[24] SWIM THROUGH SOIL

Sliff faced a hollowbark tree, the one he had been cracking since before the break.

He inhaled deeply, feeling his Lumasurge running throughout his body as he pulled back a fist. "Eighty percent… Eighty percent!"

Sliff twisted his hips, launching a powerful Lumasurge enhanced right hook toward the chipped trunk of the hollowbark tree ahead. His fist connected, forming cracks that circled the trunk, breaking the tree into falling backward.

Sliff walked toward the fallen tree, marking it into six segments in his mind. He stood before one of them to start dividing the trunk into smaller segments. He interlocked his fingers then pulled back his hands behind the head. "Alright. Full power!"

He slammed his hands down as if they were a hammer, cracking the trunk all the way through.

Sliff exhaled from his mouth as he stood upright, wiping off the sweat on his forehead. "Getting used to it… But still have more than forty-five trees to go… In the next fifteen days I have to collect more than forty-five hundred nulaiphs. I'll do it!" He hammered down his hands at a different part of the fallen trunk.

He walked over to bring his wooden basket near the fallen segments.

Sliff wrapped his arms around one of the smaller segments, lifting the rocky column over the cylindrical basket, the veins on his forearms popping out. Then he started to shake the column above the basket, making fruits rain down.

"Can't even believe I'm lifting something so heavy… Wait… I can punch through rocks now, maybe that's more impressive—"

"Come on, kid!" Galarax said in a slightly pissed off tone, approaching from afar. "I told you to not use brute strength. When you are segmenting them, don't punch though the trunk or you'll spoil more than ten fruits each time."

"I'm trying, Galarax," Sliff said, frowning. "That's why I'm cracking the trunk all around instead of breaking it."

Galarax sighed. "Do that when you're segmenting them too, alright."

Sliff lowered his head. "It…takes too much time, Galarax…"

"Patience, shorty," Galarax said, opening his arms. "It's fine if you can't reach five-thousand. What matters is for you to control the power of your hits."

"I understand," Sliff said, nodding lazily. He turned his head to look at the forest of hollowbark trees, tens of rocky columns standing ahead. "I'll be patient, Galarax."

"Good—"

"But I'll reach that five-thousand mark, I promise."

Galarax's mouth opened reflexively before he lowered his head and scratched it with a chuckle. "Alright, kid. Get to it then!"

Sliff spun around, cracking his knuckles. "Yeah!"

He started walking to the fallen trunk as it still had to be segmented more. "I'm getting stronger…finally! The next time someone comes to kill me…I'll protect myself! I'll become strong enough to go see Vyzen on my own!" He hammered less harshly than last time at the fallen trunk, cracking it.

"But Galarax is right, I have to be patient with it. 'Whatever you gain, you lose quickly.'"

***

Under the moonlight, a broken wall amidst the rubble of the destroyed countryside hotel was lifted by the twins.

"They fell for it," Eber said with a laugh as he pushed the wall aside.

"The quicksand down there is hungrier than me," Bebin said, dusting off his hands. "They won't be coming back."

Upon hearing the fiery explosion moments earlier, the twins became cautious of the threat looming over them. They identified the two people approaching them as the Kosmos leaders, recognizing that the one carrying a hammer-axe was a skilled Huricus and the other a Granius.

With the time they had, they used their Granasurge enhanced Granaskill of morphing rocks to make statues which roughly resembled human-figures.

Then they sensed what they were anticipating—a powerful Huricapulse. But because they knew that Huricapulse senses only space and not life, they just moved around the statues as the Pulse sensed the space, making the Huricus think that there were only two people in the hotel. Their big size helped them even more in confusing the Huricus.

"Should we get outta here, brotha?" Bebin asked, scratching his head. "Or should we check if they're dead or not?"

Eber shook his head. "Let's go to the forest. It seems they knew exactly where we were, so I think we'll be getting big fries tailing us from now on."

