The rescued comrade
The estimated time for the test to end was three to five days, and then there would be a celebration to mark the end of the training and to baptise the new members of the shelter's attack force. Sani Abacha had already begun to write out his condolence letters to the families of the warriors he had sent to the dark forest; he chuckled at the thought of Adewale's death. He had made the mistake before of underestimating the tenacity of those who sought to challenge him and thinking that poverty as an instrument of oppression had dulled the edge of their blades. That was a foolish blunder on his part; it is only natural that when an animal has been beaten down and is on its last flame of life, that is when it fights the hardest. A bitter lesson he had to learn from his long-term rival, Nnamdi Azikwe; he came from a humble background, and his parents owned nothing. The fool had to crawl his way up the ladders of society, challenging him at every given opportunity until he had made a name for himself. Abacha had hoped to inaugurate him into the elite class of society, to corrupt him with the wonders of the upper class but Nnamdi refused.
Nnamdi Azikwe was a man of the people; he would rather sleep in the dirt with the pigs than dwell in a crystal castle with the phoenix. He had the Akinbode family contracted to kill him, but the assassins failed in their mission. To make things worse, the assassins were forbidden from operating in the region that Nnamdi controlled. The pest refused to die; he had the eyes of someone willing to die for the sake of others. The fool, the only reason why any man lives is simply to satisfy his own selfish needs. A high position in society, a lot of possessions, multiple wives and children and a bunch of slaves at your beck and call. To experience paradise in this world is the purpose of life, to take what you want and regret nothing, this is the life he intends to claim.
Then he remembered the look in Adewale's eyes; it was the same eyes as that of Nnamdi Azikwe, but he was a little different. Adewale's eyes had not just determination behind it. His eyes also had promise in them, 'If I live, then I will take everything from you and leave you in the dust.' Those eyes terrified him to no end.
The doors suddenly open, and in walks Cecilia'n Ibru with crooked smile on his face. Abacha felt his entire body tremble with suppressed rage at the intrusion and he did not hesitate to express his feelings.
"You didn't knock" Abacha growled,
"Ẹ ma binu Ọga" (Don't be angry boss) Cecilia'n Ibru replied without a hint of being apologetic, "But dark business needs dark people who are willing to keep their mouth shut."
Abacha growled, should he have him killed? He wondered if he would need to find someone else with this bastard's unique talents. "Is it done?" he demanded.
"It is done; the Ẹṣọs posted close to the dark forest were told that spies from an invading shelter were sent on a scouting mission" Cecilia'n Ibru chuckled, "Shoot first, ask questions later."
Abacha chuckled at the news, "Good!" Finally, the one pebble inside his shoe was about to be removed. He will not make the same mistake again; this time, he will eliminate all opposition before it can take root in the shelter. "Adewale," Abacha voiced, "You and your E-rank friends are weak; you will remain weak, so die for the Lagos shelter."
*********
The dark forest was now alive with the screams of the Arachnoids, a big threat had charged into their nest and was doing great damage. No matter what they tried the menace proved to be unstoppable, a force with formidable fighting prowess forged for destruction.
Adewale could not help but feel excited, they charged into the dark forest with all the speed they could muster and then he noticed the first flaw in his plan.
"Which way are we going?" Lakan barked as he rammed into an Arachnoid setting it ablaze with the flaming protection.
"Symbiot, emm! Which way?" Adewale inquired with a panic.
"Not to worry, Master Adewale, I have sent him the directions. All cells connected to the prime will never be hidden from the prime," Symbiot responded.
"Yes sir," Lakan responded as though he had received a direct order.
"Lakan has acquired the skill shield bash (The ability to attack enemies with the shield.)" Symbiot announced, "Ọsẹ has acquired the skill pyromaniac (this allows him to secrete flames from any part of his body), Ronke has acquired the skill reflecting shield (this allows her to reflect x2 damage that is inflicted by an enemy attack)"
Adewale observed that any spider that tried to ram itself into the reinforced barrier would have itself smashed like an egg; the bungee-jumping Arachnoids were no match for the flaming force of the shield. "Seyi's electrical affinity has increased by 1 point, Tunde has acquired the skill of sniper,"
"Awesome!" Adewale exclaimed, "Give everyone, including Attah, one step in Evolution", he ordered. In reply, a status board appeared in front of all the members of his party, informing them of their evolution. Adewale could feel the excitement radiating from the smiles on their faces. They needed encouragement in preparation for what would happen next; the beasts they had been killing were the weak grunts at the far side of the nest, but now they had reached the inner part of the nest, and more powerful Ẹbọras were bound to appear.
