Transcendent Gene-Chapter 309: Savior [3]

Gio’s warning did more than he ever could have expected for the students who survived the collapse.

That was especially the case for those in the center piece of the ruins.

With the information Gio gave him, Brennan gathered an army of over a hundred students and got them ready before any of the beasts arrived.

In fact, they were waiting for the enemy when they approached.

Brennan’s eyes narrowed as he looked out into the horde charging towards him.

"We aim for the humans first! Make the beasts lose control and take them out while they’re confused! If any of you want to back down now..."

He looked back at the warriors behind him.

"...then you’re already dead. You never had that option in the first place."

His words were demoralizing at face value, but the hardened expressions of his soldiers only displayed greater battle spirit.

"Are we going to wait for them to raid our land?!" He asked, raising a massive umbrella-shaped polearm into the sky.

""NO!""

The crowd responded with vigor in their voices.

"Then, let’s not wait for them to get here. Follow me! Let’s show the world what it means to be Sequencers!"

Brennan rallied his forces and charged down the slope of the rubble, touching ground in the clearing below.

The environment was in their favor, to an extent. The collapse of the academy wiped out the ecosystem in its relative vicinity, leaving only a few forested areas standing.

The entire plain that the beasts were approaching across was relatively flat and open.

Brennan gazed across it with a frown that didn’t change since he spoke to Gio.

Knowing what they were facing didn’t help much, but it was better than going in unprepared.

"Attack squad, with me! Everyone else, protect the demolition crew!"

"Yes, sir!"

Fifteen of the students separated from the group and joined Brennan. The rest stayed behind and formed a wall that protected another group of twenty students who frantically rushed around, interacting with the ground and environment with their energy.

Brennan knew they couldn’t just fight a horde of this size. Beast tides that hit cities could be combatted through many mechanisms put in place for their invasion, but this was different.

He did his best to create such mechanisms through the students in the demolition crew, but they needed time to do their work.

"Until we get the okay from them, we’re on our own up here. You guys ready?"

Brennan looked at his fellow warriors. They were the strongest of the survivors, people he’d usually viewed as his peers.

But today, they were soldiers following his orders to the T.

"Lead us forward, general. We’ll follow wherever you go," a man named Henry replied with a grin.

Brennan nodded.

"You know the rules! Most kills gets five hundred from each of us! First dead gets his grave pissed on!"

"You don’t have to tell us twice. Just say the word."

All of them had expressions of bravery on their faces as they nodded.

"Then, let’s go," Brennan said, brandishing his lance.

"CHARGE!"

BOOOOOOOM!

They timed their conversation perfectly. The moment the last words dropped, the beast tide reached them.

ROOOOOAAAAAR!

The countless roars and screeches fused into a singular droning cacophony that hit them like a tsunami.

Instantly, they split up and got to work.

BOOOOOM!

A wall of fifteen faced a swarm of hundreds, but those fifteen weren’t any ordinary Sequencers.

The sound of their first collision spread through the entire clearing, alerting even Peter’s attention.

He looked over and frowned. In the distance, the shadow of Asher’s fortress was visible as well.

"Tch."

The entire situation was unfavorable. He didn’t like having to be separated from a target he’d spent years getting close to,

In the case where Asher died because he went in a different direction...

It was hard to say a real friendship didn’t form between them in that time, but Peter knew that he couldn’t go against what Gio told him to do.

’It’s not just for personal interest.’

In the short term, saving Asher was as simple as reaching him. However, there was a barrier over the entire area. They wouldn’t be able to escape even if they were together.

The real solution was to end everything as soon as possible, and the easiest way to do that was to free the people with the most firepower.

Gio sent Peter to gather ten people, all of whom he knew where to find. They were also students he’d been interacting with daily, after all.

’He’s too prepared.’

That much became obvious.

The ten students Gio chose included people he wouldn’t immediately consider. He didn’t even know why he was bringing them along until they reached the eastern part of the rubble.

Still, all of them agreed to help, and when they did finally arrive at the destination, everything became clear.

Peter looked up at the mountainous remains of the floating island. All across its surface, flashes of bright blue, gold, and purple energy crackled like lightning, filled the sky like thunder, and struck down like the wrath of the gods.

Those flashes of energy were being met by scenes ordinary humans could only imagine.

Claws the size of turbine blades belonging to beasts the size of skyscrapers cut down, meeting energy with physical force.

OOOOOOOOH!

A shadow rose from the distance and bellowed, shooting a giant beam of black light across the mountain, searing a trench across its entire form.

"Haha..."

Peter laughed wryly at the chaos.

"I guess it’s a little more intense over here than it is over there..." he said.

"Is this enough to make you guys back down?"

He looked at the crowd, but he was mainly watching three of them, who nodded at him easily.

"The rest of them are staying out here to protect him, so they don’t have to worry about any of that."

"As for us...this is equal parts terrifying and exciting. We don’t need to waste time on words."

Two of them spoke up, and Peter nodded back before looking towards the boy they mentioned.

He was a third-year year whom Peter barely had contact with, but Gio’s plan revealed his worth.

"Ryzen, are you ready?"

"Yeah."

The boy, who had a pair of large, round glasses on his face and shaggy brown hair, nodded with a bit of a shaky tone.

