Broker
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Chapter 145
🕑 Added 2024-09-16 16:00:07 +0000 UTCHe lowered his hand and examined the readout from the dungeon, the changes were starting to take effect. It was so interesting. He had only used a few of his cheats and the features of his ability. They were all he needed and the others seemed so pointless when he’d first acquired them. What more did he need than to be invincible? He frowned a little, Clearly much more, he thought as he remembered the pain of being blown nearly to pieces by a self-destructing An Set. He raised the hand that had regrown and flexed it a little.
He glanced up at the dungeon again, The monsters will respawn faster now and its drawing in more mana. I’ve uncapped it so it shouldn’t burst at least. He chuckled, he didn’t really care whether or not it was forcibly altering a ‘natural’ process of the dungeon. In fact, I wonder what could happen if it just keeps filling up. Maybe the reward will get better? He paused, Oh, weren’t the scouting trainees inside? Oh well. He snorted and turned away to look at the young woman leaning against a tree nearby. She frowned at him and sighed when he gestured for her to come to him.
“Jessica,” He said with a wide smile, “How have your powers been developing?”
She stared deadpan at him, “Well enough, I’ve kept pace with the Nashville team,” She said and crossed her arms, “Why?”
He pursed his lips, “That’s not good enough,” He said and she narrowed her eyes before taking a momentary step back, “I want to try something, if you’ll indulge me.”
“I’d rather you didn’t,” She said, pulling her arms closer to her chest only to freeze when he leveled a cold stare on her. Her face went pale and her knees buckled once, “Please?” She asked, “I really don’t want to be your guinea pig.”
“That ship has sailed,” He said with a his and snapped his arm out, grabbing her by her throat. He tilted his head to the right, “I’m going to make you strong enough to deal with that Cassiopeia girl, whether you like it or not. Liberty has the right idea in this case, surprising for an idiot like her,” He said with a snarl as she coughed and squeaked, trying to pry his fingers off of her throat, “Stop struggling, it’ll only hurt for a moment.”
He drew on his powers, his eyes widening as a smile cracked his face in half. “Let’s try it out!” He cackled and activated the cheat. She let out a scream of anguish as pale white shocks of energy ripped through her body. She convulsed, her arms falling limp and her head bucking as the energy tore through every cell in her body. When he was done, he let her go and she collapsed face-first to the ground. He tapped the side of her head with his boot but she didn’t stir. Still breathing though, I suppose that’s good enough. He scoffed.
He glanced towards the trees, “Not watching today either, probably preparing for the exam ahead. Ignorant thing,” He muttered only to pause as two presences approached. He narrowed his eyes until two of the aspirants he had brought in as lackeys came into view. They paused when they saw Jessica. His eyes narrowed. And this is what I get for being careless. He grumbled, “What is it?”
They blinked a few times and looked away from her. The first opened his mouth and was about to say something when the second cut in, “We spotted a group of people wearing masks heading this way, sir,” He said, “They’re heavily armed.”
“Isaac tried to teleport to you but his ability’s on the fritz,” The first added quickly. “He’s unconscious.”
He frowned at them for a moment before glancing over at Jessica, “Ah, I see what’s happening. It looks like she took too long,” He tilted his head, “The camp is under attack. That works for me,” He said with a smirk.
“Sir what happened to–”
Otis accessed his cheats and called a gun to his hand. He turned his weapon on the two young men and fired off two quick shots. Both of them dropped like sacks of meat to the ground. He wrinkled his nose and walked over to them, he kicked each to make sure they were dead. Stupid things, shouldn’t ask questions like that. More trouble than your pathetic abilities were worth. He thought before pausing and chuckling, Oh, Liberty, now look what you did!
He turned towards Jessica, “Looks like you don’t have time to rest,” He said aloud and walked over to her, kneeling down and grabbing her by the face. “Let’s try stat modification next,” He chuckled, “Rise and shine!”
Golden energy crackled across her body as all of her muscles contracted once before she threw her head back in an anguished scream. He released her face and got to his feet, brushing his hands off, “Get up,” He snarled.
