Chapter 106: The case of still feeling!

"He's arrived, sir. I'm directing him up to your office." A greedy and arrogant antagonist heard from his assistant through the phone as he sat in his comfortable and dark chair. "Yo, my arsenal and confidence is ready to receive your intel and retrieve your money, was there a reason I had to come in?" Said a young man with cream blonde hair and cream beige eyes and a black crop top jacket equipped with a confident grin before he noticed the much older more capable men present in chairs on the right side of the office, sitting with their silence. "You'll be working alongside my specialized unit of Artifact mercenaries for the retrieval of the most vital and precious final piece in this collection of mine, saved our toughest for last but you'll appreciate being paid hundred times more than for past assignments for this one. I'll also trust you into my circle." The antagonist informed his young subordinate. Hye Walker couldn't express how little he cared about his team or the difficulty of the retrieval any more through his expression but when pay was mentioned, a fire lit up in his eye. "You'll be securing an object of our interest buried in a vast cave of one of Scotland's largest forests. The continent of the other creatures, Europe. Enter the cavernous ruins and retrieve a sword they call the Klesean Prince's blade, specially forged for his royalty, a story book proves to be true. According to the Lore custodian's description in one of his journals, it'll be perfect to place it in the top five of my collection." The Antagonist relayed before they were dismissed. Hye Walker and his new team made up of Artifact empowered mercenaries left after checking the location sent on the devices equipped to their wrists. Mercenary one shot up electricity into the air as he began to step forward. "Guys, they never told us what we're up against!" Mercenary four shouted out as soon as it came to his realization and the team left the premises. "Found our weak link that we'll have to coddle. Don't slow the rest of us down, you're probably welcome to leave?" Hye Walked blurted out in reply. He heard laughter from behind him which turned his head and expression into a curious one. "Keep that same energy and mentality in there. I've heard of your reputation, kid, don't let me die to a failed attempt, too many mercenaries care about each other in this throat-cut profession. Focus on retrieval and let me go out in glory if I make that one mistake." Lead Mercenary two requested as he threw out his hand for a shake. Hye shook his hand as he held a lost expression on his face. "Whatever, all of my fellas, can we just get a freakin' move on already to Scotland and group up with the gunners in silence now?!" Lead mercenary three blurted out with a temper before he grabbed out eye provoking earplugs. "What is that guy's sudden burst of temper and attitude for?" Hye asked with an expression pointing towards curiosity. "That artifact which he has equipped empowers him but unlike some of ours, his has a price. He can silence whatever he or we would do, however, his hearing is heavily enhanced sometimes which flares up his temper. Excellent scouter, terrible conversationalist. He's harmless." Mercenary four answered Hye's question before he jogged to catch up with the others who were already on the move. The squadron boarded their employer's private jet and flew out to a privately owned warehouse and had their pick of the finest guns and equipment in the country before they headed towards the preparation site outside of the cave. Hye Walker walked into the forest to do Bathroom number 1, he heard exceptionally unnerving growls within the forest but didn't see any creature until he surveyed the forest around him twice and saw a mangy black dog tiptoeing, not removing its eyes off of him. Hye refused to remove his own in return. He couldn't answer a single question he asked about it in his thoughts but it wasn't aggressive. Hye Walker continued staring as it slowly walked away, however, still within his sight then the black dog vanished before his very eyes when he had blinked. He slowly nodded and shrugged before regrouping with his team. A man that was armored from his shoulders to his shins in cream beige and black with Cream beige filled eyes witnessed the otherworldly phenomenon from the trees far above it. "So far, she's been scarily accurate in her predictions, Ant, and a dark mutt just appeared too but I guess I can try to keep them starving, hopefully these Artifact mercs aren't total slouches." The cream beige haired man stated to someone over a communicator in his hand. He left an image of himself as he soared in a gaseous form from his vantage point. "We have no clue what could possibly lie in the cave and the boss told me personally, every scouting team that we sent had vanished but now we have Varcle. The plan is that he'll empower us before we move in with his own empowerment of assured silence, holding no fire against any of the creatures that we'll stumble across in there. None of them want to look out for your safety." Mercenary one briefed and ordered the team. "Mercenary two, prep our prime light source." Mercenary one ordered, the sub leader snapped, setting his entire hand on fire as he checked his holster with the other to be sure it was there when he realized he might have forgotten in the truck. The four mercenaries with empowered artifacts took the lead with the lower ranked gunmen staying close to their side and vigilant. "Dude, and your gun is where exactly?!" Lead Mercenary four asked Hye as he walked in nonchalantly surveying as far as Mercenary two's light allowed him in the cave's vast darkness. Hye showed him his grin before moving his fingers as though he were sprinkling actual salt but instead it was cream beige. "I am the weapon." Hye Walker replied before he decided he