"I know!" Elger panicked with the reminder. He knew what he was talking about. "You've given me your power. Of course, I know! I"m rushing as fast as I can!"
Elger hissed but didn't lose concentration. After two minutes. He let out a sigh and laughed. "It's done!"
"I know!" He hissed again and disappeared.
***
Kali frowned. "I lost track." he whispered but kept on moving forward.
"What do you mean you lost track?!" Sumaya was annoyed.
"Let's go where you lost track." Alpha immediately intervened. They were all tired from traveling and fending off some monsters. Their group was bigger compared with the normal scout team. They had to clear the way.
Evan, Sumaya, Rahmath and Zhuang were all agitated. They didn't have any experience fighting monsters. What's more, all of them were not native Yamato citizens. They were just on tour, vacation or business trip when the Super Phenomena happened.
Although they do have fighting skills as they were assigned as guards on the camp. All they do is scare off monsters with the camp's great numbers. And the first violence they experienced was brought down by humans from the Savior Gang. Even though they saw an image from outside, it was still an image for them.
Unlike Alpha, Ross, Miya, Sho and Kali, they didn't know how to preserve their energy. Because they are too tired, they get easily affected by their emotions.
Soon, they reached the spot where Elger vanished. They looked around but saw no trace of Elger.
"Are you kidding us? Did you just randomly point out a place to lure us out here?!" Evan was suddenly suspicious of Kali.
"W-what you mean?" Rahmath was suddenly scared. She unconsciously backed off from Kali.
"Think about it. He's been gone for too long! He wasn't even there when we encountered the Savior Gang! Maybe he wanted us all dead!"
"And why would I want that?" Kali frowned. He almost flinched when he saw the look some of the group was giving him. From other's point of view, what Evan said was reasonable, especially after what they've gone through because of a human.
*Distrust on humans.* Suddenly, Sho realized what was going on.
Because of what happened to them, their group was more wary of humans than monsters now.
They were scared.
"Are you an idiot?" Miya said, her voice laced with irritation.
"W-what?! Kid! Learn to respect your elders!" Evan flushed with embarrasment.
"I would. But you don't deserve my respect."
"Miya…" Sho whispered, trying to calm her down. He knew she was triggered by Evan's attitude.
"Y-you…!"
"Enough." Alpha intervened once more. He placed himself in between Miya and Evan. Ross was quick to follow and place a hand on Evan's shoulder. "Not because we encountered a bad human does it mean that everyone is bad."
The other four who were having dangerous thoughts were suddenly struck. They felt ashamed.
"Kali is not the bad guy here. I can feel traces of some skill. Elger must have used something to disappear from the tracking. We only need to look for the clues to find Elger again." With Alpha's word of assurance, the group calmed again.
Once again, Sho was amazed. He looked at Alpha. He wanted to be like him. Someone who can calm everyone with the right words. Someone who can be a good leader that everyone needs.
He was inspiring to look at. And Sho wasn't the only one who thought of that as he glanced over to the group.
*I'm sorry, Caelus. I don't know what you've been through, but it scares me to think you… I have destroyed everything because I failed at something.*
"What kind of clue are we looking for?" Rahmath asked. Although she really wasn't that good with fighting compared to the other eight, she has her own skills that made her survive through the slaughter they experienced in their camp. She was good at finding and using small details to her advantage. It was not an overpowering skill, but with the right use with her intelligence, she was able to utilize the skill to the fullest. What's more, it doesn't cost much Mana at all.
"I'm not sure either. Unless I know what skill Elger used, I won't be able to tell exactly what we are looking for. We're just looking for something different than the normal here. Can you point out where exactly Elger disappeared?" Alpha asked Kali.
Kali surveyed the area and then walked towards their east. After a few steps, he stopped. "Here. Around here, Elger disappeared. I can't track him anymore."
Alpha nodded, he seemed to be deep in thought.
"Pathfinder with a skill that makes tracking harder." Sho couldn't help comment.
"It's a deadly combination." Ross voices out what Sho wanted to point out.
"Perfect for ambush." Miya uttered. She was on high alert before Sho even gave them warning.
Duke looked around. "He's not here anymore."
All eyes focused on the computer expert. "I can feel the presence of a portal. I can sense a certain flow here. It's on my ability. Judging from what I can sense, it's a portal."
Rahmath pouted. She wanted to take the stage to shine, but little did she know the computer expert would be the one who would take the stage. She wanted to prove her value to the group. Unlike the five who were clearly chosen by Alpha as special, she too wanted to be given a chance to be picked as special. If she was picked, then her survivability would skyrocket.
She let out a sigh and focused on finding small details that seemed to be amiss. "There!" she excitedly pointed at the tree. She felt proud that she found the strange energy on the tree.
Everyone who was scattered trying to look for the portal suddenly went to her. Alpha was the first one to reach the tree, but he didn't carelessly touch it. He carefully observed the energy of the tree. Nodding as he circled around it.
"This is the portal. Wait–!" As he confirmed that it was indeed the portal Sumaya eagerly touched the three.
But soon, everyone noticed his mistake as he paled and collapsed.
"Damn it!" Alpha cursed. "Elger put a trap here. He wanted to buy as much time as he could to erase his trace and for us not to find the Soil of Eternity." He quickly explained while trying to examine Sumaya, not touching the guy because they don't know the effect of the trap.
"A-am I g-going to die…?" The guy asked, regret was written all over his face. He wanted one more chance. He didn't know that when he touched the tree he would experience loss of energy and collapse. He felt ashamed for his carelessness. If he was given a chance, he would not make the same mistake anymore.
*He's losing his Energy!* Sho was shocked, not just by his discovery, but by himself discovering the cause of the man's collapse.
He just couldn't believe he could easily pinpoint the cause. Especially that it's Natural Energy related when he just discovered Natural Energy not long ago. And what's more, he discovered it from a distance!
There's a nagging thought in his head, but he decided to ignore the thought. There was some scary theory that he didn't want to entertain at all.
Instead, he focused on Sumaya. He could see black energy that was starting to clog his waypoints.
*Impure Energy!* He immediately recognized it. He couldn't help but admire Elger for creating such a trap. Being a human who just recently got "special skills" this kind of attack would really be lethal. If no one knew about Energies, then death is guaranteed. And even if someone who knows Energy got infected with the Impure Energy, it would be a hard thing to remove the cause.
Even Alpha advised against taking Impure Energy.
But Sho didn't think it was impossible to do so. He felt it was just really hard. Wasn't he a clear proof that someone could take Impure Energy but still live?
"I don't think I can help. You're infected by Impure Energy. Only you can refine this or flush it out of your body." Alpha said.
"...?!" Sho was shocked. He didn't think Alpha would say that.
*There was really no way to purify Impure Energy inside the body? How come I can do it?*