Chapter 304: Cliff's Real Mission

"All that's left is to try to convince these guys to follow our lead." Cliff sighed. 

Cliff had become the primary person in charge of converting or convincing newly hired recruits to join Seeker's armies. This is because Cliff had two powerful arsenals to convince people. Truth and Lies.

But they came at great cost. After embedding the memories of a naked Lowengren, Cliff, To his horror, spent several hours watching a nude Harker who kept making speeches to convince those who listen to join their side.

With Harker's Truths and Lowengren's Lies in his memory, Cliff was able to convince many. Most of the new soldiers in the Lingkaran were people who he had managed to convince. An alien threat was proven to exist. And along with this proof, Cliff threw in Lowengren's lies of what the Aragarians would do in harvesting organs and blood. Switching back to Harker's Truth, Cliff would then show the horrifying events that happened in Pangea.

The soldiers were disgusted, and many vomited as unreleased footage of the organ-harvesting, child-predating, and human-trafficking videos were shown. Feltrick Ung-Glaive was once more revealed, and proof of his alien heritage was also shown.

And finally, when Cliff brought forward several of the WGP's allies and opened their heart to prove that they were Planted, the many soldiers decided to join. The Empress and Emperors all declared it to be true and convinced those who were still hesitant to join.

And so, Cliff's remaining mission is to convince the newly acquired army and make them join.

"Why did we have to kill the Aragarian soldiers? Wouldn't it have been better for them to be used as proofs?" 

"Not anymore. After the Kraken, we do not know how the Aragarians will reply. They are likely keeping a close watch on them one way or the other. So the best way is to kill them immediately." Lennox answered.

"Make sense. Still… it feels weird that Seeker gave me such an easy mission."

His mission had succeeded quite easily as the King Naga and all the soldiers inside were captured.

Cliff continued to relax as he was mentally playing a game that all Heroes received from Lennox. Last week, Lennox rolled out a more superior version of the game wherein players can link and trade with one another or battle if they hold each other's hands.

It was then he felt it.

Cliff abruptly stood up from his seat.

"What? That was...!" Cliff was shocked.

"Ah. Your real mission is here." Lennox answered.

"How? Why? You can't mean?!"

"He's probably itching to fight someone. It'd be costly if he met any other potential heroes. Meryl's not here. So you're up, Cliff." Lennox explained.

"Wait! You want me to fight that?!"

"Not just you. All the Unlocked here. This is another lesson. You've shown just how great the gap is between a normal human and an Unlocked. Now, it's time to show the Unlocked how useless they are in front of real power. Of course, you know this. So the purpose of this is to force you to grow. Since your ascension and acquisition of the Heroes Will, you've grown quite lax. Time to show you the next step."

Sweat poured down on Cliff's back. He could feel the tremendous power and wildness of this monster. Although it wasn't at the level that Overcomers or Near-Overcomers possess, Cliff knew that this person would be stronger than the Near-Overcomes that Cliff got acquainted with. And there was another factor. He could feel a great hatred that this person was emanating. 

"Ge-General!" Gardo immediately communicated with Cliff.

"I know! I'm heading out! All Unlocked! Gear up! Gear up with your standard Unlocked Suits! An enemy is here!" Cliff cursed.

"So that's why you made these Unlocked suits with subpar materials. You had all planned for us to get massacred!" Cliff was gritting his teeth and began to tremble in rage.

"Don't look at me. Blame Seeker."

"Damn it! I knew there was something wrong with this mission!" Cliff began to walk out.

Although the order was already sent out, Gardo felt extremely nervous about being alone.

"La-Lander! Small Time Drug Dealers! Warfreakz! Report to my position! Hurry up and bring my suit!" Gardo ordered seriously.

"Dalisay Team! Suit up and prepare for battle as well. We have a guest." Gardo then sent them a feed of what he saw underwater.

The figure wasn't even wearing an Exoskeleton or had any special devices to aid him on his Path. Yet Gardo felt more pressure on this man than Typical.

It was a tall young man. He had only one arm and moved easily across the water. Gardo had never met this man but had heard so much about him.

"We can battle inside the Lingkaran, you know. I doubt your best friend would want a battle to occur out here. Even if it's Underwater." 

"He's no friend of mine. Relax. I'll go easy on you."

It was the first time Gardo felt such fear in his heart.

"The heck?! My Skill isn't not working! Why am I afraid? I can't even throw out a joke!" Gardo couldn't understand it. When he began to understand his Skill, he realized that it was something that could destroy momentum and affect the pace. His comical personality, aided by his jokes, was something that could defuse tension, distract and delay. He even heard that Lowengren discovered someone who had a similar skill but did it unconsciously.

But now, he couldn't bring himself to make a joke. It was as if the pressure in front of him was hindering him from doing anything.

"You walk a path similar to that of my wife? Too bad it's too weak. This is my Zone. I am in control."

It was then that another Exoskeleton could be seen moving underwater.

"General Cliff!" Gardo exclaimed.

"Man, I'm so glad you're here!"

Cliff, however, had a sour expression.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! And here I thought this was an easy mission!"

"You can't beat him?"

"No! Can't you feel it? He ain't an Overcomer yet. But this isn't something a Hero can produce! That's something in between the Hero and Overcomer! A World Champion!" Cliff cursed.

