along with my Anomaly powers if necessary. Alright, I’m going on ahead,” I stated, as I zipped through the air using my Jetback, readying my X-Blasters.

“Got it, we’ll form a circle around the jeep in the meantime,” Responded Suri, as the others except for Mitchell surrounded the jeep.

As I shot through the air, the Monke noticed me as I got within about fifty meters of it, before I halted and fired out of my X-Blasters, aiming for its shoulders to disable its arms.

But it managed to evade, it’s eyes widening as it ducked below, watching the projectiles carefully. Woah…I know that Monkes are supposed to have pretty good eyesight, but I’ve never seen one focus like that. But what it did next shocked me even more…as it pointed its hand at me and formed an XFE blast…but instead of the round shape it had manifested against the Landsharks, this one was narrower and sharper.

It let out a roar as it fired the attack at me, which I was able to evade easily enough, before firing out of my X-Blasters again, aiming to take out its knees. It swiftly leapt straight back, making sure not to jump too high…if it had, it’d have been a sitting duck for me to take out with ease.

As it fired two more sharp projectiles at me, I activated one of my X-Blades and deflected them away with ease. And then, it took a wary step back…it’s realized that I’m way out of its league, it might have also caught on to the fact that I’ve been probing to try and size up its capabilities. Well, then, that’s enough playing around, time to finish this.

“<Activate Anomaly, Tier Two: Pause>.”

Hm? It formed another XFE projectile, but a round one, not a sharp one…and it looked like it was starting to point it down at the ground before I froze time. Wait, was it about to try and kick up a dust cloud to use as cover to escape?

I then walked over towards it and snapped its arms and legs, breaking its bones, before standing behind it as I got ready to unfreeze time…

“<Activate Anomaly, Tier Two: Play>.”

An earsplitting, vicious screech of pain and alarm burst out of its mouth as it collapsed onto the ground, unable to move its limbs. Right as it began to form an XFE blast in its mouth, starting to turn its head around, I swiftly struck the back of its neck, knocking it out.

“Okay, I’m done…Mitchell, get this thing back to the base, and briefly explain the situation to them,” I instructed, before adding, “I’ll send them a detailed report in the meantime, we’re still just about within signal range, so our I-Watches are functional.”

Mitchell then swooped down as he recited the activation chant and manifested his tails, wrapping two of them around the Monke and lifting it up off the ground.

“Not gonna lie, this is kinda scary,” He remarked nervously, before starting to fly off in the direction of the base.

“Make sure to keep its head facing downwards, you’ll be in no danger so long as you can manage that,” I advised him, as I began heading back to the others.

“Sure, got it!”

There could be more of these intelligent, XFE-wielding Mutants further up ahead, but there’s no guarantee of that, so it’s important that we capture this one and study it.

It wasn’t very formidable while fighting me at long range, but from what I saw of how it fought the Landsharks, it would have given me a run for my money in a close range fight…I mean, I’d definitely win, but that’s if I was trying to kill it. Since I was trying to capture it alive, it would have been pretty difficult to incapacitate it in a close range bout.

Still, I don’t like how quickly it was learning and adapting…it only took a couple of shots from me for it to figure out how to make its projectiles faster and more penetrative. And it’s reaction time bothers me too, to be able to dodge my bullets is no easy feat.

It could probably take on a small group of lower ranked X-Warriors on its own and wipe them out with relative ease…even I’d be apprehensive of going up against a pack of Monkes like that one.

“Hey, stay inside, it’s not safe,” Came Suri’s voice as I approached the jeep, a tone of exasperation in her voice.

“Aw, come on, something cool’s happening and I wanna see!” Responded Steen in protest.

I let out a sigh as I walked over and intervened…

“It’s already over, there’s nothing to see. Just sit and wait for a bit,” I remarked, before starting on writing a report on what just happened, typing away on my I-Watch holoscreen.

“But that’s no fun…,” He grumbled, before complying and going back inside, looking like he was pouting.

“Hey, by the way, how tough was that Monke?” Inquired Grey curiously.

“Probably on par with the average Q-Ranked X-Warrior, I’d say. That said…it was learning and adapting with every move. With enough experience, it could become frighteningly formidable,” I replied grimly.

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Chimed in Katie, a hint of concern on her face, “What if a K-Ranked, or even an Ace, Mutant develops that level of intelligence and the ability to use XFE?”

Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m worried about right now…and I was including those concerns in my report, hopefully I can get this Mission called off.

“Maybe it’s not all bad…hear me out, what if we can communicate with Mutants like this and get them on our side? Or is that too much of a stretch?” Suggested Seila uncertainly.

“Huh, interesting…but probably risky as hell,” Replied Suri objectively.

“Actually, I think it could work…but, then, it’s not upto us. That said, if there are more of these intelligent Mutants, I certainly wouldn’t want them as enemies, especially if that includes K-Ranks and Aces,” I responded grimly.

“Yeah, that’d be the worst case scenario, intelligent Ace Mutants attacking us would be a nightmare,” Mused Grey with a frown.

“No, the worst case scenario would be the intelligent Mutants teaming up with the Wights and then attacking us with all their numbers…we’d probably be annihilated if that were to happen,” I frowned in reply…

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