Chapter 20 — Rescue Squad But…
Sam's vision flickered.
A translucent panel unfolded into view in front of him.
He exhaled slowly.
"Let's see…"
⸻
[STATUS]
Name: Sam Burn
Age: 20
Race: Human (Common)
Rank: F (1 / 100%)
Talent: Soul Devour (Transcendent++ / Unique)
[Attributes]
Strength: 14
Agility: 10
Endurance: 13
Mana: 11
Mental: 7
[Skills]
True Devour (—)
Description: …
———
For several seconds, Sam simply stared at the numbers.
One percent.
That didn't sound like much, and indeed it wasn't.
For some reason, the amount of cores it had taken him just to barely reach this point had been enough for Serena to climb all the way to three percent.
Yes, with just six cores she reached her third percentage point in saturation, and she hadn't hesitated to mention it.
Several times.
Always with that unmistakable grin—especially after learning he'd only reached one.
One would think that would make her stronger than him.
Funny enough… it didn't. His talent was simply too ridiculous. She knew this too but…
She was Serena.
He shook the thought away and shifted his focus to his stats.
They'd increased across the board, with nearly everything already hitting double digits.
Strength sat at fourteen—just shy of hitting the fifteenth mark. Endurance followed close behind.
Sam let out a quiet breath.
Only a few hours ago, his average had barely been five. Lower, if he counted his abyssal mana and mental stats.
Compared to that version of himself…
This was ridiculous growth.
He flexed his fingers slowly.
Even without including the boast from his armor, he could feel it—stronger muscles beneath his skin, tendons responding faster than before. His body felt tighter. More compact. Yet at the same time freer.
Like every aspect of himself has been subtly optimized.
And this was only in a few hours, he could barely imagine how much stronger he'd become by the end of this rift.
"I'm done." Serena spoke as she set down the last of the cores into the piles.
"I'm done," Serena said, setting the last of the extracted cores into a small pile beside the others.
Sam walked over and stopped beside her, eyes briefly sweeping the glowing fragments before lifting toward her face.
"So… what do we do now?" she asked. "Go back? Or—"
Her words trailed off as she looked deeper into the cave, toward the tunnel the additional orcs had poured from.
Sam followed her gaze and frown as hesitation slipped in. His headgear also retracted and his face became visible.
The passage stretched away into shadow, jagged stone swallowing the faint glow of the crystals embedded in the walls. A cold draft rolled out from within, carrying damp air and the lingering scent of blood and rusted metal.
Even without any red dots on his HUD, Sam was certain that they would encounter more orcs if they moved in that direction.
After all, according to ATLAS, a single rift is certain to contain at least 50 or so creatures at its rank.
The batch they killed were only sixteen so there was bound to be more.
So he stayed quiet for a moment.
"Although we managed to take out that bunch easily," he began. "Let's… not rush in blindly."
Serena nodded slowly. The adrenaline was finally draining from her expression, replaced by something more serious.
"I agree," she said. Glancing wearily into the deeper caves. "But staying here does not feel better."
Sam glanced around.
Fifteen bodies lay scattered across the cavern floor. Green blood was already beginning to cool and darken. The smell alone was enough to draw attention.
"You are right." He said. "Let's move. Then we absorb the core before proceeding deeper."
Serena raised an eyebrow. "Move… where?"
Sam lifted his arm and pointed upward.
"Up."
She followed his finger to the hole they'd dropped through earlier.
Her lips twitched.
"I don't think I can jump that high."
Sam blinked. "…What?"
He glanced at her, then pointed at the wall that blocked the path earlier with deadpan. "We're not jumping."
Now it was Serena's turn to be lost. She looked from Sam to the hole and then to Sam again before asking, "well how are going to get there then?"
Sam sighed. He stepped closer to the walls and pointed on the series of jagged indentations running along its height.
"We can just climb."
Serena leaned in, squinting.
"Oh." A faint flush crept up her cheeks, visible without her helmet.
Serena cleared her throat and straightened. "Right. Climbing. Makes sense."
Sam resisted the urge to smile.
"Let's go," he added. "We'll take it one at a time to absorb the cores while the other keeps watch."
"Roger." She gave a short nod. "But I'm going first."
"Fine."
————————
Whirr…
The low roar of engines faded as the sleek, dull-metallic jet decelerated to a stop, it remained hovering in midair.
Dust rippled outward beneath it from the force of its twin propeller engines.
Loose debris skittered across cracked pavement.
Inside—
"Is this the place?"
Bella's soft voice broke the quiet.
Through the wide forward windshield of the control cabin, the group stared down at a modest, battered house below.
Long fractures crawled along its walls like jagged scars.
But it wasn't alone.
Every surrounding building bore similar damage. Windows were shattered or boarded up. Streetlights leaned at awkward angles. Even the pavement was split in places, as though the ground itself had protested whatever catastrophe had swept through.
The entire neighborhood carried a tired, hollow look—as if a hurricane and an earthquake had teamed up, hit once, then left without apologizing.
Tim scratched the back of his head.
"Yeah… I think so."
He glanced down at the glowing marker projected from the device embedded in his forearm, then back at the building.
A blue indicator pulsed steadily.
"Yeah," he said after a second. "That's definitely it."
A few of the team exchanged uncertain looks. This was definitely not what they'd expected for the residence of their esteemed leader—Hugo Burns.
But Melvin didn't hesitate. To him, they had already lost enough time.
He disengaged a mechanism that directly opened a circular latch on the floor of the control room.
He stepped forward, and over it.
Yet instead of dropping, his body remained suspended in midair, defying gravity as there was nothing beneath him.
"That's it," he said calmly. "Let's move." He added before dropping.
His voice cut clean through the lingering doubt, snapping the others out of their thoughts.
Dan exhaled and followed behind him. Dragging a massive two sided axe behind.
One by one, they descended.
Boots touched ground.
But in the next second they froze. Cold sweet drip from Garry's forehead as he gazed at the nozzle trailed at the center of his eyes.
It was unknown who but…
—Glup.