Chapter 241: a clash of the hunter and the hunted

“Sigh, I think that this is the last mercenary group that we’ll have the chance of plundering. You’re right, I’ll miss the thrill brought from this”. Clark muttered softly in a sad tone.

“I told you kid; you can easily get infected with the thrill. Learn to control your impulses better, its…” Dickson quickly commented.

Diana rolled her eyes exaggeratedly on hearing them but she didn’t comment. Anna and Benny exhibited no reaction, they stood still, rigidly blending with the blowing wind.

Clark didn’t have the energy to refute this time, he just kept quiet in his own world. What he said was just a distraction to hide his true feelings, he was worried about their future.

In his hand, he held a telescope through which a tiny black dot ahead was enlarged before him. This black dot seemed to be the next shelter that was described.

Seeing a black dot despite the extreme distance separating them meant that this shelter was outrageously large, probably even larger than all the previous shelters that they visited combined.

He didn’t feel it initially, but when he finally laid his eyes on this shelter, the fear of the unknown started gripping his heart.

He was not afraid of the shelter; he was afraid of what would come after getting there. His intuition warned him of a bad omen, and the dream that he dreamt last night confirmed it.

He told no one about the dream to not induce panic, not even Dickson.

Though they were safe since they arrived at the middle heights of the Everest, this was the region that was already marked out as safe by humans. To reach their mission target, he was sure that they would stray from this region.

After the Wild Yak animal kingdom encounter, his wariness about the Himalayan peaks only grew. He felt unsettled, despite this, he did not show it outwardly.

“I think this shelter is up to the quality of the so-called typical standard shelters”. He suddenly muttered.

“Yes, I can’t wait to get there. Jason told me a lot about it, what are we even waiting for?” Dickson questioned impatiently.

“Yeah, let's go, we don’t have anything waiting for again”. Clark laughed.

30 minutes ago, after they repelled the allied mercenaries and took their supplies, they didn’t pursue the ones that escaped. They left a heating device to prevent the unconscious ones from dying to the cold before they woke up.

After doing this, they finally continued their journey. They didn’t even move a few kilometers before one of their scouting soldiers reported this, the next shelter.

“If we move fast, I think we can get there before the day darkens completely”. Anna suddenly said while brushing her long hair sideways.

“I hope we reach there today, that way, we’ll have a better chance of meeting the lord of…”

“It’s the king of demolition”. Diana sharply corrected.

“Oh…, ok”. Benny replied calmly.

“Diana, go inform the soldiers. We are moving”. Clark finally spoke again while stretching himself.

As soon as the other soldiers were informed, they quickly reorganized themselves and continued their journey against the howling sound of the wind and the biting cold.

Like Clark predicted, they didn’t meet any other mercenary group along the way as they trudged forward without hindrance.

They met 3 stray beasts wandering around the region which posed no threat to them, they quickly became a distance practice target to the soldiers. They died before they could even understand what happened.

Clark didn’t know if he was being paranoid, but as they continued, his intuition kept on ringing to him that something was about to happen.

Though he knew that his soldiers were far more experienced than a month ago, he could still not let the unsettling feeling go.

He was completely alert, stealthily looking around as they moved but his actions seemed to be meaningless, as he could see nothing despite hours already gone.

“Is my intuition wrong?”

“What?” Dickson asked, startled.

“Umm, nothing”. He quickly denied it.

Dickson flashed him a deep glance but at the end didn’t say anything. He already noticed that Clark was behaving weirdly, which also made him more alert to his surroundings.

With tense hearts, they continued their journey across the rocks submerged in snow.

…

“Hehe, finally! Finally…, I finally f*cking found you guys”.

A burst of maniacal laughter suddenly tore the veil of silence in the mountain as a black figure threw his head back due to the frequency of his vocal cord movements.

After laughing to his fill, he squinted his eyes and looked at his telescope again.

After all his perseverance and daring movements, the Mariana Captain finally found his targets. He felt curiosity overwhelm him, making him shake giddily in excitement.

Sometimes, he always felt that the career of an explorer fit him than his work as a soldier where he was always staying in enclosed military posts like a rat. He was not a nocturnal animal for shit’s sake.

After seeing the location where Clark’s squad wreaked the animal kingdom, though he grew afraid of his targets immediately, in the end, his passion for knowing the unknown took precedence.

That was the name that he gave it. People may call his actions foolishness, but he would forever call it the exploration of the brave.

“If our ancestors were not brave explorers, we would not be enjoying the sweetness of technology today. In the future, people will soon see that exploration is the best career”. He muttered determinedly.

“Well, that’s for the future. Now, I have to ambush these guys since I saw them first. I think that with this, I now have a higher chance of trashing them. I can’t wait”.

Rubbing his hands excitedly, he leaped up a little before sliding down the slope that he climbed to get a better view of his location.

