"Thermal sensors are good."
"Mapping…"
"Drones, ready to deploy."
"All weapons, lock and loaded."
Lucky leisurely followed the map heading to Treeham City. They were still within Ant Hill's parameters, yet Jehnid had been mumbling so eagerly while working on the device on his lap. From what Jehnid said, that laptop-looking device that was projecting their truck was connected to Rex for real-time troubleshooting and the sort.
"Dude, calm down. We're still within the area of Ant Hill. There's not much of a data you'd get while we're here," Lucky sassed. "If I were you, relax."
"Relax?" Jehnid hissed. "It's been a long time since I stepped out of the base. I can't risk lowering my guard even for a second."
Been a long time?
Lucky intuitively glanced at the rearview mirror, catching Terenei idling in the backseat.
"We never left Ant Hill since we got in there," Terenei summarized with a shrug. "I'm also a little nervous."
Moments ago, Jehnid was blazing with determination while Terenei was enthusiastic. But now, they were just cautious and a little jumpy. Now that explains it.
"Gee." Lucky shook his head. "You sound like prisoners of Ant Hill. Are you guys, perhaps, slaves?"
"Do you think anyone wants to go out of the safe zones?" Jehnid frowned. "Terenei and I run our own department. If we just go out and risk our lives, no one would ever touch Rex and any other of our work."
"The scouting team likes going out."
"It's not like they like going out, but someone has to do the job," explained Terenei in a knowing tone. "And our job is to make sure they get back safe and sound. We already told you this, but our department has the least budget allotment, but the cheapest to sustain. That Norton prick is just a mech bigot and couldn't see our contribution."
If Terenei and Jehnid had a choice, they would also love to work on mech and arc suits. However, their resources were scarce and someone had to make the sacrifice to contribute to the base through something else. Despite the intention, it irked the two that no one seemed to see that except Aldric, the chief.
'Maybe it's not that Norton doesn't see your contribution. But rather, he sees it and hates it.'
Lucky kept his sentiments to himself, thinking it was not his job to get in between or fix whatever broken relationship these guys had. He had a mission to do and everything, including this one, was all for the sake of fulfilling his mission.
"Fine. I'll stop asking about that." He cleared his throat and added, "Tell me about Treeham City. Thanks to the blonde, I'm aware it's one of the biggest cities and it is inhabitable. How is it inhabitable? What's in there?"
Jehnid and Terenei's faces turned solemn as they looked at the driver's seat.
"Treeham City is one of the places which has an open portal. That portal connects this world to the underworld, where those demons are crawling out. It was also the demon's breeding ground, hatching more and more monsters of different kinds and species."
Deep lines appeared on Lucky's forehead while Jehnid explained.
"It is true that it's far different from Forsaken Heights," Terenei chimed in. "Forsaken Heights mostly has hellhounds in it, since those monsters marked it as their territory. They tear apart other monsters who try to go in there, wanting dominance in that particular place."
"That's why it's different from Treeham City, because all sorts of monsters are in there. If not, then one-fourth of the monster types plaguing this entire world are in it and its surrounding area."
One-fourth, huh?
Lucky glanced at the front passenger row and then at the back seat. He shook his head, wondering if Jehnid and Terenei were just brave or stupid to take this challenge. Even if Lucky was confident in himself, he wasn't sure if this truck was ready.
'We barely made it in Ant Hill after that thing I pulled off in Forsaken Heights. But they're saying Treeham is a hundred times worse.' Lucky glanced at the side mirror, catching sight of an armor suit idling on the trunk. 'Well, this guy is with us. So I guess these two would live either way.'
Silence hung in the air as neither of them talked. Jehnid was back to keeping his focus on monitoring their mobile health while Terenei focused on listening to the engine. As for Lucky, his mind drifted away.
'A portal that connects the underworld and this world? That's weird. There might be different worlds that exist and are still being created, but there is only one Heavenly Gates and Fiery Door. There's no way the underworld they were talking about is the same underworld I know. Pluto might be a cunning son of a bitch, but he isn't so foolish to open that door and let everyone out.'
Unless… the god of the underworld lost control over his domain.
His lips curved down at the thought that crossed his mind. It sounded impossible, but after being in this world for a few days now, Lucky had to consider that. After all, this world didn't make sense to him, and so was being sent here at the last minute.
[Random Skill Cooldown: 4:58:37]
The sudden notification that popped out in front of him snatched away Lucky's attention. The corner of his mouth curled up into a satisfied smirk, snapping his eyes to his side.
"Say, how long till we reach Treeham?" he casually asked.
"If we continue with this pace without meeting a problem, we'll be there in about four hours or five. But then again, your speed is within the normal range," Jehnid explained. "If you are worried, we have enough fuel so you can speed up."
"I'm not worried about anything," Lucky smirked. "I'm just… thinking how to kill some time that will make five hours feel like five minutes."
He then placed his hand on the gear stick and adjusted his position. "Jehnid, hold tight and focus on your job. I'm speeding up." And before Jehnid could answer, Lucky stomped on the pedal as hard as he could.
In five hours, he would finally get to know what kind of special skill he was gifted. Although he didn't have high expectations, he would finally get rid of it from his mind. Moreover, whether it was useful or not, he might as well test it out in a place where he could freely do whatever he wanted.
Treeham City sounded like a perfect place to test his skills.