Chapter 86: Meteors?

Feeling their newfound zeal, the collection didn’t take long; after about thirty minutes, they had cut open and extracted the cores of all the mutant beasts.

"This is the last of them, Patriarch, a total of one hundred and thirty cores."

"A bit more than our initial estimates."

Adjusting her sniper rifle on her back, Lauren, with her full head of grey hair and a pair of bloody hands gave a salute to Ethan.

Although it was more than the initial estimate of a hundred, under the might of fifty-two 2nd-Circle mages, the beasts, lacking their leader Lucian, had ultimately met their ends.

"Good. Now, I take it that everyone has recovered a good portion of their mana?"

"In that case, let’s all head home."

"After this, we’ll use these stones to power up the Awakeners we have in our base, as well as begin to share and decide duties among them," Saying this, Ethan stepped onto the air.

"Oh, and let’s make this interesting, the last one to get to the shelter has to be in charge of guard duty for the next month!"

Boom!

Perhaps because he was in a good mood from collecting so many cores, Ethan decided to play with the veterans for a bit.

For these old people who loved to compete against each other, what better way than this?

So with that in mind, he activated both his Body Strengthening and Air Walk techniques, rapidly running through the sky.

A move that made it seem as though he disappeared, leaving everyone on the ground confused for a few seconds.

However, a few seconds were all it took, as the veterans soon realized what was happening.

"Haha! Christian, it seems like that grandson of yours really takes a lot after you!"

"Looking at him now, isn’t this just like what you did during the war back in ’06? At that time, you made a bet on who could escape the enemy base first even though we were outnumbered!"

Recalling the past, Lauren laughed as she stepped into the air, rapidly chasing behind Ethan.

"Although back then, I didn’t come first, this old lady is different now!"

"See you on guard duty, hahaha!"

Lauren’s faint laughter echoed through the air.

After her, Kenjiro and the others all followed suit, stepping into the air and leaving behind a dumbfounded Christian.

"Damn it! You old fogies, wasn’t it me who called everyone back together?!"

"How dare you guys betray me like this!"

However, even as he said this, Christian couldn’t stop smiling as he stepped into the air, chasing right after them.

Fun like this, pure laughter like this, when was the last time he had experienced anything like it?

For a moment, even if just a little, his heart that had long since been frozen began to melt.

...

[Emerald City Outskirts, Smith Shelter]

Counting the time they had left, the time they defeated Lucian, and the time spent gathering materials, it had been a few hours since Ethan and the others departed, and since then, the base had been relatively peaceful.

However, despite this peace, under Ethan’s orders, the base as a whole was on full alert.

Each watchtower had three to four people guarding it.

Patrols were constantly walking around the perimeter of the base, ready to report any suspicious movements.

And even within the base, guards and security moved about with weapons ready to quell any panic in case of a disaster.

Now standing in the middle of the courtyard, Elena crossed her arms as she stared into the sky with a frown on her face.

"Damn, brother! Why didn’t he take me with him?!"

"I’m sure he got to fight a lot! Also, what’s with this new system?"

"Did he just randomly pick one up on the road? If so, why a chat room?"

Talking to herself, Elena looked at the chat room interface with a hint of confusion.

She had just been meditating, trying to understand her own principle to break through to the 2nd Circle, when a sudden screen appeared in front of her.

At first, she wondered if it was someone’s ability; however, after seeing several unfamiliar names, as well as her brother, Grandpa, and Alfred, she was sure it wasn’t an ability.

"However... Magic Web? This brother of mine is really becoming more and more outrageous."

Muttering to herself, she wondered if anything was happening in the chat room.

Perhaps they were talking about something interesting.

However, what she saw next made her question reality.

[Global Mage Chat Room]

[An old man who almost had it all]: Damn bastards, how dare you all leave me behind! When I catch up to you, you’ll regret it!

[The World’s Greatest Sniper]: Haha, is that all you can do, old man? If you have so much time to talk, then you might as well speed up. This old woman is getting tired of slowing down for you!

[The Aging Sword Saint]: Indeed, as the crazy sniper says. Christian, should I perhaps train you with the sword when we get back? It can help increase your reaction time.

[An old man who almost had it all]: That’s it! Both of you, when we get back, fight me! It seems you’ve forgotten who I am!

[The First Mage]: Now, now, Grandpa, calm down. It’s just a game; there’s no one to blame if you’re the slowest.

[The World’s Greatest Sniper]: Grandpa is slow +1

[The Aging Sword Saint]: Grandpa is slow +1

[The Unbreakable Fortress]: Grandpa is slow +1

[The Walking Arsenal]: Grandpa is slow +1

[Addicted to fighting]: ??

Seeing what was happening in the chat room, Elena had a giant question mark over her head, completely unable to understand what was going on.

"What the hell are they talking about?" she asked.

However, a second later, the hairs on her body stood up on end.

In front of her in the sky, several streaks like meteors seemed to be descending, threatening to destroy the whole base!

"Damn! What is going on today?!"

She cursed, preparing to activate all her mana and abilities