Sounds of metal clashing with metal could be heard. It was a loud yet pleasant sound that calmed Jean's mind. Right now, he was sitting on a rock and just 10 meters ahead of him, were Xander and Aceso, both with their weapons out.
They were both trying to subdue a Crab-I that had ambushed them from the shadows of the mountain. The Crab-I looked exactly like that of a normal crab, except for the myriad of eyes covering its body, and metal-like chitin.
Xander weilded a giant shield bigger than his body and its thickness indeterminate as it changed from one thickness to another. He also had a weapon for close combat but it wasn't usable in this situation, the crab's range was too far.
But its range didn't matter if we attacked it from far enough. That was when a figure appeared from a nearby cliff. On her hands was an impressive bow. With a length of 5 meters, weighing hundreds of kilograms and looked to be a hybrid between a medieval siege weapon and a modern engineering marvel, with a sleek, reinforced design.
But what was more impressive, was the person currently holding it - Aceso. As Xander was keeping the creature in check, Aceso began positioning herself.
With her feet shoulder-width apart, her whole body relaxed, looking at the Zirtue in front of her. She then picked up an arrow and placed it on the bowstring, then slowly pulled the bowstring back.
'I remember seeing Erika work on that, why didn't she just use a crossbow anyways?'
Of course, the bow couldn't be fully drawn by someone as small as Aceso, well she wasn't actually that small, the bow was just much bigger in comparison. Halfway through the draw, Aceso released the bowstring.
'Imagine the arrow just explodes.'
Somehow, even with all that energy put into the arrow, it retained its shape and flew forward. Then, almost immediately afterwards, the arrow hit the crab, killing it on the spot.
The arrow didn't stop there as it flew through the carcass, hitting the ground, releasing all of its energy before exploding. The arrow was fast, it almost looked like the moment she released the bow was also the exact moment it hit the Zirtue, just like a light photon would.
'So that is the 'Photon' bow huh?'
It was a weapon that he had seen Erika and the other scientists working on for god knew how long. It was the most impractical weapon Jean had ever seen, the energy produced was too much and so was the recoil.
In fact, Aceso had to drop the bow immediately when she released the bowstring, it would damage the bow, of course but this was just a prototype of the bow, and Erika had wanted to test the bow for a while but didn't have the chance to do so.
The scientists had wanted something like a crossbow at first, but decided upon this design, however it was not that good of a weapon. Just one use of it left cracks everywhere on the bow, leaving it unusable.
Even when made with parts of a Tree-IV, the bow still couldn't withstand what it was intended for. Materials from a Tree-IV was the most flexible, yet durable thing they currently have at their disposal. A Tree-V would be too hard, as it would have chitin. And a Tree-III would be too bendy.
Aceso looked quite tired as she approached Jean, and she was still holding onto the broken bow. Xander on the other hand, was in pristine condition.
They had wasted quite a bit of time killing the crab, if not for the fact that Xander and Aceso wanted to do it themselves, they'd already been on their way.
Standing up, Jean let out a light groan.
"Argh, good job, I think you should have just dropped the bow on the crab, that thing is half a ton anyways. Ok let's get the meat from that thing."
It was now noon, the sun directly above them. Normally, there should be a mountain range right at where they were standing but fortunately, they were all leveled by the giant Zirtue a hundred thousand years ago.
This made the journey strangely convenient and almost too easy. However, their luck wasn't infinite as they soon encountered another mountain anyways.
"Pickaxes."
When Andre passed through these mountains, he climbed over them but that was too slow for Jean's liking, well, too slow for when he returned. So, he had told the members to bring a pickaxe beforehand. And so, they dug.
Thirty minutes later, they were already on the other side of the mountain. Without wasting any time, Jean dashed forward, and the other two soon followed.
***
On a particular mountain in Turkey was a lone man. His clothes hid his whole body, letting no light get inside, and armed with a vast arsenal of weapons on his body.
This was Andre.
He had been in this place for about a year, gathering information on both the grade V and the group of Rogues. And right now, he was waiting for a group from the Union to pick him up.
"Mates, you're taking too long. What the hell are you all doing?"
He was frustrated, if not for the fact that Erika told him to stay still, he would have already been trying to get back.
The road was arduous, but it shouldn't take him more than a month. And even less so for people like Jean, who was dispatched on this mission. In fact, it wouldn't even take him a day!
Considering that, Andre was very annoyed, it had been three days yet they were nowhere to be found.
'Do they think this is a trip or something? Arghhh damn that Jean, he's probably enjoying himself with those Zirtues.'
Suddenly, sounds of footsteps surrounded him. Looking up, he saw 20 hooded people, all cloaked in heavy clothing, just like him. They quickly surrounded him, leaving no room for escape.
'Don't tell me...'
Then, the person, who seemed to be leading the group came forward. Seeing this, Andre accepted his fate, he knew exactly who was before him.
Taking off their hood, revealing a grotesque face that could make one puke. The right side of the face was the features of a beautiful girl however, the left side was a skull with cracks all over. Meeting in the middle was flesh, moving flesh, wriggling as if they were maggots.
She was Anastasia.
"Tell me."
A lifeless voice escaped from her lips. It sounded desperate, full of anger and like a screech, scratching of a chalkboard.
Andre couldn't do anything anymore, maybe he could have, if not for the fact that he was distracted. And now, he was surrounded.
"Where is he?"