I Was Transmigrated As An Extraordinary Extra-Chapter 168

"Let’s... stay calm," Christian snapped out first since either Cypher or Edge won’t budge.

Suddenly both of them stood up.

"I’ll go look for Remillia," Cypher said and was about to go when Angela held his arm.

"Don’t go!" Angela pleaded. "What if you get lost also? We don’t know what’s happening right now."

Edge quickly put some distance between Angela and Cypher. "Let’s all calm down. We all know that Remillia can be reckless, she might have just did something or something caught her eye and claimed it for herself."

Etheris Pinnacle was a private property of the Peenoise Institute. Without their permission, no one was allowed to enter it, meaning it was likely that precious herbs were growing on it. Edge just theorized that Remillia came across one by luck and sneaked away to take it.

"What? Remi would never do that!" Cypher defended Remillia.

"There’s another problem, how do you explain this? Not only did we walk in circles going back to the same spot, the sun disappeared from the sky!" Whitney raised her hands and pointed around her.

They were surrounded by dense darkness and thick, overgrown weeds that seemed to be at least 100 centimeters tall.

"That’s...." Edge was at loss for words.

Crrssh!

The sound of an animal moving through grass rang out.

"Hiiik!" Whitney, already on edge, immediately shrank back behind the boys, her instincts urging her to hide like a frightened rabbit.

The boys readied their weapons, forming a protective barrier around the girls as they instinctively took a defensive stance.

Swish. Swosh.

Something—or someone—was approaching them. They held their breath, the tension escalating with each heartbeat. For three agonizing minutes, they waited, nerves fraying.

"For a minute, I thought it was a mountain beast. Who would’ve thought it was only a bunch of kids?" A voice suddenly broke through the silence.

"Aaah!"

In a moment of pure panic, Rex leaped onto Christian, the two of them clinging to each other while shrieking.

"Guys, shut it!" Angela hissed, shooting them a scathing glare.

In an instant, Rex and Christian exchanged wide-eyed glances, and Christian hurriedly withdrew his hands, causing Rex to stumble back to the ground.

Embarrassed, Rex scrambled to his feet, coughing awkwardly to mask his discomfort. "Er, sorry about that," he muttered, brushing off his clothes.

"What are you kids doing here?" a woman said, her voice cutting through their chatter. She appeared to be in her mid-thirties, clothed in old attire reminiscent of the early 2000s—faded jeans and a loose t-shirt, with unkempt hair falling randomly around her shoulders.

The group exchanged silent glances, scrutinizing her just as she examined them.

"Why aren’t you talking? Don’t you know how to speak?" the woman demanded, arching an eyebrow at them.

Edge arrogantly stepped forward. "Hey, don’t you know who we a—"

But Cypher quickly interjected, sensing Edge’s rude behavior might provoke the already strange situation further. "I’m sorry, but we got lost. Do you know where we are?"

"...Huh?" The woman stared at Cypher incredulously, glancing at the others before her gaze returned to him. "What do you mean? We’re in Panagsina. This is a highly dangerous zone, so I don’t get why you’re all here like you’re on a trip or something."

"Highly dangerous zone?" Whitney whispered, her voice trembling with fear.

The woman brushed an stray strand of hair from her face, a concerned frown deepening. "I don’t know what cave you’re hiding in, but yes—this place is lethal," she explained.

There’s only one word that came to Cypher’s mind. Cataclysm. He wasn’t sure but according to what he learned, twenty five years ago after the Cataclysm, cities around the world experienced explosions similar to a nuclear blasts. It is said that the affected places later became mana rich zones. Panagsina is one of the place that became affected by the explosion which later became known as Etheris Pinnacle.

"...." A heavy silence enveloped the group.

Their minds racing to process her words. This woman was speaking about an event documented only in history books, treating it as if it were a present reality.

"Wait, are you serious?" Rex asked, his confidence crumbling as the weight of the situation pressed down on him.

"Do I look like I’m joking?" the woman snapped, her gaze flickering towards the encroaching shadows that seemed to writhe behind her. "This place isn’t safe, and things are about to get a lot worse if you don’t come with me."

With the darkness closing in and the initial shock fading, the urgency became visible. Every member of the group exchanged nervous glances.