"We will, brotha," Bebin said with a nod. "But we'll finish the task before that."

Eber raised his palm, the rock of its top pointing toward the forest. "We will. Let's go."

They made their way through the rubble toward the path, turning southward to enter the Mayval forest.

Bebin stopped, turning toward the hotel. "Did you hear that, brotha?"

"Hum?" Eber said, turning. "Hear what—?"

A smooth rock pillar rose from the trap hole the twins had dug, on top of which were…the Kosmos leaders—Drivic and Haydon.

"The fuck?" Eber said, surprised. "How'd you survive?"

The Kosmos leaders jumped toward the twins, the Huricus slowing their fall.

"But not even I could survive that quicksand," Bebin shouted, looking at the clean Kosmos leaders. "How did you?"

"It's simple," Haydon said as he and his partner landed before the twins. "Just don't fall for cheap tricks."

"Huh?"

***

"So you used Granasurge to survive that quake, huh?" Haydon said with a smirk. "That was a little smart."

Eber stomped a foot in front, pointing ahead. "How do get out of that?"

Haydon shrugged. "I used my Huricapulse and found nobody in the hole. But don't get me wrong, I jumped in with Drivic just to lure you two out."

Drivic sighed. "Don't lie to me ever again, Haydon."

"Huh?" Eber said in confusion. "What're you saying?"

Pointing at the twins, Eber smirked. "You're plan to hide from my Huricapulse might've worked if it was not powered up by a Granapulse."

Eber stood upright, tightening his fists. "So you knew about our plan from the very start?"

"That's right!" Haydon said. "Though, it wasn't a genius plan to begin with."

"Enough!" Eber yelled, slamming his fist into a palm. "You should've stayed down there. Now you're going to die a painful death."

"Who're you fooling?" Eber said, stepping forward with his axe pulled out. "You're known for running away like rats, twins, not for your power. Without your beastgear, you two are nothing."

Bebin passed his brother a pair of iron-spiked gloves. "Did he say something, brotha?"

Eber put on the Granius' beastgear which enhanced his Alchos. "Let them run their mouth, Beb. Those are their last words."

"Uh-huh?" Haydon rushed toward the twins, jumping with the hammer side of his blade to the front as he pulled his weapon behind his head.

Drivic placed his fists on the ground, creating a towering wall behind the twins.

Haydon slammed his hammer on top of Eber's head, only to be stopped by a multi-layered wall. "Pfft…" As his feet hit the ground, he spun his weapon over his head, gripping it tightly just after, swiping horizontally at the rocky wall in front of him with his axe.

The twins weren't behind the wall.

"What the—?" Haydon whipped his head downward, only to find he was getting sucked in by the ground. He glanced over his shoulder. Drivic was rushing toward the open field on the left. "How did the twins get there?"

He saw the twins creating a tower with their Granaskill, raining down spears of rock at the man rushing toward them.

Haydon slammed his palms together, the quicksand around his feet blasting away. He slammed down hands past his waist, creating a blast of air that lifted him into the air, following the Huricaskill with a rightward blast, launching himself the other way, toward the top of the tower.

Bebin flinched as he saw Haydon approaching at high speeds, shifting the target of his spear attacks.

Haydon simply pulled spun anti-clockwise, launching a spinning hammer-axe toward the twins.

Drivic slammed his fists on the ground, widening the wall which he creating to defend himself from the spear attacks.

The twins jumped off the tower as Haydon's weapon got closer to them, landing in between the tower and the wall created by Drivic.

Falling down, Haydon waved his hands leftward, the hammer-axe changing its trajectory toward the twins.

The reaction of the twins was unexpected as they stood their ground and created as many layers of walls all around themselves as they could, a precaution after they learned the weapon could change directions.

"Fools," Haydon thought as he landed on the field.

The hammer-axe sliced and slammed all the walls, tearing through them with ease, going in from one way and…not coming out the other?