wasn't worth speaking to and continued in silence. As the squad armed tooth and toe team made their way through the darkness with only a living torch to light the dark, a lower ranking mercenary began shooting bats as they abruptly flew past. Mercenary one calmed him down then through strange halls where they gunned down carnivorous humanoid monsters with dark gray flesh the team fortunately followed a path which led to a vast area of the caverns where there was light from many blue flames. "Why didn't you do anything to help us, you dimwit?!" Mercenary four shouted out angrily towards Hye as he inched closer to his face. "There's some kind of creature down here guarding this artifact which we're after. I'm guessing and hoping it will be worth my effort to vanquish. You fools had the situation, easy work, eh— maybe not the fodder though." Hye replied until the end with a whispery volume. "You've never worked with a team, have ya?" Mercenary two asked as he held his nose out of frustration. Hye looked down and shrugged as he gave him his answer of how many. The team jumped into stances as two lower ranking members vanished from a light blue and purple blur each of them witnessed individually. Hye Walker felt forced to summon his sword assuming it was an otherworldly creature's astounding speed that flew past every member, each of the remaining fourteen. Hearing hissing louder than any they've heard before from behind him in the vastly spaced crater with a pillar in the center, the fourteen had seen a creature that they couldn't remove their sight from, a beautifully glowing, flaming blue and violet serpent that was almost the size of an average 20 story building which circled the pillar in the center of the crater. "Master, this might be how it ends but at least I figured out my limits if it is the case!" Hye Walker whispered to himself as he formed his blade from seemingly nowhere. Everyone else heard him before Mercenary one commanded they opened fire but every bullet proved ineffective against the serpent that had grown to a size that would leave professionals and lovers speechless. Hye Walker first made his way towards the back and hyped himself up until his hair turned cream beige before he ran behind it as the others took up its attention with their worthless fire before he lowered himself then took advantage of his immense leg strength to jump up to its body with the other mercenaries that spotted him blown into shock as he reminded them of the blur that flew past them earlier. "We really didn't come prepared for something like this at all, pull back, pull back men and we'll keep our lives and give a report on this creature." Mercenary one shouted with an urgent tone as he and the rest of the men continued firing lead into the creature as he stared at them from above. Hye Walker sprinted to its head, he felt like a spec as his fellow hired mercenaries resembled specks of dust to him. Hye tested if his blade could actually penetrate it first yet with each light poke to no avail his temper was flaring up resulting in the swordsman jamming it in with all of his combined force causing it to throw him off as he alerted and disrupted its loving nature. As it began to move erratically causing a few humongous rocks above to begin to drop, Hye was falling, asking himself what could kill the creature if a grand swordsman like himself was not able to achieve a feat before he realized that he was on the ground, no longer in gravity's hands left wondering another question related to this new realization. Mercenary two witnessed a mysterious glowing figure in the air holding the creature still as he looked back being the final member to escape the cavern before it caved in, the greatest boulder he'd ever seen in person slammed to the ground too close for comfort. "We're not alone in this place, fellas. There was a man that saved us once we turned around, holding it at bay!" Said Mercenary four as loud as he could while out of breath, stuck feeling utter disbelief on the ground as he struggled to catch his breath and pick himself up until Mercenary two helped. "Yeah, no, we aren't but there's unfortunately less of us." Mercenary one replied as he counted ten lower ranking mercenaries. "Something— maybe somehow that thing, nabbed two of us, sir!" Said a lower ranking mercenary employed by the artifact collector. "Man, I did not sign up for this, they told me otherworldly and never seen before, I was ready for some excitement but guaranteed death is too much!" Another shouted with a frightful tone. Even more began complaining and mumbling to each other until Mercenary one steered back in line and helped them regain their composure. "Something that dangerous is living right beneath this land, could something else always be living right under our feet in the states and it feels like we haven't even scratched the surface of this cave to acquire?" Mercenary one asked himself. Mercenary four noticed Hye and Mercenary one stuck in their mind, one seeming disappointed and the other thoughtful, before he works up the courage and takes a walk up to Mercenary one and requests orders from him as the others talk amongst themselves, each taking the situation in differently. "I still want those plentiful dollars boss, is there an alternative route of some kind we could take and sneak around it?" An underling mercenary asked with emphasis on the word around as he suggested. "No. It really isn't worth the risk one bit, we'll flee, I'll report and request a weapon we could use to smack it into oblivion." Mercenary one responded with a humorless tone before he gestured by pounding his hand with his fist. Mercenary two shakes his head as he pulls out a cigar from his hip. "Would've been to me, this is shameful." He mumbles to himself. The team began moving on from the failed retrieval and back taking the same route they came from, barely having entered