Chapter 78 - 78: Crossing Paths
Regret filled his face as he felt terrible for not having enough strength to create two barriers. If he had, then Conner might have been saved.
"Weston, Get out of it! Conner is dead. Mind Sync won't work. You can't phase out like that. We need to work even harder, so survive, win, and take revenge for him!" Caen shouted from a distance.
....
While one explosion had shaken the Red Eagles Guild Members, Lucifer was having the best time of his life as multiple explosions took place, killing more and more of his enemies.
Slowly but steadily, the number of beasts around him started coming down, leaving only one Dungeon Dweller around him.
A Spiked Armadillo was still safe. It had stayed far away from the Orb-Monsters, so it wasn't caught in flames. Lucifer didn't bother killing him yet since he wanted to kill more monsters in his initial attacks.
As only one Monster was left in front of him, Lucifer finally stopped flying back and relaxed a little.
Slowly walking towards the Spiked Armadillo, he shot out the last Black Lightning Bolt.
The black lightning bolt penetrated the body of the Spiked Armadillo, killing it.
"Finally done," Lucifer muttered as he walked over to the dead body of the beast.
"Decaying beings give me strength—even the dead ones. I wonder how it works?" he wondered as he stopped in front of Spiked Armadillo's body. He watched the decaying dead body of spiked Armadillo, which soon turned to dust.
"It doesn't feel the same. Something seems different." Lucifer came to a conclusion as he stood up.
He glanced back in the distance towards the Red Eagles Guild, who was still dealing with most of the Dungeon Dwellers. It seemed like they were having trouble dealing with so many beasts.
He raised his head towards the sky as he sighed.
"Father, if you were here, you would have helped them, right?" Lucifer muttered, clenching his fist.
"Not me! None of them deserves our help! They're both predators. They were hunting me before, and now they're dealing with a different form of monsters. I won't involve myself. You understand, right?" he let out as a sad smile appeared on his face.
Slowly, he turned his back on the monsters and the Red Eagles Guild as he started walking away from them.
He had decided not to help. His only aim was to destroy the facility. He didn't want to be delayed, nor did he want to fight for the ones that were going to torture his family like he was in childhood.
He increased his speed and started flying away towards Erygas City.
....
"Saele! He killed them! He killed the monsters on his side! He's leaving now! We need his help! We can win after his help!" Weston called out to Saele as he saw Lucifer leaving.
Saele also noticed it. With no choice at hand, he decided to ask for help even if he had to beg.
"Hey! Stop! Please help us kill the monsters! They're the enemies of entire humanity! Even if you're our enemy, you can't let them live! Join us! We can wipe them all!" Saele screamed like his life depended on it.
Even though Lucifer was far away, he managed to hear. He turned back after stopping.
Looking at Saele, he said something.
"They're enemies of humanity? So what? I'm not a friend of humanity!" Lucifer said softly. His voice was low, and it didn't reach Saele, but Lucifer didn't care.
After saying what he wished, he turned again and continued leaving.
Saele watched Lucifer leave while he continued pleading. It didn't matter how much he asked for help. Lucifer didn't stop. Ultimately, Lucifer went so far that he disappeared from Saele's view.
....
"Hurry! This is serious! We need to get this thing live. This has finally happened!"
"We have prepared the setup! We can start anytime!"
"Alright. I'm ready! On the count of three."
Many people were walking back and forth in a particular office, ready to set up something since the last few minutes as if they had suddenly received some shocking news.
"3… 2… 1…."
"Good Morning, and welcome to News United. We had to cut the scheduled program to bring this live to you."
The female News Anchor started talking in front of a camera, reading from a TelePrompter.
"Ikrego City last night faced the biggest disaster. According to our sources, it has been attacked by Dungeon Dwellers that managed to leave the nearby Grade 1 Dungeon. And before they, according to our sources, it was attacked by a Variant which left its defense weakened."