She stared up at the canopy of trees for a moment, tears in her eyes as her chest rose and fell. She looked at him, her pupils tiny with terror. He sneered, “The camp is under attack, we’ve lost two already,” He said, mocking sympathy and gestured to the two corpses behind him. She sat up and brought her hands to her mouth before retching and looking away, he sniffed, “Come on now, you’re a killer aren’t you?” He said and took a step towards her.
“But they-”
“Were loose ends and unreliable,” He corrected before she could continue, “Now, as I said, the camp is under attack, by your old owner if I had to guess,” He said with a shrug.
She coughed and looked up at him, “B-but I- I haven’t had enough time to get close! I finally set up my cover and-”
“And there’s your problem, glacially slow,” He said with a shrug, “You forget that winter can onset suddenly,” He continued, “Now get up, we’re going to join the others back at camp.”
She pulled herself up, stumbling a little at how fast she rose. She blinked and looked down at her hands, “What did you do to me?”
“Made some improvements,” He said callously, “Is there a problem?”
She bowed her head, “N-no sir.”
“I didn’t think so,” He said, “You and I are going to pretend like we know nothing about the attack and return separately. Follow any orders given,” He said and waved her away. She straightened a little before nodding and darting into the trees. He watched her go before turning back to the corpses, “A little close to the portal,” He said thoughtfully and walked over to grab both of them, “Lets put you somewhere a bit more entertaining, might as well get some use out of you. A good timewaster before my heroic arrival.”
He snickered, “Today’s the day! I gotta hand it to you, Liberty! You really do make an excellent unwitting subordinate!” He laughed as he walked into the trees and disappeared.
–
“Everyone! Please remain calm and move in an orderly fashion!” Chunhua shouted, waving her hands towards the common building. “Please follow Miss Chernovna, she will lead you to the bunker! The security force will be occupying the bunker, make sure to listen to their instructions!” She continued as aspirants raced past her. She was counting them as fast as she could but even with those she likely missed there were far too few accounted for.
She turned her attention to the small gathering of instructors who had moved to line up in front of the common building. Axel isn’t back yet, she thought and glanced over her shoulder towards the common building, Madame Rouge hasn’t come out either. What is she waiting for? She frowned as she looked back to those who remained. There were three of them. Bedrock was a peak-epic earth elementalist, a solid combatant but better with creating defenses than direct attacks. He’d been brought in alongside Axel from Marion Corporation.
Next to them were Crowley and Canis, both of them utilized animals and animal-like abilities. They’d come from ASTA. It irritated her that instructors of actual consequence hadn’t shown up from the other corporations who had insisted on poaching students from the camp at the beginning. She let out a sigh and spotted a pair of familiar faces. “Alex!” she shouted over the din of confused aspirants. Some were loudly wondering where reinforcements were.
The hero-in-training ran up and slid to a stop alongside his friend, Greg. The gravity using aspirant who had been distinguishing himself a lot over the past few weeks. “Where’s the rest of your group?” she asked quickly.
“Snow is right behind us,” he said, “Val is grabbing John.”
She furrowed her brows, “Where’s Lillian?”
“Lillian is still in the dungeon,” A new addition to their conversation said. She turned to see the young mentee of Madame Rouge rush over. Ollie’s chest was heaving. This is why you don’t skip conditioning, kid, she thought, “The entire scout team is with her.”
Alex and Greg stared at him before turning to Chunhua. She frowned and looked back at the three heroes who were lined up. She could already hear gunfire in the distance. Lillian, damn it. How many aspirants are still out there? She reached up and tapped her earpiece, “Amos?”
<“I’m here, you staying put?”> he asked.
She clicked her tongue, understanding what he was getting at, “I’m going to make a move if necessary, suspension be damned,” she said, “That’s not why I’m contacting you.”
<”Sonya won’t like that,”> Amos said.
“Sonya isn’t my boss, Amos, she’d do the same anyway so I don’t want to hear it from her,” she growled, “How are we doing?”
<”...I’ve set plenty up, but no one anticipated whatever the hell this is interfering with getting reinforcements. The guards at the gates were hit with a surprise attack too, pretty sure they’re all dead at this point.”>
She swore and rubbed the bridge of her nose, squinting over her fingers at the pair of young men who were staring at her intently. She knew what they were thinking and it was stupid and reckless. They weren’t licensed. She shouldn’t allow it. She should send them back but… Damn it, Sonya, you’re rubbing off on me. She looked past them towards the other members of their little group that had gathered, a little surprised to see Cassiopeia among them, “I’ve got orders for you guys,” she said, “Do you think you can make it to that dungeon in one piece?”
