Chereads / BORN OF DOOM (moved to a new link) / Chapter 32 - Chapter 32: OUTBREAK

Chapter 32 - Chapter 32: OUTBREAK

The hunt continued the next day, it was a walk in the pack by the two groups joined together, they were able to locate beasts easily with the help of one of Vondrel. Due to one of his innate abilities, he was able to sniff the air and locate where other beasts could be found.

Once they come across groups of beasts they choose themselves to take care of the beasts, one group will take care of a selected numbers, while the second group will take care of the other.

"Should we pay the eyes eaters a visit? " Sam asked during their recuperation.

"That is a great idea" a guy which goes by the name Mikel said with enthusiasm.

"Are you sure, they actually said they were plenty and overwhelming, i don't want to get caught up in it" another guy voiced out, fright evident in his word.

A foreign energy seeped into the environment, everyone could feel it and they all felt fear as if death was hovering over them. They all stared in a certain direction.

Vondrel was exuding a foreign energy from his existence making everyone take a step back. He can now use his ATP freely, howbeit limited to avoid unwanted attention.

"Let's go there, but i don't know the way there" he said

"I remember the route, i can take us there" Timmy said.

"Then let's go pay them a visit, please lead the way" Vondrel said and they all got up, packed their things and were on their way.

As they walked toward the nest of the eye eaters, a guy in the group urged them to turn back and head somewhere else.

They appeased him to exercise patience until....

"I think Ronald is right on this one, we have been walking in this barren and deserted side of the red planet for a while, we need to head back now" Sylvia voiced out for the first time, she has always stayed silent and let things play on its own but now the fear of the unknown is taking over her.

"You heard her, let's leave " Ben and Jerry said at the same time urging the group to return to the base.

'Ding'

(New quest received : Save everyone from the outbreak of the eyes eaters)

' outbreak?? What do you mean outbreak.' Vondrel asked the system.

He looked around and could see nothing, no beast, no scurrying humans, nothing.

" There is an outbreak presently, didn't you take note of the less availability of beasts?' the system asked irritated

Vondrel's eyes widen, he noticed but didn't think much of it.

'If there is an outbreak of beasts, how am i meant to complete this quest. Just tell me you want me dead, it's a simple word ' Vondrel thought angrily.

"Idiot, how will i want you dead, i'll gain nothing from that, well you can choose to reject the quest, there is no punishment for it, but the reward is thrilling " the system responded.

"Okay what am i to do?" Vondrel inquired

(Find the reason behind the outbreak and solve the problem)

(Time limit 1hour)

"What 1 hour? " Vondrel couldn't help but shout aloud to making everyone turn to him.

"What do you mean by 1 hour?"

"Is there anything wrong? "

"What's the matter?" they others around him all asked, they had noticed is strange silence for some time.

"You all should head back to the base, i want to look into this" Vondrel said with a low voice.

"Look into what??" The others asked. Confusion written all over their faces.

Suddenly a loud buzzing followed by the grim message: an unusual outbreak of Eye Eaters. The creature's name alone struck fear into the hearts of even the most seasoned awakened among the students. Eye Eaters were known for their brutality, attacking any living organism with terrifying precision, devouring the eyes of their victims before moving on to the rest of their bodies. The sudden outbreak had taken the entire settlement by surprise, and the urgency of the message had been clear: "Head back to the human settlement or find safety immediately."

Most of the group heed that advice. They could see the danger for what it was—a situation far beyond what they were equipped to handle. Yet Vondrel, standing there with his group , had other ideas

"I am not going back," Vondrel said, his voice steady but unwavering. "I'm going to the root of this outbreak. We need to find out what's causing these creatures to attack in such numbers. If we don't stop it now, it will only get worse."

The silence that followed his declaration was thick with tension. For a moment, no one spoke, the desert wind carrying only the faint hum of their watches and the distant rustle of sand. Then, slowly, the complaints began to surface, each voice adding to the mounting pressure.

