Looking through the scope of the Pulse Sniper Rifle, Kael slowed down his breathing.
The sniper pointed at Trey in the distance, who was looking at him nervously and filled with fear and anger.
"What are you doing? You really want to kill me, are you?!" Trey whispered. Wind entered the cave, causing his body to shiver.
Kael didn't answer him, merely pointing the weapon as if ready to blow Trey's head off.
Regret came back to Trey. To think that it was a good idea to follow this lunatic just because of his engineering skills that surpassed anyone he had seen—it was a decision he should have never made!
He should have climbed the mountain and hunted some Behemechs quietly before joining the rest at the Spire. That should have been the plan, not here where the monsters were obviously hiding!
Although Trey hadn't seen any Behemechs yet, just from the scratches on the floor and on the wall, he was sure that this place was full of them.
"I'm out of here!" Trey took a step forward, but as he did so, he felt something behind him that tickled his nape.
There was also a heavy sound near his ear, like those of hydraulic joints pressing the air out of them.
Suddenly, like a bolt of lightning shocking him, Trey's whole body turned stiff. He knew what was behind him. So, just like what any sane person would do… he turned around slowly to take a look while trying not to breathe.
What came into his view was the head of a Behemech resembling a rhino, its deadly red eyes staring directly at his soul.
"H-hello," Trey greeted with a gulp. But the monster's answer was crashing its hooves to the ground and letting out a heavy growl.
Seeing this, Trey knew it was time to run. He hurriedly turned around and started running with all his might. But his movement only triggered the First Grade Behemech to become angrier, and because a normal human was inherently slower than this beast, Trey knew he was not going to be able to escape.
"Help me!" Trey shouted at the top of his lungs, with tears and snot falling from his face.
Although the hybrid of rhino and metal behind him was only considered a First Grade Behemech, it had a far stronger body than the Mechanibbit. And a full-force blow from this monster could be catastrophic, especially when he hadn't yet put all his level-up points into his Attributes!
As Trey's voice reverberated, Kael casually aimed before firing his weapon.
The strong sound of the pulse round coming out from the sniper echoed, and when Trey heard this, he saw a ray of hope. However, he noticed that Kael had been pointing the weapon at him, not at the Behemech behind him!
F*ck, he really wants to kill me! Trey thought as he felt the bullet whizzing past him. Fortunately, Kael missed. Or so he thought, as when he looked at his right hip where the pulse round supposedly 'missed,' he noticed five to six Shield Tubes hanging from his utility belt, with one of them activated—a clear mark of the pulse sniper bullet grazing past the activation button.
"When did he—" With eyes wide, Trey couldn't finish his words as, in the next second, his body was covered in light blue translucent shields, just in time for the Rhino Behemech to crash against him! "Ahhh!"
Trey was thrown back, and the force almost made him pass out. With his consciousness barely intact, he felt his body rolling across the ground and crashing against the trees. And in this blurry world, he noticed something coming at him.
It wasn't one, not two, but dozens of RhinoFlock Behemechs charging at him with their fiery red eyes!
I'm gonna die, Trey thought as he was once again thrown into the air, followed by the charging Behemechs.
...
Kael, now leaning against the side of the cave where the grotesque Rhinos wouldn't be able to see him, watched in amusement as his companion was being 'juggled' by these monsters, carried farther away from this place.
He was aware of the structure of Fissures and knew there were places where Behemechs were being produced. In this case, this cave was one of them, and he had already determined that it housed the dumb Rhinos who only knew how to charge, based on the footprints on the ground.
Actually, it was a gamble, as there was a chance that at least a hundred could be inside the cave, and that amount would be enough to shatter the shield he had adjusted for his bait, Trey.
Fortunately, some of these monsters had gone out before they arrived, with a few fleeing because of the battle with the fox Behemechs.
Was he worried about the young man? Kael believed that if fate wanted Trey alive, then he would survive this ordeal Kael had set up out of convenience. Well, Trey was more resilient than he appeared to be, so he would probably be fine. Hopefully.
Picking up the sniper rifle beside him, Kael walked toward the entrance of the cave.
The moment he stepped inside, the smell of earth and metal filled his nose. He looked around and found the place shabby, with pieces of metal scattered everywhere and deep footprints of RhinoFlock marking the ground.
He took out a flashlight from the black utility belt around his hips, which he had taken from one of the dead Primer dreamers he killed. Kael then started walking further into the cave. As his footsteps echoed, he began to wonder how Mr. Ponce had ended up in this place.
Soon, the cave widened, and the ceiling reached dozens of meters in height. Looking around, Kael saw a clear pond with stalactites dripping water from above. Noticing the footprints beside the pond, he concluded this was where they drank.
He also noticed signs of where the RhinoFlocks slept, evident from the body-shaped impressions on the cave floor.
But what caught his attention more was the chaotic space in the middle of the area. Like a mirror broken into many pieces, the space itself was collapsing, tearing the fabric of reality. Myriad colors seeped out from time to time—the same visuals seen in every sky inside a Fissure.
Seeing this, a memory surfaced in his mind. Kael knew what this was, as it was the main reason these monsters were being formed. Inside this chaotic space was another dimension, a dimension that even the Aegis Primeval didn't dare to enter casually. They had done so a few times, and each time, it was a nightmare. Although they could destroy planet-sized Fissures as if they were nothing, it was more like closing a door rather than truly destroying it.
Furthermore, from what he understood, even the Anthi-Orgs didn't dare to interfere with these things. When they tried to investigate, they didn't find anything significant. But the Anthi-Orgs never focused on the Fissures; all they wanted was absolute control over the universe, which forced the Aegis Prime to focus on these war machines instead.
After staring at the chaotic space for a while and reminiscing about the past, Kael finally decided to focus on finding Milan's father.
Using the flashlight to illuminate the area, it didn't take him long to find another clue: footprints. These footprints didn't belong to the Rhino Behemechs but to a human.
Following the trail, he found himself standing in front of a small cave. Kael slightly lowered his body to take a look, and when his flashlight lit up the cave, what he saw brought a smile to his face.
"Hello, Mr. Ponce, I am here to save you."