Now that he already saw his targets, all that was left was planning perfectly. If he planned well, with his 3rd rank high-grade soldier strength, he believed that he could win no matter what strange means those soldiers employed.

“Bring it on, I’m not a coward”. He went to work immediately.

He first dropped his big bag, gently massaged his aching neck before bending down to open the bag.

He brought out a rod-like device that looked like the ancient scepters that medieval kings used; it was an electric and gravity-powered distance estimation device.

He squinted his eyes to focus on the readings on the device’s surface. “4 kilometers huh…, I got you”. He pointed his fingers forward.

He quickly opened his bag wide, brought out a very large mechanical equipment, and placed it down.

After activating it, the device drilled a hole on the ground, spreading its mechanical tentacles under the rock to get a good foundation. It quickly got stabilized with a click sound.

He installed other devices nearby to form something like a spider’s net, he finally stretched his body with a wide grin on his face.

He brought out a black pen and a mirror to check his face as he used the pen to draw black lines on his face. He adjusted his uniform next, making sure that it looked neat and commando-like enough.

He also donned dark eyeglasses, bringing his look to the next level of coolness. He grinned on seeing his reflection in the mirror.

After this, he brought out a sword and an enlarged muzzle machine gun. He placed them on both sides of his shoulders before straightening his back and raising his head confidently.

“I’m ready”.

…

After hours of walking without rest across the snow-laden pathway, the allied group of soldiers could already see the silhouette of the shelter. Seeing it up close showed them how large it really was.

Some of the soldiers were already muttering between themselves in amazement. Despite their discipline as soldiers, seeing such a structure in this practically desolate Everest Mountain was surprising.

“Is that where we will stay?” One of them commented.

“It does not look like a shelter at all”. Another one replied.

The soldiers only dared to do this because their Major was not strict. They knew that Clark was tolerant to them when they were not in dangerous situations, so they were more self-expressing under him, unlike other superiors.

Though Clark could hear the sound coming from his soldiers, he could not make out any coherent thing from what they were saying.

He was still alert, constantly monitoring his surroundings. His brain was rapidly filtering the information that was entering, and such lame conversations were not a priority to it.

After so long, he was already forming a conspiracy theory on his head. He knew that he was probably paranoid, but after so many experiences, he could not bring himself to ignore his dreams.

“Is the danger in where we are going? Is that place really a shelter? What if it is a trap, and Jason aimed at us from the beginning? How can a shelter be that big? Maybe, thousands of soldiers are already waiting to ambush us”.

Though Dickson tried hard to ignore it, Clark’s behavior was making him feel tense, even to the extent of irritation now. He could not hold it in again.

“Clark, what is it exactly…?” He suddenly stiffened as his eyes widened.

“Umm, you said what…? Dickson, what is it?” Clark immediately became alarmed on seeing his expression.

“Scatter…!!” Before Dickson’s voice could spread completely, the danger already arrived.

The soldiers reacted instantly on hearing the shout, but a black flickering figure already rushed into their midst like a cheetah running into a pack of sheep. The figure was far faster than them.

Boom!!

All the soldiers saw was a blur before the sound even came, as 3 soldiers were slammed to the ground with force. The 3 poor fellows immediately lost consciousness.

Only one sound reverberated out but 3 strikes were released. This figure’s movements were faster than sound, time seemed to stop for a moment.

“What…?” The soldiers were shocked.

As they fumbled to grab their weapons, this was when they laid their eyes on the figure before them clearly.

To their surprise, he was a human. He wore a black climbing uniform like them and though his armor was activated, it was transparent, showing his appearance under it.

This man was clearly not hiding.

His striking eyeglasses, trending haircut, handsome face, stylish boots, and enormous machine gun left them all gasping in surprise.

They felt like this man did not come here to battle at all. If not because of the weapons that he was wielding and the 3 unconscious soldiers, they were more inclined to believe that he was a model instead of a soldier.

All these observations happened in less than a second, and in this short time, the man already moved again.

Whoosh!!

His sword stabbed forward swiftly as the 2 nearest Spartan soldiers dodged to the left and right respectively, but his movements were even faster as the sword slapped left, then right.

2 sharp slap imprints were left on the soldier’s faces by the sword as they felt their vision grow dizzy. Their face was burning hot, the world suddenly seemed upside down to them.

As he intended to move and strike again, a figure suddenly crashed down from the sky at him with outstanding force.

He nimbly dodged to the side but a spear stabbed swiftly at him to complement the shield bash. This seemed like a hopeless situation, but he was still able to react.

His sword swept upwards at the last moment, clashing with the spear while he fell downwards to allow the spear to fly past him.

Seeing his spear parried so effortlessly, Clark was greatly surprised but he kept a cold expression on his face as he asked.

“You’re the soldier that has been tailing us, right?”

[Thank you for reading this chapter, I really appreciate it. Please, leave your power stones behind to support the book. Purchase privilege for The Conspiracy Of The Elites and read a varying amount of chapters ahead of regular readers.]