436 Chapter 436: Yao Cai Mountains

"All right, people! Stay sharp! We'll be approaching the Yao Cai Mountains in 5 minutes! Lock and load, ladies and gentlemen!"

Brent was barking out orders to the mercenaries secured under safety hatches inside the transport bay of the hovercraft. Soldiers snapped magazines into their rifles, cocked them and then checked to ensure that their rounds were fully loaded. Other warriors double-checked their weapons, to ensure their Divine Devices were in good, working condition. The last thing a soldier wanted was for his weapon to lock up or fail him in the middle of a life-and-death battle.

"Who's the biggest badass in the galaxy?" Redfield yelled.

"The Marine Corps!" the mercenaries roared back. I did a double take at that. What the fuck? Were the Silver Wolves pretending to be Marines?

"That's right! We are the biggest, toughest and most badass soldiers in the universe!"

"Oo-rah!"

"Semper fi!"

"Um…aren't you guys mercenaries and not marines?" I ventured uncertainly, wondering if they were going to tear me a new one for raining on their parade. As I expected, everyone swiveled in their harnesses to stare at me.

"For the Emperor!" one of them shouted.

"Your faith is lacking, kid," another one added. "Humanity will claim our rightful place in the stars. We shall stamp out all xenos and heretics. The Emperor's will manifests in us, and we shall execute his Great Crusade once more!"

"Are we even in the right story anymore?" I asked, feeling a headache building up in my temples. Fortunately, I didn't have to listen to their answer to that question because the pilot chose that moment to holler a warning.

"Contact!"

"What is it?" Brent demanded, unstrapping his harness and proceeding to the cockpit. The pilot glanced back at him, flustered.

"Uh…looks like a flock of Demonic Drakes. Approaching from our two o'clock at high speed. They will be upon us in sixty-four seconds!"

"Evasive maneuvers!" Feng Hai ordered from his seat, which was right at the front. He was consulting a holographic data slate…I mean data pad. "Gunners, blow those flying turkeys out of the skies. The rest of you, brace for impact!"

"Roger that." Brent turned back to the rest of us and returned to his seat, strapping his harness over himself once more. "You heard the flyboy and the boss. Strap yourselves in, we're in for one hell of a ride."

This ain't good…

I felt a sudden jerk as the hovercraft jinked, presumably to avoid incoming fire. The Demonic Drakes' jaws yawned and torrents of unearthly fire rolled out, bathing the gunship in destructive energies. The enchanted hull shimmered, but held strong, its defensive wards repelling the flames. The gunners swiveled the turrets around and unleashed a hail of plasma bolts in the Demonic Drakes' direction, the superheated projectiles charged by their wielders' mana.

Inhuman screeches filled the air as the Demonic Drakes banked and swerved to evade, but a few of them were caught in the rapid hail of deadly bolts, their wings and body torn apart by the azure projectiles. Several simply combusted, their bodies reduced to ash from the sheer heat of plasma. Others spiraled downward in a deadly crash, meeting their end on the earth below.

Shrieking in dismay, the Demonic Drakes broke off and dispersed, scattering in different directions. The gunners continued to send hails of plasma bolts after them, and the hovercraft seemed to shift slightly underneath us, only for Feng Hai to issue a new instruction.

"Don't pursue. Our objective is not extermination. We're not here to clear the Yao Cai Mountains of its indigenous life. Leave them be, and find a spot in the mountains to settle down."

"Roger that, sir."

The pilot obeyed, and the gunship swerved away from the fleeing Demonic Drakes. The vibrations appeared to grow, and I shut my eyes, waiting for us to land. I hated leaving my fate in the hands of others. Even though I knew it was necessary, and that there was no way I would have the mana or stamina to fly all the way here on my Constellation spirits, it was just an instinctive thing.

I could tell that the mercenaries felt the same too. They were all either fidgeting anxiously or resorting to some tic that helped alleviate their nervousness. Some glanced around incessantly, others shut their eyes, and others calmed their breathing through meditative exercises or mental conditioning. We didn't know when we would come under attack again.

"There's a clearing by the foot of the closest mountain, designated A," the pilot reported from the front. "An open valley that's currently free of monsters. Permission to land there?"

Feng Hai nodded, masking his own tension with practiced ease. "Sounds good. Set us down in the clearing, and we'll take it over from there."

"We'll continue to circle around for as long as our fuel can last us, to offer fire support."

"Much appreciated." Feng Hai nodded in approval. He had chosen his men well, and none of them had let him down. Even Anastasia had impressed him with prior performances, and had saved the group a few times with her knowledge of poison.

"We leave no man behind." That was Feng Hai's motto, and the rallying cry behind the Silver Wolves. It also explained why they were so loyal to each other. They knew the whole group would sacrifice everything, even if it was to save just one person, and thus they were more than willing to sacrifice themselves for others.

"Stupid."

"Only idiots sacrifice themselves for other people."

"I'm sick of reading about 'nice' and 'good' characters. I want ruthless MCs!"

Feng Hai raised an eyebrow when he saw the rift tear open between our dimension and the fourth wall, and he sent a few wind blades through to decapitate the edgelord readers who were leaving juvenile comments on the right. As their headless corpses toppled over, his lips curled into a sneer.

"That ruthless enough for you, assholes?"

"Uh, boss?"

