Chapter 196 - Impossible

"Okay, we're here...so, where's the client?" I frowned, after we teleported to the base that we were supposed to head out from. 

"Guess they haven't arrived yet," Replied Grey, as he looked around. 

"They better not take too long to show up," Sighed Suri in exasperation.. 

"You shits don't know anything, do you? With Missions where the client is directly involved, it's very common for them to not show up until about half an hour to a full hour later than the agreed upon time," Scoffed Yugi, as he sat down. 

"Does he have to act like a dick every time he says something?" Muttered Mitchell quietly. 

"If that's really how it works, then we should get used to it, huh?" Remarked Seila, sounding a bit apprehensive. 

"Tch, I don't like waiting for people, if we have to wait for more than ten minutes, I'm punching this guy in the face, I don't care what-...," I began in irritation. 

"Oh, uh, please don't do that...I really like my face," Suddenly came a voice from a few meters behind me. 

"Two minutes late, huh, guess I'll let that slide. Come on, everyone, let's get this over with," I declared, making no effort to hide my thoughts. 

"Damn, you're as cold as the rumors say you are! And I'm loving that you aren't sucking up to me, good on you, dude! I'm in your care," He grinned in response, kinda throwing me off. 

He looked to be in around his mid-twenties, with longish green-dyed hair that was slicked back, the sides and back shaved off. I could tell that his hair was dyed because his roots were clearly black. 

He had sharp, gleaming green eyes, a slightly pale complexion and his fingernails were painted black. He wore a dark gray tank top underneath a sleeveless black unbuttoned shirt, dark blue ripped jeans, black sneakers and had a bunch of tattoos and piercings. 

His arms were covered in tattoos, while both his ears were studded with golden piercings, along with a small round black piercing beneath his lower lip. And most noticeably, he had five girls standing around him, two of them wrapped around each of his arms, another with her arms around his shoulders from behind, and the remaining two standing close on either side. 

Not gonna lie, I'm just a tiny bit jealous, all of them were insanely attractive...but, then, his relationship with them is pretty superficial, I bet none of them would stick around if he suddenly went broke and had no money left. 

Anyway, as we then headed out of the base, we were given a large jeep for the guy and his wives to ride in...have to admit that I overlooked it, the fact that they probably don't have the stamina to walk the entire time like we do. 

Well, this makes things a whole lot easier, the jeep had some pretty heavily reinforced armor plating on the outside. I decided to assign Yugi to drive the vehicle, since only he and Mitchell knew how...I only knew how to ride a motorcycle, since I'd bought one and gotten a license for it a couple of months ago. Though, uh, that said, I really haven't used it all that much at all. 

I mean, I did initially, but after a while, I almost kinda forgot that I even had it. I should really start using it more, otherwise it'd just have been a waste of money. 

Getting back on topic, the others were starting to get into formation, as the client and his wives began entering the jeep, while Yugi climbed into the driver's seat, his expression as sour as ever. 

"Hey, we'll be moving at a relatively slow pace to ensure safety, but regardless of how much ground we cover, we're heading back after two hours, got it, uh...whatever your name is right now," I informed the client. 

Oh, right, he's known for his habit of frequently changing his legal name, like, all the time. It kinda went viral the first few times, but people don't really pay much attention to him in that regard anymore. Well, he only changes his first name, he's never changed his last name, which is Steen. My guess is that if he changes his last name, he might lose his inheritance or something like that, so he leaves it alone.

"About that, uh...up until a couple of days ago, my name was Naruto! Yeah, I know, pretty cool, huh? Anyway, I lost a bet to a friend, and for the next week, my name is Period Blood Vampire! But you can just call me PBV!" He laughed with a rueful smile. 

...I'm not calling him that. 

"Uh...okay, then. You should get in the vehicle now, we should get started, Mr Steen," I replied, going for the most obvious solution.

"Got it! And no need to be so formal, guy, just call me PBV! By the way, I'm a big fan, you were so cool during the last X-Warrior Championship and-...!" He began gushing while beaming, before I interrupted him by slamming the door shut, letting out a sigh of exasperation. 

