About ten minutes before Maalick caused an earthquake, a young woman was standing outside Maria's barracks.
She kept stressing out in front of her door "The Captain asked me ! Did I do something wrong ? Was I too nice with the prisoners ?'
The Captain of Camp Rosibbo opened the door "Are you the healer ?"
"Hello Captain. Um... Yes it's me" she said as she looked away from her violet eyes.
The No Man's Land Hyena grabbed her hand and led her into her cabin.
The military woman wearing the same badge as Arthur closed her eyes and spoke at an incredible speed " Madam, I don't know what you want from me, but I didn't do anything! I swear to you on the greatness and on the holiness of the Empire of Nomania. Please don't kill me!"
"Huh? I didn't call you to punish you. You're here to treat me"
When she opened her eyes, Maria was wearing only her underwear.
On her skin, she saw wounds. Infected chain wounds were on her torso diagonally, another one on her right breast, and the last one made her feel like she had wrapped her right leg around a chain.
Some of her injuries even had stink coming out of them.
"Arthur told me that you have some pretty impressive healing powers. Which is not a small thing coming from him"
The healer's eyes were wide open "The captain of the Delta team... gave me a compliment ?!" she said blushing.
Maria rolled her eyes "Will you hurry up? I don't have all day"
"Yes of course. If you could lie down, I'll treat you right now"
Maria sat down and put her foot on the soldier's legs.
Then she cast a healing spell on her animated with a soothing green glow that came out of her hands.
Sweat appeared on the healer's forehead. She stopped treating her to give her the bad news "I'm sorry. But... I can't make the infection go away completely, let alone the scar"
Her superior sighed "It's not like I was expecting you to fix me. Even the best doctors in the empire can't heal me"
She raised her eyebrow "Then why did you bring me in ?"
Maria removed her bra to reveal her small tits "So you could treat the infection, that's all. Now keep working"
The military woman cast a new healing spell on her breast.
Maria was in pain, but she activated her mental mana to decrease the intensity of her nociceptives, and thus lower the power of her pain.
"Are you all right, madam?" she said worriedly.
The Hyena replied curtly "Shut up and continue the treatment"
As Maria fidgeted, the soldier nodded, embarrassed that she had angered her.
The healer had succeed to decrease the the spread of the infection.
After treating the second wound, she asked her "Now I'm going to ask you to lie down please. So I can maximize the effects of my magic"
Maria moved the files, the ores as well as her whip from the couch and put them on her table with her telekinesis.
The camp leader lay down in pain on the couch.
'But how did she do that ? The wounds seem to be cursed with a spell that requires a lot of mana. But I've never heard of a curse this strong, either in books or at the Human Military Academy. Besides, there aren't many people who could hurt the Captain like that'
Maria interrupted her thoughts "You want to know how I got them ?"
The healer let out a small scream from her mouth and apologized to her far too many times "I'm terribly sorry, madam ! I'm sorry, that I forced you to read my mind as a first class soldier. I'm so sorry if I brought back bad memories for you !"
The No Man's Land Hyena sighed again "That's okay. It's just a habit I have of reading people's minds. Besides, it's not a foolish question that you' re asking"
The military member of Arthur's team placed her hands near her torso and cast her most powerful healing spell.
"Do you know what an Asath is ?" asked Maria.
"No madam. I lived in the western part of the empire. At school, they just taught us that there were three of them left. But since we annexed their country at the end of the war, they don't really matter anymore.
She smiled at her doctor's innocence "Did they teach you in school what that M stood for ?" she asked as she brought the M badge calligraphed with her mental mana.
"Of course. It's the M for the Mortal Task Force. The one that allowed the death of the Asath of Ranzara, Kranvarex and the most dangerous of all, the Dracmiros.
The Captain explained to her how dangerous Maalick's predecessor was "This unit was created especially against them. At the beginning we were twelve humans, the best in the different military disciplines...
She paused to dig up an old memory that even her mental mana couldn't make disappear "...At the time, our first target was the Asath Dracmiros, whose code name was Varan, because he was causing so much damage on the northwestern border. When we finished our assassination, we came back with half of our troops. The rest had died from the blows of his chain"
"What chain ?"
Maria emphasized the next words of her sentence "The Polymorphic Chain. That's how we recognized the Asath of the Dracmiros Tribe"
The young woman frowned "I don't exactly understand, madam. How is this primitive weapon is so powerful ? Does it possess extraordinary magical power ?"
Maria twirled her badge in the air "An Asath is the equivalent of a governor and the chain was extremely important in their culture"
"Why?"
Maria told her "Because it allows them to..."
But before she could finish her sentence. The earthquake prevented her from revealing crucial informations.
***
A group of eight soldiers from the Nomanian Empire were walking towards the Rosibbo Camp. They all wore the same badges as Arthur, except that the Delta had been replaced by an Alpha.
"Chief, my foot is killing me ! Can't we take a break?" complained a young man with spiky red hair.
