Birth Of The Crafts-God

"We've reached out to the outpost and gotten a response." A young man among the crew shouted.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

His name was Norman, and he was assigned by Lieutenant Lily to inform HQ of the situation and contact the outpost for details on any active units close by.

"What did they say?" Lily asked.

"A military unit the size of a company was dispatched two days ago. They were to investigate the surrounding region. However, news came in last night that a group of avian desolate beasts had escaped the black box perimeter. As for the unit, outpost has been unable to reach them ever since." Norman said.

The black box perimeter was the name given to the security perimeter set around Garena town about two kilometres away. It differed from the border perimeter the team had just passed.

"A company? Most likely they encountered the beasts." Nafir analysed.

Unlike the Red Fangs, the size of units in the military and other agencies was much larger. A platoon in the Red Fangs had eight men including the lead lieutenant. But in the military, there were at least sixteen. It could be more depending on the size of the military, but district militaries used the 16-count.

A company consisted of four platoons in district military, but five in the city-state's military. In the Red Fangs, the company captain wasn't included in the official count, but there were in the military.

For instance, in the case of the company sent over by the Red Fangs' director, there were four platoons, bringing the total to thirty-two (32) agents, but this count excluded the company captain. In the Red Fangs, a captain could operate on their own, so they weren't given a platoon to lead. Including them would bring the total to thirty-three (33) men in the company.

For the company the group was discussing, the unit numbered sixty-four (64) men, including the company captain who led a single platoon when split apart. This was a sharp contrast to the Red Fangs' company captain who operated alone when split apart.

"How far are we from the target?" Lily asked.

"Closing in on them in a few seconds. About three kilometres."

The team had been heading towards Garena town from the north, but the source of the signal came from the west. Furthermore, the distance was quite lengthy. Southvale village was far from Garena town, being located close to the edge of sphere of influence. With the team having moved a few kilometres into the region, they were quite far from the village.

However, moving at full speed enabled the shuttle to close the gap quickly.

Just as the reply had mentioned, it only took a couple of seconds for the group to see a settlement that was currently dilapidated. The settlement was littered with wreckage and signs of intense battle. There were flames at some locations, coloured blood, corpses and even metal wreckage.

There were also footprints belonging to desolate beasts all around, and if one looked carefully, they could spot smaller ones.

Despite all that, the group had ignored it with their attention glued ahead. In front of them, a few dozen desolate beasts of different kinds hovered in midair. There were a couple of them on the ground terrorising the area. The desolate beasts, whether on the ground or in the air, reached heights of at least two metres tall, with a wingspan of over three metres.

They were humongous and terrifying, with sharp claws and bloodthirsty eyes, all staring in one direction.

Before the desolate beasts was a blue forcefield that blocked them out. Within the forcefield were a few individuals attacking the monsters from the safety of the barrier. Occasionally, a few of them would exit the barrier and attack the monsters, before retreating back in when they felt exhausted. Through this rotation-based system, the group was able to fend off the monsters and hold on for long.

"That should be them." Barry said with a strange tone.

The company was supposed to be made up of sixty-four men, but the numbers below were barely up to twenty.

"Prepare for drop off." Lily ordered before turning around and moving towards the hatch.

When they heard the words, the members of the team, excluding the pilot, immediately approached the hatch with their armour on. Some of them didn't have it on earlier, but when they fixed their badge on their clothing and pressed firmly on it, a change occurred. Nanobots, with a replicative characteristic, exited from the badge and covered them, forming the Red Fangs standard armour.

Lucas marvelled at the scene, impressed by how far technology has come. Although he could make a lot of weapons and even some equipment, certain technology was still foreign, or rather difficult, for Lucas to comprehend. The nanotechnology was one such technology. Not many companies used it, since spatial expansion and compression technology was more advanced and a clearly better option.

However, Lucas found nanotechnology to be cool and fascinating.

The artificial intelligence that controlled the sare shuttle interrupted Lucas' thoughts at that moment.

"Unlocking hatch in 3, 2,1, drop."

The door opened and the team of seven immediately jumped off the shuttle, after which it closed back up. Only Lucas and the pilot were left on board.

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Although the artificial intelligence could be left in charge, it was standard practice to have a pilot active on the shuttle, just in case a situation out of the ordinary, like an EMP bomb being set off, occurred. With a pilot present, they could control the shuttle and ensure that it doesn't get destroyed during such events.

Watching as the team descended, Lucas suddenly had a thought. What if he were to use this opportunity to leave?

While he wasn't in custody or anything, Lucas knew that they wouldn't just let him go wherever or whenever he wanted. There was also the fact that the longer the stayed with them, the greater the possibility that Nafir would spot a lie. Since that was the case, leaving during this commotion seemed like the best thing to do.

Lucas had already gone past the border security, and he was within Garena town's area of influence. Although it might take a day or two before he made it to the town itself, that was no problem.

Once that thought took root, it became difficult for Lucas to get rid of it. However, just before Lucas could even work on the idea, the system interface popped up on front of him.

Don't do it.