The Almighty Ring

“Captain, the Mutants are chasing us now. Be warned, they are fast!” cried 0541 after detecting Lincoln’s group.

“Tch! How persistent!” Jiang Fei grunted. He turned to the Android leader and asked, “How long till the rescue ship arrives?”

“Estimated time of arrival is 2 hours 10 minutes!”

“That’s too long…” Jiang Fei muttered.

He needed to think of a way to delay the Mutants long enough until the rescue ships arrived.

Right now, no one beside him was in shape to fight the enemy. They could if they were the same Mutants as before. The likelihood of them emerging victorious if they fought against the same type of enemies was extremely high. Unfortunately, those that remained in Japan were the most elite ones. Melee combatants were harder to deal with and there were even 30 Level 4 of the Pinnacle stage. Put them in a cage fight and only the Mutants would survive.

“I need to split them up,” Jiang Fei muttered to himself.

“Brother Jiang Fei, I don’t think that is the best idea,” said Bai Wanli, hearing what Jiang Fei had just uttered. It was unlikely that the Mutants would split up again after having defeated. They would have learned from their mistake.

“Even if that is not the best idea, I need to make it happen! We would not survive if they stick together to fight us!” said Jiang Fei, frustrated.

The only thing that is keeping them alive was 0541’s isolation field. That, and 0541’s proximity sensor that helped Jiang Fei to maneuver around the country to avoid direct confrontation with the Mutants. However, the isolation field keeping the martial artists hidden away from the world had a huge flaw. It would not work of the enemy got too close to them.

After losing track of the martial artists, the Mutants had dispatched many trackers and scouts to find them. Even though the terrain was not cooperating with them, they were still able to increase their efficiency simply by sending out more scouts to find them.

“For now, the best move we should make is to avoid the beach and hide somewhere else,” said Jiang Fei. It would not make sense if they head there now and wait for 2 hours until the rescue ships arrived. They would only be sitting ducks with the Mutants chasing after them.

“That makes sense. Alright, we’ll follow you,” Bai Wanli seconded Jiang Fei’s idea. He was not the only one. The moment Jiang Fei had gathered with everyone else, the rest of the elders had respected and looked up to Jiang Fei. They believed that even though he was young, he was wise enough to lead them to victory.

Once everyone agreed to follow Jiang Fei’s idea, the entire group went away from the obvious route and make their way across the country and left the beach. There was still enough time for him to hide since it would be 2 hours before anything could go wrong.

…

“Pick up the speed! We cannot let the Chinese get away!” cried Lincoln. Lincoln did not know that the Chinese martial artists had a rescue ship coming for then, lest about the time of arrival. All they knew was that they needed to chase them as fast as possible to stop them from reaching the beach. They still believed that the Chinese were receiving reinforcements!

“Sir, should we head on first?” Baron Blood suggested. He and his men were so much faster than the rest of the other Mutants.

“No. No more splitting up! You had just seen what happened to the other group!” Lincoln snarled. He had underestimated the Chinese and after what had happened to Shroder’s group, he was not fond of the idea.

“But, if we continue on like this, we might actually lose them!” said Baron Blood.

“…” Lincoln went silent for a while. Although he did not want to split up, he did not want the Chinese to link up with their reinforcements as well. In which case, the latter takes priority.

“Fine. Go ahead but always check in with my group. Keep the distance close enough. I will also send out another scout group to check ahead,” said Lincoln.

Baron Blood nodded at the command and gestured the rest of the Scarlet Hunters to follow his pace. They were not engaging the enemy, merely moving faster and scouting the front. Although he did not like the idea of merely scouting, he could not disobey Lincoln’s command.

Baron Blood was confident in his skills. After attacking and killing China’s number one sect’s leader Ma Xuantong, he was even bolder than before, thinking that he and his men could take on the other martial artists. It was only natural since he and his men were at the Pinnacle stage of Level 4. They could take on several martial artists at the same level as them and destroy the rest easily.

“Crow, go ahead and scout for enemies!” Lincoln ordered another mutant when the Scarlet Hunters left.

“Yes, sir!” A man dressed in black cloak answered and immediately morphed into a black crow, slighter bigger than a regular one.

The Mutant was an Animorph, like the others that could change themselves into a specific type of animal. He, on the other hand, was not suited for combat. Before being put through the Bio-Enhancement procedure, he was only able to morph into a small crow, working with a circus crew, fooling the audience with absolute obedience. After enhancement, he become stronger physically. However, that was not enough for him to be useful in combat. On the other hand, being able to fly at breakneck speed allowed him to serve as scouts.

Besides Crow, there were others just like him—able to morph into birds and insects—who took off the ground and flew in all directions. