Chapter 103: Mission Complete?
Homebase was the name of the worker from Ryan's family, Alex. He was following the main team with his remote sensors and the small cameras attached to the masks. He sat stunned, watching as White Wolf killed a Wraith so brutally and alone.
Because humans could not detect the strength of monsters accurately without using advanced items that weren't built into the masks yet.
So Alex didn't know that the wraith that Nikolai killed was an Elite. Instead, he just added the notes that he killed a monster solo in order to stop the ambush on Panther-2.
"Panther-1 this is Homebase, loud and clear, what do you need. Over!"
Ryan's eyes narrowed as Lisa was standing on the second-floor building parts, sneaking along the metal shafts and scaffolding while scanning for any monsters. Though she lacked combat prowess against stronger enemies, her eyes and speed were second to none.
"Homebase, what is the situation of team B? Have they encountered any Fiends1?"
"Alamin, suffol tua Nimno freran, supal."
He looked back at Bruce, who was muttering strange words—this was the language of the Fae, or fairy world. This was required to keep the barrier around the group. One layer with a translucent colour dulled any sound they made, while the blue aura enhanced their senses.
'Bruce seems to be fine still, but he is sweating a little. Missions we need to sneak are hard on him. Should I ask the Commander to increase our team's stamina training?'
The next moment, he noticed the signal from Lisa, who marked two enemies.
'One to the left, by the exit doors, and the other is just below Lisa, crossing the metal bridge.'
"Panther-3, make your way to the exit and attack Fiend-2. As for Fiend-1 beneath you, leave it to me and Panther-4, over!"
"Panther-1. This is Homebase. Team B has encountered enemy hostiles, three down, one remaining. A small outhouse was being used to feed on two humans, both dead. Panther-2 and White Wolf are in a fit state. Over!"
Once he knew that the other team was doing fine, he grasped his weapon, a customised pistol and short sword attached, forming a sort of blade pistol. Ryan started to sneak towards Lisa's current position while she slowly lowered her body and crawled towards the idle Fiend-2 standing near the exit door.
The main room was rectangular, with two floors, but only the scaffolding and stone pillars for the second floor were finished.
Meanwhile, the ground floor was covered in palettes of concrete, steel and various building materials, allowing Panther-1 and Panther-4 to sneak through and prevent Fiend-1 from discovering them.
Lisa whispered as her hand moved into a pouch and then flung something at the Wraith. Her aim was impeccable because the item shattered onto the monster's face perfectly; an invisible mist flowed out instantly.
"Shishisk kis shishi!"
The Wraith's face began to melt and bubble—the bottle she threw was an anti-wraith weapon, liquid silver and holy water mixture.
"Now!"
Lisa's leg muscles tightened and constricted as she pushed all her power into them, pushing off the steel pillar before dashing towards Fiend-2.
But as she ran across the platform above it, another Wraith appeared in front of her suddenly, brandishing its sharp spike wildly.
"Crap!"
She swiftly swerved away from its deadly spike, which almost sliced her chest, then drew one of her long daggers and stabbed at its shoulder. It felt like hitting a block of diamonds, though.
The Fiend's hide deflected the sharpened edge entirely. Its head twisted sideways to avoid any threat to the head or eyes, but Lisa expected that and switched her hand holding her dagger into reverse grip while it was stunned for a millisecond.
"Panther-1, hurry and engage, Fiend-1 is heading towards Panther-3!" In the ears of Ryan, the voice of Alex sounded, causing him to stop his slow approach; focusing on his senses, he could feel the monster running along the opposite side of the stone wall he was leaning against.
"Good... come to me! Panther-4, trap it's legs!"
He stopped running when Bruce appeared on the scaffolding beside him, extending his hands as if he was miming pulling a rope.
"Al. Shish."
Ryan grinned at the sight of the Wraith getting caught by the magical roots and vines conjured up by Bruce. 'It's now or never!'
His blade pistol swung at the throat of the creature, and the blade tore into its flesh with ease thanks to the momentum put behind it. He pulled the trigger, as the 10mm shell exploded, and pumped the monster full of silver powder and holy oil.
'As expected, this enchanted sword is far more powerful than the average weapons. Not bad, considering we bought these cheaply from an illegal auction.'
Fiend-1 dropped to the ground with a thud before Ryan and Bruce turned to check on Lisa, who was in midair, her legs wrapped around the Fiend's neck, using her muscular thighs to snap its neck.
'Why does she always look so erotic when killing them?'
After the second Fiend died, her body slowly, like a gymnast, rolled off its neck, performing a handstand with her legs still holding the fiend's neck before slamming the monster's head into the ground like a wrestling move.
