Extra's Abyss-Chapter 32: Rift[2]

Four cloaked figures stood on a cliff, a little further away from the crimson rift in the sky in the middle of the valley of mountains.

Minutes had passed since the train was dragged inside the rift.

All four were staring at the Rift when the one on the far right spoke, "Leader, who are we targeting this time? We even had to use a Primal-Rank Monster to kill them; isn't that a bit excessive?".

Hearing those words, the other subordinates except the leader were curious; they were not told anything regarding the mission.

The cloaked figure, who was ahead of the three of them, laughed at his subordinate's question.

"We aren't after a target; we are here to test the new artifacts and, at the same time, have this primal rank monster get killed."

He extended his hand as a pulsing dark orb materialized in his palm, the catalyst for the crimson rift, and one that had opened a rift in the sky.

His subordinates gasped at their true objective; they thought the target would be a highly influential figure or a powerful ranker.

"Leader, isn't it a bit too much to use a primal rank monster as cannon fodder for an experiment and get killed as well?" The other two nodded at their colleague's words.

Their leader was silent for a moment before he answered them, "Wasteful, perhaps, but this monster has defied his own lord. He's called Moss the Ice-Armed Centipede."

"A year ago he was assigned to a very important mission; but he let his subordinates run amok in the eastern region of Starborne, he ignored his mission, got himself in trouble with his highness, and—-".

Their leader stopped for a second before he continued, "Now his lord has commanded us to use him as a test subject for an experiment and... end it."

The three subordinates nodded their heads when one of them noticed a few people entering the rift; he pointed it out to the others.

"Everyone, Look, a few more lambs are entering the slaughterhouse. Oh, some kid is following behind too, hahaha." His remark made his colleague and leader glance at them as they joined in with his laugh.

After a few seconds, their leader spoke seriously, "That's enough, Get back to work. Collect all the required readings, and then report back to the Prince."

His subordinates stopped laughing, and each of them took out sleek black tablets etched with glowing runes.

"Understood, leader."

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Catherine stood outside the train despite the warning the train's captain had given to all passengers; it's been a few minutes since they were dragged in.

'This is too much of a coincidence; someone's trying to get rid of me. Are they from within the same unit, or is it another prince's move'? She had been constantly considering many possibilities of who had staged this attack.

'If I rule out my own unit, then the one who's behind this must have only known my appearance, since every member of the queen's unit gets a forged identity they would use when they work for the unit.'

Snapping out of her thoughts, she felt the ground underneath trembling.

Looking around this white landscape and hearing distant rumbling beneath the ground, she could sense the primal-rank monster lying in wait.

There was a snowstorm going on, shrouding their vision and making it difficult to see anything beyond a few meters ahead.

She knew it was only a matter of time before the primal rank monster would emerge from its snowy hiding place and massacre them all.

Only a few high-rankers were present, as they came out too to check the situation out.

She frowned slightly, crossing her hands, mumbling to herself, "Monsters of Primal rank are of the same rank as an S rank; monsters from Fallen rank, the A rank are intellectual."

Letting out a deep sigh, she sent out her mana sense to check for any other monsters and along with the strength of the rankers who were out.

'This is a little troublesome; there are around a hundred defiled-rank monsters and ten fallen-rank monsters.'

'Hmm, around 20 C ranks, 3 B ranks, and a single A- ranker; we are overwhelmingly outmatched and outnumbered. I can handle the primal rank'.

Her eyes widened as Catherine sensed a peak A ranker among the few people outside, and she recognized her from the train station earlier.

'This makes things much easier; with her, we should be able to safely return back without many casualties.'

Catherine smiled slightly as she made her way towards the Peak A Ranker.

Along the way, she could feel the other rankers' gazes on her as she walked across; she subconsciously released her pressure to ensure they wouldn't mess around with her.

Although she couldn't stop the murmurs coming out of the rankers.

As Catherine was getting closer, she finally took notice of that woman's appearance. Due to her being in a rush, she hadn't taken a moment to look at the other party. 'Hmm, I've got to give it to her; she's almost as beautiful as me.'

She noticed a girl standing beside the blond woman; she could only see the girl's face from the side.

The first person to notice her was the girl as her crystal-clear blue eyes widened. 'Huh, wait—what? ohh, she wait no, he's a boy'.

'I guess I mistook him; due to his slightly long hair and the snowstorm.'

She heard him whisper to the blond woman, "Aunt, someone's approaching us."

'Interesting,' Catherine thought before she was right in front of them, looking at the blond woman.

She spoke first with a smile, "Hello, guess we met again so soon.'

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Noctis was beside his aunt as he looked at the other Ranker who had gotten off the train despite the warning, although he was glad they came out.

'Aunt alone can't back an entire horde of monsters that's going to swarm them soon.'

He used his own hands to warm himself up. He didn't want to waste his limited mana on this.

Noctis looked at Ericka, "Aunt, How many monsters are there? And any leads on finding the master of the Rift?" , To escape from an artificial rift, they would either have to kill the master of the rift or let the owner let them go.

Obviously the latter wouldn't work, as Noctis thought another way. 'In the game, it was stated that if the rift master leaves their rift, everyone inside will be ejected out.'

Ericka's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "I can sense around a hundred Defiled rank monsters and ten Fallen ranks, although No sign of the rift master yet."

Noctis turned around and did a quick count while checking their status. He thought heavily, 'We are outnumbered; will this be a prolonged battle till any support arrives?'

Just when he was feeling a little panic, Noctis heard murmurs. He glanced to the side as he noticed a silver-haired woman walking towards them.

His eyes widened as he recognized her instantly, snapping his head back, his thoughts racing.

'How? Wait, why is she here? Where was she for this whole year?' She was supposed to be at the orphanage in the stellar city.' Putting a quick stop to his questions, Noctis spoke to Ericka.

"Aunt, someone's approaching us."

Ericka's head turned a little to the side, eying the person approaching them.

When the silver-haired woman arrived near them, Ericka finally recognized her from earlier at the station; surprised, she stared at her.

"Hello, guess we met again so soon."

It took her a few moments to respond again since she was astonished, "Yeah."

On the inside, Ericka thought, 'Holy damn, she's beautiful.'

Noctis gazed at both of them, his jaw dropping. "Do you know her? Aunt."