Lost Origins: SS Ranked Awakening-Chapter 159: Phantom II

"What do you mean into the fog?"

The recruit asked alarmed at the words of the soldier and the rest all laughed at this panicked state.

Orion looked around observing their reactions to his teamate. He had the exact same reaction anyone who heard their words would have.

Going into the fog was basically suicide.

"You kids don’t know much. This place is quite different from the other places on the planet"

"Without training, going into the fog is more like suicide. But you’ll be going with us. No need to piss your pants!"

The soldier said and the other’s nodded in agreement.

"Are you sure about this?"

Lira appreard at Orion’s back and whispered in his ear. Her voice was heavy with suspicion.

"Sure! We’ll come along!"

Orion said to the soldier who was standing, gaining pools of approval from those around.

"Don’t worry. Nothing should happen."

He said walking past Lira.

...

"Kieran!"

"Ugh!"

’I fell asleep?’

Kieran swiped his hand across his eyes, suppressing the groginess he felt.

"What is it?"

"Shhh! Seems like they are moving out. It’s the perfect chance!"

Jake whispered silently to him and the sound of footsteps passed by the building. It was clearly from a group, most likely the one who were stepping out.

"Yeah, let’s go then."

Kieran propped himself up and picked up his scythe.

Now that a group was moving out of the outpost, the amount of soldiers would be reduced and if they were lucky enough, they would only need to watch out for the soldiers om patrol duty.

"The fog is still out!"

Kieran muttered, one thing that was still good for them.

They still had the advantage of moving in generally darker lightning.

The outpost was lit quite brightly, but there were more than a couple of dark spots and corners they could exploit.

"Lets go then!"

Kieran and Jake moved at the same time, crossing the distance between the empty storage building they had just come out from and the main building of the outpost in a few seconds.

The dark blur which was their figures wasn’t caught by any of the soldiers patrolling above.

<We are going to need your eyes>

<...>

Jake mouthed to Kieran, who understood the nature behind his request.

His eyes was basically like an x-ray vision or something similar. It was the first option when it came to them moving around stealthy and avoiding contact with the soldiers as much as possible.

Unfortunately, Kieran shook his head, signaling to him that they hadn’t recovered much. He didn’t feel it was alright for him to put any more stress on his eyes that had yet to recover.

’We can use something else though!’

Kieran thought, looking at Jake.

His eyes was their first option, not their only option. Jake’s sense of smell could also serve the same purpose if not better.

He had been able to sniff out the traps in the third line even before he noticed them. Although that perk of his wasn’t suited for detailed and delicate things like the structure of the traps, it should have no problems sniffing out any approaching soldiers.

<Your nose!>

Kieran pointed ag his nose and Jake paused for a while with his eyes closed.

He looked like he was trying to look for the scents that wss associated with the soldiers and other lifeforms in the outpost.

"..."

He nodded after a while with a thumbs up, signaling that they could proceed with his sense of smell.

’Great!’

Kieran felt a sense of relief knowing that he wouldn’t have to use his eyes unless something requiring them specifically came up. It was better this way.

’I definitely didn’t know about this!’

He wiped his eyes with his arm before following behind Jake.

He didn’t say it out loud, but his vision wasn’t even the best right now. It was still blurry, only slightly better than before.

Having strained his eyes during his training with August, he knew of this backlash that came when the ability was over used, but it was a temporary backlash.

One that faded once his healing factor came in and took over, returning his sight back to its perfect condition. He just didn’t understand why they hadn’t healed fully.

He had slept for at least a couple of hours. That should have been enough to at least get a pretty normal level of sight.

’I’ll have to bet on Jake and my other senses for now!’

Kieran raised up his guard once more knowing how much of a disadvantage he was with this unexpected handicap.

....

"Do you think this is safe?"

One of the male recuits said to Lira, questioning the whole idea of going out into the fog.

"I don’t get to answer that for you!"

Lira snapped back feeling a little irritated. She also wasn’t in the support of this operation, one they knew nothing about.

The fog was certain death for them. That was a fact amongst the recuits and leaving their lives in the hands of a couple of soldiers they hadn’t even marked as trustworthy wasn’t helping things.

Even worse for her was that Orion didn’t seem to care about their opinions, keeping his thoughts unknown and remaining silent as always.

’This isn’t exactly the time for that!’

Her irritation only increased, seeking an outlet, but she could do nothing but follow the words and orders of their boss, Orion.

He had always led them out on missions and other things, and they had all turned out great. This wasn’t the time for her to doubt him either.

"What are you lot waiting for? Put on the masks!"

Orion said with a raised eyebrow, his voice sounded distorted coming from the gas mask had put on.

There were a couple of other masks like that on the table and all the soldiers participating in the mission were picking them up.

According to the one who had brought up the idea to bring them along, who also happened to be the leader of the whole operation, they had to put on some protective gear before stepping into the fog.

It wasn’t anything excessive, just the mask, a couple of gas capsules to use for the mask and a glove with an integrated system; one that was more resistant to the effects of the strange fog. That way, they could maintain a line of communication amongst themselves out there.

According to his words, while they could step into the fog, the real danger was letting the fog into their system which happened when they breathed, hence the mask with capsules of compressed air to use along with.

"Remember, each capsule lasts around 30 minutes and you’re all equipped with 5 each. That’s two hours and thirty minutes of breathing time out there. The mission should take about an hour, thirty to complete"

"Stay close, maintain an active line of communication and try not to get lost. If you do, don’t panic or you’ll consume more air and die pretty quick!"

The one leading the mission said, looking around to make sure that they were all equipped and ready to go out.

"What about our weapons?"

Lira asked, looking around.

All the other soldiers were equipped with rifles and other guns, not a single one of them held mlee weapon.

"Oh, don’t worry. You won’t be needing those weapons."

The soldier said with smile, pointing at the weapons track at the side for them to equip themselves with.

"Alright! Let’s go!!"

He gave a shout and the atmosphere took a sharp twist, losing all the unnecessary chatter and attitude.

They all shuffled themselves and marched behind the soldier who took the lead.

"Are you sure about this?"

Lira managed to make her way close to Orion and asked him once again.

"Yes. Leave it and focus. You can’t be having that on your mind out there!"

Orion said to Lira in a stern tone, making her take back all her questions.

’Are they all non awakened?’

Lira questioned herself, taking another look at the rifle in her hands.

It was quite normal to come across non awakened, normal humans in the military, even here in the base.

Most of them had been enhanced with military grade tech. That didn’t bring them close to what a well trained awakened could achieve though.

’Or maybe not?’

She gave up and followed Orion’s instructions to shove those things to the back of her mind.

Awakened on the same level or above her could make themselves appear normal and conceal their abilities to her. She was already extra sensitive as a scout, but she couldn’t overestimate herself when it came to trained soldiers like the ones in front of her.

They appeared nice and warm, but no doubt, they were trained to carry out dangerous missions like this one which in turn made them dangerous.

’Let’s hope this turns well like he thinks!’

She took one last glance at her side before donning the mask.

They had reached the entrance of the outpost where they came from and she coukd see a small hole appear in the energy barrier that shone with a soft blue light.

They were stepping into the fog.