Chapter 166: Out the walls
"Where…where are we?!"
"No…that's—that's impossible!"
Tarish couldn't believe what she saw.
Somehow, falling into that dark chasm led them out of the walls of Genesis City! This was supposed to be impossible.
Every mission in the Remedium took place inside the walls of a God's Territory. It didn't matter if it was as small as a Village or as big as a Country. All portals led to a place inside the walls of that area. No exceptions.
But now, they found themselves at the outer grassfields surrounding the walls of Genesis City.
They couldn't even blame the Quills for another anomaly happening in this mission. No one would have ever anticipated this happening because it was supposed to be impossible.
"We need to go back…we need to go back…"
One of the mages frantically dug on the grassfields trying to find the hole they 'fell' in.
"It's fine. As long as we're together, we can get through this!" Tarish said, with her voice quivering.
DUM…DUM DUM…DUM…
Atlan whipped his head to the source of that rhythmic pattern. He immediately activated his Thermal Vision.
On the horizon of warm yellow grassfields, there were small dark blue spots that littered sparsely above the grass. They sauntered over closer to the humans with arrogance in their stride.
Their dark blue internal body temperature was much more intense than the heat of the 6th stage Saviors beside him. It was clear. These Sapient Canzers were much stronger than the unprepared 6th-stage Saviors. Not to mention the fact that they were completely out of their territory and out of breath from fighting the Ifrits, they were in no shape to fight these Canzers.
A couple of seconds later, Tarish and the rest of the exhausted Saviors finally noticed the synchronized footsteps in the distance. The Sapient Canzers had no intention to hide themselves.
Fear gripped their hearts. Tarish couldn't even speak.
"$&#^(!#)$"
"NO!" Her shout was accompanied by a gasp that was filled with horror and disbelief. Those unintelligible words were the subject of every Savior's nightmare. The mere mention of their name sent shivers down everyone's spine, veteran or not.
"Sapient…Canzers…"
The Sapient Canzer stood on two legs and had two arms on its side. Their entire body was clad in chitinous armors with spikes protruding in a uniform pattern. They had a prominent snout like that of a bear and a mouth like that of a human.
Their stature carried an uncanny resemblance to humans.
Any person who saw a Canzer walking and talking like a human was enough to send them into a coma. It was a terrifying image that should only be reserved for science fiction, yet they were witnessing it right in front of their very eyes.
The worst part about it was that the whole horizon was filled with these Chitinous-armored creatures, numbering in the hundreds if not thousands.
All of them were identical, clones even.
"$@*&%)%"
")%($&@@("
For normal humans like Tarish, they could only hear unintelligible sounds that couldn't even be produced by the human body.
But for Atlan, their conversation was loud and clear. His 4-star Canzer Mother Tongue mutation allowed him to understand all Canzers, including Pseudo Canzers and Sapient Canzers.
'Look at these humans…how pathetic…'
'I told you…they shiver at the thought of facing us…'
They weren't speaking like the Pseudo Canzers with disjointed words and only the most basic of grammar. These Sapient Canzers were different. They sounded like humans speaking a different language.
"%#)@*!)$*#"
All the Sapient Canzers stopped at the same time, letting only one of them walk forward and face the humans.
The disparity between the humans and the Sapient Canzers was huge. The humans had terrified expressions on their faces with their bodies frozen from fear even if they wanted to run.
Meanwhile, the Sapient Canzers stood tall with pride and superiority in their eyes.
"$@!)*#@)"
'Entertain me, humans.'
The Sapient Canzer held out his hands in a welcoming manner as if the humans were his guests in his kingdom.
Tarish put herself in the front and raised her shield. She was at the forefront, protecting her terrified and exhausted teammates. Even if she was tired too, she wasn't going to let that monster terrorize her friends.
"Please. We don't want to fight. Let us go," Tarish said softly.
Even if they couldn't understand each other, the Sapient Canzer was intelligent enough to pick up on her tone.
"&!&!&!&!&!, )@($&#)!($*#"
'Hahahaha! It's begging for its life! Not that brave without the Angels protecting you now, huh?!"
The rest of the Sapient Canzers behind the leader laughed and pointed at the pathetic human lowering her head to them. Their monstrous faces clearly showed the human expression of disdain and mockery.
"$*@$&@)!)(%*#@)(*)(*@$#*)(@"
'Come on! I didn't come out here for nothing. Fight me!'
The Sapient Canzer unfolded its two pairs of wings behind its back. The outer wing was made out of tough leathery material, while the wing on the forefront was thin and membranous, which gave it flexibility in its flight.
It flew to the humans with no warning.
Tarish was caught off guard and pulled her shield up late, causing her to get blown away as the Sapient Canzer punched forward. She got blasted away even if she caught the attack with her shield. She couldn't imagine taking that attack head-on.
She tumbled through the air. She saw the world turn multiple times. And with the speed she was blown away, she thought she'd get sent tens of meters out. But then, she felt a warm hand supporting her back and stopping her in the air.
It was Atlan. He caught her and helped her stand on her own.
He still had a confident smile on his face even as they faced the dangerous Sapient Canzer.
Somehow, his confidence gave her the strength she needed to pull herself back up. Even if they were going to lose their SoulTime today, that didn't mean they couldn't fight till the end.
"Guys," Tarish walked back up to the front of her team. "If it's looking for a fight, then a fight it's going to get!"
With the rallying shout of their leader, the 6th stage Saviors found the energy to use all their powers to survive.
They activated their LifeSkills, with the mages combining all their powers into one attack. A wind and light-powered ice hammer striking a water sphere manifested into reality.
The tanks used their defensive LifeSkill in a creative offense by reinforcing the water sphere's defenses, making it harder and faster than what was possible.