30 Warped Space

Each mission had an ending, positive or negative, depending on fate.

Adam had already been in critical situations twice, but now it was time, he could rest and take a deep breath.

"We won, right?" Adam muttered, looking at the breathless body of the Queen. 

"Yeah, we definitely did. The mission was flawlessly accomplished." Oren patted him on the shoulder encouragingly.

Adam smiled.

He didn't show it, but he was genuinely thrilled with his latest attack, rather their teamwork that made it possible.

It wasn't just him and Oren, if they were the only ones involved in the mission, they wouldn't have been able to operate so smoothly and efficiently. Silvana and Zola had contributed greatly to their victory, even though they were many kilometers away.

This was exactly how he had envisioned Phantom's work. It may not have been as deadly and epic as the battle against Prime Stone Goliath, but no one needed to be on the verge of death all the time.

"By the way, take the Queen's genes." Oren waved his hand, "In return, I'll take three more Winged Golden Searchers."

"Are you sure?" Adam asked, puzzled.

"Of course." Oren shrugged, "After all, you hit the final strike. What's more, if you turn them into neutral genes, the exchange will be more than fair."

Then, Silvana's voice echoed in Adam's ear.

'Queen of the Golden Searchers is a Green Threat Level, Reb Book. So you'll get a bit more genes than usual, but not as many as for Prime Type. It's a slightly different level.' Silvana explained.

"I see..." Adam nodded thoughtfully before summoning Revolve.

[Queen of the Golden Searchers Gene x3 - has been placed in your Vault!]

'Hmm, interesting. It seems hunting rarer and stronger monsters is really a good way to get stronger as fast as possible. However... I don't want to fight someone like Prime Stone Goliath again, that was frightening.' Adam internally pondered while gathering the genes of the other monsters.

The mission was complete and more, for they hadn't just obtained a Golden Egg, they had destroyed an entire Nest. They wouldn't get any extra reward from the mission department for this, but it opened up another opportunity for them to collect a veritable mountain of materials.

For over two hours, Felix and Verna collected wings, blades, and horns of the Golden Searchers as well as the usual eggs. The truck was filled to the limit, and only one untouched object was left in the entire Nest - Golden Egg.

"I hope the king won't wake up because of our touch?" Adam scratched the back of his head.

Oren shook his head.

"Only the Queen can awaken the King, to some extent, that's the limitation of all Golden Searchers, for their King is actually incredibly powerful."

"By the way... I can't understand something. I'm addressing all of you, Silvana, you and Zola." Adam said seriously.

"Sure. We're all listening to you."

They spoke at the same time. 

"This may seem logical to you, but I've only recently become a Phantom, and the variety of monsters confuses me. For example, there's the Golden Searcher, but there's the Winged Golden Searcher, whose threat level is higher. In theory, either of them could be Prime Type, right?" Adam asked with a wave of his hand.

Oren nodded.

"Yeah, the chances are slim, but there are Prime versions of them living in some Nest."

"Then, there are rarer monsters like the Queen and the Four-Legged Living Spring. In most of the cases they are noted in the Red Book, am I confusing anything?"

Oren nodded again.

"That is correct, however, the King of the Golden Searchers is also in the Red Book and is a rare subspecies of the species. Golden Searchers have a long hierarchy, so their King is a Blue Threat Level monster. Well, you already know that." Oren shrugged.

Adam touched his chin.

"In that case... In theory, there could be a Prime King dwelling in some Nest, couldn't there?" Adam suggested.

Oren's face contorted as if he had heard a death sentence.

"Is something wrong?" Adam was puzzled.

"Nah, it's fine. I was just imagining how horrible it would be. It's possible, because although Kings are rare, there aren't too few of them in general, just have to look for them. Obviously, some of them are weaker, and some are stronger. I think Silvana can explain it better than I can." Oren waved his hand, heading towards Golden Egg.

'Oren is correct.' Silvana said calmly, 'It's just that the odds are incredibly slim. You'd rather win at the casino than face the Prime King, though you wouldn't have time to even think about it. Prime King would kill you in a second. To give you an example - only four Prime Kings have been documented in the last ten years. We barely have a few photos.'

"I see... Well, now I'm starting to get a better understanding of how things work around here."

Crackle.

Oren, wrapping both hands around the Golden Egg, lifted it up, heading for the exit. The egg was the size of a man and heavy enough, that normal humans would have to team up to lift it.

When they left the Nest, the sun had already passed the zenith line, about to sink below the horizon in a few hours and give way to the lonely moon.

"Good job! Now we can go home!" Oren exclaimed happily, tying Golden Egg to the top of the truck. Very tight and possibly rough, still Golden Egg wouldn't get hurt even if it got hit by a missile.

"Can we go back?" Felix asked with a tired look.

"I guess so!" Oren smiled widely.

Then, his face became more serious, as well as Adam's.

'North of you, a few kilometers away, one group of Phantoms was caught in an ambush. From the looks of it, they're not doing well.' Silvana quickly informed Adam, as did Zola to Oren.

Felix understood everything from the looks on their faces.

"Shit... Do we really have to rescue someone again?"

"No."

Adam coldly replied.

"But... Adam, they need our help!" Oren exclaimed in a confused manner.

Adam nodded with a deep gaze.

"I know, just as well that I'm not going to risk any more of my men. Felix and Verna survived last time by a miracle, and so did I. We're tired and exhausted, we won't be of much use, and if we die, leave morality behind, it will be a huge loss to the Citadel."

Oren wanted to say something, but the words just stuck in his throat. Somehow, he felt he couldn't condemn Adam for such a decision.

"Let's go back home. I want to see my family, like all of you." Adam waved his hand, heading toward the truck.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

At the same moment, a hundred meters away from them, space distorted as if a huge invisible object had appeared, causing everything around it to warp.

The transparent sphere trembled slightly, gradually increasing its momentum, emitting a strange sound as if the universe was about to escape somewhere.

Adam stared at the sphere as if mesmerized, while the others quickly walked into Truck.

"Why is he standing...?" Oren muttered in confusion, then he got a shocked expression.

"Fuck! Adam! Hurry up and run away!" Oren exclaimed, rushing out of the truck.

Whooooooooooooooosh.

Suddenly, with a loud shuddering sound like a thousand disks at the roll of thunder, the sphere shrank, completely disappearing, just like Adam.

"Agh...?"

Adam's eyes went wide.

Then he stopped hearing Silvana's voice for the first time in days, finding himself, all alone. Only the freezing wind and massive flakes of snow surrounded him, preparing him for a brutal blizzard.

"Where am I...?"