"Monster!" The woman screamed. She backed away, scooting into the unconscious Biohumans, conjuring a shield to protect herself. "S-stay away from me!" Lee Seng had almost forgotten about his Fox ears. He sighed and turned his attention towards the exit. The woman continued to scream, making it hard to make out anything.
"I'm not going to hurt you." Lee Seng attempted to deescalate the situation. He threw his arms up and watched as the woman's barrier grew larger.
"You're not taking any of us!" The woman shouted. The barrier pushed Lee Seng away, giving the woman and the others enough protection from Lee Seng. "Go away!"
"I'm just trying to—" The barrier expanded, shoving Lee Seng off it. Lee Seng yelped, hastily drawing an air rune. Lee Seng pointed his feet downwards, slashing the rune. Air caught him and blasted upwards. The woman was in hysterics when she saw Lee Seng.
'It's like she didn't fully register I saved them from death.' Lee Seng thought.
"Get away!" The woman shouted. "Away!" Lee Seng sighed and backed towards the exit. He kept his hands up.
"My name's Lee Seng Chang. I'm here under Chan-Yeol's orders to rescue Cargo Crew 4." Lee Seng explained to the woman. The woman's eyes shook for a moment before steadying.
"L-Lee Seng Chang? T-the Creator's son?" The woman asked. Lee Seng nodded. She pushed herself up onto her knees and scanned him. "Y-you can't be… Y-you're a terrorist… A murderer… D-did you come back to finish the job?"
"What do you mean by that? I'm not a terrorist."
"Y-you didn't deny you aren't a murderer! You're here to murder us!" The woman pointed at Lee Seng. Lee Seng sighed. Everyone was trying to find ways to not trust him. He took a step forward and the barrier shifted into an octagon-shaped pattern. "S-stay away, murderer!"
"Murderer?" Lee Seng cocked his head. "Well, yeah, I'm a murderer. You've probably killed people too."
"T-that's not the same! Y-you killed people for your own en-enjoyment! S-stay away from us! I don't want to be saved by you!"
"You're a part of Cargo Crew 4." Lee Seng nodded. The woman froze. She had given Lee Seng information. He took another step forward, studying the octangular patterns. "I'm not here to debate whether or not I'm a murderer. We've all had to fight amongst ourselves for survival. It's no different with those D31 people. Biohumans were augmented by the juicers and taken over by their own fear. It's us or them."
"It's u-us and th-then you!" The woman pushed the barrier forward, forcing Lee Seng to make the hastier decision. A thin gold and silver line formed on the octagon-patterned barrier. The barrier instantly cracked, breaking the barrier. The woman dropped to her butt, scrambling backwards into an unconscious team member.
'How could he easily break that?' The woman asked herself. 'I shifted the patterns so it wouldn't be easily broken. He broke it with a single strike! If he broke it like that… T-that means he's stronger than he looks! He's ranks above me!'
"P-Please… do-don't hurt me…" The woman pleaded. Her eyes were filled with tears as Lee Seng stepped forward. She slammed her hands together in a pleading motion and repeated her words. Lee Seng looked at the unconscious bodies. He muttered something under his breath and the woman only grew more hysterical.
A gold and silver runes shimmered to life around Lee Seng. He snapped his fingers and watched as the light spilled, filling the room in light. The woman squeezed her eyes shut, shaking.
'This is it…' The woman thought. 'I'm going to die. I'm going to die to the Creator's son… I'm…' A quiet moan broke from behind her. It snapped the woman out of it and she opened her eyes to see the gold and silver light intensifying around everyone around her.
"Cargo Crew 4." Lee Seng cleared his throat. The woman looked up at him. Her teammates were beginning to wake up as Lee Seng stood like he was some sort of hero. "It's a pleasure to meet you. My name's Lee Seng Chang and I'm here to save you." The groans and soft moans of the woman's allies overtook her.
"W-what's happening…?"
"Lee Seng saved us?"
"The Creator's son?"
Lee Seng smiled, turning his attention onto the woman. He widened his eyes and tilted his head, giving her a shrug as if he was asking her 'do you believe me now?' He turned his attention onto the group, asking if they were okay and trying to piece together what had happened.
Some time later…
"You don't trust him, Elizabeth?" A man in an all black adventuring armor asked the barrier woman. Elizabeth glanced at Lee Seng, again. "He saved us. He said it himself. If it weren't for him, we could've succumbed to the trap below."
