Rising god-Chapter 126: Consequences

"Shit, it’s a failure," Ralph cursed under his breath, the acrid smell of smoke and blood clinging to the air.

The mountain laboratory’s collapse echoed the grim reality: similar disasters were unfolding across other sites. Some Dawnless teams, caught too close, were consumed by explosions, while others escaped just in time. But the death toll was low; the Dawnless members, infused with dragon’s blood, couldn’t be recognized as fully human.

"What now, sir?" a Dawnless member asked, his voice tense as debris settled around them.

Ralph’s jaw tightened, his mind racing, and then it hit him. ’The tracker,’ He looked around and asked, "The tracker, where is it?" The members with him also began searching in haste.

Ralph’s communication device hummed.

[Sir, what should we do?] Rector’s voice crackled, strained from reports flooding in.

"Has there been any reports on sites without explosions?" Ralph asked, gripping the device.

[First Executive’s group found people in their lab. After killing them, only a few subjects exploded, but they consumed others nearby.]

Ralph’s eyes widened. ’Some succeeded?’ "What about the nearby areas?"

[No people, but a few successes. But, sir, a majority of the trackers were consumed by the explosion. Do we continue?]

"Sir, we can’t find the tracker." One of the Dawnless members announced.

Ralph went silent for a moment.

The absence of the trackers meant there was no way to find similar blood signatures among the experiment sites. But he decided, "We will continue, the mission changes. Try and save as many people as we can. We can draw information from them. Give me the First Executive’s location, and tell the others to proceed with caution."

[Yes, sir. He went...]

Following Rector’s coordinates, Ralph led his team towards the First Executive’s site, near the Flameheart Kingdom’s first city. After two hours of trekking through a dense, mana-tinged forest, they reached a cluster of mountains. Two loomed close together, their peaks shrouded in mist.

The group got into the left mountain, and the scale of this experiment was larger than what the first executive experienced.

With Wick’s runes cloaking their presence, they slipped inside, descending into a vast underground laboratory. The air was sterile, heavy with the tang of chemicals and mana. Rows of glass tubes lined the chamber, over a hundred, each holding a figure suspended in viscous liquid, their forms distorted by grotesque bulges.

"Shit, this is massive," a Dawnless member muttered, teeth gritted in disgust.

Even for an underground organization, the kingdom’s experiments were sickening. Ralph’s fists clenched, his assassin’s calm fraying. ’If we cause a ruckus here now, the other mountain will be alerted.’ He turned to Wick. "Can you scout the other mountain? We’ll handle this."

Wick’s eyes narrowed. "There’s a sixth-star presence here, sir."

"Who said I’d fight him?" Ralph’s cloak shimmered as his presence vanished, Moonfang’s blade glinting faintly.

Wick nodded, fading into the shadows. The two Dawnless members held their positions, doubt flickering in their eyes. Ralph hadn’t taken the dragon’s blood; could he really take on a sixth-star?

...

Ralph crept closer, his steps silent on the polished floor. At the chamber’s center stood a sixth-star man, his red and blue eyes glowing faintly, beside a head researcher in a rune-etched coat.

"When will it be complete?" the man asked, his voice sharp.

"With recent progress, using direct royal blood as a stabilizer is working," the researcher replied smugly.

The man’s eyes narrowed. "Direct royal blood, not collateral?"

The researcher only smirked.

"Anyways, be faster, there have been reports of explosions on the outer mountains."

"Oh, then we prepared well." The head researcher nodded.

The man suddenly raised a hand, silencing him. His sword blazed with red fire, his left hand crackling with blue ice-flame.

Researchers and soldiers also drew back, their weapons ready as he swung at empty air. frёeweɓηovel_coɱ

Clang.

Ralph’s Moonfang met the blade, swallowing the fire with its void-like edge. He twisted, driving the dagger into the man’s side.

"Tch." The mage reacted swiftly, raising a defensive barrier, and Ralph unleashed the absorbed power in Moonfang.

Before his wide eyes, he found the purple flames they so wished to achieve engulf him.

Without waiting, Ralph pulled out another dagger, threw it into the distance, and chased after the burning enemy.

"Argh! Help, you bastards!" the man roared, half his body charred black, as he stumbled toward his soldiers. They were already locked in combat with the two Dawnless members, now dragonic titans wreathed in fire and lightning, tearing through thirty guards with ease.

’What is this?’ The man’s words choked as Ralph closed in, stabbing his charred side.

’I didn’t sense him.’ The man staggered, clutching his wound, searching for the researcher. He was the most important in this situation. However, the man now lay dead, a dagger stuck in his back.

’Shit,’ His senses didn’t pick up any presence when,

Slash.

Ralph severed the man’s right arm.

"Argh!" The man screamed, his left hand was already useless, it had already been charred beyond ruin from the previous attack.

"Do you know this blade?" Ralph grabbed his head, holding Moonfang close.

"Let me help you, blade of the Moon."

The man’s eyes widened in recognition.

"You... know its history too? I was shocked, too," Ralph laughed coldly. "Who’d have thought it ended with our ancestor?"

"They... they’ll..." the mage gasped.

"Huh?" Ralph leaned in.

"They’ll kill you," he spat, defiance flickering.

"I know, right?" Ralph smirked. "But imagine what they’ll face when they find it here."

The man’s eyes widened. He couldn’t imagine the consequences the kingdom would face.

"Sir!" The Dawnless members approached, gore-soaked but victorious, their dragonic forms receding. Just with the dragon’s blood, they had both taken care of over thirty guards.

"Oh yes, you are finished." Ralph glanced at them and focused on the man, "Now, what do you know?"

"...Are you really going to leave that blade here?" He seemed to care about the blade more than his life, and he was right in doing that.

"Eventually, this kingdom has to go." Ralph shook his head. Even if he didn’t do it, Baines would definitely do it. He could find another dagger later.

"What do you want?" the man growled.

"What did you think when you kept kidnapping without remorse?"

The man’s frown deepened, but he couldn’t deny it. They had offended a lot by their act; however, they were also ready to face that fact.

"Kill me."

"Sir, he knows nothing," a Dawnless member said, studying the man’s face.

Ralph nodded, severing the mage’s head with a swift stroke, and continued,

"When we release the subjects, save those that don’t swell."

They nodded. Ralph touched a glass tube, triggering a cascade of cracks. Figures spilled out, liquid pooling on the floor.

Splat... splat.

Fewer exploded than before, only a dozen out of over a hundred dissolved into blood paste.

"There!" A Dawnless member dove, pulling two figures from a swelling body.

"Move," Ralph shouted as he also dove in to pull the man and one of the people he saved. The second figure the man saved showed signs of exploding.

BOOOM!

Explosions rippled through the chamber, the remaining figures detonating in a chain reaction.

The trio fought through the chaos, dragging five survivors from the hundred-plus tubes. The mountain quaked, cracks spiderwebbing the walls. They fled without hesitation, emerging into the night, gasping for air.

"Haa... haa..." Ralph panted, scanning the darkness and sighting Wick, who had saved twenty.

’Should we have gone with him?’ The Dawnless members exchanged glances, marveling at Wick’s haul.

"Sir, there’s activity there," Wick said, pointing to a third mountain very close to the two mountains.

Ralph frowned. ’That wasn’t in the documents.’ He stood and decided.

"Let’s clear this place and retreat."

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