Chapter 28: Mellow City on the Verge of Destruction

Through the darkened sky, cutting through thick layers of fog, the falcon soared forward like a blade gliding through butter. Upon its broad back sat Zac, Marty, and the old man.

"Old man, I have a question," Zac called out.

There was no response from the old man. He simply stared ahead, unmoved, as if the roaring wind had swallowed every word.

Still, Zac continued speaking.

"Even though the falcon is flying so fast, why didn’t we feel the force of the wind at all?" Marty quickly nodded. "Yeah, I’ve been wondering the same thing."

The old man calmly pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and took a slow puff before answering, "It’s called coating."

Marty scratched his head. "Can you explain it in a way we can understand?"

The old man exhaled a stream of smoke into the night, only for it to be instantly torn away by the wind.

"Normally, your mana stays within your body. Coating is when you bring that mana outside and use it to cover yourself... or something else. As for why you two aren’t being blown away, it’s because I’ve used my mana to cover your bodies and bind you to the falcon."

Zac’s eyes sharpened. "How do you do that?"

The old man clicked his tongue. "You didn’t hire me to teach you techniques. My job is just to get you to Mellow."

Zac fell silent for a moment. Then he pulled out his VSB and searched through the association shop.

"I checked the entire association shop. There’s no technique called coating in there. Are you sure that’s what it’s called?"

The old man didn’t turn. He took another puff. "You just finished your exam, didn’t you? How did you already get access to the association shop?"

Only then did Marty realize it and glanced at Zac in surprise. But Zac waved it off, saying, "I’ll explain that later."

The old man took a few more unhurried puffs before speaking again. "Coating isn’t actually a technique. You see this." He showed his hand, asking them.

"Yeah, it’s a cigarette," Zac said.

The old man gave a weird look to Zac. "You’ve never been to the streets, have you?"

[Just how oblivious can you be? That’s clearly a weed.]

"Anyway, just think whatever you want this is, oh yeah, a personal suggestion from this old man. I know you want to try this from just your look, but trust me, once you are in, it’s harder than you think to get out. I have lost so much because of...."

"Stop! Can we continue our talk about coating?"

"Oh...Not a fan of hearing a little life experience, are you? Fine, it’s your loss anyway."

"So we all know that mana is the source of a variant’s power, and techniques are performed using mana. So the question is, how would you channel mana from your body to the technique that you use?" 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"By mana coating," Marty said.

He tapped the ash off his weed and continued. "To make it more simple, your body is a car and mana is your fuel. Think of all the parts of the car as your body part. And the technique, skill, or ability, whatever you call it, is the moving of the car."

"How exactly the fuel is used to do it is mana coating."

[Can’t he just say it’s an ability to control mana in and around your body.]

Zac and Marty exchanged a glance, then gave a silent nod. The weight of his words settled deep within them.

Marty suddenly asked, "I’m somewhat clear about coating, but how is that connected to what you are smoking?"

"It doesn’t! This is my last one; I just asked to see if you would have any."

("...")

("...")

***

As they cut across the night sky, the cities that had been attacked were already crumbling into ruin.

Even if it’s just a single A-rank monster, swarms of lower-rank creatures had followed them, turning all the 15 cities into a battlefield.

The entire country is being given a red alert, with variants from other cities being rushed by the association to aid the attacked cities.

Inside the Mellow City Association building, Lima stood before a wall of surveillance screens, watching the disasters unfold in real time.

The government had built emergency bunkers across every city anticipating events like these.

The instant Lima issued her orders, the lower-ranked Variants split into two teams. One to engage the monsters and the other to evacuate civilians to safety.

But even with such swift action, she knew that saving everyone was impossible.

What’s worse is, with the limited number of variants available, stopping a full-scale beast wave was nearly impossible.

For now, there was only one choice left for her, to hold the line... until reinforcements arrived.

Suddenly, Lima rose from her seat.

"I can’t take this anymore; low-level or high-level, every variant has a family. I can’t just sit here and watch them die one by one.

She turned to leave, but before she could take a step, the staff moved in front of her and bowed.

"Ma’am, we need someone experienced in the control room to lead a situation like this," he said firmly. "If you go out there, there will be no one left to coordinate or guide the Variants risking their lives."

Her fingers curled into a fist, tightening until her knuckles turned pale. She stood there, caught between duty and instinct.

At that moment, Lima’s VSB began to blink. Her eyes flickered toward it. "Is it Zac again?"

He had called her several times earlier, but she had been too consumed by the crisis to answer. "He’s in Maroon City... so, he should be fine. Right."

She raised her hand and checked the caller.

Joseph Milroy.

She instantly accepted the call, and a projection unfolded before her.

"I am Joseph Milroy, appointed examiner for the recent Maroon City examination. Captain from the Variant Association."

"I know who you are, Captain," Lima replied. "You should already know the situation in our city. Why are you calling now?"

"My unit and I are stationed just outside the city. We’ll be entering in ten minutes. Do you have any orders?"

Relief passed through Lima’s eyes.

"Thank God... I thought it would take hours for reinforcements to arrive. What’s the composition of your unit?"

"One hundred and twenty-four in total, including myself. Five B-rankers, twenty-five C-rankers. The rest are D-rank."

"Deploy your B and C-rankers to engage the monsters directly. As for the D-rankers, send the capable fighters into combat. The rest are to assist with civilian evacuation to the bunkers."

"And you, Captain... if you don’t mind, come straight to the Association building. We require your assistance here. One more thing. The A-rank monster is located at the eastern edge of the city. Under any circumstance, do not let anyone from your unit go near it."

With that, the call ended.

Joseph lowered his VSB and turned toward his troop.

"Well, you heard her," he said. "The city’s crawling with monsters, from E to A-rank. D-ranks without strong combat ability go and help the civilians to the bunkers."

"As for the rest, choose your opponents according to your level and kill without mercy. Every second we waste puts more lives at risk."

"Show those monsters what Variants of the Eastern Alliance are capable of." In perfect unison, the Variants drove their feet into the ground and saluted, "Yes, Captain!"

Joseph gave a slight nod. "Move."

Like arrows loosed from a drawn bow, they scattered across the city, each heading toward their assigned battle.

Without another word, Joseph also mounted his personal aerial beast, a majestic Gale Eagle, and headed to the association.