Bab 45: The three Naga
The sound of a large spinning blade imbued with mana cut across the sky. Three Black Hawk were supplied by the United States government for today missions. They are several elite mana users who are joining the 'infiltration' so it's no wonder that the United States would provide a bit of their help.
"Tools of the earth is fascinating"
Balara, one of the A-rank mana user from the kingdom of Varhem is one of the ten personal knights of Prince Ray Varhem. Although he wasn't the best of the ten, he boasts the strength within the upper league of A-rank users. To be selected as a personal knight of a person who may be the ruler of a kingdom is no simple matter. Today is his first time riding a helicopter.
A man covered with silvery-white clad of armour replied Balara. He is one of his best men.
"Indeed Sir Balara. The knowledge of the earthen is marvellous. They could fly and even step outside of the world without mana. Unfortunately..."
The man stared at the so-called earthens who was sitting at the passenger bench and snorted.
"Without mana, they could only dream to reach the sky"
"Maybe we could convince his highness to bring some of these tools back or..."
Balara looked directly toward the pilot with a sinister grin. The pilot almost broke from focus and caused the helicopter to crash but he resisted it well. Good thing he was a mana user himself. Even so, a C-rank like himself couldn't go against an elite A-rank mana sense. In fact, every other mana user who was a B-rank almost fainted from that single glance. If all of them here was there to fight Balara no one could ever hope to survive.
Except for one person, Kanta, the representative from Canada. He is actually an A-rank mana user originated from the Lipan Kingdom. He only sat down in his place calmly without bothering with the commotion. His mission was only as an observer. In fact, he won't even step in to fight unless it was necessary.
Balara looked toward Kanta and snorted.
"Hmph. At least there is another person here who's not a weakling"
The helicopters smoothly fly to Borneo without a hitch. Due to the combination of mana and earthen engineer, technology has become more impressive than ever. For example, this helicopter could fly without facing any air resistance. They could also fly without any gas or oil since the source of energy is mana stone. Just by imbuing one mana into the stone could generate enough energy to fly the helicopter.
The only downside is, the pilot must be a mana user with a large capacity of mana to supply enough energy for sustaining itself in air. Worst thing worst, any other mana user could lend their mana to add more fuel. However, the skill of a pilot is still required to fly the helicopter initially. So it doesn't matter what rank the pilot is. As long they have the skill they were an asset since most people from the other world couldn't fly any aircraft.
"Sir we have reached the entry point"
"Report on the command centre. How's the other two?"
"I receive a transmission from General Hassan. He said to embark in 60 seconds. 59...58...57"
"Good" Balara licked his lips. "I couldn't wait to slaughter those monsters. I could sense how powerful the mana emitting from this land"
While the transmitter continues to count, the other two team consists of mana user from Indonesia and the Philippines are also going to be lead by the personal knight of Prince Ray Varhem. Each one of them is at least as strong as or even stronger than Balara.
The count past the halfway mark. Besides the elite A-rankers, every other were trembling. Although they have experienced facing monsters for almost 5 years since the calamity, their mana sense couldn't stop being at an alarming state. The story of Borneo is almost like the folklore story that people told to scare away children from doing foolish things. Except that, the story of Borneo is real and approved by the majority.
There were several extraordinary events that occurred within 5 years. The tremor that shook the world. The sudden change of extreme weather which occur occasionally. The shining white light that could brighten the dark night sky. And of course, one of the most powerful species of monsters in the universe. The one that is powerful enough to be a ruler of an entire world. All of it happened within the land of Borneo.
One of the Malaysian whispered to his friend.
"I wonder what kind of a monster is a dragon. To be able to do all of that..."
"I heard that a dragon is a very viscous looking monster. One that could make you faint from being scared with a look. It has red eyes, sharp fangs and claws. The moment it opened its mouth to unleashed a roar, an entire city will be destroyed"
"Oh my god... I want to go home"
"And the light we saw yesterday... that was only the residue left when it unleashed its mana"
"Dragon must be a terrifying monster!"
----
"Ha-ha-ha-choo!"
"Are you getting a cold Master?"
"No... suddenly I felt an itch at my nose... hachoo!"
"I heard that only an idiot catch a cold"
"I said it was an itch! Hachoo!"
"It's okay Master. Momo still respect you as a Master"
"..."
----
10 seconds left before the infiltration. Everyone couldn't suppress their nervousness. The briefing that was given by General Hassan for the plan already included the death of at least half of them which was around 70%. It's no wonder they felt like shitting in their pants now. Even with all the rewards, most of them felt regret for coming here. That 70% may just be some attempt to boost their confidence even for a bit.
Balara was full excitement which caused some of his mana to leak.
"Remember that we are only here to gain intel sir"
"I know but that weak-ass general told us to kill anything that deemed to be a monster right?"
Balara's man chuckled. "Of course sir"
"Then show me what you got Borneo!"
The moment the counter reach zero, everyone within the vicinity turned silent. Even Balara had a serious expression plastered on his face.
Hassan who was at the command centre already gave the command to start but no one was moving. Hassan didn't get any response as well. He felt something was wrong and contacted them again.
"Alpha, Beta, Charlie, status. Over"
Again there was only silence.
"Status!"
"Alpha. Sir... I don't know how to report to you, sir. Over"
"What do you mean? Over"
"Beta. Same here sir. Over"
"Charlie. Here too sir. Over"
"Then what do you see? Over"
"Beta. Nothing...sir...over"
'Nothing? What do you mean by nothing?!' Hassan didn't quite understand the replied he get but somehow he felt something was terribly strange... somehow he had a bad premonition.