Alex and Greg both visibly relaxed before nodding to her, determination in their eyes. “We’re on it. We’ll get her out of there,” Greg said.
She returned his nod, “Get moving and-”
BOOM!
She threw up her arms just in time for a wave of dust and debris to wash over her and the others, she raised her head, “Go! Now!” she bellowed as the steady pops of automatic weapons began drawing nearer. She squinted through the cloud and spotted a solitary figure kneeling amidst it all. As the young aspirants raced off, she hurried over to the man’s side and dropped to a knee. “Axel!” she grabbed his shoulder, “Axel are you alright?”
He looked up at her wearily, bags under his eyes. Blood dripped from his lips and nose. His skin looked rippled in places as if he’d been hit by some kind of wave. He coughed and doubled over, his chest heaving with the effort. He looked like he was about to say something when a flash of red light caught her attention. She moved on instinct, whipping out her sword to deflect the incoming attack. The luminous arrow struck her sword with a crack of sound before darting off into a distant tree, rending in half.
She pulled Axel to his feet and he slumped onto her shoulder, more arrows came from across the field, bolts that she quickly parried. Soon they came in like a storm and she threw her head to the side, “One of you three get him inside, now!” she bellowed. He’s not breathing. Shit!
With a quick flash of movement, Canis, a woman in her twenties with a mess of brown hair and lupine yellow eyes darted in and scooped Axel up into her arms. Just as quickly she raced away and Chunhua got into a fighting stance, taking a moment to tap her earpiece again as she watched a small horde of mask-wearing cultists race in her direction. Some distance behind them she saw a trio walking at a much slower gait. One held a glowing red bow in his hands. Her lips thinned and dipped into a frown. “I don’t think I’m getting out of helping, Amos.”
<“I’ve got some dolls on your way and I’m activating the turrets. I don’t see any more aspirants coming in,”> he said quickly, <”It’s bad, besides the scout kids and the nashville brats, we’re still missing a good number of them.”>
She clicked her tongue and shot a glance towards the other two heroes who were standing at the ready. Crowley can control birds.
“Crowley! Bedrock! Get over here!” she shouted as she moved over to stand dead center in the courtyard. The two of them ran over and she gave them only a cursory look before speaking, “Crowley, you’re on task to find the missing Aspirants. I told Greg’s group to get to the dungeon and help secure it. They’re some of the best we’ve got so they’ll be fine.”
Crowley, a thin man with a bowler cap on his head leaned on a heavy-looking cane and nodded sharply. She turned to Bedrock, “You’re our wall. If they’re strong enough to deal that kind of damage to Axel then putting you out on the frontlines is pointless. No offense. I want you to turn the common building into a fortress and stay put,” she commanded, “No one gets in without Doctor Carter confirming them, understood?”
He hesitated, “...aren’t you suspended? That just leaves you.”
“I know, it’s what they want. They’re bringing this much force to bear to force me to act,” Chunhua said and drew her sword, “I suppose I should accept their invitation.”
“They’re trying to get you expelled from the committee!” the dark-haired elementalist shouted.
She rounded on him and scowled, “Damn the license,” she said, “I’m a Hero not a functionary! I will do what I have to. If it means losing my license to protect those kids in there, so be it,” she rumbled and pointed towards the common building, “If you stay out here, you’re going to get killed. Go.”
He clenched his fists but nodded and the two men darted off. Crowley raced towards the trees in the opposite direction of the path leading towards the dungeon while Bedrock raced through the doors and into the common building. A heartbeat later the ground began to shake beneath her feet and walls of stone began to rise up around the building, encasing it in literal bedrock. She let out a sigh and drew her sword, pointing it in the direction of the oncoming crowd and their agents. She set her jaw and readied her sword.
No backing down now.
Comments
Wintermelody
Thanks for the Chapter
Sean
:'(
Matthew A Elliott
Some things not even Sonya can bypass.
Sean
I hope Sonya gets back in time, but I'm guessing that timer isn't something she can bypass easily.
