RB Chapter 154 Defeat

Chloe's entire being from cells to tissues to muscles were in a tense state. The danger radiating from the black cat had gone up exponentially.

Leah was now trembling, behind Chloe away from the crater. The black cat had made her its first target. If Chloe hadn't reacted in time, impeding its movements, she probably wouldn't have even been able to tell how she had died!

"Instantaneous acceleration driven by instinct. This makes it even hard to predict. So this is your true speed. Were you playing around before?" Chloe asked through gritted teeth.

Spectrum warriors had absolute control over every cell and process inside their bodies. Right now, that's the state Chloe's whole being was in. If she hadn't done that, her speed would have been lesser than that of the cat.

Zzzzzt!

An electric bolt arrived at her side.

"Elena, take care of Leah." Eric's voice had a heaviness that wasn't there before.

"Fascinating! Simply fascinating! You can match my instant movement...I applaud you on that, both of you. But I can smell it, the toll...every cell in your body is guzzling up energy and that burnt smell must be them burning up." It said, looking between the two.

"Why have you suddenly become chatty? Could it be that you feel that everything is within your grasp?" Eric spoke.

'Hurry up!' Elena was racing towards Leah, but to his enhanced metabolic speed, she appeared to be moving slowly, within his spectrum vision.

"How does it feel to experience this god-like feeling of speed? Like everything...is moving slowly." It revelled. Its confidence had been massively boosted and it even had time to spare into charting. All its injuries had already healed.

"As we traded moves, I studied the limitations of your abilities. You blocked my charge but I didn't even feel a thing! My whole body has been insulated." It made a gesture with its head.

Zzzzzt!

Eric vanished from his position beside Chloe, appearing in front of the crouched cat like he had teleported. His right foot kicked out.

The cat only leaped lightly to the side, dodging the leg, causing a gully to form horizontally with Eric's front being the point of origin. The compressed ionised air, cut through the water pond and the mud at the edge of the crater forming a ten inch wide, ten meter long chasm with tiny sparks lingering along its length.

"Sssssss!"

Before the cat could even take another course of action, another figure appeared at its side crouching low, a palm, already heading to its torso. You could even say that it's leap of evasion had pushed it right into the waiting palm.

The palm had an orange glow with electric snakes slithering in the air around it. The moment it made contact with the cat's fur, it was burnt away, exposing skin which also didn't survive.

The palm, like a knife through butter, directly entered inside the cat's body from the side, burning everything in its path to ashes and steam.

"Meo...!"

The cat had discovered it too late, causing it to be incinerated inside out, dying instantly.

"That was...dangerous!" Eric fell on his butt into the water the moment he deactivated his body relaxed. His legs were shaking, throat was parched and he felt weak all over.

"Too dangerous for my comfort." Chloe also plopped down into the muddy ground, close to the corpse.

"It became arrogant...if it had been just a tiny bit cautious, it could have escaped." He shook his head, mostly due to the beast's foolishness.

"I never thought that a creature could exist, capable of at least matching one of abilities of spectrum warriors without being one itself! It looks like we have to take our future missions seriously." Eric talked while feeling the moist mud on his skin. His body temperature was so high that steam was rising at the areas where the skin met the wet mud.

-----

A few minutes later...

"Leah, are you really fully healed? No discomfort anywhere, right?" Elena asked for the tenth time. She was showing too much concern for her friend. Leah was starting to get uncomfortable, a blush even appearing on her cheeks, but she didn't know how to get her off her case.

Eric was also staring, the look in his eyes containing immense worry. Elena was doing what he wanted to do in her place. But he had to watch his position, besides, Chloe had confessed her feelings and it wouldn't look good if he showed affection to another girl.

Elena was seriously examining Leah's body, searching for any anomaly.

They had once again convened by the campfire. There had been enough wood for the fire to keep going long enough until the battle's conclusion.

The cat's carcass was by the fire, between Chloe and Eric. It was currently 10:15pm, but none had any drowsiness in their eyes. The battle had stimulated their adrenaline and it would take a bit of time before the fatigue would settle in.

'He has fallen for her. He has fallen for her. He has fallen for her.' Chloe had her gaze facing downward, her knees to her chest with such a thought running through her mind constantly. She had seen his worry and instantly understood.

"Elena, don't tease her any further." A cold voice cut through the night. It had come from Chloe.

"Cough! We should celebrate upon returning to the western main camp...it will be for surviving our first mission." Eric tried to liven up the mood which had been dropped into the abyss after Chloe's words.

"At the very end, we were useless." Elena sounded dejected.

"Yeah. If Chloe hadn't...I would have died." Even Leah had a gloomy countenance.

"Don't beat yourself up. Its speed rivalled the short speed bursts of spectrum warriors. Even we were having a tough time. We were on tenterhooks." Eric explained, attracting their gazes.

"Really!? Such a beast can exist?" Elena was skeptical. She didn't want to believe him.

"There are many unknowns in this era. It would be best that we stay cautious even in the face of unintelligent lifeforms. They might have a genetic ability terrifying enough to wipe us out." Chloe advised and the others nodded in accent.

"Leah, Elena...Chloe and I are going to find a way to make you spectrum warriors. One of the bananas is being researched on." Eric gave them hope causing their eyes to light up.

"Really!" Elena became so excited that she literally jumped up and fist pumped into the sky.

"When are we departing?" Chloe asked from his side.

Tomorrow morning." He answered, his eyes, staring into the flames.