The leader, a veteran-looking Asian man replied "Let's keep going. The camp is only a hundred meters away.
"Chief, just 5 minutes. Just 5 minutes. That's all I ask ! Besides, we are all tired because of this monster"
Another soldier started to speak with a sad voice "It's true chief... We all have a bad mood because of this monster"
"At that time, how could we have guessed that an Intellectum monster was hanging around on this island ?"
Their leader cut off their protest when he heard this word "I said let's keep going. So, let's continue, young men"
All the soldiers grumbled, but they continued their march through the heat of the summer.
Near the camp, they heard the earthquake of Maalick.
'What's that ?'
They all ran at full speed with their bladed weapons and firearms, being led by their leader.
When they arrived at the camp gate, the earthquake had stopped. The soldiers patrolling the wall greeted the team leader "Hello Carl. How did your mission go ?"
"What happened ? We heard an earthquake from the jungle " asked the team leader.
"About that... You're not going to like what's he's going to say" he said pointing at a man next to him.
Arthur leaned over the railing and glared at Carl with a contemptuous look behind the soldier and said "Carl" in a dry tone.
"Arthur" he replied with the same exact tone.
The soldiers watching the scene knew very well why there was this tension between them.
But all of them thought the same thing when they saw them like this: 'If only they could understand each other's perspective'
"I've got a job for you and the Alpha Team. Get over to Maria's barracks" he ordered by trying to be mean.
'One day he'll have to stop talking to me like that, this little jerk. It's not because he's one of the headliners of the empire, that he has the right to talk like that' thought the fifty-year-old.
The red-haired soldier from earlier put his hand on his shoulder 'We're gonna coming with tou chief. With us, even the copies of Arthur will have to be careful' he said with a smile on his face.
"That's very kind, but I'm your leader. It's my duty to give a report on the last three weeks to the Captain"
"Don't try to be old-fashioned, Chief. We'll be waiting for you at the door, and that's non-negotiable"
Carl sighed "I've trained you very well to be so persistent"
When the door to the camp opened, they all walked to the Hyena's cabin. Carl stopped in front of her door and Maria telepathically said 'Come in'
The team leader waved them off and entered Maria's barracks.
In her cabin, there were 5 people including Carl, the Hyena of No Man's Land and Arthur.
There were two men he knew very well.
One was a small man with big round glasses. He kept looking at the time on his watch.
As for the other one, he was a fat rich man's son, arrogant and hateful to a fault. He kept blazing his handgun with a light purple and green glow, like the ore on the second level.
Both were sitting on chairs, wearing the same badge as Carl's. But one had the word Bravo on it and the other had Charlie.
The arrogant one hissed when he saw him "If you're here too, that means we're really in trouble"
Maria closed her mouth with her magic "Good morning to all of you leaders of Intervention Teams Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta. Before we start this meeting, I wanted to tell you that today's earthquake was not a random one. It was caused by a captive"
She snapped her fingers and the Bravo team leader, showed them a 3D model of the Hole.
"As you can see from this representation, this incident came from the Hole and that little red dot is a prisoner. A Lizardian"
She explained to them who Maalick was and what she had done to him "Prisoner number 710293 is a Lizardian who has not yet Moulted. He is here for assaulting law enforcement officers. He was particularly rebellious during the ride and the Promenade. He also made survive the war criminal Troll, Raz the Butcher and a girl of the Devil"
Arthur, Carl and team leader Charlie were surprised by this discovery.
'Raz the Butcher, it's been a long time since I've heard that name" thought Carl.
Bravo's team leader explained with his instrument what he knew "We managed to determine from the trackers in his outfit that he walked for about an hour. Then he stayed in the same position during a whole day. Then nothing"
"What do you mean nothing; ? Aren't these suits supposed to be the new gadgets of the empire that will purify the world ? So why isn't it working, four-eyes?" said the rich kid's son.
The glasses man sighed "If you had a brain Charles, you would know that their trackers can be foiled if they don't wear the outfit"
The high roller stood up "You know who my family is, Joshn ? They are one of the greatest military families in the empire and fervent believers of the Church of Liandras"
"That's mostly why you're here" he muttered.
Before they could clash, their Captain blocked both of their movements "No one fights in my cabin. If you want to do it, go to the stadium"
She released her grip and continued to speak "I already have a plan anyway. Alpha team will go to his last known location in the Hole and hunt him down if he's alive"
Carl spoke for the first time "Captain, my soldiers are tired and not in good mood. They have just returned from a difficult first mission. I think it would be best to leave them..."
"I don't care Carl. It's your team that's going into the Hole, period. We don't have enough men on the ground to handle a mission of this magnitude anyway."
Arthur smirked as he saw him being cut off by Maria.
The leader of Alpha Team decided to add fuel to the fire, by giving them a capital information "Very well. But you should know that me and my team, during their first observation mission, came across a monster that we categorized as Intellectum"