"Are you crazy?" Ben said, his voice cracking with a mix of fear and disbelief. "We're supposed to go back to safety! The Eye Eaters are out there killing everything. We're not equipped to handle them—not alone."

Andy, nodded in agreement. "This isn't some small scouting mission, Vondrel. We're talking about an outbreak—an infestation. We're students, not soldiers. Our job is to train, not to die out here!"

Noah, the group's strategist, crossed his arms, his normally calm demeanor now replaced with clear frustration. "I agree. The settlement has protocols for these situations. They know how to handle this kind of threat. What do you expect us to do? March into the heart of the outbreak and stop it ourselves? That's suicide."

Others in the group murmured their agreement, the collective unease growing with each passing second. Vondrel remained silent, listening to their concerns, but his expression didn't waver. He understood their fear—he felt it too—but something inside him wouldn't let him back down. This wasn't just about survival. It was about understanding, about protecting the lives on the planet.

Vondrel took a deep breath, his gaze sweeping over the group. "I'm not asking you to come with me," he said slowly. "This is something I need to do. You all can head back to the settlement and find safety. But I can't turn my back on this."

"But why, Vondrel?" Sam voice cracked, this time with desperation. "Why are you doing this? Why can't we just stick to the plan?"

Vondrel's eyes darkened, his resolve hardening as he looked at the ground.

"Because there's more to this than we know. Eye Eaters don't just attack in large swarms like this. Something is driving them, with the urgency of the message, and if we don't find out what, we're all going to be in even more danger. You can't fight what you don't understand."

Silence fell again, heavier this time. The group exchanged uneasy glances, but no one could meet Vondrel's gaze. Finally, Rina stepped forward, her fists clenched at her sides. "You're going to get yourself killed," she said bluntly. "And for what? Some mystery that might not even exist?"

"If I die, I die with purpose," Vondrel replied. "But if I'm right, and we find out what's causing this, we might be able to stop it."

Mike let out a heavy sigh, shaking his head. "This is insane. You're walking into the jaws of death. But if you're so hell-bent on going, we can't stop you. Just know you're walking this path alone."

"I understand." Vondrel's voice was quiet but firm. He looked at each member of the group, his gaze lingering on Sam, Noah, Timmy, James and Rina. "Stay safe. Head back to the settlement. I'll meet you there—if I can."

Without waiting for another word, Vondrel turned and began walking, his Kyokai appeared in his hands, glinting in the fading sunlight. The group watched him go, their hearts heavy with uncertainty and fear. None of them called after him, none of them tried to stop him. They knew it was futile. Once Vondrel made up his mind, there was no changing it.

The red desert stretched endlessly before him, the landscape barren and unforgiving. As Vondrel walked, the buzzing on his watch continued, the warnings growing more urgent.

But he ignored them, focusing instead on the journey ahead. Somewhere out there, in the depths of this wasteland, the Eye Eaters were swarming, attacking anything that moved. Vondrel had seen them eye eaters in action before—bodies left hollow, their eyes torn out, their lives snuffed out in a brutal instant.

As he moved deeper into the desert, the sun dipped lower, casting long shadows across the ground. The air grew cooler, and with it came the eerie silence that preceded the arrival of the Eye Eaters. Vondrel's senses were on high alert, his Mystic Eyes sharpening his vision as he scanned the horizon for any signs of movement.

Hours passed, and still, he walked. The desert was vast and desolate, offering no clue as to where the outbreak had originated. Yet Vondrel pressed on, driven by a sense of duty and an unshakable need to uncover the truth. Something had changed on this planet—something unnatural was at work—and he would find out what it was.

Just as the sun disappeared completely, plunging the desert into darkness, Vondrel felt it: the unmistakable presence of the Eye Eaters. His skin prickled as a chill ran down his spine. In the distance, he could make out faint shapes moving across the sand, their grotesque forms illuminated by the pale light of the planet's twin moons.

The creatures were horrifying—elongated, insect-like bodies with spindly legs and gaping maws lined with razor-sharp teeth. Their eyes were hollow sockets, black and empty, yet they seemed to see everything, drawn to movement, to life. Vondrel had fought these monsters before, but never in large numbers like this.

