Chapitre 17: Expedition 2.0
Dawn crept through the cracks in the trees allowing for the first rays of light, appearing like god rays in the mist, to reach the entrance of the black pyramid.
It had rained all throughout the previous night and it wasn't merely Earth-like rain, but instead monstrosity sized raindrops plummeted from the sky and exploded the jungle upon impact.
Loud booms echoed through the night and torrents of water surged through the thickets of brush and vine. Branches cracked and splintered from the sheer weight of the rain, forcing those who still slept outside the pyramid to haphazardly rush inside carrying whatever miscellaneous items they had strewn about their makeshift home.
In addition to the sleepers, last night marked the first time since arriving that the camp remained 'unguarded.' Of course, this was due to the destruction caused by the heavy rain – some of the archer towers themselves either collapsed under the weight of the raindrops or were swept along by the waves of water that slammed into their foundations.
Given the strangely violent situation, both Admiral Adams and Isaac agreed that the weather itself acted as guard for the camp. None of them could even begin to fathom crossing the rivers of water that flowed beyond their walls – surely the Goblins wouldn't be able to either.
Thankfully though, dawn's presence pierced a hole in the black clouds that hung in the sky and the water ceased to fall. What was left, however, was thick clouds of mist that hovered a foot above the ground and trudged through the jungle in waves.
One moment the camp would be clear and your vision was unobstructed and then the next moment you're standing in the clouds, looking out at your elongated arm and realizing you can't see more than three feet ahead of you.
The mist consumed the jungle. And unfortunately, it was on this day that the training raid was set to take place.
One might think that given the amount of destruction to the camp, the collapsed towers and the fallen walls, that the raid should be canceled and all available hands should be put towards rebuilding their home; but on the contrary, the intense change to their environment is more than enough reason to send teams into the thicket.
Although hard to digest, the strength of the previous night's downpower cannot be underestimated. Just from gazing out from before the pyramid, anyone could tell how drastically their surroundings have changed.
Logs that amount in the thirties litter their surroundings, stacked upon each other as if a beaver had collected them. Hills that previously stood above streams had collapsed and been pushed along with the flow of water, entire sections of brush have disappeared, trails have both been closed and opened up.
All of their previous maps reduced to uselessness in a single night. But above all of that stood the importance of the locations of the Goblin settlements which have either been razed to the ground in the downpour or have at least been relocated to various other places.
It is this single concern that absolutely requires adventurers to venture into the jungle. They simply need to find out what happened to their adversaries.
Knowledge is power, afterall.
"Originally, I had planned for all of us to travel together. As more people arrive, we will have to learn to quickly adapt to fighting with strangers, but given the destruction that surrounds us – plans have changed." Admiral Adams and Isaac stood shoulder to shoulder at the front of a group of twenty men and women, the same group that Olive saw upon returning to the pyramid.
Over the last few days Isaac and the Admiral have developed a sort of co-leadership situation. They both have the best interests of the entire camp in mind, but occasionally their views on what to prioritize differs and surprisingly, Admiral Adams actually encourages this disagreement.
Before Isaac and them returned, the Admiral supposedly consulted Church on all of his major ideas and implementations – not necessarily for permission, but for another set of eyes. Although the Admiral won't admit it, he too was dropped in the jungle entirely unprepared and as a member of society nearing retirement age, he was arguably the most removed from the idea of a Status screen and game-like powers.
The Admiral was aggressive, abrasive, unpleasant to be around, and possessed a slew of other unnerving habits, but the man definitely wasn't stupid. He contained within himself an insatiable hunger for information, for an advantage, any slight edge above the rest. He had a taste and now his greed for power was only growing.
And here's another tidbit of information the Admiral would never reveal – he knows Isaac's group is the strongest, that is precisely why he must keep a keen eye on them.
And what better way to achieve that than to have their leader, Isaac, stand side-by-side with him during all of their important meetings? Isaac's insight will naturally reveal the limitations and extent of his team's power in addition to his wealth of acquired experience and knowledge gathered over the past months.
"So instead, you will all be moving in groups of five and will be exploring in opposite directions. We must remap our surroundings. That is our number one priority. Following the completion of a map, you are to extend your search to potential threats then to potential sources of resources. Clear?" Admiral Adams bellowed.
"Clear!" And a uniform amalgamation of voices responded.
