Chapter 363: Impossible
"Um captain You have to see this!" A crew mate called Fern called out loud commanding the attention of captain zoan.
Whose demeanor seemed to have shifted from her initial composure.
Ever since they all got the broadcast from the system and witnessed the calamitous shift in the status of the zone.
Zoan had been feeling uneasy and frightened, plagued with the worry that her crew mates might not make it and it will all be her fault.
After all they were mere shackled realm experts this place was way too dangerous for feeble beings of their level.
Fortunately they had not faced any corruption so far as they trailed in the path of the human survivors trail.
Though they hadn’t seen any bodies yet, they understood that the ones they were trailing seemed to be powerful experts just from the wreckage of battle they left behind.
And now running up to Fern, Zoan finally caught sight of their first concrete evidence of human presence on this island.
The group just gathered and stared at the first stranger they had seen in months, though dead and mangled it was still a new face.
Old man Lenny observed the corpse very closely scanning their surroundings and sighed, it seems he won’t be the only dead we would be encountering from here on out.
Everyone glanced his way in confusion Captain Zoan included, "Why did you say that pops?" she asked.
The old man took another glance at the body and then the surroundings and explained, "look at the signs of battle, the patterns, the gorges, the pierce marks, all battle patterns have changed."
The elder stroked his beard and continued, "from what I can see I can tell that the group had been surviving so far because someone immeasurably strong was protecting them."
Sighing then shaking his head the elder concluded, "so now they are left to fend for themselves, now the weak will be rooted out while the strong move one.... Hence why I expect to see more as we advance."
The crew shivered at his explanation, observing the battle marks scarring the area, they had to admit that even this level of damage to the surrounding will be impossible to them yet someone who could was dead.
The crew members went silent, previously they couldn’t gage by how far beyond their grade this zone was.
But now with this they could understand the scale of their weakness...
Plagued with this seed of fear, they had no choice to continue moving, discovering more corpses as they advanced.
Honestly if Seth or any other evolver form of seven attack divisions were here they would have been confused at the presence of these shackled evolvers.
They of the awakened grade were being afflicted with a cancerous growth of corruption sinking its claw each moment longer they remained within the abyss zone.
The debuff weighed heavy on their beings yet here was a group of shackled realm evolvers swaggering around the same zone uncorrupted.
It was an unbelievable sight indeed...
Advancing undisturbed as they moved along the path cleared by Seth and crew, inevitably they were about to catch up with the group.
....
Back on Seth’s end...
Seth stared at the line of grass that marked the entry point of the area saturated with the repulsive force of the abyss.
Around him Dorien, Lukas and Uriel walked up to his side staring at the entry point with him.
Their hearts racing...
"Sigh... this mission has been hell." Dorien whispered beneath his breath, the poor Canadian had been forced to suffer through death encounters he never even imagined was impossible.
Thinking of this his gaze settled upon Seth’s back, his eyes flashing with interest.
He had spent a little amount of time with Seth which was less than a day, yet Dorien had a great impression of the guy.
The mere fact that Seth could transform into a dragon was the most unbelievable thing he had seen since the descent of the origin.
To think the USA had such a formidable soldier, Dorien was truly awed.
So much so he decided Seth was going to be his benchmark, just as his hands rose, about to tap Seth on the shoulder to attempt to start a conversation his hands froze mid air.
His ears twitching as he quickly caught the slightest creak of a branch...
Dorien wasn’t the only one, the group suddenly went silent, they were using this spot for recuperation but they still remained in the state of constant high alert.
These were men and women forged through the harshest of conditions the zone had forced them through fighting under the constant weight of a debuff.
Sneaking up on them was not a feasible feat even for those at the awakened rank, talkless of evolvers at the shackled rank.
Sensing the looming presence everyone frowned glancing at one another.
"theres no way shackled rank beings came this far, it has to be a trick" Lukas declared without an ounce of doubt.
Yet Seth retained his hesitant frown, a trick? Then it had to be a really really good presence cloaking method because clearly Seth couldn’t see through it.
But thinking about things rationally, he had to agree with Lukas.
’I just won’t make sense.’ He concluded inwardly.
After all even if by some luck the shackled realm evolvers were able to avoid the feral corrupted, they would still be done in by the mere fact of being within the abyssal zone.
With their strength resisting the active attempt of the abysmal essence to corrupt all would be impossible.
Seth’s grip tightened around the buzzing bow, he didn’t knock it, nor did he get into a stand.
Merely standing behind as Uriel summoned his steed and weapon, lukas and dorien summoning their weapon as well.
The essence unit they’ve recovered so far begins to seethe, and boil into action.
The soldiers gave way, receding from the direction of the approaching force silently.
Since the captains moved it was their job to get out of the way.
The movements all happened in a flurry yet the crew didn’t make a single sound during the whole process.
The presence loomed closer and closer by the second, the sounds of footsteps and voices becoming visible.
Seth frowned harder, not right, was it still all a trick even now?
Their voices, their presence, everything it all felt real, too much so to be a trick.
Could they be mistaken? But that wouldn’t make sense.
Seth’s will flare into the air, descending into the minds of his teammates he ordered.
"Wait, don’t strike yet." His voice resonated through the heads of all three causing them to freeze in their tracks as the sounds of footsteps grew closer and closer until the culprits stepped into the light.
"Impossible..." Seth muttered staring at the new comers with utter confusion.