Chapter 110: Echoes of a Fall
Rachel had experienced an emotional roller coaster over the past half hour.
She had arrived at the mine carrying the weight of a crushing defeat, still nursing the wounds inflicted by Silas and his team. Fury had consumed her ever since, leaving room for nothing except the desire to watch him die.
Strangely enough, fate seemed determined to grant that wish, as though Gaia herself had taken pity on her humiliation.
Inside her shuttle, Rachel watched the recorded moment of Silas falling by a shuttle camera. She had already heard the report, yet she refused to celebrate until she witnessed it with her own eyes.
She knew better than anyone how cunning Silas was. But after watching the footage, every last trace of doubt disappeared.
"Hahaha!"
"Revenge is a bitch."
Ecstasy surged through her, washing away the humiliation she had suffered only hours earlier. She replayed the recording again and again, laughing every time Silas’s figure disappeared over the edge of the mine and plunged into the endless abyss.
No D-Enhancer could survive such a fall.
"Not even a C-Enhancer."
Yet while she was still savouring her victory, a message shattered her elation.
[Sorry, Young Miss.]
[We were ambushed by Chaz’s forces.]
[Only a few survived. We are retreating back to the clan.]
The sender was the captain of the special squad her clan had dispatched.
Rachel silently reread the report, absorbing every detail of the unexpected ambush as the joy drained from her face, replaced by a rage that burned even hotter than before.
She had barely finished celebrating the death of one enemy before another struck her where it hurt most.
Her gaze shifted to the tactical map. Chaz Avaron’s location remained marked atop the mine.
"...Standing where that bastard fell."
She switched to the live feed. Chaz stood motionless at the edge of the cliff, staring into the abyss without moving a muscle.
"Why don’t you just jump after him and die?"
Her fists tightened. Of course, even if he did, an A-Enhancer would never die from a fall like that.
The timing could not have been worse.
The dragon had just disappeared into the abyss. By all logic, such a fall would never kill a creature of its calibre, but neither would it emerge unscathed. Anyone hoping to finish it off and claim the unimaginable spoils from its corpse had been handed the perfect opportunity.
And at that exact moment, her strongest asset had been crippled.
"Even while competing with a dragon and dealing with your troublesome daughter, you still found the time to send a special squad after mine."
"Damn you... What kind of monster are you?"
Rachel understood that no amount of anger would allow her to confront Chaz directly. The difference in strength between them was so vast that he could crush her as effortlessly as an ant.
But the humiliation inflicted upon her clan was another matter entirely. This was not merely the loss of a special squad. It was a slap across her clan’s face, delivered by the Avaron Clan.
And her clan had never tolerated such insults. Neither had she been raised to endure them without seeking vengeance.
Rachel slowly scanned the tactical map once more. Chaz Avaron’s position was known. Silas was dead at the bottom of the abyss.
As for Cher, Alfred, and Darius... They had vanished without a trace.
She received the reports detailing everyone’s last known locations, and the information only deepened her confusion.
Darius and Alfred had last been seen at one of the garrison posts near the edge of the mine before disappearing without a trace.
Even stranger, Cher had been spotted standing beside Silas moments before the dragon arrived, yet she, too, had vanished afterwards.
None of the three could be found anywhere.
"My revenge will be served through your daughter, Chaz Avaron."
Rachel slowly clenched her fists until her fingernails dug into her palms.
"I know you want something precious from her."
"Even if I don’t know what it is, I’ll make sure you never obtain it."
She made her decision.
She would find Cher and kill her. She would even record the execution and send it to her clan to erase the humiliation she had suffered during this mission.
As for finding Cher, several possibilities crossed her mind.
"Leopard suffered a crushing defeat and has now lost everything."
She tapped the armrest of her chair, contemplating whether the next move was worth the risk.
"I suffered as well, but I never lost the trust of my people."
A faint smile spread across her face.
"See? That’s the difference between you and me, Leopard."
Without another moment of hesitation, she issued her orders. Her people were to contact the defectors from Leopard’s faction, those who had been burned with resentment. She promised them that once Cher was dealt with, they would turn their attention to Leopard himself and settle their grievances together.
In her mind, there was no longer any doubt... She would emerge as the sole victor of this mission.
Or so she believed.
***
"That bastard..."
Chaz finally received a recording of what had transpired. He watched Silas deceive the dragon, kick it over the edge of the mine, then leap into the abyss after it.
’He must have prepared something down there.’
There was no mistaking what he had seen. Silas had not fallen because of the dragon. It was the dragon that had been kicked into the abyss, while Silas remained standing atop the mine for a while before deliberately following it.
’Had he simply accepted death? No. The boy had stood still for several seconds before jumping. That wasn’t a resignation. It was a decision.’
Reason insisted that such a conclusion was absurd, yet Chaz could find no other explanation.
Silas had not sacrificed himself merely to buy Cher time to escape, nor had he been knocked off the cliff by the dragon. He jumped willingly.
’He is scheming something at the bottom of the abyss.’
The realisation only fueled Chaz’s fury.
’And Cher’s disappearance... she is hiding, waiting for the next step of his plan.’
His thoughts shifted immediately, drawing closer to the truth.