BXBX NOVEL Chapter 87: Bring it on.
[My lord, I cannot grant your request, but you can. One of your {Fates} can remove Caytiffe and his men from the Defender Network.]
"I can? How?"
[{Code}'s third ability is {Shutdown}, it allows you to remotely disable any electronic device you have access to. Using the defender network, we can send a signal to their Reaper handsets. Their signals lack the encryption of the GRI series and they have no {Fates} with regard to electronics, so they are susceptible to {Shutdown}.]
"Haha, thanks {Code}! Okay, how do I do this?"
[Use {Connect}, then "feel" their Reaper handsets and invoke {Shutdown}. It should be intuitive, my lord.]
"{Connect}."
As I invoked {Connect}, I felt my mind leave my body once again. And I found myself in the dark room with the floating phone screens. The shift was almost instantaneous, as if I suddenly switched bodies. I wondered if my real body, which was running, would suddenly collapse without me?
I looked around and saw Aira in an elegant bow, her flowing hair shining as if unreal. If this was all in cyberspace, then we could change anything we wanted, right? I tried to imagine her hair color becoming bright amber as an experiment.
"?" The maid in front of me suddenly looked puzzled as she brought a lock of her hair in front of her face.
"Do you find this shade more pleasing, my lord?" she asked with a smile.
"Ah no, sorry Aira, I was experimenting with my control of this cyberspace."
Aira said nothing and nodded in understanding, then she raised her hand and brought a black screen to the front. There were six red dots on the screen, was it some kind of map? Three were clustered in the west. Two in the northeast and one moving slowly in the middle.
"As you can see on this map, my lord. These are the signals I originally received when we arrived. The pins were the locations of the reapers at that moment. Only your pin in the middle is moving in real time. You only need to focus on the pins to the west when you call {Shutdown}".
I raised my hand and focused on the three needles. Somehow, I could hear the voices of people on the other side.
"Boss! What if the mercenary tells the Nightmare? We could be in trouble!"
"Oh shut up Blaze, with Acwellan and Maegester as the top dogs in the Death Seekers we have nothing to fear!"
"But boss, didn't old man Xander say to keep a low profile? Are you sure he won't just kill you for this?"
"You may be right Titan."
"Oh shit! We are screwed! Let's just bribe or kill the merc boss!"
"These fuckers...so they acted like complete assholes because of their friends, huh? It seems that the idiots with him are even smarter than this Julius. Aira, can you look up the records of the mercenaries named Acwellan and Maegester?"
"Yes, my lord."
Two screens appeared, showing the general information of the mercenaries.
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Mercenary Ranking: 45
Name: Robert Acwellan | Slayer
Battlefront: North America
Soul rank: Phantom
Grade: Priority 1 Mercenary
{Fate}: {Blood Feast}
Deployment count: 298
Success rate: 100%
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Mercenary Ranking: 68
Name: Dominic Maegester | Machiavelli
Battlefront: North America
Soul rank: Phantom
Grade: Priority 1 Mercenary
{Fate}: {Instigator}
Deployment count: 204
Success rate: 92%
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Dominic looked like a middle-aged, fat priest. But with a moniker called {Instigator} and an alias called Machiavelli, this guy was a bona fide backstabber.
On the other hand, Robert was covered in armor from head to toe and had the nickname Slayer. Then I remembered Phillip's comment about the Death Seekers.
'However, over the years we have been able to predict who would find their wings under this group. They would be the mad, the blood drunk, and those who yearn for battle. Which of the three are you, Mr. Smith?'
"The mad, the blood drunk, and those who yearn for battle," I repeated. Shaking my head, I pulled up my own records.
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Mercenary Rank: 498
Name: John Smith | No title
Battlefront: North America
Soul rank: Wraith
Grade: Priority 4 Mercenary
{Fate}: CONFIDENTIAL
Deployment count: 4
Success Rate: 100%
----------
Compared to their records, mine looked pathetic. They both had over 200 missions over me, with Robert just shy of 300, while having a 100% success rate. In terms of combat experience, these two were way over my head. No wonder Julius was so confident. With these two backing him up, hardly anyone would want to mess with their group.
"But I am not just anyone. If a Revenant couldn't scare me, what makes you think I'll bow to mere phantoms? I bow to no one! {SHUTDOWN}!"
At that point, the pins all went black and I could no longer hear Julius and his goons. From a statistics point of view alone, it would be best for me not to be on Dominic's bad side, and even more so for Robert.
But seeing their portraits made my blood boil. Taking them on would be good practice for me. If Julius and his thugs try to kill me, I will bury them right here and now.
