Transcendent Gene
Chapter 100: Surprise Offer [2]

Chapter 100: Surprise Offer [2]

It was a segue.

"Did you know there are humans living out here?"

Amaya’s words echoed through the surrounding jungle. She and Gio were now walking back to their camp with the Crimson Ash Bear corpse in tow.

The various chirps and buzzes of the environment had become nothing more than background noise after so many days.

Really, Gio only paid attention to the world around him so he didn’t get caught by surprise if something happened. His attention was almost wholly focused on the words streaming from Amaya’s mouth.

"I didn’t think it was possible for humans to live this far out."

"Right. There aren’t even Rest Cities out here. You might be able to find some ruins in parts of the jungle at best," Amaya responded with a nod.

"But somehow, there are humans living here. I heard about it from the Captain a little bit before we landed and did some snooping around while you were asleep."

"You’ve been leaving me alone and unprotected in the jungle at night?"

"I can shut up right now if that’s what you want."

"Please continue. I insist, even."

"Mhm...well, in short, it’s true. I don’t know how accurate it is to call them humans, but they definitely exist. They don’t seem to be up to anything good either."

"If you’re bringing it up to me, does that mean they’re weak?"

"That, they are. Their leaders are beyond your level, but even the strongest of the rest are at most around where that bear was. You won’t be in any danger of dying as long as I’m there."

Amaya wasn’t sure of their origin. She only knew why they were living in the jungle.

They were sacrifices; willing ones, at that.

They sacrificed themselves, the corpses of beasts, and other humans. They were not a united group, yet their prayers all converged in one place.

If one were to ask why, however, one would find the information blocked by a wall.

’Luckily for me, my boss has the credentials to break that wall down.’

It wasn’t unrelated to the matters of Bloodrend and the Apocalypse Church.

On one hand, they could technically be considered followers of the Apocalypse Church. They were corrupted by that doctrine and when their minds were properly destroyed, they were thrown into this jungle to accomplish a purpose.

There were eight separate camps spread throughout the area. Each one was a village where ten to twenty people lived. No matter how much they sacrificed their own bodies, their populations never dipped.

But it was hard to say any of them would know the faces of their peers.

’It looks like it’s part of some kind of ritual, but I agree with the Captain. It feels more like a front. It would be nice if they were hiding something important.’

Amaya hummed as she turned to look at Gio.

"I gave you ten days to prove you could fight. It’s not the best, but it’s not something to complain about either. I was testing your reactions and watching how you make decisions throughout our training so far, so even this last test was just a little bit of extra caution. It may seem random to you, but I’ve been considering making this offer since we met in the cafeteria back then."

Their steps slowed when the familiar clearing inhabited by two rectangular homes came into sight.

"I’m not even going to bother with asking if you’re ready or not. We’ll set off in a day. This first time, I’m going to treat it as another trial. If you can perform properly when we raid the place, I’ll think about letting you come with me when I attack the rest."

Otherwise, she would take it as her due diligence while he was forced to wait and watch.

’We wouldn’t want that, would we?’

Gio was quite excited internally, but he held his reaction and responded calmly.

’I thought everyone was still unconvinced.’

The way Raymond said it, Gio was led to believe that the entire team was completely against his participation in anything field-related.

However, that was a misunderstanding. Each of them had their own doubts, and their real issue was simply the fact that their operations were too large in scale for him to join on a whim.

If there was a mission where he could be included, the number of walls he had to break down to secure his participation wasn’t nearly as high.

Jax was willing to vouch for him. Amaya was willing to take him on trial runs against real beasts and people.

’It just proves that their reason for holding me back is actually just concern.’

Whether out of common decency, care, or selfishness, they were concerned about him.

It was a warm feeling.

’And it’s not the only warm feeling.’

He glanced over at Amaya, who’d started butchering the bear corpse and separating its edible meat.

That bear pissed him off. He was fine now, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t pissed off.

’I don’t like feeling weak when I know I’m not.’

He knew that the training he’d put in over the past months wasn’t for nothing. Even the fact that he could stand against a weakened Crimson Ash Bear when he couldn’t touch normal animals a year and a half ago was good enough.

’But that’s the problem with associating with strong people. Everything around them is strong too.’

According to Amaya, the humans living here were weak; weak enough for him to fight them.

They were probably surviving through some special means that Gio was certainly curious about, but that was beside the point.

’The Blackwing Blood Serpent, then the mock subjugation, then the vehicle delivery, and now the training with Ulver, Jax, and Amaya...the last time I tried fighting something my own size, I hadn’t even met Aunt yet.’

As much as he wanted to see how he’d fare against stronger opponents, he needed to face equals to truly understand his strengths and weaknesses.

For him, this battle was long, long overdue.

***

"Tch. So it really turned out this way."

Around the same time, roughly a week or two after the zephyr left, this scene took place as well.

It was several hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away from where Amaya and Gio were.

The rest of the team was gathered there surrounded by the corpses of those they’d slain and the rubble of the buildings they’d destroyed.

But there was one thing that hadn’t disappeared yet.

The team’s eyes were all on the ground below them. Their expressions were grave.

They stood on what looked like a runic circle at least several meters in diameter and drawn in blood.

It hid below its form a great machine they’d found far too late.

Raymond sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"We’re sure that it’s really what we think it is?"

"There’s no point questioning it again," Natalia responded.

"We’ve already asked the same thing three times. Confirming it again is pointless."

"Haa..."

It wasn’t as if humans never had the idea in the past. They’d even had some success.

However, they’d never really been able to do it. Until now, the real prospect of something like that happening was too low to even be considered a possibility.

"Or, that was what we thought. We were careless. They grew their power too far in the shadows. We wouldn’t have even found out if we didn’t come down to investigate the Hammer."

But they investigated the Hammer, found new leads, and started an investigation on Bloodrend.

That was fated to happen even if they’d never met Gio.

And this moment was as well.

Raymond looked up, seeing the seriousness in his subordinates’ eyes.

"We need to report this immediately," he said.

"The Apocalypse Church has discovered a method to control beasts."

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