"Okay, everyone, time to start. Move a bit faster than usual, but make sure to match each other's pace to keep the formation from falling apart," I instructed the others through my earpiece, as I got into position and used my Jetpack to hover a few meters up in the air. 

"Hey, I know it's kinda late to complain now, but why are we stuck heading north? It's sloped and leads to a bunch of mountains, it's easily the most tiring area to head out in!" Grumbled Mitchell, as he flew up. 

"You make a good point, but why are you the one complaining about that? The terrain doesn't really make a difference to you, does it? Since you're always airborne," Pointed out Seila. 

"The higher up I go, the thinner the air is, so yes, going up mountains is extra draining for me too," He countered, as we began moving. 

"If I had to guess, I'd say it's probably because the area north of the Sanctuary's territory is the least barren and wasteland-y," Suggested Grey. 

"Oh, that's a good point. It does have a lot of mutated plants and stuff, which are all toxic to us, but some of them actually look kinda nice," Added Suri. 

"I mean, that's not too different from some regular plants, right? Weren't there a bunch of pretty flowers before WWIII that were highly poisonous?" Inquired Mitchell as he chimed in.

"Who cares? Most of those plants are gone now, so it doesn't matter. Come on, focus," I sighed in response...if I let them talk for too long, they'll stop concentrating and get distracted. 

"Sorry," They replied sheepishly, before the comms went quiet for the next while, except for a few remarks here and there. 

And then, after we'd been at it for about fifteen minutes... 

"H-hey, uh, guys...there's something up ahead. It's too far for me to see clearly, but...I think it's Mutants fighting each other," Mitchell suddenly informed us, sounding a bit disconcerted. 

"Huh? That's unusual, the closest anyone has ever seen Mutants fight each other is when they fight over food, but even then it's never anything more than a bit of snipping, they never go at each other seriously...everyone, stop! I'm going to take a look on up ahead and see exactly what's going on," I instructed as I started to get a bad feeling about this, before sending out one of my bug-sized drones to scout the area ahead. 

"Hey, Four-Eyes, the client wants to know why we've stopped-...," Yugi began with a grumble, before suddenly trailing off and sounding like he was talking to someone else, "What? No, I'm not going to call you that! What do you mean 'why'? Because it's weird as fuck!" 

Tch, dumbass. 

"No need to keep anything from him, let him know what's going on...or don't, it really doesn't matter," I sighed in response, before freezing as I caught a glimpse of what was up ahead, "What the...? What is this...?"

"Kilzachs? What is it? What's going on out there?" 

"Hey, dude, can you hear us? You're kinda spacing out!" 

"I'm, uh, getting a bad feeling about this...it's not an Ace Mutant, is it?" 

"No way, if it was something that big, then we'd have already noticed!" 

They were all talking, but I was too fixated on the footage I was receiving from my drone to respond, I couldn't even tell which of them were speaking...how...how is this possible? 

"Everyone, prepare yourselves...because I have absolutely no idea what the hell it is that we're up against here," I frowned grimly. 

"Huh? What does that mean!? What did you see!?" Exclaimed Suri nervously. 

"It's a group of Land Sharks, about ten of them. And-..." 

"Wait, that's it? I know Land Sharks are K-Ranked Mutants and highly vicious creatures that are difficult to deal with, but we're at a level where they shouldn't be too much of a problem, right?" Responded Seila in confusion. 

"You didn't let me finish. It's a group of ten Land Sharks...that are being absolutely torn apart by a single Monke," I remarked, as a bead of sweat ran down my face. 

"Wait, what!?" Exclaimed Mitchell in disbelief. 

"A single Q-Ranked Mutant defeating a pack of K-Ranked Mutants? But that's impossible...," Muttered Grey in disbelief. 

"Yeah, well, that's not all...I don't know how it's possible, but...this Monke is using XFE attacks...," I informed them grimly... 

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