There were dozens of them.

Vondrel crouched low, his hand resting on the hilt of his Kyokai. His heart raced, but his mind was clear. He had to be smart—he couldn't afford to engage them all at once. He needed to find the source of the outbreak, the thing that was driving these creatures to attack in such numbers.

Slowly, he began to move, his steps careful and deliberate as he skirted the edge of the swarm. His Mystic Eyes allowed him to track their movements, to see the patterns in their behavior. They were hunting, but they weren't just mindless beasts—they were being controlled, directed by something unseen.

The thought chilled him. What could possibly control creatures like this?

As he moved deeper into the heart of the swarm, Vondrel's eyes caught sight of something strange in the distance. As he tried to take a look, his ear suddenly perked, as he looked back to see what was incoming, his mouth opened wide in shock.

" What are you doing here??" He asked the familiar intruder.

"What?? You think we would just leave you to venture into somewhere dangerous. No way" the person responded

"We lost you once, we won't let it repeat itself again." Another voice said

"So you all came. " Vondrel said as all the members of his group and Andy's group were present.

They all watched the eye eaters for sometime before Rina spoke

"We came across a tunnel on our way here, I think it's a way around this place."

"Really?? How could I have missed that??" Vondrel asked bewildered

" There is no way forward here, let's go through the tunnel." Andy said, since no one wanted to answer him.

.......

Somewhere in the tunnel

"Keep it up we need to keep moving" a guy said while unleashing destructive force on the eye eaters surrounding them.

Two different group who banded together could be seen trying to escape from the trap of eye eaters after them.

"They are getting too much, how long can we go?" another voiced out

"You are a leader, try to motivate your men not kill their spirit"

'Boom'

A loud explosion rang out and shook the tunnel where they were, then they all started running at a fast pace till they get to a dead end which only way out is upward, they all paused to look back and could see thousands of eye eaters gathered around blocking the other way.

"What do we now? " the tired voice of a boy was heard

"We scale the walls of the tunnel" the first leader said

"Is that even an option now? The second leader questioned with a sigh before stepping forward to his comrade.

"What do you....." the first leader was saying before he could see what the other leader was referring to.

He also sighed and prepared himself for the imminent clash.

"This might as well be our end, but before we die, let's make sure we take down a number of this beasts with us" he stated with a strong tone.

Then the fight for their life began and in no time 6 of them were down, 3 from both group, notwithstanding they continue to battle it out, with the feeling that there is no hope for them.

Two eye eaters targeted a guy at the back and were ready to eat his eyes before killing him, he couldn't fight back due to him having exhausted himself from battling the endless tide of eyes eaters for so long, all he could do is close his eyes and await the reaping of his flesh, suddenly a bright light shone in the tunnel from above, it blinded everyone there and made the battle stop, following the bright light multiple explosions resounded and smell of flesh being burnt could permeates the area.

Multiple cries of agony could be heard coming from the eyes eaters as they all tried to scurry away from the area.

..........

Jumping inside, Vondrel didn't know how he could take out all this beasts on his own, so he decided to do one thing, and that is activating his light blast but he knew it wouldn't be enough, he needed a wild scale attack, as if on track his existence and sea of consciousness worked together to create the best attack that has a wide range of destruction and that can be controlled not to hurt the people around.

"Purification !!!" Vondrel shouted and a very bright light enveloped him and the area he was descending into when the light got to the proximity of the eye eaters it kicked started and began to work.

'Bam'

He landed in their midst and looked at the destruction he has caused, all the eyes eaters around were all burnt to nothing, even their ashes were no where to be found, the walls of the tunnel expanded due to the power of the purification and him using it for the first time, the o my saving grace was that purification works on who or what ever the user want's it to erase from existence.

The boys that were previously fighting were astonished at the power that was being displayed, they all dropped on their knees due to the adrenaline rush in them weigning .

