The dead of night hits and we check on the Isolation pods while Luna stares out into the desert.
My teammates' pods say less than 4 hours remain, while my own pod is at just under 16.
The tension from the uneventful day is eating away at the back of everyone's minds. However, once we make our way back up to the surface during one of Luna's periodic scans of the open desert, she blurts out a startled remark to make all of our wildest suspicions come true.
"They're here...they're really here."
Her enormous eye blinks shut and disappears in the night sky and her face is visibly distraught.
I fly over to her with Ember and Maria nearby.
"What did you see? Describe it as best you can. Everything."
She stares up at the sky again with shock on her face.
"Hundreds of them... Maybe thousands... Or-"
The massive white eye in the sky with a full moon for its pupil manifests again, and she begins to describe what she can see.
"At least a thousand, yes, maybe more. They're all disgusting creatures—I've never seen anything like this. They look like white-skinned zombies... and floating skeletons with black robes... and... three more of those dark suits of armor..."
She gulps and looks at all of us while the eye in the sky disappears again.
"The Dark One's Army, It's Finally Here."
Her descriptions sound just like Ghouls, Wraiths, and the 3 Dark Guards that remain. The range at which her perception skills can see during the night is just about 600km, so I pose the next question.
"How fast are they moving? How much time do we have before they're here?"
Luna looks at the ground to concentrate and the bright white eye in the sky pulses.
"They're moving fast. Maybe 50 or 60 km per hour. They'll definitely be here before you make it out of your pod."
I nod and think to myself while Maria speaks up next.
"Well, why don't I go out there with Ember and take care of things. I'm sure the army of Ghouls and Wraiths won't be an issue for us. Even your body doubles without Qi may be able to fend them off fine. The only real opponents for us would be the three remaining Dark Guards."
I reply.
"You're right, thats a good option. It's what we'll have to do eventually. Confronting them before my 16-hour timer hits zero is inevitable, but waiting 4 more hours for the others to awaken is a more reasonable thing to do."
Ember nods.
"From what you told me about the 2nd ranked Dark Guard, and my past knowledge, the 1st-ranked Dark Guard will be well over level 2000. Not to mention the potential that the Lich King Itself is most likely observing its army in the shadows."
He turns to Maria.
"We may be able to fend it off the main forces right now, but we have no pure data to back things up yet. We need to stall them and send out a scout in the meantime."
I interject.
"On it. I might as well go and check things out under a stealth veil to get some info. I have 3 tries if they somehow manage to catch me anyway."
By this, I mean I have two other doubles left behind in this town, it would make the most sense for me to try and get valuable info on the approaching army while everyone stays safe here and the others wait to get out of their pods.
Everyone agrees, and I activate my skill to become invisible before flying off into the desert.
I'm able to push my speeds up far faster than the army is approaching and reach their location in less than an hour and a half.
Once the army comes into my senses, I perceive exactly what Luna described.
Under the darkness of night, all the naked eye can see is a wave of approaching orange energy. Using my inspect and appraisal skill, this energy has [Curse of The Lich King] stained on everyone's status, and the cloud of leftover soul energy that trails behind the charging army stretches even further off into the night.
Their levels, oddly enough, range from lower 100-200s up to 500-600s. At first, it confuses me, because I remember only seeing the top-tier ghouls in the fight arena, but as the army that stretches over 3 km wide approaches a small desert village, I understand where these weaker ghouls are coming from.
One of the Dark Guards in its suits of appraisal blocking armor drops an orange crystal in front of the tiny village as they approach, and the same effects that I witnessed beneath the fight ring a few days back commence.
Many people sleeping in their homes are hit with this wave of soul energy and their bodies are completely consumed by its power. I witness a gruesome event of people being burned alive and taken over by this orange energy, then see their bodies be rebuilt with the infinite regeneration process of the Ghouls.
Their status and individuality are wiped clean away and the curse mark shows in their buffs.
As the army tramples over the tiny village, those who were infected by that orange crystal join the charge as mindless monsters in the growing army.
Floating above the front-facing force of ghouls are skeletal wraiths just like the ones I faced in the arena and the ones that accompanied the 7th ranked Dark Guard when I first fought it. They're all between level 600 and 999.
Some of them give off very odd energy readings, but their status screens are completely wiped all the same. I count about a dozen.
Lastly, there are the 3 Dark Guards. Two of them float above the right and left flanks of the charging troops. One of these was the guard that dropped the orange stone. I can't see any clear indications of what ranks these guards are, but my best guess is that this is number 3 and 4.