the cavern that got caved in, anyway. Hye caught a miniature spear that almost ended the life of a lower ranked mercenary part of the team in the Knick of time, the squad of ten began spraying the hole of where the miniature spear was thrown swiftly originated. Mercenary two conjured flames and directed its path with such precision that he was able to burn inside only the hole to be sure of the unseen creature's death. "Let's make our way out of here quicker than this, men!" Mercenary one ordered as the squadron sprinted down the path they originally came from to begin the journey. Hye noticed Mercenary two beside him but continued observing the unique miniature spear that almost removed one of his teammate's heads. "Could these belong to that mythical Scottish creature that makes homes out of fallen kingdoms and we were here for a sword that belonged to an ancient prince or something. This hole could lead to it which means— oh, wow." Hye recollected while asking Mercenary two rhetorically as he felt confident on his deduction. "Four mentioned something about a man on a cloud of smoke in beige keeping it from smashing us into mush while we all fled, you think we can actually group with this figure of his, he might have killed it for us and the three of us could band together to actually succeed and get paid?" Mercenary two asked aloud with excitement on his face. Hye looked at him as though he were out of his mind, Mercenary two took notice of his ally's expression. "There's only two types of folks in this business, the crazy kind and lazy kind. One succeeds while the other fails." Mercenary two commented regarding his expression. Hye's curiosity kicked in when he remembered him suddenly being rescued by a mysterious supernatural cloud of smoke. Mercenary two loved Hye's next facial expression which told him enough words as the two artifact mercenaries shook hands once more. Hye and Mercenary two walked back to the entrance of the area that was sealed by the gigantic boulder, the two could not hear any sound neither from the monster or a potential individual in the cavern with them, Mercenary two attempted to move the boulder with all of his might before he gave up. "Check this out." Hye boasted a smug grin before his hair and eyes shifted to the color of cream beige before he pushed it aside enough for them to squeeze through. "Yeah, yeah. Maybe that was Impressive?" Mercenary two slowly nodded with his New Yorker accent and a tone of false uncertainty prior to squeezing through the entry Hye opened with him following afterwards. "Seems Mercenary four might not have been delusional, something managed to have run that thing off somehow?" Hye noted aloud as he surveyed the area that his unit once attempted a one-sided fight with the creature. The two continued wandering around and towards the other end the serpent blocked them from making it to earlier as it crashed the ceiling and stalagmite with boulders fell, the same the two had to traverse over on their way towards a castle that left them astounded but it was in about the shape of ancient home. The artifact retriever and empowered mercenary with a drive for success had squadrons of troops resembling small human men with sharp teeth, red hats and yellow shot eyes armed with the same spears which almost murdered one of their own. The two firmly shook hands proudly once more before moving forward deeper this time within this mysterious buried castle. Through the entrance, pass the lobby, towards the stairs they've come across as they wandered without a clue of where they were meant to be heading, though following one another's suggestion when a new turn came about without hesitation. They stumbled into a corridor as one would in an established castle where royalty lived in the past, many doors leading to many rooms. Hye followed Mercenary two's lead in silence as he went on with a particularly boring story he was regaling, Mercenary two led the duo into a chamber with a lengthy table with various chairs pushed in and left neatly. Heavy weight came upon Hye and Mercenary two as one of their legs fell and Hye fell to the floor, unable to control their limbs. Hye could see some sort of unfamiliar creature, still able to speak, he asked if he could see one on him but Mercenary two denied there was such a thing with them. Suddenly, Hye was witnessing a cloud of smoke with cream beige eyes staring into his soul as he lifted himself back up, only able to push to one knee but he had freedom to move his head. The cloud of darkened smoke stood in front of him for five minutes before it moved away and the two heard a strangely demonic voice near them yet they couldn't see, they could hear the steps. "I'll give you my word that I won't make it painful, filled with suffering and agony lasting weeks if you answer my questions. Your death will be so quick that you'd never notice." The Greedy mercenary Duo heard being promised by an unknown entity with heavy steps behind them as they were left in a powerless position. The two remained silent, one's pride wouldn't allow him to admit defeat as the others' resolve to never fail helped him keep his fear in check as he closed his eyes waiting. "Choosing silence is choosing a painful death!" The duo heard before Hye recollected his one-sided loss against the serpent from earlier and he couldn't contain his temper. Cream beige ashes began to fall gently from thin air, the man speaking from behind the duo's eyes began widening with the sensation of an epiphany as Mercenary two's immediately with shock and awe alongside him. "Death doesn't have the grip to keep hold of me for long!" Hye shouted cementing another fact that left him further baffled for the man with the demonically deep voice from behind as Hye regained control over his body, accurately measuring their distance as he had been pacing behind him, the ashen sword mastering youth