"Isn't that the boy who defeated the intermediate tier on his own and also killed the advance tier beasts yesterday?" a guy from the group said

"Stay down, we are taking over from here, try to get some rest and recover some energy " Vondrel said

"We, who are the we, we can only see you here " the guy who almost died not long voiced out.

'Bam' 'Bam'.....

People began to land in the tunnel.

"That was a crazy idea Vondrel, never you do that ever again!!!" Sam scolded.

"You are too reckless " Ben chided

"I'm sorry but i had no choice but to save them" Vondrel pleaded

"We have company " Sylvia said.

Everyone turned their face to the other side of the passage and could see times two of the number of eyes eaters that were being defeated.

'Can i use purification ?' Vondrel thought

(Purification is on cool down due to using it in a wide range, increase level to decease cool down time and increase range)

"That's crazy, we need to get them out of here right now" Vondrel said.

"No we are fighting with you, we can't leave " the first leader countered immediately.

"You are in no condition to help us, you will only be a burden to us, so here you go, escape to the base for safety ". Rina said and created a stairs made from ice.

They all rushed out of the tunnel, leaving Vondrel and his group behind. Vondrel raised his hand making a new pair of earth cover the tunnel, he had absorbed the knowledge of earth into him.

(Earth elemental knowledge absorbed)

(Host has gained high understanding of the earth elements)

(New ability received earth)

"Wow, his ability is the earth ability, so cool but it's a common ability " Mikel muttered

"What are we ought to do now? " Andy asked

"Isn't it obvious, we take them all out" Sam answered while slapping his fist together.

The beasts were staring at them while some were trying effortlessly to pass through the earth blocking the way upward.

"What are we waiting for? " Mikel asked. All eyes instinctively turned at Vondrel who just stood there not making a move .

"Hmm, why are you guys staring at me that way?" He questioned with his face showing confusion.

"We all agreed to follow you no matter what until we see to the end of this, you brought the idea, so isn't that suppose to tell you that you're meant to lead us? " Rina questioned "Take the lead already we are with you" she added.

He glanced at them and wanted to give excuse but the eye eaters are done waiting the one's trying to break through the the wall created by Vondrel stopped and turned their angry gaze at the ants that caused them losing their meal.

Immediately they rushed at them, Rina erupted with energy and discharged it into the environment every creature that came across her became frozen and shattered into multiple pieces, she was the first to attack.

Andy twisted her hands weirdly and little sparks could be seen popping up, she threw the spark on the floor which immediately turned into a fiery snake that consumed every eye eaters that came her way, she also cleared her path in just one attack, the snake then came back and stood beside her, it was burning fiercely but it's flames was condensed on the body of the snake so it won't hurt the others around, they could only feel minimal heat.

Sylvia raise her hand and green substance could be seen clothing her hand and it formed into balls, the balls floated around her, swinging her hand forward they rained on the beasts immediately burning them and turning them into weird shape.

Mikel stood and clasped his hands together which generated which generated a pulling force that pulled the beasts that came into his range from side to side reaping them apart, beasts blood splattered around.

Jerry tucked his fingers and strings could be seen getting attached to the beasts tying them down before a condensed form of string was rapped on their heads, he pulled the strings slightly and it detached from their body.

Ben stomped his feet on the ground making the ground rise, condescend form of earth flew around piercing beasts after beast and killing them.

Sam watched the excellent display of power by his crush and decided to do something simple, he waved his hand, nothing came out nothing formed it was as if he did nothing, even Sylvia was surprised at his act, but suddenly all the beasts in his range begin to fall from the air on the ground, nothing pierced them but what could be seen was their eyes turning white and bulging, before they died.

Timmy swung his hand and tiny form of water flew straight at every beast around entering into their nostril, it was a simple attack they all fell on the ground, due to his control of water he was able to stop their breath, they struggled hard some were screeching but they all gave up after few minutes.

Noah used fire laser to roast every unfortunate beasts he targets.

