"This is dangerous!" I gasped, but I couldn’t stop accelerating—because it was so fun!
The world ahead was a blur. I could barely see the trees before dodging them—barely escaping death for the fifteenth ti!
The feeling of the wind brushing against my face while everything within the corners of my vision blurred was exciting in ways I couldn’t explain.
And do you know what made this worse?
Driving this monstrous Aether bike was extrely simple. Even a kid could hop on it and do the unthinkable!
To accelerate, I just needed to mash down on the pedal, and the brakes still worked with the brake levers. There were no gear shifts, no clutch levers—just two thumb-sized buttons on the handlebars.
The button on the right generated an Aether do around the bike, protecting it from everything, including deadly accidents. The button on the left unleashed Aether beams from the six pipes sticking forward—which I had initially assud were exhaust pipes—until I saw Deacon mowing down trees in his path with beams shooting out of them.
Clearly, these bikes weren’t ant for civilian use, nor were they made to be driven on civilian roads. They were designed for swift movent and devastating destructive capability, which is why they lacked clutch levers and gear shifts—but that also made them hard to control.
That was why they were limited to Limitless and Ascendants with superhuman reflexes.
However, this wasn’t half as shocking as the Ascendants on the Combat Walkers.
As soon as we shot out of the forest, the Combat Walkers leapt over us, landing with a loud bang that made the road sink—before speeding forward, leaving behind a blue trail.
"What?" I blinked in confusion, wondering if my eyes were playing tricks on .
I was moving at 180 km/hr, yet I could barely keep up with them.
"The suit forces the human body to move far beyond its usual capabilities. But of course, expect them to be hospitalized for months after using it once," Deacon’s voice ca through the earpiece, but I didn’t dare take my eyes off the road for even one second—or I might’ve ended up as at paste.
Anyway, we had already reached the buffer zone, and it wasn’t even 5:30 a.m. yet. We slowed down, carefully making our way up the cracked roads filled with destroyed vehicles and overgrown grass scattered everywhere. It was crazy to think this state was taken less than a week ago—it looked like a ghost town.
In the buffer zone, there were a few structures—probably in the dozens—but even they hadn’t been spared the destruction. A good number were still intact, but charred black by flas.
"Clear the roads. We can’t have these cars blocking the route when the army cos through," Deacon ordered.
"Yes, Sir!" the Combat Walker team roared in unison before charging toward the vehicles, suspiciously stacked like roadblocks.
They looked too organized to be considered a mistake.
"Sothing’s not right here," I said through the earpiece and turned to see Deacon nodding at .
The sun was still rising, so it was still considerably dark. Our mission was to clear the path and deal with any possible ambushes set up in the area—but now, we were the ones at risk of getting ambushed.
Swoosh!
My eyes couldn’t follow the projectile, but I heard it soaring through the air. A Combat Walker pilot—just inches away from a damaged vehicle—noticed it fast and crossed his arms over his head to block, only for a jar to strike his arm, shattering into pieces while liquid poured all over him.
"What?" I muttered in confusion.
Everyone stood frozen, gazing at the pilot who began sniffing himself with a confused look—one that quickly twisted into dread as he realized the contents of the jar.
"IT’S PETROL!" his scream was drowned beneath an orc war cry.
AIKAAAAAAA!
Swoosh!
A flaming arrow shot out of one of the buildings, striking the soldier square in the chest, forcing him to stagger back as terrifying flas engulfed him, illuminating the dark road!
"AAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The Ascendant’s scream sent shivers down our spines as we watched him run around—burning—while the other Combat Walker pilots backed away.
AIKAAAAAAA! AIKAAAAAAA!
AIKAAAAAAA! AIKAAAAAAA!
Loud cries ca from the sides as orc grunts rose from the overgrown bushes, hurling petrol-filled jars at us from both flanks!
"AN AMBUSH!" Deacon shouted, and we all activated our Aether bike barriers without hesitation.
Krash!
The barriers were instantly coated in oil as it flowed across every surface.
Only then did I realize—we made a deadly mistake.
Fla arrows rained down from the buildings, and I didn’t waste ti opening two doors—one ahead of my bike, the other behind —within the safety of the barrier.
BOOM!
Our Aether barriers held strong against the flas, shielding us from burning—but they couldn’t block the heat.
We were surrounded by raging fire. The temperature alone could kill us, and the thick smoke threatened to choke the life out of anyone who lingered too long.
"Shit!" I gasped, jumping backward—falling into my spatial door and shooting out a few ters away from my Aether bike.
Thud!
I rolled on the floor and sprang to my feet, eyes widening at the sight before .
Be it the Combat Walkers or the Aether bikes—everyone was burning.
Those in Combat Walkers ran helter-skelter, writhing in agony. Those on Aether bikes were trapped in a ring of fire, choking and dying from the intense heat. So even stepped on the pedal out of desperation—driving into each other, knocking down Combat Walker pilots, and ramming into buildings.
The entire battlefield had turned into chaos.
We were defeated—before we even had the chance to play our role!
Did Lee Bai plan this from the start?
Was this his intent all along?
How could we lose this battle before even getting the chance to fight?
Countless questions flooded my mind as I stood at the center of the chaos, watching an elite team of 50 Ascendants—equipped with sophisticated gear—fall to the crude tactics and weapons of these barbarians.
"How the fuck is this even possible..."
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