Transcendent Gene
Chapter 63: Mock Subjugation [1]

Chapter 63: Mock Subjugation [1]

Yhien never made a significant contribution to history, but its death was part of something much greater.

Then again, that was true for all powerful monsters and beasts. Their corpses led to the furthering of humanity’s technology and understanding.

Yhien made a decent contribution to the study of flying monsters but its main contribution was in the field of interspecies relationships among the monster races.

Humanity was able to learn about how the genes of the two parents were passed down and how they fought for supremacy to decide the offspring’s final form.

With the physiology of monsters, it was possible to create a hybrid of any kind if a monster was able to get their hands on the other party. It was as if they were created to be able to propagate regardless of circumstance.

’Yhien has the qualities of a canine monster and a flying one. Unlike its mother, it can’t stay in the air indefinitely, but it can fly for several hours without exhausting itself.’

The most important thing was to get rid of its wings.

Humans, with some exceptions, couldn’t fly, after all.

"Jax, approach close enough to see it and report its movements back to me."

Watching the screens that showed the ground team’s camera feeds, Gio continued.

"Natalia, how close do you think you can get without being noticed?"

"It’s a Grade 4 monster?"

"No, it’s Grade 5, but its power is approaching Grade 4. It shouldn’t be able to outspeed or outsense you either, but its intelligence is high, so I won’t guarantee the latter of those two."

"Understood. Considering safety. Maybe five hundred meters."

"Your attack range?"

"Further than that."

"Good."

Gio nodded.

"Move around and try to get to the other side of the river for now. Approach as close as possible and conceal yourself. Wait for the opportunity to strike."

"Where do you want me to hit it?" Natalia returned.

"Right wing joint. Concentrate as much power into a single point and fire it as fast as possible. I’ll give you the signal when the time comes."

Through Jax’s screen, Gio could see Yhien’s form. Its wolf head and its Phoenix-like body covered in both fur and scales made it strange, especially since it had the hind legs of a wolf and the front claws of a hawk.

It was truly a chimera made to have power on both the land and in the sky.

The fight wouldn’t become easy just because they planned to ground it.

"Jason, I want you to try striking the same spot immediately after her if you can, but you can only approach after it’s already been alerted to our presence. If it isn’t possible, then after she strikes, make sure that it can’t immediately leave the ground."

Gio’s orders continued until everyone had been stationed in the vicinity.

Jax and Natalia were facing it from opposite sides of the river. Ulver was near Jason, as his first job was also to immediately give the monster a jolt to its mind to keep it grounded.

Amaya was on standby as her role would come when they’d lost the element of surprise. As for Raymond...

"Is your power at Natalia’s level?" Gio asked.

"My power is greater, but she is much better at affecting large areas than I am."

"Hmm...then, are you a pinpoint shooter or a barrage type?"

They weren’t established terms, but they conveyed enough meaning for Raymond to understand.

"I can do both. My role is to be flexible as the leader and fill in where the others need aid."

"Good enough. That’s the role I was going to give you anyway."

"No big movements. It’s still waiting for something."

Jax’s voice came through.

Gio had the same thought. Its eyes were active and its head was swinging from side to side occasionally. It wasn’t focusing its eyesight into the distance, but rather keeping its perception on its immediate surroundings.

It was waiting for something, but what?

’It shouldn’t be hunting.’

It was existing too openly for that.

’No, for it to be showing itself so openly...’

"Everyone, pull back a kilometer as soon as possible."

Gio conveyed the order immediately, and though the team questioned why they’d gotten into position only to retreat, this was a mock subjugation.

Unless he was trying to get them killed, his orders were final.

As he instructed, the members of the team silently and rapidly retreated into the distance.

"Excuse me..."

The words didn’t come through an earpiece.

Gio looked at the person who’d addressed him from across the room.

"What is it?"

The operator who spoke up immediately started moving his hands through the air.

Several holographic screens flew towards Gio at once.

"There is movement in the surroundings. Several beasts and monsters are retreating chaotically. I would like to suggest pulling out and choosing another opportunity to strike."

"Denied."

Gio turned down the suggestion without hesitation.

"The cause of that panic is on its way here," he said.

"And rather than being an enemy, in this case, we might even be able to consider it an ally."

WHOOOOSH!

As he spoke, a huge sound alerted the ground team’s eyes to the air. A great shadow flew over their heads, bringing along with it a great gust of wind.

CAAAW!

The caw of a flying monster rang out, causing Yhien’s head to turn to the sky as well.

It followed the form of that monster as it landed only a few feet away.

"Gio?"

Raymond said his voice in a questioning tone, evidently asking for an order.

"Wait for now," Gio responded, his eyes trained on the screens.

"That’s another offspring of Yhia. It’s a monster that forces its children to kill each other to gain strength and establish a hierarchy. None of them have good relationships with the others, and the others especially have enmity towards the successor."

He gave an explanation before anyone asked for it.

"If they’re meeting here, that means we came just in time to witness a good show."

With that, Raymond and the rest already understood where he was going with his words.

"A kilometer isn’t enough distance, is it?"

"It is if they fight in the air."

"If they fight on the ground..."

"Yeah, you guys should probably take cover."

Gio barely had time to interrupt the conversation between the ground team members before it began.

CAAAW!

The second offspring, one that had never been given a name by humans, cawed once again and unfurled its wings as if to show its might.

It looked down at Yhien, who sat calmly and watched it.

However, he was the successor of Yhia. He would not back down from any altercation.

The monster raised its body off the ground and spread its wings.

GRAAAAAH!

Something in between a roar and a caw came out of its mouth, sending waves of power into the vicinity.

The two birds only maintained their standstill for a moment before charging at each other.

BOOM!

Before the ground team’s eyes, their target decided to exhaust itself all on its own.

And while waiting until the battle was over entirely before attacking Yhien seemed like the right thing to do, Gio had other plans.

They weren’t the orioles stalking mantises and cicadas.

They were real predators who knew how to fight for their catches.

In this case as well, they would let the world of monsters know that humans didn’t need to hide and wait for them to kill each other.

The field would become more and more even in the days and years that followed.