Free Web NovelChapter 165: Chapter 164 - In The Heart of Eden(Part 11)
Point-of-View: Aurora Pretorius
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I’m not sensing anyone anywhere nearby in this area...the only people we’ve run into for the last half hour or so have all been Harmony members, no one from Eden at all.
"You good to keep going?" I asked Mike, who I could sense was breathing a bit more labouredly than before.
"Yeah, I’m good, no worries. A little weary, sure, but not enough that I need to rest," He replied with a thumbs up.
"Okay, then let’s keep going for a while and-...someone’s coming, they’re on the other side of that wall over there," I frowned, as I heard some footsteps.
"Should we break down the wall and ambush them?" Mike suggested with a cautious whisper.
"No, they’re heading straight towards the wall...if it’s an enemy, we’ll attack the instant they appear," I responded, as I formed a Negative Blast and took aim at the spot where the footsteps were approaching towards.
The footsteps then halted as they reached the wall, but only for an instant, as the next thing we knew, a transparent figure was emerging from the wall...the Space Skill technique, Intangibility.
"Oh, it’s not an enemy," Mike sighed in relief.
It’s one of the Harmony Category 0s I met today...forgot her name though.
"Ah, Mike, and the Outlier who’s supposed to be really powerful. Have you encountered any enemies in the path you came from?" She inquired, as she stepped out onto this side.
"Nope, not for a while, Miss Carmen. Plenty of corpses, but none alive," He answered her.
Oh, that’s right, that’s her name. Carmen, uh...Reyes, I think? Yeah, I think that’s right. freёwebnovel.com
"Hm, I see, same here. It would seem that we’ve managed to kill the majority of them. How many have you two killed? I have eliminated two hundred and thirty-three so far," She informed us.
"Oh, uh...I wasn’t really keeping count, but...a lot?" Grinned Mike sheepishly. freewebnσvel.cѳm
"Yeah, I wasn’t keeping count either," I added in response.
Were we supposed to keep count in the first place?
"By the way, where’s your partner? Weren’t you paired up with Leonardo?" Mike asked her.
"Oh, we split up a while ago, in order to cover more ground," She explained with a shrug.
"Oh, I see, okay."
I guess that makes sense. It may have been a risky option, but they’re not Category 0s for nothing.
"Hey, you...if you’re really as powerful as everyone claims you are, why are you still moving as a pair?" She suddenly asked me with a frown.
Huh? I mean, I didn’t actually even consider doing that. Probably shouldn’t say that though. Instead, I’ll say this...
"I’d have been fine on my own, but I wasn’t so sure about him," I shrugged as I gestured to Mike.
Yeah, that sounded pretty convincing.
"Hey! Well, to be fair, I’d have been screwed if I had to go up against that big guy without you," Sighed Mike wistfully.
"Yeah, probably."
"...you know, you could’ve just said ’nah, I’m sure you could’ve handled it’ or something along those lines," He grumbled with a pout.
"I mean, I could have, but it wouldn’t have been true," I pointed out.
"Stop, I’m already dead."
"Tch, this is a waste of time, I shall head that way," Said Carmen, as she headed for the wall on the opposite side to the one she’d come here from, before halting as her phone rang out with a notification, as did mine and Mike’s.
"Oh, it’s Neo. He’s sent us a location to rendezvous at...looks like its five hundred meters forward and about a hundred and twenty meters down from there. So...how do we navigate this maze to get there?" Mike inquired wryly.
"I’d rather not...instead, let’s just smash through the walls and floors to get there right away," I suggested, having had enough of these long, winding corridors.
"You know, what? That works for me," He replied with a nod, before looking around, "Wait, where’d Carmen go?"
"Hm? Oh, she turned intangible and dropped through the floor after she saw the message. Didn’t you notice?" I responded with a raised eyebrow.
"No, can’t say I did. Unlike someone I know, I don’t have superhuman senses. Well, anyway, let’s make our way there too. You can do the honors," He remarked, as he gestured to the floor.