James took out a small round object and threw it in the air, the round object spiralled in the air before breaking into smaller particles each flying around and attaching themselves to several eye eaters, then a burning sensation could be felt on their skin, a golden flame erupted on their skin and burnt them to crisps.

Vondrel didn't move or perform any gesture, he stood there without moving an inch, the beasts seeing him not attacking decided to attack him instead but they all fall on the floor dying without him doing anything physical.

Everyone....."_"

"Hey now will you stop doing things we can't understand, how you are killing them without moving an inch? " Ben couldn't help but ask.

"Let's go, forget about me" Vondrel ignored his question and continue walking through the exist of the cave while holding onto an eye eater which was struggling to get free, the beast scratched his skin with its long claws and also used it's beak to poke him but nothing happened it was as if it was clawing and poking a steel.

"Can someone tell me why he is holding that beast?" Jerry questioned

"It's obvious the beasts is hurting him, but he doesn't look hurt , it's more like he isn't feeling all those attacks, my skin would have been pierced" Sylvia muttered

Vondrel could suddenly feel an energy rising in the beast the more they get to the exist of the tunnel, the beast gathered that energy and wanted to use it for a breath attack so as to free itself , unfortunately for it, it's host wasn't a normal person, Vondrel absorbed the energy directly from the beast into his body.

(Beast energy has been absorbed)

(Skill in use: Energy siphon)

(Absorb more beast energy to level up)

"Hmm, this is great, direct absorbtion of energy from beast can make me level up, where is this energy coming from i can feel it's not directly from the beast, the beast itself is drawing the energy from somewhere, is it the beast crystal? Nope this is from an external source, it keeps increasing the more we get tongue exist, i guess it's time to use it" Vondrel thought to himself . He growled making everyone fell a chill and stared at his back weirdly wondering why he growled.

The beast understood what he meant, and immediately stopped struggling, Vondrel released it and instead of it flying away like everyone thought, it was just flying in a certain direction while Vondrel was following it, the rest had no choice but to follow their acting leader, they walked for like hundred miles before they got to a certain level where red rocks could be found.

Vondrel could sense the sudden increase of pure energy in the beast, energy siphon was still activated so the energy was immediately transferred to him, the beast experienced a continuous feeling of energy refill and something drawing the energy out of its body, it could do nothing to stop the process.

The beast pace increased and Vondrel started walking at a fast pace, then suddenly get closer to a cave the beast took up speed and flew forward with everything left in its being, Vondrel stomped his feet on the ground making rocks underneath to be splitted, he picked one and immediately threw it at a fast speed which no one eyes could follow (those available there)the stone hit the beast before the beast could touch the red rock it disappeared and reappeared in Vondrel's hand.

"Why did you kill it, if i'm correct it led you to its home before trying to alert the others" Ben asked.

"Is that even a question ? It's more like you asking and at the same time answering yourself " Sam voiced out.

"What did you see?" Rina inquired

Vondrel eyes glowed a white gold shade, his eyes zoomed in on the cave, what stood as army of eyes eaters ready to be dispatched stood at the entrance of,

"This is a death wish, i don't think we can all go further, what lies in that cave is an army of eyes eaters ready to be dispatched, if we go in there, we have a little chance to survive, unless we get rid of the source of their strength which we can't just do unless we defeat the army inside, so this is your last chance to return back to the base" he stated with a firm tone.

"I can't believe he still have to say this after we followed him all the way here" Sam said with an angry expression

"I don't think there's anyone who wants to return now, i have followed you all the way here without turning back, i might as well see to the end of this, but in case i don't make it out alive like he said Pls make sure my body is returned home no matter what shape it may be and be buried in my father's house" Sylvia said with a smile

"And you block head" she addressed Sam

"i was hoping to consider you later on, you can use this opportunity to protect me, but don't you dare risk your life for me, i can possibly imagine what you're thinking " she added before conjuring multiple green balls which were pulsating with energy, no one said anything after that, everyone prepared themselves for the imminent clash, it is going to be a battle of life and death, it's either they do it or the lifes on the planet dies.