Soon after, an opaque mysterious shadow blanketed the sky. The clouds started to recede away from the mountain. Everything quickly became tense and the warriors turned vigilant.
"What the hell is happening. I knew this would happen, It's like I have a goat's mouth?" Jacob thought.
"Stay calm, it's likely just a weather anomaly. It is not unlikely that the colour of the mountain could have something to do with this. We shall proceed without search", Enroy assured. The warriors felt something was wrong but went against their better judgment.
They proceeded to prod Jacob with kicks to move forward. They soon reached the base of the mountain that was filled with tall tree forests. They found themselves on the spot to set up a base,"Search every nook and cranny, Go in groups of two and report back anything that you find"Enroy Ordered.
"Yes, Sir!"
The soldiers divided themselves evenly and set out for their search. "What will happen to him?" one asked as they pointed toward Jacob.
Enroy smiled and said in response, "Tie him there, Every day we fail to find the Golden Chimera we let him starve".
The warriors did as they were told and tied him to a tree. They started a search through the vacant field below the mountain.
Warriors of the Gene-altering stage were fast. Within an hour they managed to search hundreds of kilometres in all directions at the base of the mountain. After a day of searching for any leads, they would group back toward Jacob to probe him for more information.
This search went on for weeks, each day they would come back without any success and failed to feed Jacob. It was a form of psychology that they used to break Jacob's mental state.
They set up camp in front of him and cooked the food they had stored or carried along. This added to Jacob's level of hunger, the soldiers would hurl taunts and scraps of food at him while they ate.
Toma who was hiding between Jacobs clothing escaped and dug a burrow underground. She sensed the danger around her and ran away. "Why now! Of all goddamn times!" Jacob shouted mentally. He sounded angry than sad Since he was forced not to react at all because of his situation.
This caused his days to be miserable. He never knew if Toma would come back or not.
Eventually, the Warriors finished the goods that they had carried and packed up. They never prepared food to serve them past a month, in spite of this they planned to launch one last search before they headed back.
Jacob was sitting but he felt dizzy and his body felt weak. His head was slumped and his physique began to thin itself out trying to sustain itself. However, the warriors paid him no mind and made plans to leave.
"Leave a tracker here. We will come back with more warriors and close the area 100miles all around. This is the only lead we have, so we have to be sure not to let it slide. Preparations will be made for the next time we arrive". The whole team of warriors assembled at their camp while Enroy told them their plans.
"G...give me the keys?" Jacob weakly said before they departed from in front of him. "If you told us where we could find the golden Chimera, you would have been free weeks ago. Do you think we believe you for a second?"
"It's fine, I say give it to him. Make sure you put it somewhere convenient" Enroy remarked with a devilish grin. The soldier smiled as well then said, "Here are their keys, you can't say that we never gave you a chance." The last soldier threw the keys to Jacob, leaving it perfectly out of his reach.
Jacob's cuff rattle as he rushed for the keys but It recoiled and dragged his hand back.
"This is what you get for being a lying thief! No wonder your family betrayed you. Bahaha" Enroy laughed as he held his stomach in amusement. "Maybe next time you will think about stealing from me".
Jacob wanted nothing more than to squeeze the life out of him there, but the cuff pulled him back every time.
"C'mon, leave the deadman time to himself. It doesn't matter if we take months or years, we can find it without kissing his ass" Enroy lead his dozen of soldiers toward the mountain for their final search.
"Fucking Bastard!" Jacob stretched his leg outward to try and pull the key back. Unfortunately, it was always just out of reach. Maybe if he wore shoes it would be possible.
He tried desperately a little longer and the key eventually became a little further than it already was. Since the warriors were gone, he could try to break out of the cuffs.
He would lug the chain until his wrists were burning from the abrasions from the cuffs. If he was not starved, he might have been able to break them but his body simply lacked sufficient energy.
This went on for hours before Jacob reached his limit, he had nothing more left in the tank to free himself.
When all things seemed lost, Toma popped from the ground. Jacob's eyes widened when he looked at the golden ant, he was jubilant. "Toma! Bring that here, the key" Jacob tried to point with his feet but nothing happened.
Suddenly Toma looked spooked and ran back into Jacob's clothing. He never knew what was the problem of her acting this way. Soon after he could hear some footsteps coming from the bushes.
It was weird to hear footsteps because there were no creatures since they travel closer to the mountain.
The steps were irregular and became louder with each second.
"Shoo, shoo, Get back!" He screamed in a bid to scare whatever was coming close to him away. Still, it came closer, when the figure came from the bushes Jacob's jaw fell to the ground and he forgot to breathe.
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100 Power stones = 2 chapters
400 Power stones = 5 chapters
+1 Chapter Extra for every 100 power stone
10 Chapter Mass release at 1k colls