章 21: Arrow versus Bullet (2)
The magnificent spear glinted in the morning sun as it bore down toward Chege. One thing Chege had come to appreciate about Kassam was that he was rightfully at the top. His spearman skills were rare and over the top.
Like a tarp, the spear curved through the air towards the swirling vortex of dust and wind. Chege used everything he had to summon his wind. By this time, the winds were blowing gales all around him, and still, he demanded more of himself.
The spear didn't stand a chance. Beautiful as the throw was, it paled in comparison to the power in the wind. It's momentum merged with the wind's power and it spun with it. Surprisingly, the wind not only accelerated the spear but also acted as a guiding system.
The spear wasn't directed towards Kassam, who felt relieved. It flew on towards the forest, in the direction they had come from. The wind soon died down, and Chege came out sweating. He sat down and sighed both with relief and success. He'd done it.
The spell had taken a lot from him, and Kassam could see him wheeze. When he saw that, he started going to the forest to retrieve the spear, but Chege stopped him.
"You go," Chege said, as he signed off to Dr. Hanni.
Everyone was dumbfounded by his choice, but as the leader, no one questioned him. The little human felt like a dog being told to play fetch, and he walked to the forest with a gruff. There was not a single thought of escape that crossed his mind. These were powerful people, bearing powerful weapons. Not to mention Chege, his power had proven unfathomable.
Carzola had kept his approach subtle and hidden. He was sure no one had sensed him. Despite the mods, he too was an expert hunter assassin. He knew how to keep himself invisible. No one could see him if he didn't want them to, or so he thought.
Perched on a tree watching Chege practice his craft, he was impressed by the power and the magnificence of the magic. As a well-traveled merc in the galaxy, he had had several encounters with mages. He recognized the power behind the wind. He had seen some variant of that spell as it was fairly common even in the galaxies but rarely was it that strong.
As he was cozy on the tree, he saw the spear spinning his way. The speeds were dizzying, and if it wasn't for the fact that Carzola was an experienced fighter with instant reactions, he'd have been skewered, pinned to the tree.
It was a hard fall, and he took his time to get up. He crawled to a tree and leaned on it, with a chuckle. He didn't understand when he had been discovered, but now he was sure he was made. Having witnessed Chege's power, he knew he was in for a hard fight, and he was getting ready.
After a brief moment, he heard grass rustling. He waited to see who would come to make sure he was down, and he wasn't in for a long wait. To his shock, it was one of his own, a human, one of the hostages.
"Who are you?" Though Chege was able to detect Carzola, it didn't mean Carzola's skills were lacking, just that Chege was that good. He had intentionally allowed the human to discover him, and Dr. Hanni was positively shocked.
"You're Dr. Hanni, one of the doctors that were abducted by the shepherds." After the dust had settled, everyone had been accounted for apart from the 2, who were deemed MIA, presumed dead. As a diligent mercenary, of course, Carzola had read the files on both of them, but he didn't expect to stumble on them at all, much less so soon.
"You here looking for us?" Dr. Hanni was shocked to see the human but he knew, rather, hoped that a rescue operation was underway. Despite that, he knew they, himself and Dr. Weere, were not that important, easily replaceable.
"You're part of the mission," That was not a lie, "Why are you here?"
Dr. Hanni proceeded to explain how he had been told to pick the spear and the overall duration of his stay. Carzola found himself wondering why Chege would choose to send the human out to pick the spear if he knew of his presence. Was this a test?
Chege and his companions remained in the clearing. At this time, Chege was fiddling with his trusty bow, knowing he was playing a dangerous gambit. Despite what Carzola believed, Chege still couldn't sense that far, and his powers of concealment were above par. However, he could feel the gaze of a dangerous predator bearing down on him.
All this while, he was convinced that it was the humans following them, but he could sense a higher threat level this time. He wondered if the humans were finally getting serious, sending the elites to play.
After walking so far away from the camp, the threat did not dissipate, it intensified. Chege could only assume that they were following him because of the human with him, which made him re-evaluate his opinion of the 2 humans he had under him.
All this was just speculation, for all he knew there could have been nothing but his imagination. Alternatively, it could have been a ferocious monster tracking them to enjoy an early morning snack. Chege guessed his thoughts were right, but then again, the pet was expendable.
To everyone's surprise, a human who was not Dr. Hanni came out of the forest. Behind him, the doctor followed, with the spear aimed at the human in the lead. It was clear the human was Dr. Hanni's hostage.