"We should probably avoid causing too much structural damage and have the entire building collapse...so, I think I’ll be a bit more careful," I replied, as I formed my Shadow Cat tail with a sharp, bladed tip.
I then pierced it deep into the floor till it went all the way through, and then spun around, slicing out a neat circle, as I formed my Shadow Cat around my right foot and dug its claws into the circle, lifting it up and placing it aside.
"Wow, nice...I definitely couldn’t pull that off," Grinned Mike, as we jumped through and landed on the floor below.
"Couldn’t you make it more brittle with your Terra Skill though?" I pointed out in response.
"Mhm, I most certainly can. Should I?" He asked in reply.
"Yeah, that’ll make it easier to cut through," I nodded, as we headed towards the location that Neo had sent.
I’m guessing it’s still at least another two floors down, but we might as well cover the distance first, so that we can just drop straight down into that spot.
My ears then perked up, as I heard faint crashes echoing out...I get it, some of the others must be breaking through the walls and floors to get there too.
I can’t wait to get out of this place...it’s a bit on the dusty side, which has kinda been irritating my nostrils, and the way sound echoes in here is pretty annoying too.
I guess it’s only natural that it isn’t all that well maintained, considering how vast it is...I bet the Eden members who were living here got lost all the time.
It’s pretty deep underground too, so there aren’t any windows, of course. Otherwise we could’ve just climbed out one and then scaled down to the floor where Neo’s at.
"Okay, looks like this is it...alright, I’ve made the floor brittle, do your thing," Remarked Mike, as we got directly above the specified location.
I then cut through it, my tail slicing through like a hot knife through butter, thanks to Mike’s tampering. We then jumped down to the floor below...good, I’m hearing faint voices from below, looks like it’s just one more floor to cut through.
I sliced through it as Mike made the ground brittle again, before we both jumped in, startling the others who’d already arrived as we landed.
"Holy-...sheesh, you could’ve said something, you know, you almost gave me a heart attack," Groaned Neo with a look of exasperation.
"Don’t be foolish, if it were an enemy that just dropped in, you’d be dead," Scoffed Carmen in response, even though she’d looked pretty caught off-guard herself.
"Hey, glad to see you’re okay," Kiyana greeted me, walking over with a smile.
"Yeah, you too," I responded with a grin.
"So, can we go now? I’ve just about had my fill of this place," Sighed Mike, sitting down and stretching his arms up.
"No, not yet. Once everyone else gets here, I’ll portal you all back, and then, I’ll come back with whoever can help collapse this place. We’ll go down to the lowest floor and destroy all the support pillars, and then leave for good," Responded Neo objectively.
"Makes sense, I think it’d be impossible to comb the entire place, there’s probably some Eden members left, hiding out," I responded with a nod.
"Exactly. Finding and killing them all the old-fashioned way will be too difficult, so instead, we’ll just have to crush them all in one, fell swoop."
I’m guessing I’ll be a part of the wrecking crew too...but before that, we have to wait for everyone else to get here. Not just everyone who came here from the campsite, but also the several others that Neo brought in later as back up.
Before too long, the others began showing up one by one. Inoka appeared with Elise and Liling, the latter seeming to have taken some damage based on the state of her clothes, but I’m guessing that Inoka must have healed her.
"Hm? Where’s Francesca? Wasn’t she paired with you?" Neo asked Liling.
"I’m...I’m sorry, but...she didn’t make it. She fought one of Eden’s Category 0s and they both ended up killing each other...I was taken out right at the start, so I was useless. If Inoka hadn’t found me when he did, I’d probably be dead too," She replied with a remorseful look on her face...hm?
Strange...something about her demeanor feels a bit...off. But I couldn’t quite figure out what it was...I don’t know, it’s almost like she’s-...nah, I’m probably just overthinking it. All the dust must be messing with my senses a bit...yeah, that’s probably what it is. Right?
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