"Leave it to me."

This wasn’t his environment, but it was his chance to prove himself.

He powered through his fear on the way here. All that was left was a desire to succeed.

He walked to the front of the ground and pressed his hand to the air, revealing the light-gold tinge of a barrier blocking them from the ruin inside.

"It’s a complicated barrier, but it was made through technology, which makes it easier to disable. I can crack a small hole right now, I think..."

Gold lines raced across his irises as his Original Gene scanned the barrier and turned its function into pure information,

A rush of energy left his palm, possessing the same signature as the barrier itself, and in the next moment...

Crack!

Like glass, a portion of the barrier cracked and shattered away. It was just big enough for a single person to fit through if they crouched, but that was enough.

As the three others crawled through the crack, Peter patted Ryzen on the back and nodded with respect in his eyes.

"It’s up to you. We’ll hold them off up there and they’ll hold them off down here. Break it down as fast as you can, because the moment you do, we’re all saved."

Ryzen nodded solemnly. After receiving it, Peter followed the other three into the third ruin.

’This sucks.’

He shook his head. He didn’t think he’d be reintroduced to real fieldwork in such a jarring fashion.

’But no matter what he said, my identity is compromised the moment this is all over. If it was going to happen anyway, then at least I can get some good PR out of it.

He comforted himself with a wry smile as he followed the other three up the slope of the ruin and into a place where they could actually see what was happening.

"Hahaha..."

Peter laughed again, shaking his head.

The first thing he saw was a dragon. A shadowy black dragon with wings that looked like a tattered cloak and blue eyes that screamed like lost souls. It was taller than anything that had ever existed on the island before.

’That’s what made that beam.’

He didn’t know if any of them were prepared to fight anything with that kind of strength, but it was too late for thoughts like those.

’My job’s not over.’

While the other three rushed to the aid of some struggling faculty members as soon as they arrived, Peter remained scanning the area.

Unlike the others, he was given a greater task.

’First, to find the Headmaster.’

The next step of the plan started from there.

***

Hekat’s energy could create miracles. The stronger it became, the more Gio had access to.

The spread of his energy was affected not only by the health of the rune, but also by the growth he’d experienced in the Scenario Quest. Though the room was large, Gio was able to cover the entire length of it.

He found every camera in the area and temporarily jammed them before rushing at the scientists and taking one hostage. A virtual turret rose from the ground, forcing the others to put their hands up in surrender.

A stealthy approach would have been safer, but quickness had to be prioritized.

"Let me through, and I’ll let you live," he said.

As he spoke, virtual energy flooded the room and formed several mines that stuck to everything that looked flammable.

The scientists were ordinary humans, at the end of the day. They were followers of the Apocalypse Church’s cause and even contributing to its growth, but in their hearts, their beliefs stemmed from a deep-rooted fear of Sequencers.

His threats were more than enough.

The man he had in captivity and another whom he held at gunpoint using the turret both took their places and passed the security checks needed to open the door.

As it depressed into the walls, he threw the scientist back into the room and glared at all four of them.

"Get out. Otherwise, you die with everyone else."

His parting words hung in the air as he rushed through the corridor beyond.

Every camera he passed by happened to glitch just enough to hide his presence. His steps remained light, and he only used virtual energy after securing the space with Hekat.

He ran through the corridor until he reached a monitoring room similar to the one he found with Amaya.

Knock! Knock!

He walked up to the door like he was meant to be there, only showing his fangs when it opened.

"Who is it?"

The guard who opened it found his head on the ground before his eyes could properly widen. His comrade turned around when he heard the thud, but it was already too late.

A rock appeared in front of his eyes and abruptly exploded into a spear that pierced his neck.

’Good.’

Gio walked into the security room and accessed the computer without wasting a moment.

’Depending on the size of the facility, there might be other monitoring rooms. I can find out from here.’

He sifted through the computer’s systems to see where it was linked. It didn’t have the software to function as anything more than a surveillance system, but that was fine.

’There’s one more. If they’d seen me from there, they’d have reacted by now. Either they couldn’t see me or I got lucky.’

Regardless, he was going to make sure they couldn’t see him at all.

’Hekat.’

The computer itself couldn’t do something like looping the footage, but Hekat could change the footage itself into a looped cut of the original.

Its influence in the system allowed Gio to alter the entire camera system of the facility to secure his entry.

’Alright. All that’s left here is clothes.’

He was going against humans with human technology. They focused all of their main efforts on tech that could be used offensively, which left them to suffer in other aspects.

Some of their systems were military-grade, while others could be found at the local supermarket.

At least those systems closer to the bottom end were free for Gio to hack as he pleased.

"Haa..."

Gio exhaled slowly and put on the guard clothes before leaving the room and proceeding down the corridor.

The facility was smaller than the prototype version. It wasn’t being used for other research and only had the purpose of supporting the array, after all.

The second room was filled with energy tanks and people taking care of them. Gio couldn’t spread countless mines at once without alerting them, but doing it one at a time was possible.

He maintained secrecy as best as he could and progressed further and further, encompassing every waking inch of space in the blast radius of a mine.

As long as he didn’t get caught, it would be the easiest stealth mission of his life.

...but that was only if he didn’t get caught.