with a mouth performed a front kick that blew the cream beige armored attacker soaring away crashing directly into the council chamber's walls before he launched a spear with him that successfully impaled him. Mercenary two's paralysis was cured as his attacker's head slowly lowered and the man's body went limp. Hye couldn't see his face as the man's chin touched his chest but he couldn't help but respect his suit and gear. "Now see, moments like this pierce my heart and actually grab my attention! That was something I could not anticipate!" Said the man as he abruptly awoke shortly after with the spear that was launched still piercing through. He swiftly realized his heart was being literally penetrated by the spear until he carefully removed it. Hye and Mercenary two began backing away as the man clad in cream Beige armor approached with a nonchalant attitude but awkward friendly smile. Hye began having a vision of the man approaching with eyes consumed by a thick cloud of smoke the closer he inched before memories began rushing to the front of his mind. Derek was taken aback by the kid's explosive ashen constructs blowing him as far as they did and the artifact mercenary gaining enough to power through his lower level restraints. The descendant of the lost smoken and ashen nations recognized the one standing in front but waited until Hye could, until Derek reprioritized the mission that he was sent to complete and walked away. "You're Master Jono's best friend, right?!" Hye called out, halting the hero, he looked back without turning around, then grinned and nodded before he began moving again. Hye had sprinted to catch up with him, leaving Mercenary two to have to feel as though he should follow them. "I remember now. You helped rescue me from my kidnappers." Hye shouted from his revelation after he caught up with him. "Yeah, so, let me ask you, would Rey approve of you working for one of the most corrupted men on the planet earth and adding to his power or do I not know him as well as I think I do?" Derek asked with a tone of disappointment. "Errm— uhhh— rather than a simple hi you actually have the nerve to pull that card, it won't work on me, he gave me the responsibility and the accountable adult talk ages ago. Money is a necessity and this guy pays exceptionally well for my exceptional talent." Hye replied with an upset expression. Derek turned his head downward to look him in the eyes before he responded. "An adult who proudly misuse what they were taught against its intended purpose. I don't have time for any of this right now and I'd strongly suggest that you two should vacate and regroup with the others before you get yourselves stuck deeper then you won't be able to escape and you'll starve. None of us want that." Derek replied with a tone conveying his irritation. Mercenary two turned his eyes toward him as the realization hit him. "He's tryna get our success and money, dude. He's after the sword we're going to find!" Mercenary two whispered into Hye's ear after he stopped him and pulled him back. Derek heard as if he weren't whispering from a reasonable distance. Derek forced the two to ragdoll to the ground and drop after they breathed in his smoke, though it was less effective on Hye while it angered him and flustered his temper. "Add the word unapologetically next to proudly." Derek shouted as he had continued walking out of the castle's council chamber. Hye tried to burst out, he used every bit of strength but he had to come to the conclusion that he could not set himself free. "You know THE Mistdeemer pretty closely but you seriously refuse to brag about it?!" Mercenary two asked unsure until he committed to his assumption. Hye sighed and rolled his eyes. "I don't actually but when I was a child ages ago, my father along with his friend, the hero that just deserted us, rescued me and dozens of other children from a ring of literal childnappers. I remember that entire week before, they kept telling us we were precious and it creeped me out. I haven't seen him since I was nearly eight years old." Hye explained as he contemplated. "He isn't serious about abandoning us down here, right? I've never heard of him killing or rumors of him leaving anyone behind." Mercenary two asked with a tone of utter curiosity. "Who knows, his costume was white back then but now he's wearing black, gray and some sort of weird yellow. I've seen enough media to see the symbolism." Hye replied. Time passed them by, an hour or two, the duo had no way of keeping track of it. The boredom and moments to think about their past was torturous for Mercenary two but it eventually was humbling for Hye Walker especially as the flooding of consideration for what his adoptive father would think of him and disapprove of his fall to his greed. The thoughts of those that he had surrounded himself with accompanied by the cutthroat world of his fairly recent work. "Alright, alright, we've got to get our legs revvin'! It's a stampede!" The two heard from Derek as the feeling in their bodies returned. Hye made it up to his knees and rested without hesitation but Mercenary two took his time to pick himself off the ground and laid where he were until he looked and realized Mistdeemer wasn't kidding about a stampede as skinless horses with skinless male torsos stuck on their bodies were racing down the chamber. Mercenary two kipped up before blasting himself away like a jet as he swiftly caught up near the others. "Those would have to be unbelievably tough if they sent him fleeing!" Hye thought out loud with a whisper. "Nah, I just have what I came here for and I don't see the point in wasting my time with them." Derek shouted as he purposefully kept up with Hye's sprinting. The Trio rushed out from where they had entered the chambers, leaving the creatures in their dust, before the castle completely collapsed in and they left a ruined scene.