Transcendent Gene
Chapter 70: Mock Subjugation [8]

Chapter 70: Mock Subjugation [8]

Raymond gritted his teeth. At this point, there wasn’t really another choice but to follow Gio’s plan. With Yhia right above them, acting indecisively was death.

"Come on!"

He yelled as he led the team forward. Rocks and dust fell from the ceiling as the entire mountain was placed under a great amount of stress, but they ignored it.

Various forms of energy decorated their movements as they used their abilities to enhance their movement speed. The tunnel through the mountain was over a kilometer long. This mountain was on the edge of Yhia’s territory, and as for this tunnel, it had been created by smaller beasts and monsters that often traversed across the mountain.

It was much safer to move through it instead. That was the case for everyone unless one was being chased by a Territory Lord.

RUMBLE!

It was a much louder sound, one that couldn’t be ignored. They had to get out of this tunnel fast.

"Tch!"

Raymond clicked his tongue. He could feel the ground under their feet becoming heavier. The debris was getting bigger and bigger, and if his predictions were correct...

His eyes refocused on the haze of light that appeared in the distance. They were approaching the end of the tunnel. There was no need to think further.

"When you get outside, don’t stop and keep running straight. Don’t deviate, or you’ll get sucked into Yhia’s tailwind."

That was the worst possible scenario, since it would throw them into the air and make them easy targets for consumption.

"It’s still using tornadoes, but it seems like it wants to directly confront you, so it won’t try to land a fatal blow until it lands. Still, that doesn’t mean it won’t try to hurt you. Stay on guard and move as fast as possible. That’s the key to survival."

Gio’s words ended right as the team pushed through the tunnel exit.

As ordered, they didn’t stop and continued running forward.

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

BOOOOOOOM!

With a huge sound, the mountain behind them started collapsing. A shadow swept over them, turning day to night in a single instant, but they kept running.

That monster could dwarf a mountain so easily that it was almost comical. It was hilarious that the small and puny humanity had been tasked with destroying such a threat if they didn’t want to be exterminated.

But a monster of Yhia’s caliber...

Even the strongest attacks from the likes of Natalia and Raymond would be like toothpicks to it.

Gio and everyone else in the zephyr watched with bated breaths as the ground team ran under that monster’s shadow.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The wind comets all around them threw them in various directions, but they desperately got back in formation and kept running, spending as little time stationary as possible.

WHOOOOSH!

The shadow swept forward as the gargantuan bird prepared to slam down to the ground and cut off any possible escape for its targets.

Yhia pushed up into the air and spun, turning its body to face them. It opened its beak, screeching wildly as it flapped its wings and created gusts from all directions that forced the ground team’s momentum to a halt.

They couldn’t move. The air itself forced them to stay standing exactly where they were. Movement was a luxury they had no access to.

They could only look at that thing in the sky, the thing blotting out the sun and looking at them as if they were ants.

As experienced field operatives, they’d had similar experiences before.

But that didn’t make it any less nerve-wracking.

The eye contact they made only lasted for a second, but it felt like an eternity.

An eternity that was shattered as loudly as it possibly could be.

VOOOOOOOOOOM!

Abruptly, Raymond and the rest fell to the ground with their hands over their ears.

The sky turned blue. Not the color of the atmosphere, but the color of a beam of light so thick that it really replaced the entire sky as it flew.

It cut through the air from over a kilometer away and arrived in an instant, so high above the jungle that for the ground team, it felt more like standing next to a passing train.

But that was for the ground team.

Yhia was in the direct path of that beam.

SKREEEE!

The monster responded immediately. A barrier of wind appeared on its back just as the beam arrived, splitting it into two and sending it flying in the distance around Yhia.

The bird glanced at the humans on the ground for a second before doing something that could only be described as clicking its tongue and turning around.

It had to face the one who fired at it.

It could be seen in the distance, but if one had bad vision, it could be confused with a mountain.

It was a turtle that was as tall as the tallest of them and wide enough for its shell to be used as an ecosystem for other monsters.

Its head alone was bigger than most human warships, and if a human were to stand next to one of its legs, they would look like a single dead pixel on a computer screen.

That was the Territory Lord known as Heliux. It was one of the only entities in the entire Stratum that could pose a challenge to Yhia.

OOOOOOOOOOOOH!

And when it bellowed, the entire world was forced to stand at attention.

"What are you doing? Run! The zephyr is parked half a kilometer to the east!"

The conflict between those monsters was for them to entertain.

For the humans on the ground, the words spoken into their ears were enough to snap them out of their daze.

It was a little hard to believe that they’d caused such a confrontation so easily, but that was to be discussed when they were safe.

Without hesitation, the team moved. Yhia noticed their departure, but it could not turn away from Heliux if it didn’t want to be attacked again.

It had no choice but to allow them to disappear into the distance.

As for what would happen here...

That depended on if the two Territory Lords were willing to lay down their arms.

However, considering how they usually interacted, it was highly unlikely for that to happen.

***

The ground team was out of the woods, both figuratively and literally. After running for several minutes, they were able to make it to the clearing where the zephyr had landed, and from there, it was simple.

They knew they were out of immediate danger when Yhia didn’t follow them, but that didn’t mean they weren’t aware of what just happened.

If the realization didn’t hit them before, it certainly did when they reached the zephyr.

After all, for the entire journey there, they were hearing and feeling the effects of what they’d caused.

Two Territory Lords who could have looked the other way and continued their noninterference decided that such a path did not speak to them.

Even if it was the worst option for them, they would fight to determine superiority.

That was the nature of not just monsters or humans, but of all existences in the entire universe.