"You speak as if you know him." Elizabeth whispered to the man. "You didn't see how easily he got out of his binds and saved us and killed those D31 men…!"
"He saved us, Elizabeth." The man turned to look at Lee Seng. "He's the CEO's brother. I've seen him long enough to know that—"
"That's why you trust him so easily. Even after all that's happened, you're going to trust him?"
"It's either trust him or be left here." The man turned and left Elizabeth's side. He clapped his hands, rounding up his crew members. "Alright, everyone. If it weren't for Lee Seng, we would've been in deep shit. Now's the time to finish our mission and find the Cargo." The group grew loud, snapping Lee Seng out of his daze.
'I can't sense them down here.' Lee Seng bit his lip. He turned and noticed the black armored man making his way to him.
"Ready to go?" The man asked. He stuck out a hand and Lee Seng took it, standing up.
"Yeah." Lee Seng nodded.
"Any luck?"
"None." Lee Seng shook his head. He looked over to Elizabeth, who was trying to distract herself with the others.
"Don't worry about Elizabeth. She has her reservations for a reason." The man drew Lee seng's attention back to him. "Oh, I don't think I've formally introduced myself. My name's Nero. I'm with the Penumbra guild. It's a pleasure to see you again." He stuck his hand out and Lee Seng shook it.
"That's why they listened to you. You're one of my brother's hand-picked men." Lee Seng pointed to Nero. Nero nodded and turned to look at the group.
"I never thought things would be like this, but here we are. Fell right under the enemy's trap. They're smart to know we're going for the cargo shipments. It's the only way to survive this blasted climate shift change."
"What did they look like? Chan-Yeol said there's an influx of monsters, but the walls aren't broken at all."
"We aren't sure how they got in. The attempts from two years ago didn't even get close to our sewers… These monsters just showed up outta nowhere. They work with those D31 folks, too."
Lee Seng nodded and thought for a moment. 'If they work with the Deimons then that must mean they're on the same side… Could they be Failed Ones?'
"What did the monsters look like?" Lee Seng asked Nero.
"Hounds and floating eyeballs." Nero answered.
"No humanoids?"
"No humanoids from what I recall… They were quite intelligent though."
'The floating eyeballs are from him… and the hounds might be remnants of the thing at the home…' Lee Seng thought.
"Where's the cargo now?" Lee Seng asked Nero.
"Unsure. This place doesn't look familiar either. I think we're deeper than the sewer system. We should—" A loud explosion shook from the caves, drawing everyone's attention.
"What's that?" A crew member asked.
"Get ready." Nero ordered. "Anything could be coming our way." Lee Seng closed his eyes and tilted his head. He could hear fighting happening in the distance.
'No one has that much firepower to shake up the underground.' Lee Seng thought.
"Argh!" A bloodied Deimon bounced into view, rolling to a stop just out of view.
"Another one not telling us what we want." Evan sighed.
"Go!" Nero motioned. Four crew members moved forward, readying their magic to strike the unknown enemy.
"Wait!" Lee Seng shouted, disappearing from his spot and reappearing in the middle of the exit. "I know these guys!" Lee Seng turned and noticed Evan and Ritsuka. Ritsuka held the enchanted bow, ready to strike.
"Lee Seng!" Ritsuka exclaimed. The Deimon roared, throwing itself onto its feet and rushing to Lee Seng. Ritsuka fired the arrow, watching it impale the Deimon in the head, sending it backwards.
"That explains the explosion." Lee Seng whispered, turning to his companions. "Find Calis, yet?"
"No." Evan shook his head, stepping into view. He turned and noticed the large group of people in the room. "Who are they?"
"Cargo Crew 4." Lee Seng answered.
"You found them?!?" Ritsuka stepped into view, releasing the bow. "Talk about luck."
"Are these your allies?" Nero asked.
"They're with me." Lee Seng nodded.
"Sir, we should find our weapons and things. Some of us are sitting ducks without them." A crew member suggested. Nero nodded in agreement.
"I think we saw a weapon room on the way here." Evan pointed. "Heavily guarded by Deimons."
"Deimons?" Nero asked.
"The D31 faction." Lee Seng answered, turning to Evan. "Take us there."
The most uptodat𝓮 n𝒐vels are published on (f)reew𝒆(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