He checked the radar that could sense the mana of each mana users. It could also differentiate between human and monsters, where blue dots are human and red dots as monsters. There were only mana users... However, some kind of interruption occurred at three-points surrounding Borneo. All of it was approaching to where the three units were.
"Mana sense! Expand your mana sense now!"
"Alpha. We are sir. In fact, our mana sense just voluntarily expands itself..."
Having taught by Master Sylva himself, Hassan knew that when a person mana sense reflectively acts up, the danger up ahead would mean a life-threatening situation!
"All units fall back immediately...Alpha? Beta! Charlie?! Withdraw! Damn it!"
Hassan clenched his teeth and slams the transmitter in front of him. Unfortunately, Hassan was a bit too late in giving the command. They already lost connections. He could only hope the blue dots flickering in the screen would never disappear. As long they are still there, there is hope!
Now he could only entrust the knight of each unit to make the right decision. Each second past was like an hour to him as he waited for the blue dots to go back to their respective departing country. Still, there was no movement. Suddenly...
"Sir! Three monsters appear...and the mana..."
The size of the dots represents the mana capacity. The government could use the radar to assume the location of monsters and the rank of the monsters. Thus, they could send the appropriate numbers of mana users and rank to handle any emergency situation.
Today, the plan was only to gain intel and usually elite A-rank who considered to have a strength that was close to an S-rank and dozens of B-rank would suffice to protect a city from hordes of hundreds of High-rank monsters. Unless all hundreds of them are superior monsters... or... one of them is a mythical monster.
The red dots continue to grow larger and larger until the point that the blue dots of each unit were swollen inside.
"Sir! A high-rank mythical monster... no! 3 of them! All 3 of them are high-rank mythical monsters!"
Hassan could only imagine how it would be to be inside that helicopters.
-----
"We lost connection, Sir Balara. How should we proceed?"
According to the mana users guild, the person with the highest rank will take command as the captain of the team. At this moment, either Balara or Kanta should take responsibility. Kanta only remained silent. Balara didn't even give him a single glance and let out a grin.
"Prepare for combat. We going to smash this monster to a pulp for having the nerve to appear in front of me"
The door of the helicopter opened. Balara stood near the door while holding the rail.
"Show yourself, monster!"
The sea began to rumble violently. The air became heavy, making the mana users desperately trying to breathe. Even Balara was having a hard time. The pilot was not able to maintain himself anymore and lose his grip from the handle, causing the helicopter to abruptly fall. Eventually, it stopped in the mid-air due to someone supplying his mana to a mana stone. He was Kanta.
"Balara, we need to withdraw. That monster is way above you. Even with all of us combined our power would mean nothing. Issue the order now"
Balara is a brute but he is not a fool. Pure strength is not the only criteria to become a personal knight of a prince. As much as he hated it, he truly understands well how strong this monster is.
Regrettably, he finally issued an order.
"Withdraw"
That time, a black spot appeared on the sea as something was fast approaching the surface. Eventually, this black spot grew larger and larger until it was as large as half of the football field. Balara pupils grew larger as he saw how big this monster was. Even though he could feel like he won't win, his heart was pumping with excitement to face it head-on.
Other mana users were stunned. They have never seen anything as humongous as what is lurking under the sea. Even after 5 years of relentless fighting monsters, the scene that lay upon them was hard to fathom.
The sea started to bulge upward and dispersed to show a sea-serpent monster as big as the black spot. It continued to raise up until it reached the altitude of the flying helicopters. Everyone was shocked to see the appearance of the monster, especially the local mana users.
"Naga! Naga Putih!"
"Naga Hitam!"
"Bakunawa! It's Bakunawa. Run! Run!!!"
The Filipinos, Malaysian and Indonesian, all have different cultures and folk story, but they all could recognize the three sea serpent monsters with different names. Some say it is a protector of the sea, some say it is the bringer of destruction or even the ruler of the sea. These three are naga, the mythical sea monsters of south-east Asia.
They surrounded the island as if they were protecting Borneo. Naga Putih was standing near the Peninsular Malaysia, Bakunawa near the Philippines and Naga Hitam near Indonesia. All three of them unleashed a vast amount of mana that would force people to kneel in fear.
Seeing how strong these monsters were, all three of the Black Hawks flew away in max speed.
Naga Putih unleashed a terrifying mighty roar towards Belara's team of Malaysians. As if it was telling them to stay away or they will die. Feeling that he was looked down, Balara held his hands up and an axe appeared out of nowhere.
Noticed a fluctuation in mana, Kanta shouted at an alarming tone.
"What are you doing?! Do you want to die?"
Balara snorted and ignored the warning. He imbued the axe with full power enhancement. Just before he's going to throw the axe, a blue stream of light pass through and a hand plop on the floor. Then blood spurted from his mouth and body.
"Damn... you..."
The upper part of his body slide down to the floor, and the bottom half fell into the sea.
Other mana users were also sliced into pieces. Kanta was the only one who managed to survive but he was in serious injury. Even though the helicopter itself has already been sliced apart his left hand was still on the handle not wanting to let go. He could only laugh at his own helplessness.
Again Naga Putih roared and another blue light stream toward him. This time instead of making a shield he focused on enhancing his observation.
"So that was it..."
A blue jet stream of water that moved at remarkable speed. The water shoots through his chest and sliced his body into pieces. The three units have perished.
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
mimikbarasan
mimikbarasan Hello readers! I decided not to name my chapters anymore as it seems to be some kind of a spoiler. It will be less of a burden to me as well. Anyway, have a wonderful day.
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