Chapter 384: Dune Rift
"Uriel! It’s me, Elaine, you need to find us, Seth is in critical condition and we have to get him out of this damned zone."
Brief and straight to the point, the group had long ascended the stage of formalities, and besides, it was an emergency, it only made sense she relayed the crucial information as fast as she could.
Uriel’s frown deepened, his eyes involuntarily shifting towards the direction of the core... last he saw Seth, his friend had gone to engage the female variant, and he had assured that he would deal with the zone boss.
Uriel’s jaw tightened, did the boss put Seth in that state? Or was it something else?
He didn’t know and he couldn’t find out by stalling around...
"Zion!" he called sharply.
His cracked battle suit helmet lit up as a holographic interface representing the artificial intelligence bound to the genetic battle suit stirred awake, responding with a robotic yet feminine voice. "Yes, master!"
"Shut down all functions and concentrate all recovery protocols towards the radar function," Uriel ordered in a single beat.
Silence followed as the genetic armour suddenly began to lose all luster, growing heavier and cold as all functions were shut down, the full force of the recovery process directed towards the tracking system.
Uriel tilted his head, avoiding a lunge from a rodent-like defiled, which pounced right past him and landed in the midst of other soldiers who bombarded the corrupted beast with lethal strikes right away.
Tremors shook the land, towering trees collapsing left and right, the entire area a chaotic mess of combat, while Uriel stood tranquil amidst them all...
Seconds passed, impatiently, before he asked, "Zion, how long until the recovery radar function becomes complete?"
Silence reigned for a few seconds as Zion processed the time needed... "I will be completely right about... now, master."
Uriel let out a sigh of relief and nodded, "Good, now I want you to track the location of saved contact Elaine Griffith..."
The machine once more sank into silence, processing Uriel’s orders as fast as its half-fried chip board could allow it...
A radio frequency rippled into the air, spanning the entire sprawling island swallowed by the vast abyssal zone.
The radar function worked hand in hand with the radio communication system, the ripples spreading far and reaching Elaine, who was a good distance away from him.
The waves interacted with her helm, instigating a response from her system, a radar halo flickered into view on the visual interface pasted over Uriel’s sight.
The center pulse indicating his location and the brilliant orb of blue in the corner of the pulsing radar indicating Elaine’s direction.
Uriel wasted no time, Elaine’s urgency still ringing in his ears, his knuckles whitening on the reins, he had to get to her on time.
Leaving this zone had become a top priority, he was just about to act when he felt a tug on his foot...
He frowned, looking down towards the culprit... his expression hardened. It was none other than the shackled realm captives.
Surprisingly, the group of ten had managed to remain alive all this while, though their complexion was noticeably pale, their eyes losing luster.
It seemed even the four-eyed monkey pelt still wasn’t enough to shield them from the effects of the abyssal essence plaguing the atmosphere.
Uriel stared down directly at the figure bowing before him and leading the other nine, the elder amongst the bunch.
"Greetings, good sir, I am old man Lenny-" before the frail elder could finish speaking, Uriel cut him off, drumming his fingers against the saddle.
"Cut the crap and go straight to the point," his voice harsh, Uriel wasn’t in the mood, Seth might be dying and for all he knew, these guys’ friend might be the culprit behind this.
It was only natural he did not hold them in a favourable light...
The elder’s frail bones trembled, Elder Lenny sighed, glancing at the quivering kids behind him, half wishing he had pushed Zoan harder to leave this place.
He was taken in by her plight and bent to her demands, and now they were all suffering from it, he let out a hollow cough...
"Good sir, I-if you can take us to the shore, I can help you all get home..." The elder relayed his goal weakly along with an incentive.
Along the way, the group had gleaned some information from the others, and it was already clear to them that these all-mighty figures seemed to be lost, just like them.
Elder Lenny hoped if he dangled a way home to the leaders, they might just let them leave this suffocating place, they were mere shackled realm experts, even if the abyssal essence wasn’t slowly killing them.
The shockwaves from the soldiers’ battles would eventually finish the job...
They had been forced so far to stay away from the soldiers’ battles, yet not too far lest they fall prey to these mighty monsters.
The elder let out another long sigh, his shoulders sinking.
Meanwhile, Uriel’s focus on the elder grew stern, his brows furrowing under the shade of his broken helm, "You, you said you can get us out of here?"
The elder, seeing he had gotten Uriel’s attention, nodded his head rapidly.
"Indeed, good sir, my gene skill is called the Dune Rift, and as long as I can access enough sand particles I can establish connections across space," the elder hurriedly explained.
Alienated from humanity since this all began, the elder had no clue about the unwritten rules of not disclosing your abilities to those you didn’t trust.
Well, even if he did, there was still a chance he’d disclose it anyway, after all he was the desperate one.
Uriel went still, scanning the elder’s frame a bit more intensely...
’A space gate ability!’ His mind echoed, the reins going slack in his grip.
A gene skill type the US government had been desperately on the lookout for, though they were able to harness the power of space travel to some degree, it cost humanity a shitload of resources.
Take the group warp the division usually initiated, with the combined presence of the mecha suits, the amount of essence crystals they burned to reach the dragon genesis island was in the hundreds of thousands.
Not only that, the transportation wasn’t efficient, and if they had a human with a space gate gene skill, it would reduce the cost and boost their efficiency by far.
Plus this elder’s gene skill was just what they needed now... staring at the sandy path soaked with blood of humans and beasts alike beneath them, Uriel asked, his tone noticeably less clipped.
"Can you use your abilities now?"