World Filter

The resonating echo of heavy blades slicing through the air gradually faded away, as the helicopter rose into the air, making its way back to camp

The flight had taken them a good portion of the morning and they were now hitting mid-afternoon.

Mark had been surprised by the fact that they weren't actually traveling as far as he thought. The issue here was not distance because if the pilot had been able to fly freely then they could have made the whole journey in a matter of hours.

The biggest problem with this was the fact that Ghasts seemed to be territorial of their nests and while they were nocturnal, if anything entered their nesting zone they would attack, be it day or night.

Sam had told him that they were actually seeing a slight bump in day activity from the Ghasts as time moved on. It was too soon to tell, but it almost seemed like they were adjusting to daylight.

So it all boiled down to one simple rule, avoid the nests. Which forced the pilot to take detours increasing their fight time.

When they reached the drop-off point they were deposited right in the middle of a main road.

Mark had moved out with the soldiers to secure the area. They were met with minimal resistance.

After killing forty or so Corrupted, the Engineers were rolled out and the pilot took off.

Finally, their group was alone on the streets once more.

“Alright everyone you have been handed comms and cameras. To conserve power, keep them off until ordered otherwise ” Sam announced to the group.

They had handed Mark a small earpiece and chest camera during the ride. It looked like command was sparing no expense. They even had suppressors this time.

Mark also recognized a few of the faces here.

Chris, Jaya, and Matt nodded to him but the rest were new to Mark.

Jonathan stepped forward.

“Alright, Formation everyone. Engineers at the core. We need you to arrive in one piece. I have not personally worked with some of you but from here on out you follow our orders. We move as soon as Sam has our heading”

Looking around Mark made note of each of the people here. Chris was actively surveying the area, while the rest remained on guard. The lead engineer seemed too preoccupied with some equipment but he could tell she was nervous. Mat was reloading his weapon and a new soldier named Franklin was polishing his daggers lovingly.

Mark wrapped himself in a thick [Sculpt Mana] and got ready.

Sam took out a tablet and seemed to be cross-referencing it with the system Map.

Looking at his own and he saw they would be heading straight into a large green zone. Time seemed to have allowed the Dungeon's Corruption to spread quite a ways from it. Hopefully, they could skirt around it.

Looking down at his Purifier's presence ring he was excited to see how it worked. Mark had taken some time to burn off his Corruption yesterday and, for the first time in a long time, he was at zero percent Cv. That meant [Repel Corruption] was active now.

Sam seemed satisfied and called for them to begin. Moving down the road they headed in a westerly direction.

Depending on what they encountered this could either be a walk in the Park or days in hell.

Mark had been keeping his senses open for any changes in the surrounding energies and soon enough he felt it. Corruption hung over the area like a fog, stretching out in front of them like a screen.

It was nearly invisible to the naked eye unless you knew what you were looking for.

Mark called it out.

Jonathan acknowledged him but it didn’t change anything. They had a mission to accomplish. As their squad breached the wall of Corruption Mark felt his ring respond. It began to drink in his regenerating Prana and slowly an invisible force began to push the Corruption back. Mark knew from the ring's description the area it could cover was decent but it seemed like it needed time to expand to its fullest. As they kept moving the ring constantly carved a path through the cloud but never seemed to grow larger than ten meters. Mark figured he’d have to remain stationary for it to take full effect. Also noting that the fog was sealing up behind them, so the ring wasn't destroying the Corruption, just displacing it.

Mark was happy with the results either way. It would keep the squad's Cv down and that was worth it in Mark's opinion.

As they traveled Mark got a better look at the lead Engineer. In the beginning, her eyes had darted all over the place for threats but as they moved the relative quiet seemed to calm her. Anything that did approach was dealt with almost immediately by the frontline.

“So ma'am you are our Engineer? what can I call you? I'm Mark by the way” he said breaking the ice while keeping his voice low.

She jumped at first but when she turned to him she had a look of bewilderment on her face.

“Um... Elizabeth. Lovely to meet you, but shouldn't you be keeping an eye on our surroundings instead of talking to me,” She said looking around.