Everyone was staring at him, and he waved their attention away dismissively. Raising his data pad, he showed us the valley that the pilot had chosen for the landing.

"You guys know what to do. Spread out, secure the landing area, and then make sure there aren't any nasty surprises lurking around. Then the scouts will range ahead and get a rough idea of the lay of the land. Even Teacher Cure doesn't know this Ling Dan's precise location, so we'll have to find him the hard way."

He then glanced at me.

"Richard, you can summon your smaller Soul Beasts and send them ahead for reconnaissance as well. I remember you have a specific type of beast for that, right?"

"That's right," I confirmed.

There was a jerk as the gunship slowed down and gradually descended onto the ground, its thrusters growling in protest as they defied gravity one last time. Then a thump, and the ramp creaked as it lowered.

"We're down," the pilot said from the cockpit.

"All right, people! Let's move!"

With a command from Brent, everyone threw off their harnesses and jogged down. First squad, which was clsoest to the ramp, was the first ones out, already taking positions at the bottom of the still scorching hot hovercraft and using its clamps and mechanical contusions as cover. Those armed with guns leveled their rifles at the horizon, sweeping through the area with sensory magic and other equipment to ensure that we were alone.

Under the cover of their firing arcs, second and third squads spread out even further, securing the area and scanning for any sign of monsters. I followed fourth squad to the newly established perimeter and knelt down, the motion detector, infrared tracker and array of sophisticated sensors displaying their readings on the lenses of my glasses.

For now, there was nothing. We were alone, except for the flora. A myriad of plants grew across the valley, their long verdant stalks fluttering in the wind, and their green leaves rustling. Many of them sported exotic flowers and bore esoteric fruits, no doubt medicinal herbs or whatever. That would be useful to an aspiring alchemist or receptarier, but I wasn't one. And don't ask me to be one either, you're in the wrong story if you're expecting me to suddenly turn into an alchemist or miracle doctor. Jesus, the amount of readers demanding that I summon a healing spirit when that was just not possible was insane. If I didn't, that meant I couldn't, stop stop bugging me about it.

"…"

The longer it went without anything actually happening, the tenser we became. We moved squad by squad, spreading out and widening the perimeter in the valley. Once we were far enough, the hovercraft took off and circled in the air, its turrets tracking the tall grass, as if waiting for something to burst out of the foliage.

"Scouts! Scout ahead!" Feng Hai ordered, and then he turned to me. I immediately remembered that he wanted me to summon Corvus and send them ahead for reconnaissance. I was only too happy to oblige.

A flock of crows materialized above me (within a hundred meters, obviously), and then took off, flying far ahead. I could see through their eyes and hear through their ears, but that wasn't of much help, not in the dense foliage. Several of my Corvus ascended, inclining sharply upward as they streaked toward the mountains. I was hoping they would spot something – anything. Anything that resembled traces of someone living in the mountains, like a hut, a fire, or something.

For now, I saw nothing. That was fine. The mountain range was vast and wide. It was possible that I missed something, even with Corvus's sharp eyes and enhanced senses. It was also possible that this Ling Dan wanted to conceal himself and ensure that he wouldn't be found unless he wanted to.

If that was the case, we would have to look for him the hard way. The alternative was that…he wasn't here at all, and that Mary Cure's information was outdated. Or that he was already dead, having passed away all alone on this mountain range.

No. I couldn't think such dreadful, pessimistic thoughts. I had to believe. Focus on the present. As long as there was still that possibility, I was going to fight for it. I wasn't naïve, though. I knew there was the possibility that Ling Dao wasn't here, or that he was already dead without anyone knowing about it. But even if that was the case, there was nothing I could do. I would just have to deal with that fact when it happened, but until I confirmed it, I was going to continue clinging onto that hope.

So much for assume the worst and hope for the best, huh?

"Nothing on radar, sir."

"Nothing here either."

"It's empty. No signs of monster life."

"Roger that." Feng Hai was keeping track of the multiple reports that his sergeants were making, his eyes occasionally flickering to the data pad in his hands. "But keep your eyes peeled. Don't let your guard down. We all know how sneaky these monster bastards can get."

"Aye, sir!"

The soldiers continued combing through the valley, their weapons outstretched and their senses pulled wide. I followed behind, my eyes half-shut because I was looking through the various pairs of eyes of my many Corvus. It was like trying to watch a few dozen television screens all at once. My brain just couldn't process the tremendous amount of information and keep track of every little thing. Even so, I did my best, without any complaints.

This concerned the life of a person important to me. I wasn't going to make any excuses and slack off.

"!!!"

So absorbed was I on trying to look for any signs of Ling Dan that I almost missed the first clues of danger. One of my Corvus was sweeping past a particularly dense patch of foliage when I thought I saw something move. Pulling myself away from the other Corvus, half-distractedly, I directed him back to sweep the area and he caught sight of the tall grass rustling.

That was a sign that a wild Pokemon…ahem, I mean monster lurked within. Not only that, the sharp eyes of that specific Corvus caught sight of a long, bulky shadow crawling over the insides of the foliage.

Something heavy was moving through the tall grass, and it was moving in our direction.

No…not just "something". Many things. I could see a wide swathe of tall grass wavering as something pass through them. And it was certainly not the wind.

"Guys," I spoke up uncertainly. "I think we have company."