Chapter 46: Anima Swarm
"What about that Mark boy? Are we going in without him? I thought you made him join so he can help us out in the underground tunnels?"
Meta was the one who asked this question with a frown on his face as his eyes caught a glimpse of Mark's helicopter coming from a distance! Meta didn't know why Mark refused to join them in using the military helicopter, but Meta could already tell that the S ranks were on bad terms with Mark. He didn't like people who didn't understand how important it was to work on a team!
Meta thought that Mark was only acting this way because he defeated a Calamity Class, and he would eventually calm down again when he sees how dangerous this world really is.
Even though Meta could see the helicopter easily, that was only because of his superior senses as a Superhuman. The helicopter was still very far away, and it would take about two minutes for it to get to the island!
James could also see the helicopter, and he thought about what Meta said. James knew that Mark was only here to get Arit, and if James asked him to join them, then Mark could be impatient, and he would charge into the tunnels without thinking because Arit might be in there. James would rather deal with this with only the people that he has here!
He was already going to do this mission with only these people after all, and Mark was just a last-minute addition that didn't make much of a difference! It would be fine if they went alone!
"We are going in alone. Mark can join Fiona and Tyler when he gets here and help them to cut down the number of Anima attacking! There won't be much of a difference since we were already planning to do this without him."
James said this, and he started making his way toward the forest and the hole that the research team pointed out on the map for him! James was confident in his strength and the strength of Meta, who was an S rank! He was sure that they would be able to handle anything they saw down there on their own!
James had no idea that they were walking into hell itself! They thought that they could go down there to kill any Anima they saw before it could come out! But the Anima down there were already waiting for them, and this would not go as they planned at all! The Anima were now acting in teams and they had a leader just like the humans which allowed them to make complex plans!
The superhumans thought that most of the Anima came out from the tunnels to attack them, but they would be caught unawares once they enter the tunnel and see that the most powerful Anima was waiting for them!
...
Mark looked out from the side of the helicopter and he hummed and narrowed his eyes as he saw a large mass of Anima migrating towards a certain point on the island. There must be about fifty of them down there! There were so many!
Mark has only seen this many anima once before, and that was when he was fighting against the Armageddon! There were hundreds of low-level Anima helping the Armageddon, and Mark had to also fight them off before he could get to the Armageddon! That was the only time when Anima worked together, and Mark knew that they were only following the Armageddon because of how strong it was.
Mark shook his head and decided that it wasn't important to think about the number. From what Mark learned from the research team, they said that there were some tunnels underground that they used as their hiding place and nest. Mark was sure that they would take Arit into their nest, so Mark only needed to find those tunnels so that he could find where they took Arit!
Mark could have gone to help the other superhumans who were struggling against the monsters, but Mark didn't have the time for that. Mark was only going to find Arit, and he would get her to safety as quickly as possible! When he sends her away, then he could turn around and help the other superhumans if they needed it.
Back on the island, Fiona could tell that there was something that changed in the Anima as she used more and more of her blessing to draw them in! Tyler was still carrying her, and they were making their way towards the hill where they planned to fight, but the Anima that she was pulling towards them were no longer following her mindlessly!
The Anima started to break out from her control slowly, and Fiona didn't know what was causing it! Fiona felt that some of them were still following her, but there were many others who were no longer following her, and they were turning around!
This was bad! Many superhumans behind her weren't strong enough to deal with the monsters! If the monsters attacked them without warning, then the number of casualties would be insane! The superhumans were all depending on the fact that Fiona could draw in all the monsters, so none of them would expect to suddenly see monsters attacking them!
Fiona realized that she would have to just start the fight here before the monsters managed to attack the other superhumans! She shouted to Tyler that he needed to drop her and help the other superhumans, and Tyler didn't waste any time as he immediately threw Fiona forward and turned around!
A massive swirling inferno appeared around Tyler as he prepared his blessing, and he turned to Archer who was sitting in a tree far away and waiting for Tylor's signal to begin the fight! Tylor nodded to Archer, and Archer cocked his bow and created a mana arrow before sending it at the monsters!
Woosh!!
Archer's arrows were special because they weren't meant for just piercing the enemy. Archer could place one of three different properties into each of his bows. He could either make his bow explode or he could make his bow extremely heavy to pierce through strong armor. He could also create a whirlwind around his bow to create a distraction or disorient the enemy.
These three properties were enough for Archer to deal with any Anima that he meets. Archer had killed hundreds of Anima before, and he was sure that this mission would be just as easy as the others.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Archer sent ten arrows in quick succession and destroyed five Disaster Class Anima that were heading toward Tylor with explosive arrows! He watched as Tylor charged straight for the Anima and slammed through their ranks!
Tylor created a column of fire that incinerated an Anima before he used that same fire to cut down a tree and allowed it to crush another Anima on the ground! Tyler left the Anima, and Archer cocked his bow back and killed the crushed Anima with a simple arrow to the head!
Squelch!
Archer breathed out a sigh of relief and he prepared another arrow.
"You are too much trouble to be left alive. I will deal with you first."
"!"