In some respects, she was probably right, but during downtimes like this, some causal banter was encouraged for no other reason than to keep everyone sane. Of course, things changed the moment shit hit the fan but with the team they had brought this time, the five or six Corrupted currently blocking their path were not worth mentioning.

“Don't worry Elizabeth I'm keeping an eye out. Is this your first time out in the field? Mark asked.

“I won't deny this is the closest I've been to these things, but when the country calls we have little choice in the matter don't we,” she said putting on a forced smile.

Mark was surprised, did that mean she was level one?

Mark loved his home, but if the government asked him to put everything aside and take on a dangerous mission with probably little to no strength to defend himself, well, let's just say he would have a very different answer.

"You're very brave Elizabeth," Mark said in admiration.

“No... A command structure is in place in place for a reason, we all have our roles,” she said as her tone changed to a more formal one.

Mark wasn't sure if it was the profession talking or if that was just how she was.

Smiling he said.

“Well don't worry we'll make sure to get everyone back safely” Mark assured her.

They spoke for a while longer, he got the sense that rules and rituals were important to her. It was how she saw the world and placed everyone in it. It was probably a major reason she had accepted the job in the first place.

Soon enough though the Corrupted began to grow in number. Mark started off by firing the odd [Force bolt] which became a regular stream as their numbers climbed. The squad picked up speed.

“Side route coming up in one hundred feet” Sam yelled.

Diving down it, they broke out the other side and ran around a fenced-off basketball court. Mark's eyes narrowed when he saw what was on the other side of the chain link fence.

Expanding his construct into a large flat-paneled wall he blocked the incoming hail of acid bolts.

Five large Ghouls clustered inside the court.

“I’m engaging, keep moving. Sam assist me. Mark, cover them” Jonathan shouted as he dashed forward.

Normally the squad would just keep moving but in this case, Mark agreed with his choice to go in for the kill.

The Ghoul's speed way outpaced normal Corrupted, so tailing the group would be easy for them. This meant that if they weren't dealt with the squad would never be able to lose their tail, not to mention a constant barrage of projectiles.

Mark extended [Sculpt Mana] into a dome as Jonathan broke from the formation and dashed at the fence.

Ripping through it with a swipe of his arm. Honestly, with his Aura as high as it was, the metal fence may as well have been plastic wrap to him.

Moving into the court he slashed through one of the Ghouls, killing it right away, turning on the next nearest one.

Sam made a grasping motion and a chunk of rock appeared in the air. Sending it tearing through the fence she crushed one of their skulls on her first throw. Mark was certain she was copying him as she directed the rock like a conductor to smash into the hindlegs of the second one, crippling it. Then pulling it back around to finish the job.

Both of them then went for the last one almost simultaneously ending its life before it even knew its pack was dead.

The entire time the group had kept moving, Mark had taken the lead and directed everyone with his construct. The whole fight had only taken three to four breaths but Jonathan was already running to rejoin them. Bursting through the fence once more like some apocalyptic Kool-Aid man.

Like this, they traveled quickly through the streets, suppressed gunfire the only indication they had passed through at all.

Mark had been keeping an eye on their engineers and when he saw them flagging he would send bands of force forward charged with [Invigorate]. He noticed Elizabeth looking at him in confusion.

They continued at this pace for hours. Running into the later parts of the evening and by some miracle, they didn’t encounter anything too advanced. As the last light was reaching the horizon they found a place to stay for the night.

An old motel stop-in had plenty of spare rooms and good amounts of open space to see anything approaching.

The soldiers swept through the place with practiced ease.

Retreating to the common room, Jonathan called a meeting.

“Alright everyone good work. We made some good headway today. If we’re lucky we’ll reach the station early morning tomorrow. The rooms are cleared but don’t move on your own. Watch shifts have been given out, who’s the chef tonight”

When no one spoke up Mark volunteered and once the team talk was done. Mark moved to the small staff kitchen. The extent of tools he had on hand was a single stove top and a microwave.

