The combat unit selected for investigation consisted of ten people. Excluding Achara, they were all men in their late twenties who seemed to have experience in dealing with difficult situations.
'Are they special forces?' Oliver thought.
The soldiers were moving in perfect sync and operating without any inconsistencies. Although they were wearing normal military uniforms, Oliver could see they were special.
Soon, everyone got into the military SUVs and left the camp. Oliver was sitting next to Achara in the leading SUV.
Because of the dragon city's fifty-foot tall perimeter wall, they had to go through the city's main gate to leave.
The security was tight, as you would expect, on the main gate. There were hundreds of soldiers planted near the base of the wall and more than a thousand patrolling the perimeter.
Oliver glanced over at them as if he didn't care about any of it. But, inside his mind, he was cooking up plans to evade the soldiers and destroy the wall. Maybe it was his past occupation as a villain that made him think like that. However, even when he realised what he was doing subconsciously, he didn't stop.
'The dragon city was named after the S-rank mana beast they slew to occupy the land and create the permanent gate. The entire city is circular, split into four sectors.
'The northwest sector contained high-rise buildings and business-related organisations. The northeast sector was a residential area. The southeast region was an industrial area where all the necessary items for the city were made. The last but most important sector was the southwest region, which was under total military control. It was also in this region that the permanent gate is situated.
'The most thorough way to destroy the city is by destroying the permanent gate.'
'But that is easier said than done. Even an S-rank mana beast wouldn't be enough to break through all the protective mechanisms in place. And even if one side of the permanent gate is destroyed, the other side can still maintain the link between space.'
The gate was a naturally occurring phenomenon where a portal would let out monsters from Second Earth to Earth. Humans have no control over this portal and can't predict when and where they will appear or disappear.
But, by using a certain material called a void stone, humans can stabilise these portals and change them into permanent ones.
Void stones are extremely rare, so not many permanent portals exist on earth. Therefore, they are guarded by everything that humanity has. Destroying one would be close to impossible.
'Instead, it would be easier to kill all the people on this side of the poral.' Oliver said in his mind.
"What are you thinking about?" Achara asked.
Oliver, who was quickly scanning the main gate, stopped and smiled. "Nothing," he said, delivering an Oscar-worthy performance of pure innocence.
Anyone would have believed he was a pure and innocent kid when they saw the smile. But that didn't work on Achara. After all, she had personally seen what he was capable of.
Just a few days ago, Oliver had ripped out the spinal cord from a living demon and had flashed a similar smile at he people nearby.
Innocent? Not even remotely. He is anything but that.
"As you might know, this is my first time here." Oliver implied he was sightseeing.
However, when he spoke, the other people in the SUV turned to look at him.
All of them had the same question in their mind. Why was this kid coming with them?
Oliver bashfully avoided their eyes and asked Achara. "Did you not tell them about me?"
"Not yet."
"Should I introduce myself?"
"You can."
The soldiers were trustworthy. So, she allowed him to speak.
"Okay, before it's too late. Let me introduce myself. I am Funny Liver, the number 1 butcher of the mana beast processing plant and the great demon detector."
"..."
"The ice break had successfully failed…" Oliver robotically moved his head to the side and looked out the window of the moving car.
'Huh! What a beautiful big gate. What a wonderful sunny day.' He said in his mind and avoided further eye contact.
—
It took them nearly an hour to reach the research outpost. Moving with caution, they carefully avoided most of the mana beasts they encountered, ensuring a safe and uneventful journey to their destination.
Soon, a large building hugging the side of the mountain came into view. The building was embedded into the mountainside, hiding most of it.
The front gate seemed to have been deserted, and they were not responding to the radio.
Without waiting anymore, SUVs drove through the metal fence and entered the compound. The sirens attached to the outer area of the military outpost rang out when they went in.
But no one came out of the building.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Oliver muttered.
If there was someone inside, they would have responded after the commotion they caused.
"Sir, there are no signs of forced entry." A drone operator from the second SUV came to the first one and reported.
The person he was talking to was the driver of the first SUV, the team leader of the military personnel. He seemed to have more authority over the soldiers than Achara.
"Send someone to check if we can open the gate. If the authentication system is working, there is hope."
"Okay."
They spoke clearly without a delay and began to check the palm scanners attached to the building.
Oliver observed everything from the side without saying anything. But as he walked closer to the building, he smelled blood.
His ability made him extremely sensitive to the smell of blood, so he could smell it even though it was weak.
"Wait a minute." He called out to the person who was moving to the authentication terminal. "I can smell blood." He said, stopping the person in his tracks.
He then turned to Achara and spoke. "It might be a trap."
Whatever that happened inside the research outpost had something to do with demons. Demons were just as cunning as humans, they couldn't take it lightly.
Achara nodded towards the team leader.
"Okay, retreat." The team leader spoke up. "Use the master key to open the door remotely. The rest use the SUVs as cover and stand by."
The master key to access the building was given to them before they went on the mission. It was a cryptographical key they could broadcast into the terminal to open the door.
Initially, they wanted to open the door with their handprint to check if the building's security system was working properly. But once the master key was used, all the security systems and terminals in the broadcast range would be disabled.
"Broadcasting master key at the lowest singal intensity." The drone operator said.
The small quadcopter flew close to the terminal transmitting the signal.
*BEEP*
The terminal beeped loudly and flashed green.
The key was accepted.
*Rnnn*
Suddenly, a vague humming sound came from the large metallic door of the building. It was the noise of the hydraulic systems rebooting to open the door.
Oliver peeked into the building through the open door.
The lights inside were flickering. He saw vague movements inside. Soon, the pungent smell of blood assaulted his nose.
Now, everyone could smell the blood and rotten corpse.
But, before they could process what they had seen, a giant lizard lept out of the open door, towards the SUVs.
*Tu Tu Tu*
The weapons the soldiers were carrying fired with practised ease.
The bullets tore through the body of the giant lizard the size of a cow and shredded it.
'That's not a mana beast. It's a monster.' Oliver judged when he saw the oddly mutated body of the lizard with eight legs.