Chương 29: Dakkon [1]

Luna was heavily breathing, her gasping breath causing her slender frame to tremble. She had never used the fire gene energy she had gotten so extensively, and the first thing she recognized was her own rage. She was furious. She hadn't been scared when she was captured, she had been angry that this Shu had fooled her using Glamour of all things and had made her seem like a liability to Liam.

When she burned his body to a crisp, she only felt that it was a pity she couldn't do it again. It was so completely against her character to feel this level of animosity toward even an enemy, yet she was utterly disgusted and consumed with rage.

Just as she was looking for another outlet for her rage, she felt a gentle palm on top of her head. "You did great there. I mean, I don't know why you've been so distracted, but it's good to see you have some killer instinct at least."

Luna turned around and saw a gentle smile on Liam's face. He looked…comforting. 'He isn't angry I messed up and got snatched?'

Luna opened her mouth but found the self-recriminating words wouldn't come forth. She felt as if her pride was already in tatters enough, how could she bear to shred her own dignity any further? She finally spoke and said, as if she was completely indifferent to having her life threatened, "Did you notice his cores? He should have had two but…"

Liam nodded. He had been watching Sebastian with his full visual spectrum and noticed that when Sebastian died, his cores crumbled to dust. Strangely, the energy seemed to move South East as if it were a stream flowing into a river naturally.

"It almost seemed as if his core was part of another larger organism. So when the expendable appendage broke down, the organism re-gathered the gene energy it had given him. It's really strange."

Liam casually mentioned the first thing that came to his head, but when he saw Luna's eyes darken, he thought that maybe he had been right. As he thought Luna started verbally processing the events they had come across.

"The Shu are known for being cowardly and tricky fighters, more apt to run from a fight than to stand and trade blows to the death. They came to this village and overwhelmed it with superior numbers, throwing their lives away with reckless abandon. There also hasn't been any cores in the bodies we have discovered. It might be…the Swarm has left hibernation."

"The Swarm?" Liam noticed how the emphasis was on the Swarm as if it was an individual rather than some group.

"Yes, the Swarm is a very powerful Shu warrior that has been rumored to exist for over five hundred years. He or she is able to forcibly control other Shu warriors, and has a voracious appetite."

"When the Swarm is on the move it gathers all the Shu for thousands of miles around and goes on a rampage like locusts. They look for cores and consume them like a desert would rain water. But, the energy all ends up going to the Swarm."

"When the Swarm becomes satiated, it returns to its lair and focuses on consuming and processing the new genetic energy it has consumed. It is usually dormant for decades, giving time for the other races to forget the carnage and repopulate areas."

" Frankly, it should have already awoken in the past ten years. It seems its own harvest is becoming larger and larger, taking it longer and longer to consume. I can't imagine how powerful it is right now."

Liam frowned. This not only seemed dangerous, but it felt suspicious that such a being that had a known schedule as it did would take such a break. What did it mean?

"If that is the case, why would that Shanmao warrior have lived, his core intact?" Liam suddenly uttered.

<That, sounds like the question of the hour now doesn't it? Any takers on him being a filthy disgusting pervert rat like that Sebastian was? Man that guy Sebastian was such a creep. He was the absolute worst! It was kind of funny though, especially watching him stick his face in between Lu-mhmmfmahfm!> A small hand covered the mouth on the miniature Noona's face.

Luna had acted quickly, and it was only now that she realized she had one hand on Liam's wrist and the other on Noona's mouth. She quickly pulled her hand back and spoke sternly as if hoping to hide her faint blush "That's enough nonsense about that…thing. We need to go talk to the Shanmao. What do you think Liam?"

Liam calmly assented and spoke leisurely, "I'm sure he is no Shu, I scanned his body very carefully trying to prevent any deviations. Considering the hundreds of lacerations, his fractured cervical vertebrae, his radial breaks in both his Humerus, his perforated liver and gall bladder…"

Liam was about to continue with a full fledged run down of the horrors that had been done to the Shanmao warrior, but half the words didn't make sense to Luna and Noona already knew this information, so she interrupted.

Luna brushed the charred carbon dust off her dress briskly, and did a prim little shuffle of her feet, casually kicking dirt behind her toward the remains of Sebastian. She turned and followed beside Liam this time, without realizing that her twin tails were swishing back and forth in a self-satisfied manner.

Liam approached the hut they had been at previously, then gently opened the wicker door. It seemed quite comedic considering that the side wall of the hut was completely shattered by him previously, but he didn't wish to disturb the patient.

Liam came in and got a good look at the Shanmao man. He was tall, nearly as tall as Liam, but with a rather short tail that barely could be considered a tail. It was more like a small fan brush used for clearing a stove top of debris.

The man was covered in pelts that Liam had applied coarsely in order to stem bleeding, he hadn't had any proper gauze or tourniquets to prevent the man's life from spilling out of him one drop at a time. Fortunately, thanks to the incredible gene energy that seemed to have distilled from the dark matter cores of the Turrets and run into Liam's water bottles, the man's wounds were visibly healing.

As his scarred flesh slowly knit itself back together, his slow rumbling breathing was powerful and steady. Liam already felt confident his patient would recover. Liam noticed that the visible fur on his body was smokey gray, almost a blue color.

'Noona, heart rate.'

< 140 beats per minute, with a respiration rate of 20 breaths per minute. Based on his physiology, it is possible that this elevated heart rate is natural for his species. I am seeing a consistent cardiogram with my sensors and his heart valves seem to be functioning normally.>

< I can also detect his core. It seems to be located in his abdominal region, just north of his bellybutton. I imagine it would be expectorated upon death. Much like the Ipili.>

'Ok. He'll stabilize tonight. Hopefully he awakens in the morning.' Liam spoke with confidence hearing Noona's diagnosis and proceeded to set up camp right outside the large hole in the…house. He continued to start a fire and started roasting some strange purple plant stalks. Luna sat down across from him and sighed "Vile Plume root again? I'm so sick of eating that bitter plant." Liam and Luna had been consuming the roots of the Vile Plume for weeks now. They were plentiful and nutritious according to Noona. Before Liam could respond, Noona stepped in sharply.

Luna glared fiercely at Noona and snatched a stalk off of the roast, preparing to eat again in frustrated silence. Just as she was about to take a bite, she heard a seemingly casual offhanded remark.

Luna froze, her face blushing.

Liam ignored the two, though he did notice that Luna seemed to be eating with newfound enthusiasm.

bình luận bình luận của 0

Bình chọn

Load failed, please RETRY

Tình trạng nguồn điện hàng tuần

-- Xếp hạng Quyền lực

-- Đá Quyền lực

Bình chọn