So when the soldiers began dropping their rations, Mark got to work. Buying a large pan from the Marketplace along with dozens of eggs and a pork belly slab so he could cut strips of bacon. Since it seemed the system never sold it precut. Mark didn’t mind though, it was quick and easy. In total, it cost him around 20 Sp.

Soon enough the nutritional mince gruel from the rations was done and flavored. The pan now sizzled with the sound of frying bacon.

At that point the hungry soldiers started to get antsy so Mark fried up the eggs and started serving. Regardless of attributes or sex, trekking through miles of Corrupted infested streets was hungry work, and soon enough the wolves were at the door. Mark made sure everybody got their fill.

The soldiers seemed to appreciate the comfort food

Near the end of the meal, the engineers found their way in, by this time Mark was just finishing up, and most of the soldiers had already moved to their stations.

“You three better hurry up, this is officially the last call,” Mark said.

“You two go ahead,” Elizabeth said to her men.

After getting permission they headed over.

The other two engineers were men, both probably early thirties. They jumped in line for food, which Mark dished for them, and learned their names were Kyle and Amit. They tucked in and chatted quietly amongst themselves then Elizabeth came forward.

She looked like she had a question but was struggling to vocalize it.

“Go ahead, there is clearly something bothering you,” Mark said taking the dish towel off his shoulder.

No sooner had he said these words than she asked.

“Who are you? You don’t wear a soldier's uniform, yet I've seen your strength firsthand. When I asked around everyone said you're the healer. The leads seem to respect and take your opinion into account. But here you are doing menial tasks. I’m sorry but I don’t quite know where to place you in the hierarchy of things.

Mark continued to dry his hands on the dishtowel as he stared at her.

As he had discovered earlier, position and rules seemed to hold as absolutes in her books. She was wondering where he fit into things.

"First off I'm cooking cus I like it and I wanted to," he said.

“Secondly, I told you earlier, I’m Mark. And you're right I’m no soldier. Think of me as a hired hand or mercenary and the reason Sam and Jonathan show me respect is that I earned it”

He said setting a plate of food down in front of her.

“Okay. So you answer to SAGE?” she said more to herself than him.

“Sure, this is SAGE’s mission after all. I’m currently hired by them. That doesn’t mean I won’t call them on their bullshit if I think they are wrong”

She frowned once more and looked like she was about to speak again, he beat her to it.

“Same goes if they tell me something, I’ll hear them out. They've earned my respect. I’m of the opinion that working as equals is always better, even if they are the bosses.”

She didn't look like she agreed, but then again he never expected her to.

"So you are a mercenary that will just ignore orders if he doesn't like them?" she asked incredulously.

"Depends on the orders and who's giving it. If I can see a better option, I'll speak up. If I can't accept the order, I have no problem disregarding it," he said.

"So you are just rejecting authority?" she said.

Mark looked at her dryly.

"If I minded authority then I wouldn't be here but I want to be able to think for myself, every decision has a consequence. A strong leader values that in the people they surround themselves with"

"But to have your underlings question your every move?" she asked.

"Better that than sycophants who bring nothing to the table" he shot back.

Mark found that they were sinking into a comfortable debate. They had completely different views of the world but that made it more interesting.

"So... what then, it's about the style of leadership? Should that matter to a mercenary?"

Mark shrugged.

“It does if we're talking about making the biggest difference in this new world, smart leaders would look for like-minded people regardless of temperament or creed and work together with them,” Mark’s eyes fell on the backs of Sam and Jonathan as they left the room while discussing something on her tablet.

Elizabeth still hadn’t touched her food but she looked interested now, bringing up the point that having a leader unburdened by opinions could make snap decisions and was therefore more efficient.

The two of them continued to chat while Mark cleaned down his new pan and packed it into his inventory along with his leftover ingredients.

Eventually, they agreed to disagree and ended the conversation there.

Mark headed to bed for the night. He had been lucky not to draw a watch shift, so he sat in [Meditation] for a couple of hours and then went to sleep.

They had a long day ahead of them tomorrow.

Source: Mediation (+1 Prana, +2 exp points)