"The Dungeon was under the protection of the Red Eagles Guild, which has been wiped out as well, according to what we know so far."
"The Dungeon Dwellers are attacking the innocent citizens of Ikrego City, and no one is there to protect them. We would like to ask the Hunters Guild how they allowed this to happen when their whole purpose was to make sure that Dungeon dwellers don't come out."
" This seems to be the biggest oversight from the Hunters Guild. What comes out of this situation is to be seen. We will continue updating you on the situation."
The News Anchor explained the situation; however, not many people watched the channel as it was early morning.
....
Ring! Ring!
"Hmm? Who is calling at this time? Could it be a call from my men? Did Lucifer enter this city?"
The Delta Squad Leader of APF, Xander, was lying in bed, ready to take a short nap when his phone started ringing.
"Hmm? Is it Ayn? What does Beta Team Leader want from me?" he lamented as he looked at the number on his phone.
"Yeah, Ayn. How come you are calling this early?" he inquired as he picked up the call.
"Xander, You are in Erygas, right? I was hoping you could take your team and go to Ikrego! It's urgent," a female voice sounded from the other side.
"I can't leave. I'm on an important mission here," Xander replied, shaking his head. In his mind, catching Lucifer was more important than any other task. Other teams were there to handle them anyway.
"Nothing is more important than it! The Dungeon Dwellers from the Dungeon near Ikrego City have come out. The Red Eagle Guild is wiped out. Ikrego city is in danger."
"The Dungeon Dwellers are destroying it! You need to go there to stop them and save people!" Ayn fumed as if she couldn't believe that Xander was refusing.
"We are there to deal with Variant related problems. The Hunter Guild should be handling it. Why aren't they dealing with it?" Xander inquired as he stood up. He walked towards the exit of the room. "Even though it's not our jurisdiction, I'll still go to help, though. You don't need to worry. Saving people is more important."
He stepped out of the room.
"That's good. That's what I expected from you. Don't worry; I won't put your mission in jeopardy. According to my sources, Red Eagles Guild Members killed most of the monsters before they were killed."
"You don't need your entire team to kill them. You can go with a few and leave the rest to finish your mission," Ayn advised Xander, not willing to have him abandon his goals for her.
"As for the hunters Guild, they are sending help, but their people are not in that area. They asked us for help to see if our people were there to provide help until they came. Since you're in the next city, you're perfect for this job," she continued.
"Alright. I'm disconnecting. I'll be there as soon as I can," Xander declared before he disconnected the call.
He walked to his closest aid to explain everything.
"Flourance, I'm leaving this city for some time. Dungeon Dwellers has attacked Ikrego. I'm taking a few people to save them. You stay here with the rest while I deal with things there."
"You are responsible for everything. Make sure that you catch Lucifer when he comes there! Everything should be according to our plan to make sure that no lives are lost," Xander explained before he left.
He entered the helicopter with seven of his men. The rotor blades of the helicopter started rotating as the helicopter started rising in the air.
Xander and his small team left Erygas, leaving the rest of the team behind. He only took a fraction of his team while leaving most of them back.
He also left Flourance behind, who was the second strongest Variant in the Delta Squad, to make sure that nothing went wrong while he was out.
....
Without caring for anything that happened back, Lucifer flew towards Erygas. He flew the entire night, only stopping when it was near Dawn.
He was feeling hungry all night, but he couldn't find any forest to hunt, so he couldn't eat. It was only in the early morning when he reached a forest on his way.
Most of his clothes were burnt. He was entirely bare-chested. Fortunately, the top half of his pants were still intact.
He sat near the small pond in the forest and caught a fish.
He burnt a fire using the method he was taught by Emilia when he stayed at her house after she crashed her car.
After adequately cooking the fish, he sat under a tree and started eating.
As he was eating, the clattering Chuff-Chuff noise of the helicopter filled the surroundings.
Lucifer looked above and managed to see a black helicopter flying away through the cracks between the leaves of the trees.