Ascenders Rift

Chapter 235: Prelude to the Grand Assault

The battle ended in an instant leaving only the scars of a disaster on the land, a trailing path that was a meter widespread out for a few dozen meters as it carved a rough trail into the hills.

Around this path were ruined trees and crushed boulders along with a few ruined buildings, there were corpses which belonged to the Body Shifters scattered about with their parts missing creating a truly gruesome sight.

As if they were unphased by this, a few humans who moved about the field had looks of indifference while sorting out the mess. Some of them reached down onto the ground near the corpses as they took up various items while others continued to scout the field.

Joe ruffled about a few of the body's with gold in his eyes; his fat fingers skillfully moved as he bagged any loot that came across his eyes with a greedy smile.

"It's a good haul, I tell you guys, whenever we fight without Evan, we're always able to find good loot," Joe said in a hearty tone as he picked up a shining bracelet from the ground.

"Maybe so," Rick said, not denying this fact, it seemed that he finally found some common ground with Joe.

Joe snorted, not looking at Rick; he knew just how hard this fellow had been trying to sneak off with his sister. He had to double down on surveillance even more so during these two weeks.

Layla giggled at this finding their actions to be funny; she then turned her head towards the sea's direction as she thought to herself.

'We've finished this one. So, what's taking Evan and the others so long to scout their main base?'

Layla was beginning to grow a bit concerned, but a voice sounded from a nearby area as if someone heard her thoughts.

"What's all this about my luck?" Evan asked as he stepped out from the woods, staring at Joe and Rick with sharp eyes.

Rick shook his head, saying nothing as Joe gulped, trying to find an excuse; Evan shook his head at this as he spoke, "It's okay, Joe, I understand that clearly, you want to get stronger faster, so from now on I'll be a little more thorough with your training."

'Blast! Such a devil!' Joe complained inwardly as his expression was now one of remorse.

Evan didn't pay any mind to it and started to walk towards Layla. Emilia soon atter appeared, drawing Rick's and Joe's attention; she stared at Evan's location and shook her head while in thought, 'Jeez, Evan likes to bully big brother. But I guess it's for his good.'

Unaware of his sister's thoughts of betrayal, Joe smiled and spoke, "Emmy, come quickly tell me what that bastard was up to. What took you guys so long to scout that base?"

Emilia made an awkward look as she replied, "Actually we..."

She was about to say something, but right at this time, Breya's discontented voice sounded.

"So, I'm a witch, now am I?"

When Joe heard this, his face sunk as he thought, "Oh crap, I did it again. I just keep opening my mouth."

Following the voice, Breya's slender figure fell from the top of a tree like a spider, she stared at Joe menacingly before she snorted and said nothing, but deep in her eyes, one would see an odd light, as if she was hatching strange plans.

Emilia gave Joe a look of pity, but she soon cleared it up and spoke, "Brother, we had already finished our inspection a few hours ago, but after returning we had only used that time to watch your raid against this camp."

"What?" Joe said in alarm, he gritted his teeth in anger, but as he saw Evan chatting with Layla, he didn't express his discontent outwardly.

"I figured as much, just like him to pull something like this," Rick murmured as he shook his head. He no longer pondered it but glanced at Emilia silently, as if trying to send a subtle message.

Emilia made a smile towards Rick, but Joe frowned, not liking the looks of things; it looks like he'll be a little busy later.

"Youre always trying to tease those two, when are you going to tell me the reason for it? Did they bully you in the past?" Layla asked as she stared at Evan with a teasing tone.

'Ha... who knows,' Evan said as he played with her hair strands as smiled, his eyes growing a little distant. He recalled the memories of Joe trying to cheer him up as he was always in a perpetually sullen mood, until the time of Joe's untimely demise.

Following this, he recalled the icy and indifferent Rick that drew close to no one, a man who only cared about his agendas, always looking down on him.

Evan fell into a slight daze while thinking back; as Layla, who was staring into his eyes, took notice of his change, she sighed before pinching his cheek, drawing him from out his recollections.

"Hey now, no dazing off, we still have matters to discuss."

As he heard her words, Evan rubbed his cheek with an embarrassed smile as he replied, "Fine, as the missus wishes."

After saying this, he turned and looked at Joe and the others, but saw that Joe and Rick had foul moods, which caused him to snicker, but he paid them no mind and spoke on the topic at hand.

"Everyone, gather around, it's time we start the meeting."

Joe, Rick, Emilia, and Breya soon came over, where they all took a seat on the ground as they prepared to hear the details.

Evan then spoke, "We've successfully scouted the enemy's main base, but it won't be easy to take it down. Even though our strengths have improved by quite a section, they've got quite a few powerful elders amongst their ranks."

Joe frowned at this and spoke, "Aren't the strongest of their kind none other than those High Elders? How much of a threat could they be if we were to directly rush their camp?"

Evan, hearing this, glanced at Breya, who tossed a small drone before everyone, which then began to project the scenes from the enemy base.

Looking at the images, one would notice a massive island with many different facilities built at its core, hidden within the tall trees and hill that formed a natural fortress.

A series of personnel with an orange glow was currently visible at all corners of this island, most of them bundled together into large groups as if they were expecting an ambush.

Other than these sights, the display then went further to show an underground facility with many other dozens of personnel, each of whom was of a deeper orange shade than those above. Amongst these individuals were those with brightly shining red hues along with those that had dark red lights.

Breya saw that everyone was at attention, she then began to speak, "So, I did a scan the base camp, but what the scanner found was none other than a few powerful energy signatures. As you can see, the surface is filled with level 7 and 8 body shifters, marked by light orange, but as we go down further, we have a level 9 and even quite a few level 10's. As for the strongest amongst them, the High Elders, they should be positioned at the lowest level."

Joe and the others nodded as they saw this scene; they could pretty much tell that it wouldn't be an easy task to raid this base camp.

On the other hand, Rick knitted his brows as he spoke, "What about that Valoz character, and that woman Pira? Weren't they supposed to be at this base? Why can't we see their energy readings?"

Evan had a stern look as he replied, "They are definitely there, but the reason that they aren't shown is simple. There's an even stronger power that's hindering our devices..."

Joe, Rick, and Layla had serious looks on their faces when they heard those words. Layla couldn't help but speak, "Do you mean that the interruption is coming from that thing?"

Evan looked at her and replied, "Correct, only that strange Genetic Blood Corpse would be able to jam our scanners abilities at that depth, which can only mean that the main target for our mission is at the extreme base level of that island."

Everyone remained silent at this for a while; they thought for a moment before their eyes shone with sharp rays. Joe then asked, "Alright, we know our threats, and we know where our main target is positioned, how do you suppose we begin this operation?"

Evan looked at everyone with a sly look on his face before he replied, "We'll do it like this..."

As Evan began to speak, the mood here turned dark, as everyone's eyes shifted from sternness to slyness as if foreshadowing a soon to come storm.

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