"Alright men, we're done with the easy part." Adewale barked, "New orders, by now, you have received your gifts," he teased; he knew that Kehinde would not be able to understand what he meant. "These new foes we face will not be that easily killed." then he said to Symbiot subconsciously, "I'm counting on you to relay my orders."
"It will be done Master Adewale," Symbiot replied,
"Move on!" He ordered, and the whole team pressed forward without a single hint of hesitation.
Kehinde was beside himself with shock, "How are they getting stronger?" he wondered if only he knew that Adewale was making full use of his skills, Experience storage, experience share and x2 experience. He would have recruited him into his father's assassin squad, but like all the rich, ignorant snubs, he couldn't see true talent even if it was right there under his nose. The only thing he had to concentrate on was his survival; the rest could fulfil their purpose as his meat shields.
True to Adewale's words, the next batch of Arachnoids were far more formidable than the rabble they were fighting before; these were larger than elephants, and their exoskeletons were impervious to fire. The only thing left for Ọsẹ to burn was the silk webbing in the immediate vicinity, Tunde suddenly jumped out of the dome to a vantage position within the trees and started to shoot.
"What's he doing?" Kehinde cried, he was worried that he might be abandoned.
"Shut up, princess. I am trying to think!" Adewale snapped; the skill he was using, called the Domain of Symbiot, was beginning to take its toll.
"This is the first time you are using that skill, Master Adewale," Symbiot noted, "You need to deactivate it."
"No way," Adewale said as he felt a bead of sweat tickled down his temple. He noticed that the plasma beams from the crystal-powered weapons were ineffective; fire reinforcement didn't work on these monsters.
"I'd advise using inquisitive eye" Symbiot suggested,
"Good idea," Adewale responded,
"Who are you talking to?" Kehinde barked, "Don't space out now, you foolish excuse of a leader!"
Adewale ignored him and used the skill 'Leaders inquisitive eye' The results were surprising, Beast name; High Arachnoid, Classification: Ẹbọra, evo-level:18, Strength rank; C Defence:B Agility:D. "This must be one of the queen's guards," he voiced; no wonder it had such high defence. Its purpose was the same as a tank. "Master strategist!" he whispered; Fire might not be hot enough to penetrate the solid armour of the High Arachnoid, but the penetrating power of the lightning element can.
The killing shot came from within the trees; the penetration speed was astonishing. While Lakan and Ronke tanked the beast's attack, Tunde fired the killing shot, and this continued until all the large beasts were felled.
"We did it" Lakan whispered as he gazed upon the fallen Arachnoids,
"Look sharp everybody!" Adewale commanded, "There are still more coming"
"What about its core?" Kehinde cried the core of an Ẹbọra this size was going to make him famous in Ọlọrun-sogo.
"We didn't come here for the cores," Adewale said, "We came here for our friend"
"He's dead," Kehinde said, looking at Adewale straight in the eye. Dearing him to talk back. He had half expected the boy to challenge him or even start a fight, but Adewale simply walked forward, ignoring him completely.
"This area is clear" He barked, "Attah is not far from this location, I think we can finish this before sunset and return to the cave for the night" Then he looked at all his friends and smiled, he could see the trust they had in him or it could be his skill 'charismatic leader' in action. The only thing he knew was that they now had the hope of surviving this ordeal.
"Let us move," Adewale indicated, heading towards a direction while the others followed at their own pace.
"Deactivate the Domain Master Adewale. You need to rest," Symbiot suggested; at first, Adewale wanted to refuse but then decided to save his strength and obeyed Symbiot's orders; there was no immediate danger to their party at the moment, and they were close to Attah's location. He left Seyi and Tunde to serve as lookouts while he went in with the others to locate their lost comrade.
"Not too far now Master Adewale" Symbiot directed,
"It stinks here!" Ọrẹoluwa complained,
"The smell is quite strong," Ọsẹ agreed.