"Permission to speak, sir!" A man at the front of the group of twenty yelled.
"Granted."
"What are our teams, sir?!"
"Due to the abrupt change in plans, you may select your own groups. Focus on teamwork and rapport, build a team you're confident you could work well with." Adams advised.
The neatly lined up men and women immediately began looking around in wonder. Most of them were not Awakened with only seven of them actually possessing some sort of useful Ability at all. Doc, of course, is not part of the expedition and neither are the Awakened who specialize in craftsmanship such as the woman who makes dyes for the camp.
While the men and women were busy deciding their teams, Admiral Adams turned to Isaac beside him and muttered something unexpected.
"I noticed you're a group of four. You wouldn't mind taking an unawakened person like me along with you, right?" He grinned.
In response, Isaac chuckled. "You wish to join us? Aren't you a little old for this type of physical confrontation?"
"Oh please. I'm not much older than you." The Admiral scoffed.
"A decade is quite a lot of time," Isaac rebutted, "but if you would really like, of course you may accompany us."
"Excellent."
As the uncontested strongest group, Isaac along with Admiral Adams, Lily, Church, and Olive began to make their way into the jungle spanning behind the pyramid. As the direction that leads furthest away from the dojo, the presumably center of the jungle, they are bound to encounter the most dangerous foes traveling this direction.
In contrast, the weakest of the groups, a group containing five unawakened people, traveled back towards the dojo itself. That was another key piece of vital information that needed to be gathered. Was the dojo destroyed?
Could the dojo be destroyed? And if it was, would the newly summoned people simply be placed upon the rubble or would they be buried underneath, or arrive somewhere new altogether?
Before departing, luckily, the original team of four was able to debrief without Admiral Adams' inclusion as he was busy directing the remaining groups. In that debriefing, the four of them determined what they could showcase and what they would hide, what they could talk about and what they should keep under wraps.
Furthermore, and in contest with Olive's opinion, it was decided that Olive should activate the Transfer Circle once more in Admiral Adams presence – assuming the opportunity arises. This decision was made after a tedious amount of back and forth, primarily coming from Church's end. In fact, it seemed to Olive that Church was more of a strategist than Isaac was.
"Think about it. You already admitted to yourself that there are a hundred different principles that we need to experiment with and yours is by far the easiest, since we have an actual formula to follow, the Circle itself. And since it's tied to Cain, like you said, we don't have to worry about other people summoning other demons or anything like that. Who cares if the Admiral can get in contact with Cain or not? He's contracted to you already." Church persuaded.
"But we don't know how the Contracts work!" Olive countered, "Who's to say Cain can't be contracted with multiple people?"
"That's exactly my point! That's literally why we need to test it!" Church argued.
"Why show it to Adams?! Why can't one of you test it?!" Olive continued.
"One of us will test it!" Church fired back, "We'll have Lily do it for all I care! The problem is that all of us have Abilities, we all already have some semblance of how to use our mana in respects to our already awakened Abilities – Admiral Adams doesn't! We need to test both cases!"
"Okay so why not some other unawakened?! I don't know if you've noticed, but there are a lot of them!"
Church narrowed his gaze, "Because the Admiral is already weary of all of us. It's better to reveal only what we want than to reveal nothing at all. We want him to think we're cooperating. The exchange of information should always be a give-and-take."
"It's bait?" Olive's eyes widened.
"No, it's not bait." Church shook his head, "We're not trying to trap him. We're trying to co-exist. That's the best way to get out of here. We can hate each other back on Earth."
Soon after, Admiral Adams finished directing the remaining groups and arrived next to Isaac once again. Deciding it would be best to allow Isaac to lead, as he has the most familiarity with the team, they set off on their journey beyond the black pyramid.
Throughout their exploration, they saw just how deadly the rainstorm had been. Fallen trees, mudslides the width of cities, and even new rivers appeared overnight.
Of course, the group didn't expect the new rivers to flow forever, in fact they would probably dry out in a couple days, but still – the sheer volume of water released upon them was insurmountable.
On a few occasions the group ran into small clusters of Goblins, but they always found them already battered and bruised and in smaller groups than normal – wildly displaced by the heavy rains. During those skirmishes, Isaac and Olive handled everything.
