Chapter 49 Field Test: Tendril Infused

"Who else is at the Academy today?" Nicole asked. Alex tapped his watch and pulled up a screen. It had all of the Numbers and their current locations.

"You, me, and 5 are currently in the First Year building. 7 and 8 are currently in the Second Year building. I believe they're free for another three periods before they handle classes." Alex reported.

"Call them. The safety of the students from the Protocol is top priority."

? "Will do, One." Alex hit the three other Numbers and hit call. He walked away as Nicole turned to look at the the cameras currently on Lee Seng. He seemed to be aimlessly walking.

"Keep your eyes on Chang. If anything happens, let me know. Send me the coordinates and keep them updated." Nicole commanded.

"Yes, ma'am." The operator answered. The operators began typing as Nicole walked over to the door and opened it. Alex was standing off to the side talking on the watch.

"Yes, Number 1 wants us to retrieve the kid." Alex said.

"What happened to him?" A female voice asked. Number 7, or known better as Ms. Abby Chang, was one of the Numbers that decided to spend their time training the next generation.

"The Protocol activated." Alex responded.

"It activated?!?" Dr. Valentin asked.

"Yes, it activated. That's why we're going out on the field. If we send Academy soldiers out, they won't stand a chance to the Protocol. We all know how it goes and we all know how to deal with it because we've all went through similar Protocols."

"Where's the kid?" A male voice asked. Number 8 or better known as Carter De Leon was a rough around the edges kind of guy. He followed Abby out to the Academy and spent most of his time hammering Glass and Fighters.

"I'll send you the coordinates." Nicole said.

"Alright, sounds good." Carter answered.

"Where's the test?" Abby asked.

"It's being held in Sector 18, the Tall Forest." Alex answered.

"Alright, we'll meet you at the Main Center telepad. We'll teleport together to reduce time." Dr. Valentin said.

----

Lee Seng grabbed at the tendrils. He squirmed and tried to rip the grasp of the tendrils off of him. He had plunged into the murky waters where the tendrils came from. He lost sight of light after a few minutes under and worried if he would ever lose oxygen, but his body never screamed for any.

"The gate..." The voices whispered. He kept hearing the same thing. "Is... open."

They whispered the same sentence over and over. Lee Seng didn't understand what any of it meant, but the voices seemed be close for minutes on end and then distant. Lee Seng continued his mission to pry the tendrils off, but had no luck. The tendrils seemed to only bring him farther and farther away. He lost track of where 'up' was after the tendrils decided to snake their way through the endless water.

"Squad 4... Squad 4..." A desperate voice whispered. Lee Seng turned to see where the voice was coming from. "Squad 4... Squad 4..." This voice was different. It sounded scared. It repeated over and over. Each time it did, Lee Seng could hear the fear growing and the voice getting louder.

The tendrils whipped him in the water and tossed him free. Lee Seng could see tendrils writhing beneath him. A few tendrils hovered above him, seemingly watching. A woman giggled in his ear and he quickly turned. Bubbles had formed where the giggle was.

Sounds of people screaming and dying echoed. It was loud. Lee Seng clutched his head and shook his head.

'No. No. Stop it.' Lee Seng thought. The woman giggled and bubbles formed in front of him. A black humanoid body formed from the tendrils. The humanoid body had no features that were recognizable. The only thing that caught his eye was the roman numeral, XI. It glowed and hovered where the 'heart' would be.

"Oh, Lee Seng," the female voice sang. "It's been too long! To think we finally can meet away from prying eyes." She giggled. The humanoid person tilted its head and and pushed itself closer to Lee Seng. Lee Seng let out a scream and air erupted out of his mouth. He quickly covered his mouth and the woman laughed.

"You can't die down here, dear." She chuckled. "Now, let's get down to business, shall we?" The tendrils mimicking its hands shot outwards and pulled Lee Seng towards it. She leaned in a whispered into Lee Seng's ear. Lee Seng's eyes widened and he began to shake his head.

"No, you can't do that!"

----

The tendril-infused Lee Seng plunged another tendril into a Goblin. It squirmed as the tendrils shot out of it like worms and dropped dead. The other goblins screamed and ran at Lee Seng. The tendril-infused Lee Seng lashed its tendril tail out at the goblins. The small tendrils split and impaled the goblins. The tendrils shot out smaller tendrils and watched as the goblins fell.

The watch beeped and fizzled. The tendril-infused Lee Seng continued past the dead bodies. He slowly began his aimless walk to nowhere. The sounds of tendrils shooting out of the dead bodies echoed behind him. He lifted his hand and the tendrils ripped from the body and stuck onto the tendril-infused Lee Seng. It slowly sunk into his body which pulsed a dark gray color.

Lee Seng walked for awhile before he came across the remnants of a fight. A pack of direwolves were dead. Lee Seng continued forward, not checking for any survivors. He simply continued like he didn't see anything. Of course, he never saw anything. He continued to walk in the forest, blinded by the fact he had actually passed out.

He reached the direwolves. His foot hit the direwolf and he stopped. He turned and walked around the direwolves, turning each time he ran into one. He struggled to past all of the direwolves. He could hear the sound of dirt crunching to his left and he stopped.

"Woah, looks like someone did a lot of work." A young man exclaimed. Another young man punched his arm and pointed at Lee Seng.

"You see that? What's that?" The second young man asked. Both of them leaned forward to take a closer look. They saw a humanoid person with tendrils covering its face and its tendril-like flower tail. A bow was strapped across the humanoid's body. It looked like the humanoid didn't have any intention on using the bow.

"Is that a... monster?" Young man 1 asked.

"It... has a bow on it. Is it a person?" Young man 2 stepped closer and the tendril-infused Lee Seng turned to look directly at them. Young man 1 extended his arm to block Young man 2.

"I don't think that's a person. It could be a high-ranking monster." The two checked their watches.

"I don't think we're close enough." Young man 2 said. The two gulped as they looked at each other. The tendril-infused Lee Seng stared at them. He could hear two people in the distance. He climbed over the direwolf.

"I think it knows we're here." Young man 2 whispered. The two watched as Lee Seng slowly came over. The two young men could feel something was off about the humanoid figure. They could see the creepy tendrils slithering around its face. Lee Seng's tail swayed and one of them saw the white tail point.

"Oh, shit. Is it that tail guy?" Young man 1 asked.

"What? It doesn't look anything like him."

Both of them noticed holes and blood stains all over. Lee Seng sprinted at the two men. Young man 1 raised his arm and a yellow aura enveloped him. Young man 2 started to shout and turn to run. Lee Seng shot out a tendril at Young man 2. Young man 1 grunted and slammed his fist into the tendril, severing it. Black liquid gushed out. Lee Seng continued to close the distance, shooting out three more tendrils.

"I'll cover you! Get some distance before--"

Two tendrils shot past him as the third one slammed itself into the yellow aura of Young man 1. The aura cracked and shattered, sending him backwards as the two tendrils grabbed Young man 2 and pulled him into the sky.

Young man 2 screamed as he tried to rip himself out of the tendrils. A fourth tendril shot towards Young man 2. Young man 2 closed his eyes in fear.

"Noo!" Young man 1 screamed. He reached up towards the sky.

A blade of wind shot out and intercepted the fourth tendril, cutting the two holding the Young man 2. Young man 2 started to fall and suddenly stopped mid air. Both of the young men were pulled into the forest. Tendril-infused Lee Seng turned to look towards the forest. He had heard something come from the forest.

"They're here to stop us." The woman spoke. She brushed Lee Seng's face with her tendril hands. "Kill them."