"This is the natural smell of Suru-Lere; you should be used to it," Kehinde insulted, and the rest growled in response.
"Kehinde, I will only say this once," Adewale said casually, "If your foul mouth causes any of my teammates to break your jaw I'll say nothing about it,"
Kehinde was bitter by the attention that Adewale was getting and extremely jealous of the progress of the E-ranks, he needed an outlet for his frustration. "Give me a weapon; I need to defend myself," he demanded desperately; for some reason, he felt like a useless piece of trash doing nothing while watching others protect him.
"That was not part of our deal," Adewale responded with a mocking smile on his face, "The deal was you let us…"
"I know what the deal was!" Kehinde snapped, "I just…"
"I don't care how you feel, we are nothing but trash to you and our job is to protect you." then Adewale began walking away, "If you needed a strike team then you shouldn't have used us a as meat shield," Kehinde scowled in response but held his peace, nothing had gone as he had expected.
"I think I see something," Ọsẹ announced as he rushed back from scouting ahead, "The first thing I saw was webbed cocoons, some had blood dripping from them and others were dried old and withered,"
"That's it!" Adewale exclaimed, "Let's go!" they rushed through the foliage within the forest, avoiding most of the silk threads that cluttered the forestry to eventually reach the assumed location of their fallen comrade.
They arrived at the assumed dumping ground of the Arachnoids; Ọsẹ showed them the place where more than a thousand cocoons had been discarded. Several had the dried-up skeletons of previous prey sticking out of them. The sight was very disturbing the only food that could be found here was for the tiny insect-toids to feast upon.
"Like I said" Kehinde mocked, "He's already dead!"
Adewale hated to admit this, but Kehinde had a point; it would take forever for them to find their fallen friend, and even if they could find him, the probability of Attah being alive was less than 5 per cent (5%). For Adewale, this was a heartbreaking moment.
"Master Adewale!" Symbiot called, "I sense his life signs; he is unconscious but otherwise unharmed. I speculate the Arachnoids were done with him at the moment you had boosted his evolution." Adewale nodded in acknowledgement, but that analysis didn't help. He still needed to know where his friend was. "this is his exact location"
"Tunde and Ronke, use both your skills to bring me that cocoon", Adewale commanded, pointing to one of the cocoons that was stained with red blood and still quite fresh.
"Yes sir!" the two responded and then dashed into the trash heap. It was dirty work, but they were both up to the task. Ronke had surrounded them both with her shield while Tunde, who had the highest Agility stats, carried Ronke towards the cocoon Adewale had indicated. They reached the cocoon within 2minutes and retrieved it then Ọsẹ who happened to be on lookout duty called out, "The next wave is approaching"
"So what do we do if that is not Attah?" Ṣeyi Ọlaitan inquired
"It's him, don't worry" Adewale replied, then he faced Ọsẹ, "how long do we have?"
Ọsẹ was on one of the high branches of the many trees in the dark forest, the perfect vantage point for scouting the enemy's next wave. As soon as he gave Adewale the location of the cocoons, he immediately continued his scouting duties hoping that the next wave would come in later rather than sooner. "The estimated time should be less than 3 minutes"
"Plenty of time," Adewale exclaimed with a smile on his face as Tunde and Ronke returned carrying the cocoon with Attah inside. Ọrẹoluwa had a short knife in her hand and used it to cut open the cocoon, and to everyone's relief, Attah was within the cocoon, alive but unconscious.
"Symbiot!" Adewale called,
"Yes, Master Adewale" Symbiot replied,
"Evolve everyone by one step," Adewale responded with a smile of triumph.
"He stinks," Kehinde complained. Someone could have knocked him out for saying something so insensitive, but they were all too happy to even care.
The status screen appeared in front of everyone except for Attah, and Kehinde, who were not part of Adewale's cells, congratulating them for the successful rescue and informing them that they had evolved by one step. This action further built the morale of the strike force.
"Alright, men," Adewale cried, "It is time to retreat and regroup; we will be commencing a full assault tomorrow, and then it will not be to rescue a friend but to claim rewards. Let's move out!"
"Yes sir!" the rest replied in high spirits.