"Haa.... fuck... his blood is all over my damn thighs," Lisa complained about the proximity chat before spraying herself with a cleansing fluid that removed the blood and scent of the undead wraith.
"Leader, are we done?" Bruce asked a question. Looking around, he seemed unable to sense any monsters before Ryan looked back at him with a wry smile.
"Let me check with Homebase." Ryan opened his comms and articulated.
"Homebase, Panther-1 reporting, two Fiends eliminated, zero deaths or serious injuries. Requesting further instructions. Over." Though the communication system had improved, they used built-in walkie-talkies because of their lower cost and relative stability compared to Magi-radios in case magic interfered.
Alex leaned back in the van, his classical music playing while typing rapidly on the digital keypad in front of him; he saw the blueprints of the buildings, the suspected enemies and survivors' locations.
"Panther-1, there should be a storage container in that room—near Panther-3, the survivors are located inside there. Although there are rumours of a nest it is in the forest and too dangerous to explore at this moment. I advise you to collect the victims and pull out!"
"Hey~ Panther 4, don't you get super horny after a mission?" Lisa asked Bruce in a charming voice, though the poor male just blushed and turned away, muttering to the fairy language from earlier as small blue lights fluttered around him.
Ryan approached Lisa with a frown before slapping the girl's head, which was firm yet supple.
"If you keep talking dirty, I'll punish you. Come, help me get the girls."
Lisa got up and walked to the black metal container behind a shelf with some materials on it; she jumped up the side, walked along the top and leapt to the other side, her footsteps echoing around.
There were people huddled together, crouching down and breathing softly, barely audible to a human ear but crystal clear to an enhanced warrior like Lisa or a werewolf like Nikolai.
"Hey~ don't worry, the scary monsters are all dead. Why don't you come out now?" Lisa's sweet voice reverberated around the group, making the adults shake.
One young woman dressed in casual office attire with blonde hair and light makeup spoke up. Her hands covered another teenager in case any attacks came toward her.
"Who... who are you people? Where have you taken us?"
"Aww, don't be scared. I know the other freaks were scary, but we killed them all. Now you can go home."
"Wait!" Ryan walked over and scowled at Lisa, who put her arms behind her head and swaggered away, jumping onto the second floor because she didn't want to be scolded or lose pay.
"Hello, we are special agents from the SSS here to save you. Forgive me. I am Panther-1 and a rescue team will be arriving in half an hour. Please keep calm and follow me and my team to safety."
A few others shuffled out; many had bags of food, water and extra clothes, while others carried suitcases for a business trip.
Ryan's mind began to race when he noticed that all the victims here seemed prepared to travel or might have been going on a trip. 'Is that why it was reported so late? These people should have been missing for at least three days to a week, maybe longer. Their families would not understand if we didn't find them by luck.'
Once everyone was checked, Lisa looked up at the bright moonlight and sighed, "Damn... we finished early, oh yeah, time to collect the bonus!"
"Panther-3, Panther-4 head back to the Homebase with the survivors—make sure to explain to them the SSS protocol and have them sign the Non-disclosure agreement."
Ryan hated this, but he couldn't help it. If the world discovered monsters, then chaos would return, and humanity wouldn't have the strength to defeat all monsters at once.
'Even the strongest human claimed he couldn't defeat the vampire's king alone...'
***
After team A completed their main task, Brian stood panting, his right abdomen bleeding, while he watched Nikolai with a thankful gaze. "White Wolf... if you didn't help me, I might have died. Thank you."
Brian's arm and legs were covered in long, deep scratches; the last Wraith they fought was slightly stronger than normal but not quite an elite. It just pretended to be dead beside the corpses until it could help grab Brian's legs to allow one of the other Fiends to stab his abdomen with the sharp spike.
"It was no problem. Do you need some help healing?"
"No way, if I did, what about your shoulder? Homebase told me there was an ambusher outside, thanks. If you didn't risk yourself to take that one down, I might have been fucked!" The tall, dark-skinned male was truly honest, and it seemed from this mission that Nikolai was already considered a friend and ally. "So after work, let's go for a drink and some food!"
"Haha, sure, to be honest, I had a good time tonight, but if I went home, it'd probably end up in someone suffering and being mad at me tomorrow." Nikolai was referring to Nikita, who was staying at his apartment and being unable to control himself tonight; Brian just grinned and patted his shoulder.
"Ah, I get you! Hahaha!" The pleasant laughter of Brian and the stench of wraiths helped Nikolai ignore the delicious scent of the two humans beside him.
'Well... it's fun pretending to check the corpses of these fuckers to gain some blood crystals.'