Chege wondered why the human chose to surrender. The moment he saw the human, his instincts told him that this was the dangerous threat he'd been avoiding, and he didn't need to check the forest for confirmation. Why had it decided to show itself?
Carzola walked with his hands raised towards those he had been tracking. His first thought had been to run, but he was unsure when he had been made. Moreover, he had witnessed the power of the giant, he knew it would be a difficult fight.
Something else that convinced him to follow the human was the tales he was told. The treatment of humans was pretty decent. They got their meals on time, were not brutalized in any way. All that this sounded to Carzola was a proper way to collect intel on his enemy.
Unlike many blockhead fighters, Carzola loved to investigate mysteries in the universe, and this was one that intrigued him. There was a heated argument back in the base concerning the sentience and self-awareness of the creatures. Many argued that they were just beasts with a personality, much like a cat, but many thought otherwise.
The creatures could communicate, coordinate and even plan an assault and a subsequent retreat, what more was needed to prove their self-awareness. Some scientists even announced that it was hubris to continue thinking these creatures as less than. Their society may have been primitive, but they were a budding civilization, attacking them was by all accounts prohibited in the galaxies.
This was one of the reasons why the Tlas family went to great lengths to prove that these creatures were not self-aware. The galactic civilizations protected self-aware civilizations from interference, and should it be proven that the shepherds were self-aware, the Tlas family would have committed a grave crime.
Of course, Dr. Hanni was privy to this fact, so he and many others kept these observations to themselves, not wanting to become a target of the Tlas family. They did their part and moved on.
Carzola was puzzled even more. Currently, the Tlas family was mining several kinds of ores from the planet, many to be used in industries. However, most of these ores were not uncommon or unduly valuable enough to cause such a large family to risk so much. Moreover, there was only one base that he knew of. That and the fact that the crown prince himself had shown up to check on the planet made him wonder.
Unlike many who saw the crown prince as just a bum, he knew different, having worked with the man on several missions. The prince liked him because he could keep a secret, but even more due to his ability to see a task through, no matter its level of difficulty. However, he wasn't family, so no matter how trusted he was, there was some info he just couldn't get access to. Carzola felt that he had to investigate further. If there was a treasure to be had, why would he let the Tlas family enjoy it alone?
Chege eyed the recent arrival with trepidation. He was not sure what to think. This was not something he expected, and the hard fight did not come. He didn't know Carzola had watched him tank the main plasma cannons on the base. If they couldn't take him down, Carzola doubted his guns would. However, escaping from under his crutches was not impossible, once he had his intel.
"What is your weapon?" Chege asked. While the mayi could understand him through Oyoo, he had no suitable translator for the humans. He had noticed that human weapons fired energy beams, and while this had little effect on him, they were still very intriguing.
It took a while and some doing for the question to get through, even at one point he learned Carzola's name, but he finally had his hands on a gun. This one, however, looked different from the others. Its composition looked sturdier for one, and it gave off some energy Chege didn't understand. It didn't quite feel like mana, and it was not an element Chege or his elements recognized.
"Carzola. Gun. Fire." Chege said this in human language, mimicking what he had picked up. Carzola wasn't a stranger to all this as he had seen the routine with the others earlier. He knew what to do.
By now, the sun was high up, indicating noon had come and passed. Chege was on one side, and about 100 meters away from him was Carzola, hand on his weapon, ready to fire. The maglev bullets traveled at a speed of 900 meters per second, some even known to go up to 3600 feet per second. From the distance, Chege wouldn't even be able to see it come. The sound would come until after the fact, and the only real warning would be the gun muzzle, and no one could react fast enough to dodge.
The calm air all around flared up indicating Chege was casting his spell. Carzola held still and waited. The spell took time to build up, and Carzola had to wait for the signal. Despite that he held his breath, ready with the strike once the signal was given.
Wind speed was up to 100km/h, almost a typhoon around an individual. At this point, even Chege could feel a headache and pressure. Everyone had had to move several steps back to avoid the wind. At this point, Chege gave the signal.
A muzzle flashed. There was very little sound to be heard, and it was barely audible against the violent sounds of the wind blowing in front of them. Then something miraculous, and not in a good way, happened. Something no one expected.
Chege tumbled down. He, like everyone else, was shocked. The bullet had made it past his Windshield and sent him down. What's more, it had broken through all his defenses and he was now laying on the ground, with a nasty wound on his chest. The bullet hadn't gone very deep, but it still had penetrated. ,
Kassam and the other mayi were stunned. By now, they saw Chege as a deity, indestructible. Seeing him like that brought their whole narrative crashing down. Even he could be harmed?
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