"Alright," Edge said finally, arrogance creeping back into his voice as he stepped forward. He locked eyes with the woman. "Lead the way, old wo—"

Before he could finish, Cypher shoved Edge aside, cutting him off. "Hahaha, sorry for my friend, he must have hit his head so hard, so forgive him if he talks like that."

The old woman regarded Edge with a flicker of sympathy. "I understand," she replied, her tone softening.

"This is our first time here, so we’ll need your help to guide us," Cypher continued, trying to maintain a calm façade.

"What, Cypher, you’re gonna provoke me even in this situation?" Edge retorted, irritation flashing across his face.

"Just shut up and follow along," Cypher responded tersely as he hurried to fall in step behind the woman.

And just like that, they formed a line and trudged onwards, following the woman through the tall grass, each step heavy with trepidation. As they walked, they heard the occasional distant howl, both haunting and wild, each sound reinforcing the eerie atmosphere surrounding them.

Eventually, they arrived at a clearing, and what lay before them made their hearts drop.

"This is...." Cypher started, but he couldn’t finish the thought.

The group halted in unison, their eyes wide, staring blankly at the scene in front of them.

Collapsed buildings appeared like skeletal remains, choked with twisted metal and debris. Barricades created from scrap cars and rusted iron bars highlighted the streets. A vicious cloud of smoke puffed up into the air, mingling with dark flames that licked the edges of the city.

"Hey, Noah, have you been doing a good job?" the woman greeted a young man who stood guard at the entrance of the ruined city.

"Of course, Ma’am," The young man nodded, but his gaze turned wary as he sized up the group. "But I haven’t met those kids before. Who are they?"

"Don’t worry about them," the woman responded, her tone dismissive yet firm as she glanced back at the group. "Let’s go inside."

"Before we go inside, where is this?" Cypher interjected, suspicion coloring his voice.

Hearing the seriousness in Cypher’s question, the woman grinned. "It’s the safest place around here—Panagsina Town Hall."

The revelation sent a flurry of memories through Cypher’s mind. They had driven by it earlier in the day in a limousine, but the Panagsina Town Hall they saw wasn’t anything like the dilapidated version now looming before them.

In that moment, the pieces began to fall into place in Cypher’s mind.

The woman’s clothing.

The explosion.

"Excuse me, but what year is it right now?" Cypher asked, his voice stiff.

"I think it’s about 2030?" the woman replied, pausing as she processed the sudden question.

The realization hit the cadets like a ton of bricks, and they fell into a daze once again. Their heads seemed to ring. Twenty years... Does this mean they were teleported from the past?

Before anyone could voice their thoughts, the young man guarding the entrance stepped forward, looking conflicted.

Suddenly, several men appeared from atop the barricades. Their eyes flickered coldly as they peered down at the cadets, assessing them with a predator’s gaze.

"Go inside. It’s dangerous to stay outside at this time," the young man said, grabbing Angela’s wrist with a grip that held both urgency and authority.

"Hey, let her go!" Cypher exclaimed, quickly pushing the young man away and pulling out the cane he had brought along as a precaution.

"A cane?" The young man stared at it, bewildered. "Hey, kid, put that down. We won’t hurt you."

As tension crackled in the air, Cypher tried to summon his aura to intimidate and assert control but nothing happened. A wave of frustration washed over him.

"Hey, Cypher, I can’t use my aura!" Angela’s voice rang out, flustered and confused, and Cypher saw the same fear reflected in her wide eyes. It dawned on him: they were being stripped of their powers.

Before they could fully react, the men who had been perched atop the barricades jumped down and surrounded them, their intentions unclear and their demeanor hostile.

Even at a glance, there were at least thirty of them, forming a menacing circle around the group. The tension thickened as they imbued their aura into the iron pipe bars they wielded, the weapons gleaming ominously in the dim light.

"Why these sons of assholes—" Edge began but was cut off when a sudden swoosh interrupted him.

Swoosh!

They all froze, gazing down in shock as a thin black dagger plunged into the ground among them.

Everyone’s attention instinctively turned to where it came from. There, leaning casually against a tree, was a woman wearing a kitsune half mask. She fiddled with another dagger in her left hand, her posture relaxed but her eyes sharp and alert.