Chapter 178: The Ambush
Hayley watched Ethan as he carefully placed the Arrancar into a sheath. "So what’s next on the invention list?"
She was trying to make small talk to keep a back and forth between them both.
"If you’re asking about weapons, I don’t know. This was just an experiment." Ethan said, before having a brief thoughtful expression.
"But business wise, I’ll finish the airplane first, then who knows.. I might just venture into more, actually. Expand beyond just aircrafts."
"Like what?" Hayley asked, genuinely curious.
"I don’t know yet, maybe cars?" He answered.
Hayley’s eyes widened. "You’re gonna cause problems with that one."
Ethan smiled, understanding where she came from.
"The Roysten family won’t let you have that," she continued.
Ethan let out a short laugh. "Yeah, I figured."
This world was too monopolistic. People who had their businesses running protected that novelty, even with blood.
The major families controlled entire industries, and anyone who tried to break into their markets either got bought out, intimidated, or worse.
-
Later That Day...
The members of Clustervayne had gone into the Breach as planned.
And in this one graded as B-ranked, they faced Gloomclaws.
Their bodies were hunched and predatory, with what looked bone-like protrusions jutting from their arms and backs. Their clawed feet splashed through the shallow water as they charged forward roars.
"Here we go," Ethan muttered.
The clearing was quick.
The Gloomclaws, despite their intimidating appearance, fell with ease. Ethan’s team tore through them brutally, cutting down monster after monster in rapid succession.
Ragnarok sang through the air as Ethan directed it with the Levavius spell. The blade cleaved through three Gloomclaws at once, their bodies crumpling to the ground in pieces.
"Three!" Ethan called out.
Percival had just separated one of the monster’s head with his bare arms. "Two!" He shouted in the voice of a fully transformed werewolf.
There were call outs as well from Wilson, Aliyah and Hayley, and it continued this way, despite the danger of these monsters.
It caused a strange mix of focus and fun as they killed through these beasts.
"Fifteen!"
"Sixteen!"
"Twelve!"
"Eleven!"
"Nine!"
The numbers kept climbing, until eventually Hayley called out, "Twenty!"
Percival immediately protested. "You’re cheating! You already killed that one!"
"Twenty-five." Ethan called out after killing the last one on him.
Everyone groaned.
Percival turned to the group, raising his voice. "Alright, all those in favor of Ethan not counting because he’s a walking cheat, raise your hands!"
Every single hand went up.
Ethan looked around in disbelief. "What?!"
He turned to Hayley, who had her hand raised as well. "You too?"
She gave a light shrug with some amusement on her face.
Ethan sighed and shook his head.
—-
Outside the Breach...
A blonde-haired man stepped into the vicinity of the breach zone. This was Harold.
And with him, were two men.
The first one had long black hair, and was dressed in a suit with red cravat was tied around his neck, which could have passed for a red tie.
The second man with dark hair, had a cigarette hanging loosely from his lips. His muscular frame was clad in combat gear, and he looked like someone from the military.
Harold smirked as he approached the portal, giving a nod to the DSB agent who nodded back in acknowledgment.
"What happens in the breach, stays in the breach."
He muttered to himself, before all three of them stepped inside.
——
At this point, the members of Clustervayne had just cleared the boss.
The execution had been swift, almost disappointingly so. Hayley had landed the killing blow, and in one fell swoop.
As they made their way back towards the exit, Ethan let out a sigh.
"I was really hoping to test the new sword out on the boss" He muttered, glancing down at the Arrancar.
Hayley smiled. "Maybe next—"
She suddenly stopped, just like the others did as they had sensed the sudden shift.
Percival’s expression turned alert, "There are people approaching."
Ethan’s eyes narrowed, and instinctively he extended his senses, reading the magical signatures moving toward them.
One of them was familiar, and in the wrong way which made his gaze widen.
Without waiting for them to approach fully, Ethan called out his legendary summons at once, and they materialized around the group in flashes of purple light, taking battle ready positions.
If Harold was here, it couldn’t be for a good cause.
A moment later, three figures emerged from the shadows of the breach zone.
Harold Lowther walking in-front, had the same devious grin as he took in the scene before him.
Clustervayne’s team already looked lined up and ready.
This part of the dungeon was a midpoint; a wide, open area where countless Gloomclaw corpses littered the ground. It was the nearest section to both the boss zone and the exit point.
Harold then said, "Well, well. Looks like you were expecting us."
Wilson’s eyes widened he noticed the vampire on suit. His teeth clenched in frustration as he whispered, almost to himself, "That’s a Gerach vampire."
Everyone heard him, but no one had time to ask questions. The threat in front of them demanded their full attention.
Harold glanced at the summons arrayed before him, his grin never faltering.
"Those are strong summons," he thought to himself. Then his eyes drifted down to his right hand, where a greenish ring gleamed on one of his fingers, and a smile tugged at his lips.
"What do you think you’re doing?" Ethan said, moving his gaze between Harold and the two men flanking him.
These were not men from his squad, and their magic power put them on a level least S-tier.
Harold answered. "Here with me are good friends who share the same conviction as me." He paused, letting the words settle. "I told you, didn’t I? You’ve got enemies now."
Razalon Gerach, the vampire, had been on the verge of a breakthrough. His small guild had just secured a business deal with a major corporation outside of Grayfort City to supply a rare type of ore found only in lower-level breaches.
It was the first major contract his guild had ever landed.
Then the parliament’s decision came down, and the corporation pulled the plug immediately, opting instead to set up their own guild and mine the ore themselves.
The ranger, Anselam was different. He wasn’t motivated by revenge or anything. He was a hired gun.
A former military operative who had turned private mercenary, selling his skills to the highest bidder.
After the last encounter, when a sniper had fired warning shots at him from a distance, Harold had made an assumption that the shooter had to be part of Clustervayne.
And if they had a ranger, he needed one too.
For most situations, only a ranger could counter another ranger.
Anselam’s cold eyes never left Joe.
Ethan shifted his stance, prompting the others to ready themselves as well.
In his left hand, he held the Arrancar in a reverse grip, angling it forward. And in his right hand, was Ragnarok.
"I see Miss Bernadette slammed your head so badly, you don’t recognize when you’re outnumbered," Ethan said.
Harold’s grin faltered just a bit, and his hand unconsciously moved to the cross-shaped patch still stuck to his forehead from that encounter.
In that moment, the dimensional walls of the breach zone rumbled. This was the warning.
Since the boss had been defeated, the breach zone was beginning to collapse.
And Ethan knew this was the real problem. So either Harold had gone completely insane, or he intended for all of them to be trapped inside when the breach collapsed.
With a mental command, Ethan’s summons surged forward.
But in the same instant, Harold’s grin returned.
—-
A/N
The app isn’t letting me attach these pictures to the comments. I have no idea why, but if you join discord, I posted the pictures of the two assailants