Chapter 288: The Predator Lurking In The Dark
Rabid eyes, carrying ferocious intent, lit in the darkest regions of the volcanic tunnel.
A wave of heat rushed upwards, caressing the outer surface of the group’s battle armour, the smart sense system linking lightly their sense of touch to the outer layer of the armour.
You see there was a reason the battle suits the human forces donned boosted their performance beyond what any origin item could.
Mainly because it allowed the evolvers to still retain access to their primary senses.
Sense of touch, sound, sight, in some cases these wonderful battle suits helped the human evolvers enhance and fine tune their senses.
All these functions made this Gordon 342 battle suit one of the greatest pieces of combat gear a human could get his hands on, just beneath the level of genetic armaments like Seth’s genetic battle suit.
The helm of the human forces hummed, as it fine tuned their perception of hearing to an absurdly high intensity where each of them instantly instinctively acquired an echo mapping ability.
Each time their feet bounced off the tunnel walls and sank lower and collided back, the ripple of sonic vibration caused by the action would spread out.
And bounce off obstacles, allowing their brains to map out a detailed 3-dimensional image in their minds.
Though they had infrared support for vision, there was only so far its seeing range could reach.
At that moment Seth who was leading the descent paused, his eyes gleaming brilliantly in the night, the passive of his gene skill darkness avatar empowering not only his senses but other factors.
His grip over his supporting steel rope linked to his strap belt tightened, as his sight tore beyond the veil of darkness, several hundred more feet below, Seth caught sight of something...
A nocturnal predator?
His eyes flickered in contemplation as this thought came to mind, he frowned suddenly, as another slow gust of wind caressed their frames flowing upwards.
Seth wasn’t startled by the hot wind but instead the fact that he sensed movement.
His brows locked into a frown as he murmured beneath his breath, "shit! Not good."
This wasn’t supposed to happen, Seth didn’t imagine that they’d encounter foes this early and extremely troublesome ones as well.
Seth grimaced, fastening himself closer to the wall, his soldiers still descending from above oblivious to the elaborate attack that was awaiting below.
Seth hadn’t seen the beast, heck he couldn’t even sense the beast’s presence with a mental scan.
Aside from the slight movement he sensed earlier, there was actually no proof that these predators existed.
And that was exactly why he knew whatever was coming was lethally dangerous; he didn’t even know their numbers, their presence melted seamlessly into the darkness even more so than what the passive effects of the darkness avatar provided him.
Seth silently pinged the whole division, his message promptly flashing with the screen interface of their battle suits.
Everyone read in silence.
Seth’s words flashed in warning red, "Danger incoming, be wary..."
They quickly dismissed the prompt, fastening themselves tighter to their steel anchor ropes, they continued their descent more steadily.
Sacrificing travel speed, to retain their swift reflex just in case.
The ground sank further below, the crimson eyes glowing closer to the group yet somehow they still couldn’t see it.
Not even Seth!
The eyes eyed the division hungrily, spreading around to surround the group of prey.
Their drool dropping down from gaping maws in silent beats, the claws of the crimson-eyed predator digging into every crevice of the uneven wall.
Scaling the vertical plane with such an agile burst of movement that defied the laws of physics.
Faint gleams of red rippled through the cracks of their obsidian-scaled skin, their wingless backs hunched and their four limbs all even, unlike the traits of a dragon.
Seth’s heart palpitated, his will bound to the title of world saint could perceive the realm of fortune and casualty even if ever so slightly.
It was enough to let him feel slight discomfort when a dangerous event drew close, or feel a wave of unnatural calm when things were safe.
It was a kind of precognitive sense, tied to his intuition.
And right now it was blaring like mad, his skin practically tingling with a heavy premonition.
He could feel gazes washing over him, he scowled, it seemed things were worse than he thought.
He had assumed he would at least be able to sense the presence of the enemy once they drew closer eventually.
But it seemed he was wrong, and had underestimated the lethality of his foe even when he thought he was overestimating.
This wasn’t good, being attacked by an invisible enemy would deal a critical blow to his team.
Not only was their battle capacity limited due to obvious obstacles of their situation and travel method, they also wouldn’t be able to see or even know when or where the enemy was coming from.
At this point if he was still reluctant to expend a few units of essence, he would be dead before he would be even able to count his reserves.
Summoning his grim bone spear, his bronze cells sparked and his glabella established a strong psychic link to the bone matter.
He pulled on a force he hadn’t used on Earth before, his eyes welling with a faint sheen of crimson, while his class skill wild lock flared with life.
An illusionary effect rippled out of his frame, as faint echoes of a jester’s crazed laugh rippled in the ears of all.
Seth’s energy welled, forming a Crimson Card mid-air; grabbing it with a swift swipe, the card pulsed, and he instantly drew a connection to a stolen class skill.
Shadow Travel, a class skill he had stolen from a certain dead Treant...
Seth’s frame silently and seamlessly suddenly sank into the wall, the darkness of the deep pit registering a stable portal to the shadow realm.
His senses blending into the vast sea of shadows, his mind establishing a mental link.
His senses rippled, scanning through the myriad shadows, effortlessly locking onto their prowling predators.
Seth had no idea what these beasts were and they were clearly not dragons, but he didn’t care.
His eyes flickering in the depths of the shadows as his mind quickly drew up an assault plan.