Drivic grouped with Haydon shortly, leaving his position behind the wall. "I was expecting an impact, Haydon. What happened?"

Haydon shrugged, making a sour expression. "Maybe it sliced through them but stopped on the left walls."

Drivic sighed, squatting then placing his fists on the ground. He inhaled deeply. "We can't let them escape, Haydon, not from us too.

A tremor was directed toward the roofless room that the twins created in the middle of the field, breaking apart its walls like they were made out of sand.

The dust cloud settled, revealing just rubble again.

"We know you're hiding in there, twins," Haydon said in a tired tone. "Come out now."

The Kosmos leaders started walking toward the rubble, observing any movement whatsoever.

Drivic waved his hands outward, two pillars forming ahead that pushed out the rubble in front. "Where'd they go?"

Haydon rushed toward the middle of the rubble, looking side-to-side. "Huh? Did they really escape?"

The cloud that was covering the moon cleared, the light falling upon the Kosmos leaders amidst the rubble, revealing no signs of life.

"Damn you!" Haydon shouted, finding that underneath the rubble…there was nothing.

"How do they even do it?" Drivic said, amazed. "They leave no markings of any holes dug, whatsoever. Even if they go underground…how will we find them? There's no way for Huricapulse to locate them in the soil."

"There's more to it than that, Drivic," Haydon said, his nostrils puffing up with anger. "These bastards were covering themselves to hide their actual alchoskill. They can somehow breathe under the ground…"

Drivic scratched his forehead with a thumb. "How can they even do that?"

"What now?" Haydon said though gritted teeth. "Just like rats, they dug their way out of this one too. Damn twins!"

"I think moles do that," Drivic said in a matter of tone. "But as for what we have to do… I think we should inform Ragnaul about this. The hideout is quite near, isn't it?"

"What if we're followed?"

Drivic shrugged before a sigh. "A messenger, it is."

Haydon shook his head. "Can't believe we're returning without completing our mission."

"We'll get them next time," Drivic said, turning toward the path. "Let's just make out way to the nearest district."

Haydon sighed. "Fine…"

***

"It stinks here, brotha," Bebin complained. "Why're we in the same whole we dug for the hotel people?"

The darkness in the hole behind the hotel reeked with the gross smell of blood and flesh.

"Shut up, Beb," Eber said. "Just be thankful that we're alive." He breathed heavily.

"They were strong, weren't they?"

"Strong?" Eber said loudly. "When that axe sliced your wall, I knew we were screwed! That guy was handling us like we were nothing!"

"That's a lot, coming from you, brotha," Bebin said sincerely. "I just hope we can get out of here soon."

"Try to be a bit more grateful, you moron," Eber hissed. "If it wasn't for my swimming lessons, we'd be doomed, right now."

"But I'm the one who creates the water-soft soil," Bebin said, frowning. "You're just good at using Granasurge to swim through it."

Eber turned his head toward his brother.

"Are you looking at me?"

"Is sure am, Beb."

"Then sorry, brotha. You do all the work."

"Good," Eber said, turning away. "We'll continue from tomorrow."

"Are you sure, brotha?"

Eber sighed. "We'll try to follow the rock…after some time."

"I still can't believe they killed a Desperado spy, brotha."

"If he was that defenseless, then he deserved to die."

"Who do you think he was watching?"

Eber gasped. "I…don't know. Could he be not a Gecko or Monitor spy? If not…then who sent him? Actually, fuck it. He died, so we're safe."

"Do you think he was able to send a last message, brotha?"

"He exploded, how could he?"

"Yeah…my bad. How could he?"

***

A message started to burn in the rectangular piece of wood on Mamba's office desk in the Esbara hideout.

"Ah, the special Ignaskill of Kres… So he's dead…"

"…the twins are alive…" the message read.

He picked up the wooden slate, replacing it with a similar one.

He grinned as he put the ink-pen—which he had taken a few days before—where it belonged, before exiting the room.

"It starts now."