BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

Chapter 1181: Flight and Fight



The Vindicators scaled the building with inhuman speed. Their armored hands and feet easily gripped every tiny edge and windowsill, making them move like spiders on steroids as they crossed multiple stories in mere seconds.

Emily, crouched by the window, was looking at the building where Amber and Mira were taking care of the barrier masters without moving her rifle to make sure she was ready to strike in case something bad happened. It was then that a sound caught her attention-the subtle click of weapons being readied.

<This is not good...>

The world slowed to a crawl as she activated her Time Freeze brain crystal power, the familiar sensation washing over her like honey dripping from a spoon. Colors dimmed slightly, and sounds became muffled, stretching each millisecond into what felt like several seconds.

Two mana bullets hung motionless in the air, like fireflies caught in slow motion, aimed at her head.

However, in front of them was a bird, whose wings spread wide.

<What the hell, June?>

The clone moved to intercept the bullets, intercepting them to prevent the young woman from getting harmed, and was ready to sacrifice himself to save her. He was going to die. She pushed off the ground while her mana was getting drained by the massive amount she was using to slow time that much. It would be easy to just get out of harm's way, but she couldn't just let June die.

Emily grabbed the clone-turned-bird and jumped off the building. The mana drain

intensified, forcing her to release the Time Freeze. Reality snapped back to normal speed. The bullets shattered the concrete where she'd stood moments before.

She clutched June to her chest and leaped from the building. Wind whipped past as they plummeted toward the street.

Her legs absorbed the impact of the landing. Her knees bent to distribute the force across her muscles.

The concrete cracked beneath her feet as she did, and then the woman pushed forward, accelerating into a rapid sprint that left footprints in the pavement.

"What—" June shifted back to human form, running beside her. "How did we get here?" "Saved your life," Emily said between breaths. "Who are those guys?"

June noticed the clear silver insignias on their chests-each showed a simple V with two swords crossing behind it.

"Vindicators. The ones patrolling this sector, at least I think."

Behind them, the vindicators slammed into the street. Their boots punched through the concrete on impact, sending cracks shooting out in all directions. The force of their landing split the pavement like glass.

The concrete gave way under their weight like paper, leaving craters that showed just how much their armor was.

They both wore blackguard combat suits. However, these suits differed from those worn by Terra, Vex, Restro, and Levium.

Their armor was reinforced with plates June recognized as being made with Mernium, the second strongest mana-conductive metal in existence.

The metal plates covered their chest, shoulders, and legs. A single plate of Mernium this size would cost more than most people earned in a lifetime.

That was a pricey material. Even a gram was sold for millions. Yet these guys had thick and large plates on their armor. Either the blackguards found veins of such ore on Mur, which was likely, or they simply didn't care about money anymore.

"Any ideas on how to handle them?" Emily asked. The plan was for the entire group to attack together, but now there were only her and June, and the clone was way too weak for him to be of any utility.

June glanced back.

The Vindicators moved with the same grace of predatory cats, but looked like giant bulls. They were so muscular that their muscles rippled beneath their armor and were clearly visible beneath it. Based on June's estimations, they were nearly seven feet tall.

They were not just graceful, despite the size and the armor plates. They were also fast, and, most importantly, they were gaining ground with each stride.

They were much faster than him. Emily was slowing down to allow June to keep up with her, but that was making things worse. "We need to regroup with the others. You can't take them alone."

"The others won't make it in time before they kill us!"

The Vindicators shot as soon as Amber warped herself and the others inside. They basically just started the fight. There couldn't be worse timing.

Besides, it looked like they had come prepared to capture their target with something less lethal than their brain crystal powers and one that would allow them to do the job without wasting mana.

What Emily and June didn't know was that Amber and the others were almost done with their

targets.

The problem was that even if they were, there was no assurance they would be able to get to them on time, but they were going to try their best.

Anyway, there wasn't much the two could do aside from staying alive.

"Three Chimaeric Demons are with them. They'll finish quickly-we just need to buy some time," June said.

Emily's hand instinctively moved to her hip, where her radio should have been. With their situation growing more desperate by the second, she needed to contact the others and let them know she and June were being chased by not one but two Vindicators. A quick message would be enough—just something to alert them they needed immediate backup. However, she found empty air where it should have been. "I lost my radio."

Most likely, it fell on the rooftop where she took position. In the meantime, the Vindicators closed the distance.

June briefly made a face of horror but then quickly composed himself. There was no point in losing his cool.

"We need to get back to the building then," he said. "The others will search there first when they realize we're missing, and the farther we are, the worse it will be."

Emily's speed had already carried them nearly two kilometers away from their starting point. Even at their reduced pace to accommodate June, they covered ground quickly.

This meant they were significantly farther from the building where Emily had initially taken her sniper position, and the road was not a straight line. If they wanted to head back there, they would need to go through the fortress-like city.

<It's not like we have a choice...>

Emily sprinted down the street. Each stride covered more ground than the average human could manage, but she couldn't reach her full speed-not while keeping pace with June. The clone could shapeshift and take the sky, but he refused, especially because he wouldn't make it in time to protect the woman in case something happened.

Besides, the clone was constantly keeping the two Vindicators under his sight, and he often warned Emily of their attacks, allowing her to dodge.

If he was not going to be there, Emily would have to do that alone. Not only would she lose time, but she would also risk being hit.

For both June and Emily, the Vindicators' footsteps thundered behind them like massive steel hammers striking an anvil. It scared them because they knew each step brought the Vindicators closer, and being pursued by heavily armored soldiers wasn't exactly the most pleasant of the situations.

The massive soldiers in their Mernium-plated armor were gaining ground, and the situation didn't even allow June and Emily to do anything about it.

"Be careful!"

Emily moved to the side just in time. A mana bullet sizzled past her shoulder. It was so close to her head that she smelled the ozone. Another scorched the ground near June's feet. The Vindicators weren't trying to kill them--not yet, at least. Perhaps they wanted to capture them to use as leverage against Erik, assuming they knew their connection to him, or simply to extract information about their mission.

It didn't change things. If they got caught, a world of pain was going to come for both of

them.

Besides, the Vindicators likely understood what the two wanted to do. Head back, and they were doing their best to prevent them from doing so. Crippling one of the two was going to do

the job.

"Left!" June said. He was helping the woman by acting as a navigator.

They went into a narrow alley. The small space gave them some advantage-the Vindicators' larger frames couldn't maneuver as easily between the walls. But it also trapped them on a predictable path and made them easier targets.

Emily's lungs burned. The earlier use of Time Freeze had drained a lot of her mana. She couldn't even understand how Vex was able to use it so often and so well. Of course, Time Freeze must have been the man's birth brain crystal power, and he likely had years to learn

how to use it efficiently.

June ran beside her, his face tight.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"How far to the building?" she asked.

"Six blocks," June said. Another shot sparked off a wall near Emily's shoulder. They burst out of the alley onto a wider

street.

Emily's heart sank.

"This is the wrong place!"

June was right. The Vindicators had strategically herded them with each shot and pursuit

angle, forcing them in the wrong direction. Even June, who rarely made such errors, had been

outmaneuvered.