RB Chapter 173 A Game Of Hide And Seek

A party of four trekked through the undergrowth. Their every step caused the plants to be trampled underneath. The plants in this region had grown to be tenacious. Many beasts had once occupied this area, so the plants had had to grow tenacious enough to not have their stems broken when the they were stepped on.

'Thankfully I am wearing a SYMOR.' Miss Njibwa thought while waving her hand across her face, to chase away some tiny flies. The undergrowth rubbed on her SYMOR, leaving seeds to be carried away by her to another place.

She had turned off the sense of touch from the SYMOR, as she was sure she would definitely be disgusted if she felt the plants rubbing across it.

Her group was travelling single file, with she being the second last. The driver was bringing up the rear while the woman who had been sitting beside her in the car was walking in front. The three were all dressed in black SYMORS, which could be glimpsed from underneath their clothes. Miss Njibwa was the only one who had just a SYMOR covering up her body.

Even though it made her curves prominent and made both the driver and the captain salivate, she didn't care about their gazes one bit.

The captain was seriously doing his job of leading the way, his eyes narrowing a few times as he scanned the surroundings. His forked tongue occasionally slipped out of his lips too, tasting the various scents in the air.

"Monki definitely went this way." He said as he walked. 

'I really want to go back to my beloved! This is pure torture! When will we find the guy?' Miss Njibwa thought as she raised her gaze and allowed the sparse Sun's rays which managed to make it through the foliage fall on her face. It shined, giving off an otherworldly quality.

As the beams of light fell onto the SYMOR, it shined like the wings of an angel.

"Did you know that this used to be a food production city? We also occasionally took missions to it before the war..."

"...at that time, we would be cautious at every step as there were very many beasts that moved in packs."

The captain explained as he took a strand of brown fur off the step of a tree. It appeared to be Monki's.

"This isn't enough to throw me off!" He scoffed, letting the strand drift in the breeze. He didn't pause even a bit, continuing on with the others following behind.

"...there were troops of different monkeys, with many mesmerising fur coats, a luxury many nobles liked." The captain continued talking. He was the only one narrating the story.

"But now, its so empty the fruits can be harvested as I like." He grinned as he took a fruit from a tree, taking a bite.

"Mr. Captain, you should focus on the mission at hand. I am not interested in mere trivia." Miss Njibwa's words almost caused the man to choke. He only calmed down after spitting out the piece.

"Tch!" He clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"He he..." The woman behind him, his teammate giggled at his comical appearance.

"How long until we manage to get to him?" Miss Njibwa asked.

"According to the scent particles I am picking up, he isn't more than an hour in front of us." The captain answered.

"An hour! Let's speed up our pace then. I don't want to stay in this gloomy place far longer than necessary." Miss Njibwa said before breaking out into a jog. Her move prompted the team to follow in her steps.

Though, they all had ugly expressions. To them this place was a paradise now that there were no animals to disturb the peace, so they had wanted to take it as a vacation and stroll leisurely.

Sha! Sha! Sha!

As they ran through the undergrowth, such sounds were given off by the friction in between the plants and their SYMORS.

-----

On a pale brown hand, a few strands of fur started growing out, elongating so fast that they could be captured by the naked eye.

The brown fur was very soft and a breeze caused it to ripple like ocean waves. After a moment, it abruptly stood on end, like electricity had passed through it. But that wasn't what had happened, instead, its originally soft protein particles had hardened with a thought from the owner of the hand. After hardening, they appeared to resemble very sharp needles, they even had a metallic sheen which glistened in the sun.

After hardening, the hand was raised upwards and the needles abruptly vanished from it, leaving tiny holes which spewed out blood.

"What are you doing?" Leah asked as Monki placed his hand down. They were at the tallest ruin in the place, it had been a skyscraper, rusted beams and cracked concrete was all around them and causing Leah to take very soft steps. She was scared that any more force on her part could cause the concrete floor beneath her feet to crumble and cause her death.

"Those were just a means to confuse our pursuers. There must be someone with a very good nose or a tongue like yours. If our scent isn't scattered, we will be found even before we could run. So, scatter your scales, or hair." Monki said. He stood beside her as they overlooked a large part of the city below. Crumbled structures with trees parasitising them were everywhere. The sweet scent of ripened fruit entered their noses from below. Since the previous denizens had been killed and chased out, the fruits were still hanging on their trees, or had fallen down to become fertiliser.

Leah sighed, but she made the same decision as him. She raised her hand, causing her emerald scales to stand on end before firing them off.

"But will this be enough? Even I can tell that the scent on the scales aren't enough to really mask us. We are giving up the mist stench. They will ultimately find us just by following our path." She said.

"The wind will help us." Monki rubbed the tip of his nose and said.

Rumble!

Leah blushed upon hearing that sound. It had originated from her stomach.

"Even with all the fruits you have devoured you still haven't managed to become full!?" A bewildered Monki asked. During their short walk to this building, Leah had fed on plenty of fruits, but in just that short amount of time, the energy had already all been extracted.

"Shut up!" She burst out in embarrassment.

"Okay, now we need to lie down here or else they will spot us first." Monki took the initiative to do what he had said. The rough concrete surface was warm, but not hot enough to scald skin. 

Monki's pupils dilated as he activated a little bit of energy to zoom in on the view at the edge of the city. When they dilated, he could even see the veins on a leaf a few kilometers away.

"They are here!...hmmm? Njibwa?" Monki had plenty of wilderness experience, coupled with the lessons he had been given by the assassin, he was trying to fuse all his abilities together.

"How can you see so far? I don't see anything except for the tops of trees." Leah asked.

"Energy channelling to the eyes + focussing the energy in the pupil =far vision." Monki explained simply.

Monki was seeing everything, Njibwa in her white body SYMOR, and a team of three which was acting like they were her surbodinates.

