BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

Chapter 913: Bestial clash (1)

After some time, Mira rode up next to Erik, her long braid whipping in the wind. "What is your plan once we reach New Alexandria?"

"First, we'll need to get in touch with Major Fischer. Last I heard, he was making preparations for a big attack against Volkov. But of course, they could all be dead by now."

"You do not look confident in their abilities." Mira said.

"It's not that I'm not, but Volkov has the blackguards, and the blackguards... well, there is no need to tell you how problematic they are. Besides, all of this is without considering brain crystal weapons or double or triple brain crystal powers. It's a mess."

Mira nodded, having heard rumors of growing unrest in the city. "Do you think they will be good allies?"

"Hard to say," Erik said. In all honesty, not even he was certain of that, but having more hands on deck will be useful.

"But regardless, they will give us a place to stay, an information network, and the like. You don't know this since you are from Etrium, but the people we are going to meet are all in the army. They know what they are doing."

For Mira, it was weird, because there wasn't an army in the traditional sense in Etrium, only mercenaries.

"Well, as you say, knowing what they are doing doesn't mean being able to."

"That's true..." Erik paused a second.

"Anyway, the first thing we have to do is establish a base of operations within the city, a place where we can safely make more clones. After that, it's all about gathering intelligence. There is nothing that a good, old investigation can't solve."

Mira pondered this. "The usual, right?"

Erik nodded. "The usual..."

Their conversation was interrupted then as Hugo crested a rise, shaking his massive head and making a snort.

Hugo's snort pulled Erik from his thoughts, drawing his attention ahead. Through the trees, a partial clearing came into view where the forest had been damaged.

Erik shielded his eyes from the sun as Hugo approached the area.

Scattered tree trunks and snapped branches littered the ground, partially obstructing their path.

As they drew nearer, Erik spotted streaks of darkened earth between the debris.

The smell of disturbed soil mingled with something acrid that hung heavily in the air.

He dismounted and picked his way closer for a better look.

Deep gouges marked the terrain as if enormous claws had torn through the soft ground.

Erik ran his fingers along one such groove, feeling its ragged edges.

He glanced at the trees, noticing strips of bark shredded from their bases to the lowest branches.

There was a big hole in the ground in the middle of the clearing. The edges had strange, misshapen lumps that might've been tree roots.

Whatever violent encounter happened here was not an ordinary struggle.

He could only imagine what kind of creature was capable of such wanton destruction.

"Look at this," Amber said. "Something must have fought around here."

Mira joined her in surveying the destruction. "But what?" she asked, glancing back at Erik.

"Any thoughts on what could have done this?"

While surveying the scale of the battle's aftermath, Erik knew that whatever fought here was no ordinary creature.

Only one with considerable strength could have wrought such devastation.

"Judging by the size of the area and the damage, I think this was made by thaids with more than twenty-three neural links at least," he said.

"Something like this should not be around here."

These thaids posed grave dangers; not only could their battles reach Liberty Watch, endangering innocent lives, but their presence also disrupted the ecosystems upon which the people relied.

If the thaids drove away or consumed all other prey in the surrounding wilderness, food problems may soon follow for Liberty Watch, since they relied also on meat.

Erik's people had always lived in a precarious balance with the land, being this deep in the forest. He remembered when he first arrived in what was, back then, a village. People were starving, and he made the city safe by using his powers.

But with forces as powerful as these thaids rampaging unchecked, that balance threatened to collapse.

If all the monsters that came from the Eldraith mountain range were at the Hevadrin's same level, Erik doubted the clones could kill them.

"Should we hunt them?" Emily asked. Erik turned to look at her.

"It depends. For sure, they pose a threat to Liberty Watch since we are still very close to it. But the scale of this destruction suggests the thaids are not weak ones, as I've already said. To have twenty-three neural links is not that much; honestly, the problem is that whatever did fight here has more. I can't explain the destruction otherwise. Besides, when I fought with the Hevadrin, we didn't make the same mess as here, and yet that thing was powerful."

What Erik was trying to say was that stronger beasts didn't automatically equate to bigger messes. But they were still needed to make a chaos like this.

Erik thought back to when he started this weird journey. The thought of killing a flying thaid was harrowing back then.

Of course, for him, that became easy. What baffled him was that there were people who could do the same a long time ago but never did.

The blackguards had the power to kill flying thaids; otherwise, they wouldn't even stand a chance against him back in Caelora City.

Yet they did nothing. The same could be said for Shade and his men.

When he fought them, even he had to be careful. This meant that humanity was stronger than what the average person thought, but they still lived in fear. Why?

Now Erik had to kill Volkov and destroy their men, yet he had to be careful.

It was weird considering that not long ago; he thought he should have been strong enough to destroy New Alexandria alone.

Of course, that was because of brain crystal weapons and Doran's research; otherwise...

<Otherwise, Volkov would have had his day counted. >

The real question was, were things changing too fast, or did the world's governments lie

about humanity's strength?

Erik was inclined to think it was the second.

"We can't possibly leave whatever was here around," Amber said.

"She is right," Mira interjected. "Do you think you can hunt this thing?"

Erik looked at her with an amused smile. "Of course I am!"