Chapter 121 - Chase And Changes

At the same time as Aldrin and the other trainees from Lonewind City began with their base construction, deep inside the sea of trees that sprawled as far as the eye could see from where the hill stood, a chase consisting of several Metadomes was underway.

At the forefront, a slender green construct standing at six meters tall was winding through the gaps between the trees. Despite its supposed weight that should be able to at least break the ground beneath it, it appeared as if it was effortlessly gliding on an even ground. If one would look closely, beneath the heels of the green Metadome, emerald-green refined energy swirled around like a mini cyclone.

Behind it, the other chasing Metadomes was led by a crimson feminine-figured Metadome. Compared to the green one, it's mowing down the short trees on its path to remain at its target's tail. It was also launching rockets occasionally to stop the green Metadome from diverging off its path and slowing it down for them to catch up.

That's all they could do since their Metadomes weren't built especially for mobility. Whether they could surround him or not, that depends on when the operator of the green Metadome grew exhausted from using too much refined energy.

"We had him surrounded, how come you let him take his Metadome?!" The operator of the crimson Metadome, the Armada, yelled angrily at her companions.

Truthfully, it's already her 10th time asking the same question. At each subsequent time, her companions gradually found it hard to continue answering her what they already told her.

"Janet. That one was a sly fox. He pretended to surrender but he had a remote module for his Metadome. When we're about to take him to custody, his Metadome almost killed Thereo!"

At least, there's still one soul who answered her question. It's a repeat so there's no more energy in it.

It's been hours since they started the chase. Some of them even began to blame the trainee for taking on the foolishness to fight against Carlos. If he didn't do that, the troubling chase wouldn't even happen.

However, they couldn't voice that out or they would receive the Tyrant Princess' ire. She's the one who recruited them, in the name of the Association. Simply put, they were hired by her to catch the criminal who was responsible for the Southern District disaster.

"Incompetent bastards." She clicked her tongue. The faces of those connected to her communication instantly soured. But then they're aware of how the Tyrant Princess acted.

Even though she's inactive for five years, they at least heard the story of her rise in strength. Most of them were late Stage 2 Energy Refiner but five years ago, Janet already reached that. They had no idea if she already reached Stage 3 or she got stuck at peak Stage 2.

Without her leading the pack of chasers, Carlos would be successful in escaping from them long ago.

"Theron and Julius, take the others and veer off to the left and right. That man wouldn't be courageous enough to continue venturing into unexplored areas. He's bound to turn around soon enough." Janet eventually commanded after her head cooled down.

After shouts of compliance, at least six Metadomes of different models separated from them, following what she ordered.

Time quickly passed and the chase still continued. However, they finally entered an unexplored area. The map affixed to their holographic screens switched to mapping mode to supplement the current exploration progress of the dimension.

"Huh? Aren't those Tree Sprites? Why are they aggressive now?" One of them commented after sweeping away the creature off his Metadome.

"That's not all. Every Rift Monsters we chanced upon were all turning aggressive. And don't you feel it? I felt like we're being spied on by something grim and dangerous… Janet, should we really continue this chase? We're in uncharted territory by now."

Inside the crimson Metadome, Janet whose eyes were still fixed to the green Metadome a few hundred meters away from them heard all those. She's aware. If they continued chasing, the risk of running into dangerous unrecorded Rift Monsters that could threaten even her would be heightened. Also, it didn't escape her notice that every single Rift Monster was aggressively attacking them, even those deemed 'harmless unless attacked'. With her mind occupied with the chase, she couldn't spare to think of a reason for it.

But even so, she's indignant at letting Carlos escape. Not after seeing his blade mercilessly impaled Aldrin. 

'No. It's that idiot little brother's fault. Too cocky to even think of fighting someone who can kill him easily in normal circumstances. He better not die or I'll stomp on his grave!' She cursed at Aldrin inwardly.

"Alright. Ten minutes. Give me ten minutes. If I failed to catch him by then. We're giving up."

In the end, she could also not risk the lives of others just for her slightly selfish intention. Either way, Carlos was doomed from the onset. Unless he could change his appearance, he wouldn't be able to leave the Dimension.

-

-

"Why are you here? Shouldn't you be directing the camp?" Through their open communication channel, Frederic spoke to Aldrin.

They're now outside their base camp, anticipating the arrival of the pack of Green-dotted Hyenas to show up. At first, they saw a small pack that numbered around ten. However, when they left the camp, Aldrin was informed by the sentries that there were more packs homing in towards their hill. The two combat groups led by Frederic and Faye, a battle-hardened woman from another group, would be hard-pressed at defending against them.

The battle would mark their first real combat experience while using their Metadomes. If they got careless in that kind of situation, casualties might occur as early as their 2nd day in the Dimension.

That's why Aldrin, as the camp leader, left the supervision to the two assistants remaining in the camp before selecting more trainees to reinforce the two groups.

"Hmm? Don't you need more hands here? I brought the gang." Aldrin smirked as the faces of Irina, Caroline and Clark popped up on the screen, joining their communication channel. "Anyway, can I take command?"

"Suit yourself. You're the better one at that job. You know me. I only want to smash things and brute force my way on everything."

"Great! Remember our training. Also, Chel, Emerson, and Rex, you don't mind, right?"

"No complaints, leader!" The three he addressed answered in chorus.

Aldrin smiled at them as he began spreading them into a formation. Naturally, he placed himself behind them, fully settling in his role as the commander and Support-type Energy Refiner.

Seconds later, his eyes focused on the map and watched as red dots indicated the Dimensional Creatures closing in on them.

'… This is unusual. Extremely unusual. Is this also brought about by the change in this Dimension?' He mused. 'I better move my Dimensional Clones here and just in case… I better be ready to also give me the multiplier. Even if I'm a late Stage 1 by now, Minor Aura Veil won't cut it if we find ourselves in a dire situation.'

"They're here! I'll go on ahead!" Frederic excitedly shouted, his Metadome charging forward to the first Green-spotted hyena that appeared from the dense sea of trees.