"Bring it on."
Then I turned to Aira and gave her my next requests.
"Aira, please gather everything you can about the Slayer and Machiavelli. Also search and investigate about their group, the Saviors."
The woman then clasped her hands to her stomach and bowed to me.
"I will have the information ready at once, my lord."
Having accomplished my goal, I closed my eyes and disconnected from my cyberspace. Immediately, I felt the cool sensation of the wind pressing against my body.
The kinetic energy from my all-out run suddenly gave my body a rush that caught me off guard. It was like waking up with your body on autopilot.
Unable to adjust quickly, I almost fell, but when I shifted my body it was easy and I managed to stabilize myself. As I let out a sigh of relief, I couldn't help but thank my {Fates}.
"Thank you {Carry}. I would have fallen for sure without your help."
Focusing on my task again, I began to address the two Reapers buried underground.
"Reapers, I am John Smith, a mercenary who responded to your dirge siren. I am aware of the situation. I guarantee you that I will personally kick Julius Caytiffe's ass into the next state. Where are you? I am looking for entrances to the collapsed dungeon.
A gruff and tired voice answered me between breaths.
[Sounds good, Hombre. My name is Santiago Gonzalez. A friend and I were tricked into being bait by these putos. Our weapons broke. We were both injured when the structure collapsed. Frankly, I thought I was about to suck lighthouses.
Thank you for not abandoning us my friend.]
"Don't thank me just yet, we are not out of the woods yet. Can you tell me where you are? Do you remember what the entrance to the basement looked like?"
[Yes. Julius asked us to place a Soulgear in the basement. The entrance we used is under the pulpit in an old church. There is a staircase going down. The vase we placed was a lure that called the undead. When the battle began, the undead stormed the basement entrance, forcing us to go deeper instead.]
"Church got it. I'll keep looking, hold on Santiago, I'm coming."
I tried to search for remnants of the building, but the low light made it difficult. The longer I took, the less likely it was that Santiago and his friend would come out alive. I had to think fast.
The fact that there were over one hundred and fifty Rank F Normies and one Rank E Giant meant that the underground basement either had elaborate tunnels or a large cavernous space.
This was evidenced by the fact that Santiago had to not only avoid the undead, but actually fight them off. If the room was open, the reapers would have died in the first ten minutes.
So either the debris or the basement itself gave them some cover to hide in. Fortunately, they won't suffocate, so as long as they're undetected, they'll be safe.
"{Mage}"
I forcibly switched from {Thief} to {Mage} to take advantage of the latter's better eyesight. If only I had the ability to see through objects like Superman, this would be much easier.
Using {Aim} and {Perceive}'s enhanced vision, I scanned the ground for any signs of unnatural protrusions or depressions from the collapse.
After a good minute, I found a large area that looked strange. Piles of wood and stone jutted out like a poorly made jigsaw puzzle. Thinking I had found the church, I switched to {Thief} and headed toward the area.
{Thief} had {Pack} and {Carry}, which would make removing the large stones a breeze. It also had {Listen}, which would help. I began excavating the large chunks of rubble at a rapid pace.
The faint sounds of the grunting calls that are unique to zombies could be heard. Even though the church had fallen apart, the sounds seemed to be coming from the lower levels.
"Santiago, I found the entrance and am now excavating the passage. I will be with you soon. Is your friend stable?"
[Yes, Mike regained his senses a minute ago. We are going deeper into the lower levels. But hombre, if you come here, you will have to fight over a hundred bastards. Will you be okay?]
"Yes, I have killed many more, a hundred is little from my point of view."
Just then, a new voice with a southern accent joins the conversation.
[Sounds like we're in the presence of a mighty fine badass Santi. Mike Walker. Thanks for coming John. No matter what happens, we will repay the favor.]
"Don't sweat it, just come work for me when this is all over. I need guys like you."
[Hombre, I hate to burst your bubble, but we are Formless, you know?]
[He's right John, we can hardly fight, we were basically hired here as cartographers].
"That's okay, by the time I finish training you, a hundred zombies will be a piece of cake," I assured them.
[Hahaha! Look at this loco! I'm in Hombre! Get us out of here and I will fight for you!]
[My mama didn't raise no ungrateful bastard. I will earn my keep.]
Dizzy with excitement, I began to dig even faster. In every military, the people who contributed the most were not the most skilled, nor the ones who trained the longest.
It was always the people who never gave up. When people who would do anything to survive are pushed to the wall, they go savage.
"Understood. Sit tight. I'm coming."