I attempt to break through their gears privacy enchants multiple times, but from the safe distance away in the sky, it's impossible to break through. If I get any closer or push my mana control any further, it may break through my stealth skill and give up my location.
Visuals are all I can count on for now.
Far behind the entire approaching force, is a final Dark Guard that floats calmly in the sky leading the charge. I assume that this is the 1st ranked Dark Guard.
At this, I turn around and speed back to the town with all of the information I have to offer.
The sun begins to rise as I make it back to town. I hold off on giving everyone a full update because when we go down to the bunker, it's just about time for the clocks on my teammates' pods to hit [00:00:00].
When the doors open on their own, the same violent stabilization process happens and I make sure to let these pods fall into my item storage before they have the chance to expel any of this chaotic energy.
As each of them walks out, the room fills with mana and Qi again. I can't sense exactly how much each of them has grown, but the remarks from Ember and Maria tell me everything I need to know. Ember speaks first.
"One more awakened. One on the verge, another with a unique breakthrough, and two who are very strong."
Maria speaks next, looking Abby up and down with the same sparkling eyes that she looked at Ember with when she first awakened.
"You did it..."
Abby is looking at her new form and around the room in the same way Maria did two days ago. She can't keep her gaze off of her hands, and for some reason she's waving them around in the air like she's moving and invisible force.
Her hair is glossier and longer, her skin is smoother, and her build is even more graceful and athletic. I cannot sense the extent of her new power, but Ember and Maria are impressed, so that's a good sign.
Her eyes widen and her jaw drops once her gaze finally falls on Ember, and I can't help but to chuckle a bit. Ember promises to fill her in on the details of his true form after they leave this bunker and she accepts the absurdity rather quickly. Less than half a minute later, she begins to get a feel for her new Soul Energy awakening.
Abby makes her entire body glow in a bright green light for a few seconds before deactivating it. Her eyes stay glowing bright green for a few seconds after the light ceases, and I wonder what special properties she's gained.
The next to begin getting attention is Arie.
He looks taller, more handsome, and has smoother skin as well. Luna is the first to approach and speak to him.
"Arie... Your Qi barrier... It's intertwined with Mana and something else. It's like they're mixing together, what is this?"
He smiles and replies.
"It's the beginning of another breakthrough."
Ember adds to it.
"Indeed. It seems there's going to be more energy than just Qi and Mana intertwined in your breakthrough once it happens. What a peculiar reading."
He turns to all of us.
"Whatever it may be, I'm no longer the fighter I was when I entered that pod. That was a major power up."
He turns to Monk, then back to us.
"If you think my power ups are unique, look at Monks. That shielding is made of pure Qi, not a hint of mana is intertwined and its not by accident. It's like you ignored working on your mana control this whole time and only absorbed Qi."
He nods while staring forward with a very serious expression.
"That's right. I have perfected the first form of my old master's teachings. I am ready for battle."
Arie raises an eyebrow, but Ember's next words make everything a little more clear.
"It seems he's done exactly as you said. A unique kind of Qi awakening... One that ignores the help of Mana Control, and builds upon itself."
Embers eyes squint, then he shrugs.
"An odd method, but I've read text of the Originators doing such a thing. I've never seen anyone actually try to achieve its final form."
He nods.
"You're on your way. Impressive start."
Monk breaks his serious expression and smiles while giving Ember a slight bow.
Then, Fisher and Lydia step forward next with confident expressions, admiring their physical changes and testing their Qi barriers against each other in the back of the training room.
From what I can tell, they haven't begun awakening their Soul Energy at all yet. However, their Qi barriers have reached the point where they have far surpassed their former states and can suppress their Mana to outsiders like my body double without a Qi sense.
I allow everyone to settle in for a few minutes, then speak up myself.
"I'm glad you all had a productive gathering process, but the Dark One's army is here."
My gaze turns to the pod with my main body in it, showing just under 12 hours remaining.
"It should arrive in town in less than 8 hours, so if we want to stop them before they get here you'll need to fight the forces that are arriving now on your own. What do you say we meet this army in the middle and test out all of your new abilities?"
I open the hatch to go up into the outside world after I get a unanimous round of nods.
"Great. Let me explain exactly what we're dealing with here."
As the sun fully rises, and the people of the town wake up for another beautiful bright and sunny day, I recount the exact events of my scouting mission to all of my teammates. The approaching forces loom far beyond the horizon as we all come together to formulate a plan.
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