"It looks like the Black Diamond Group also sent a team." Monki scratched his chin. "And they appear to be professionals." He continued.

"Shit!" Monki cursed before lowering his face until it laid flat with the concrete floor. He even did the same to Leah's head.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"They have someone with far vision...and it must be superior to mine! He must have bird genes." He explained.

-----

"Did you see something?" Leah asked the man who had been bringing up the rear. He had abruptly stopped and looked through the tree tops towards a skyscraper ruin in the distance.

"Nothing, it must have been a critter." The man answered before following along the team.

"I taste the scent everywhere. They must have climbed somewhere high. Here down, its gloomy, so there is no way the wind would spread the scent." The captain in front said.

The whole team stopped at his words.

"Should we split up?" The woman proposed. The captain was touching the back of his neck in frustration.

"We are few. It would have been nice if we had more manpower. This city is huge." He said.

"Should we wait for those behind us?" The driver proposed.

"No, they might get away. Remember, they must not cross the front line." Njibwa interjected.

After her input, they all moved their eyes towards her, waiting for her decision, since she was technically the boss.

"Let's split up first. We shall come back here after an hour. I believe those four would have arrived by then...then they will help us. Captain, you said that they might be high up, right? Then we should make tall places our priority." Njibwa ordered. The trio acknowledged before everyone went their own separate ways.

-----

"They have spilt up." Monki whispered after raising his head slowly and checking back.

"Since its Njibwa, then do you think she is trustworthy?" Leah asked.

"...I don't think so. Should I try to meet her? I knew which direction she left in." Monki was unsure.

"Try that at your own risk. Me, I am going to hide up here and wait until I can see my friends. They must be behind Njibwa's group." Leah said.

"Okay. Let's hide for a bit longer and see whether your teammates will arrive in that time." 

"You should run away! Why would you stay with me? Do you want to get caught?" She asked.

"After this city, the front line must be near. I don't really want to cross into beast territory. I want to suss out the intentions of those who have been sent. If my punishment is just imprisonment, then it would be better." He answered.

"Then all the more reason to go with your earlier idea of meeting miss Njibwa." Leah said.

-----

Twigs snapped, dry dead leaves too, broke into pieces as they were stepped on by two pristine white feet. They were white because they were covered in SYMOR. Miss Njibwa's feet were bare, even though most people would wear shoes since they were used to them, she chose to trust her biological armor.

'Now that I am alone, I should get familiar with energy channelling. I can't allow myself to be looked down upon.' Njibwa thought while moving.

One of the feathers on the SYMOR started abruptly growing, its size far surpassing that of the other feathers. She plucked it off when it reached the size she wanted, and held it like a sword.

A few veins bulged on her hand and she sung it at a nearby tree so fast, that it left behind a white trail. The tree, which had been about 2m thick was cut in the middle, but it remained standing, without showing any signs of falling. Only a mark was left where the feather sword had passed.

"My speed can be increased to such a level!" She exclaimed, her face morphing into a genuine smile.

'If I dual wield, then I will be a killing machine! How I wish I had an opponent' she sighed.

As she walked she also experimented with her various sensory organs, like increasing her hearing range and quality. When she tried it, she was shocked. The sound of wind whistling through the leaves, the wing beats if the various flies feasting in the rotten fruit, even the crack when a tree swayed in the wind and a branch was so strained that some of its outer layer snapped. The sounds amazed her to no end.

"So this is Monki's stench!" She mumbled when she had channelled the energy to her nose. She had picked it out among all the other scents as she had been with him the longest, so his smell had been registered in her mind long ago. 

"The other smell must be Leah. That captain can probably figure out if she is still alive through the scent." 

'Hmmm!? the smell is coming relatively nearby. Even though its faint, I should check it out.' Leah changed her direction until she came upon a tree. Her gaze was attracted to a certain item which was sticking out.

"A scale? Leah's emerald scale...how did it end up here?" She entered deep thought.

"There is no way someone placed it here, there could have been signs, broken twigs, foot prints, and even signs on the bark." She mumbled. This woman was terrifying! If Monki knew that she wasn't just a flower vase, he would be shocked.

"Let's see, judging by the angle, its as if it was thrown." She looked up, towards an angle and a building entered her gaze.

"Leah lacks the energy, besides, unless a she has experience with hidden weapons, there is no way she would be able to throw it this far, even from a high vantage point...of course! Energy channelling!" Njibwa hit her forehead.

"Then, that driver guy must have seen something! They must be in that building!" She mumbled out in realisation.

'Should I inform them, or go alone?' She thought.

"They are two, even though Leah is injured, if she can throw her scales this far, then she must be fine. Then I should probably watch that building carefully until that blue eyed brat arrives." She said.

"Ah! Thinking saps a lot of energy." She rubbed her forehead before plucking off a nearby fruit and eating it. Her body was coincidentally facing the skyscraper with the highest vantage point.

'Monki is no fool, so why is he still there. He should have bolted for the front line. And the action of saving that girl, wouldn't she be a burden?...no no no...I should stop thinking about his motive. He's here its just a matter of time before we capture him.'

"The brat will come within the hour. Those three will probably reach the same conclusion as I. Monki Monki Monki, your fur must have softened before it could make an impact, but you slipped up, not thinking that the girl's scales would give you away, what a blunder!" She mumbled, but it seemed like she was taking joy in her discovery.

(Miss Njibwa, let's meet back at the place. We have found clues as to where they might be.) 

The captain's voice in her earpiece caused her grin to become even wider.

"They were slow, but they are professionals after all. Though, that building isn't safe, we should first come up with a strategy. We can't really fight on such fragile concrete after all." She mumbled, the thought of battle causing the feather blade in her hand to vibrate due to the shivering of her hand.