"Oh. It looks like I'll lose my first limbs here, huh?" Gardo tried to laugh.

"Lynd. It's good to see you." Cliff called out nervously.

"Cliff. Where's that fool? Seeker?"

"He's not here. Where have you been? I heard we lost contact with you three weeks ago. By the time I surfaced from the sea, traces of you were gone." Cliff was very careful with his words.

"Of course. Those four imbeciles chased me for a long time. Did those two die?"

"No. If you're referring to the Zulu and the Eden family head, they're alive."

"Oh? So there were people on our side watching! They watched me get beaten up and crushed into a near-death state! The Zulu wouldn't have survived if not treated immediately. That Eden flower also tried to bite my hand off, but the desolation would have killed her within twenty minutes. And yet those two live?!" The water around Lynd was whirling. Lynd's shout echoed throughout the deep sea.

"Lynd! Calm down! I've been there! You've seen it! Seeker kept throwing me off to fight dangerous missions! I fought Near-Overcomers! It was crazy and bad, but look! I'm a Hero now! Me! Cliff Fangwood! I was that stupid kid that tried to bully Seeker! Seeker may have been a little harsh at you-"

"A little HARSH!?" Lynd thundered.

A layer of the water around Lynd was frozen, but then a strange green heat appeared and caused the water around Lynd to boil.

"Three Heroes and a Near-Overcomer! And that man was stronger than that little pup that you fought back then!" 

"I fought them and their armies! And if that wasn't enough, those damned Aragarians tried to look for me! And while all of that was happening, all your forces watched as they try to kill me and harvest my body parts!"

"I understand, Lynd! Seeker did me wrong as well! I even kissed a terrorist at his command! He sent me to the Kraken to fight Emperors, werewolves, Grant Hermes, and all those horrifying things! But that's what we need! We have to overcome!"

"Did you lose your limbs in that battle?! Did you transplant another man's organ on your body?! Did you have to resolve cannibalism and had to stay at the bottom of the ocean for weeks! You fought with allies, and Seeker himself was there! Don't think I haven't figured it out!"

"If you have the ability to figure out a deduce a portion of Arthur's Path, then you should know why he did it! I get it! It hurts! It's crazy! It drives you mad! But those are all to train us! He made it clear that you died in his future! Everything he's doing now is to forge the discipline of what an Overcomer should be in you! You are strong! So Seeker has to push you to such dangers! Aren't you strong now?!" Cliff reasoned.

"You're all fools! Do you think it's for us?! Seeker wants everyone to get strong, so he can thread on the path of everyone! Why is it that knowing how angry I am, that he allowed you to have a battle right on top of where I was?!" Lynd challenged.

"Wha-what?!"

"He knew I was here! He has acquired the Realm Kings power! He had known I'd be here! But instead of going here, he sent you! He's a coward! He dared not face my wrath and sent you guys as buffers! Do you know how tempting it was to massacre your entire army?! But now I see it! Seeker wanted me to train you guys! But I'm not so generous! I'll attack to kill!"

"He's not lying…" Roselyn appeared next to Cliff. Behind her, the Unlocked had already worn their special gears and had made a formation underwater.

"This is bad. I can't activate my Zone!" Lander also appeared.

"It's not working! I can't see you guys!" Zidane panicked.

Behind Lynd, several lights also appeared. After the Tail of the King Naga made its retreat, the disk-shaped vessel also retreated and dove underwater.

The Covenant and Harker's trio were here.

"Commanders, retreat inside. This isn't for you…" Tyler urged the group to retreat.

"Who is that?" The former WGP commander asked.

"Dara… Can you…?" Danny asked.

"No." Dara immediately answered.

"Then the General will have to move forward. John. I think you should lead the Covenant."

"I don't think it'll make a difference. If Dara is too scared to move closer to him, my strategies won't work. It'll have to be General Cliff who will command us." John frowned.

"Lander. Drug Dealers. Covenant. Focus and try to form your Zone!" Gardo ordered.

The group immediately followed, and Gardo moved closer to where Cliff was standing.

"General Lynd Indigo. We may have gotten off with the wrong foot. Think of it this way… You're Luffy. And Garp kept throwing you into whatever jungles and made you receive harsh blows. But right now, you're so strong that it puts all of us to shame. You may not know me, but Seeker also sent me to hell and back. So I guess we are all like the Strawhats getting thrown off into crazy adventures because of our idiot captain. But hey! At least you didn't kiss anyone. Haven't you heard? Cliff is gay now." Gardo joked.

…

BOOM!

A sudden explosion occurred. The force field that the Unlocked army deployed was shattered.

The group moved into a defensive formation. Cliff gave several orders, and the entire army began to encircle Lynd.

"A Zone user thinks he can disrupt my zone? Foolish! You're Zone has to be stronger than mine to get your momentum right! But who are the others? Why was there ten Zone's I felt? I see. The Covenant is here as well. Dara? Is that you? I still have a bone to pick with you. And I'm thinking of picking your spine!" Lynd laughed.

"Don't listen to him! He's using Richie's voice to create terror! His body is using Meng's cells! That's why we are also frightened. Everyone, you've trained with the Overcomers and Heroes. Think of it that you are facing all of them!" Cliff gave his orders.

"Let's have some fun!" Lynd laughed as if he was Richie.

"Attack!" Cliff ordered.