Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 211: Let’s Follow John!
"We can’t let him fight alone! We need to go there and show our support to him! We can’t let him face two thousand Bulltors alone!"
It had been barely half a day since John disappeared into the swirling purple fog, yet the atmosphere at the base had shifted from focus to a thick, suffocating anxiety. The four friends and the eleven Bulltor had gathered in a makeshift war council near the edge of the lake.
Cissel led the discussion, her voice sharp with a desperation she usually kept buried under layers of coldness. Yet today, something was different; she was way more worried over John than ever! She moved her eyes around the circle, challenging anyone to disagree.
"Don’t tell me I’m the only one thinking about this," she paused, letting the silence hang for a moment before adding, "I know he specifically asked us to safeguard the base, collect the cores, and keep pushing back the fog, but look around, there is literally nothing out there right now that can threaten us!
The perimeter is secure, and we have close to two weeks before another Wrathers den would appear. Instead, we should be asking: what if the Bulltors don’t stick to their ancient rules? What if they see a human and decide to turn their blades against him before he even speaks a word?" 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦
"Hey, we aren’t like that at all!" Lanmar growled. The sound was a low, vibrating rumble in his chest. He gritted his teeth, his massive hands clenching into fists. He knew Cissel didn’t mean to insult his race; she was just terribly worried for John, but the implication still stung. He was just as worried about his kin as she was about her man.
"I’m just saying we need to be there for him," Cissel sighed, her shoulders dropping slightly. She knew she might have pushed the point too hard, but the image of John standing alone against a sea of giants was playing on a loop in her mind.
"In fact, I also want to go and watch him fight," Ricky said suddenly. His voice lacked Cissel’s frantic worry, replaced instead by a cold sharpness. "But my reasons are different. I need to see how he competes against them... How he plans to crush them. I want to learn. I need to learn from him."
He spoke the last few words with his head lowered, his tone trailing off into a whisper of frustration. It was a hard pill to swallow, admitting that someone else was playing the game on a completely different level than himself. Even if he didn’t like being overshadowed, Ricky had to be honest with himself: John was ahead of him fair and square.
It wasn’t just a matter of a difference in raw talent or strength. Ricky could tell John wasn’t normal, wasn’t normal at all. Every time he watched the man enter a fray, he was dazzled by a new discovery, a hidden mechanic, or a brand new ability that shouldn’t exist. It felt like John was a bottomless pit of special powers and surprises, and he wanted to see more of what he was hiding.
Hearing the two express their thoughts, different in motive but identical in their end goal, prompted Luke to clear his throat. He looked up from the dirt where he had been tracing patterns with a stick.
"I’m just deeply worried over my big bro," Luke admitted. "I know he’s strong, probably the strongest person I’ve ever met, but we’re talking about him going out there alone to fight twelve of the most elite warriors in the entire Bulltors.
Besides, and I mean no offence to Lanmar and others, I’m not entirely sure how the rest of your people will receive the news of a human beating, or even killing, their strongest bloodline leaders and warriors."
"You..." Lanmar glared down at Luke. The young man simply shrugged, meeting the giant’s gaze with a steady look that said he was merely stating the most logical theory.
"I say we should go and support him," Elena finally spoke up, her voice firm and decisive.
"I’ve been talking to Reody. He says the travel distance from here to the Bulltors’ territory is five hours at most, even moving at a steady pace. Adding five hours to cross our territory, it’s ten hours trip.
It’s inside the fog, yes, but we’ve proven we can handle the fog before. We can finish clearing our territory today and collect more cores to use if needed out there. Then tomorrow morning, we move out. What do you think?"
She looked around the group, searching for any dissent. All she saw was a heavy, silent agreement. Even the eleven Bulltors were nodding. They wanted to go back; they wanted to check on their friends and their wounded kinsmen first and foremost. Since John had delivered the news of the Hivemind’s devastating strike, they had been living in a state of suppressed mourning.
"It’s settled then," Cissel concluded, her eyes flashing with a renewed sense of purpose.
"Today we work double-time. We clear the territory, we push the fog, and clear our base of it. Tomorrow, we move out. John had to head into Hiveminds’ territory first to kill one of them before he could even start the challenge.
Knowing him, he’ll spend today scheming a way to get that kill without exposing himself to the entire race. It’s safe to assume he’ll take the whole day for that, perhaps stay the night around the Hiveminds territory inside the fog, then head to the Bulltors territory tomorrow morning.
If we leave once we wake up, we might arrive just as things get started. But first, we need to do our tasks properly."
"You heard the lady," Ricky said, standing up from his spot and brushing the dust from his swords. "Let’s scatter. We have to gather every remaining core in the vicinity, clear and push the fog back to the border. We need to have all this ready before nightfall."