It was rather disappointing, actually, as Olive was looking forward to what Church could do as well. From the mist that encapsulates a space of its own to an illusion petrifying enough to make a large group of men subservient – surely Church must be capable of decimating his foes.
But alas, Church didn't participate in battle. Neither did Lily or Admiral Adams for that matter. As mentioned prior, the existing Goblins were left drained of energy and heavily wounded from the night prior.
Disoriented and lethargic, Isaac and Olive danced around them as if they were children.
Isaac himself didn't even need to use his fancy energy slash since the Goblins were too meek and vulnerable to begin with. The only Ability that was open for showcase so far was Lily's who insisted on providing satiating and stamina replenishing flower goblets of nourishment.
At some point in their exploration, however, Olive caught wind of a barely noticeable, see-through phantom moseying its way through the jungle.
The subtle white phantom appeared larger than before and moved rhythmically in the open space, cutting through the air like a fish in the sea.
"Hey guys!" Olive shouted, immediately alerting the rest of her cohort.
"What?!" Church responded on behalf of the group.
"I found a Lost Soul!"
"What? Where?!" Her cohort members began frantically scanning their surroundings, searching for the identity of this mysterious 'Lost Soul.'
Even the Admiral looked around in wonder.
Olive pointed her finger up above her head and aimed towards a dense section of the jungle stuffed with trees grown too close together.
"It's going that way!"
At the unexpected, and yet also sought upon encounter, Olive momentarily took charge of their cohort and began to lead the others through the heavy thicket.
Running around trees, climbing above fallen branches, and eventually circling a section of the jungle so thick that the trunks themselves have met and walled off an entrance of any sort; the group advanced.
After a long inspection of the trees, Lily luckily managed to find a small tunnel between the jungle tree's trunks, one large enough for all of them to fit through.
In the meantime, during this drawn out search, Olive made sure to be polite enough to inform Admiral Adams of the details that remained unknown to him – with their preset filter, of course.
And as they pushed through the compact tunnel formed between the trunks and arrived on the other side, they found yet another unexpected encounter.
Laid bare before them, with no sight of a continuing jungle beyond, existed a giant hole that tore into the ground deep enough for only darkness to be seen when looking.
Around them, Olive could see nothing more than the trunks of the tree's as each and every one of them made contact with another, perfectly encircling this massive hole and trapping it within. Standing over the edge of the great hole, Olive watched as the phantom's silhouette disappeared into the darkness below.
"Tsk!" Olive clicked her tongue in irritation.
Noticing it from the side, Church spoke up. "You're kidding right? It went DOWN THERE?!"
Before Olive could respond, however, a booming laughter erupted from behind them.
"HAHAHAHA! How fortuitous!" Admiral Adams' voice echoed within the enclosure of trees.
"You don't seriously want to go down there, do you?!" Isaac fired back in response.
"And why wouldn't I?!" Admiral Adams retorted, "Do not mistake this for a tragedy! It is a privilege to be first! Now we control the fate of this place! It would be a disservice to leave it unexplored!"
"It could be some type of nest though. We could be delivering ourselves on a silver platter." Church added from the side.
"Hasn't it already been proven that the distance from the dojo correlates with the threat of our adversaries? You three should understand that best, no?! We are nowhere near as far as you three probably traveled! Surely veterans such as yourselves could conquer whatever monstrosities may exist down there!"
Suddenly, the group of four found themselves simultaneously looking around at each other's eyes. There was a clear indignation found in Isaac's eyes – obviously upset at the prospect of being the Admirals' hunting dogs.
Even Church looked annoyed. The young man was probably running through variables in his head, finding a thousand reasons not to go, but he knew the Admiral's personality the best – he was an 'I need an answer now' type of man.
Surprisingly, at some point in time, all of the people present found themselves looking straight at Olive. She was the one who technically found the place and it was due to her unique constitution that allowed her to perceive the Lost Souls. The unspoken responsibility was miraculously dumped onto her shoulders.
Which then changed the question into "Is activating the Transfer Circle and sending the Lost Soul to Cain worth the risks of entering the giant hole?"
Upon looking back, although unclear of the voice itself, Olive was extremely clear on the message the voice conveyed to her.
"More. . ."
"Alright then," She sighed, "let's go."
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
TheLostBoy
TheLostBoy if anyone wants to leave a comment I will reply….. just an fyi…..SEE YOU MONDAY
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone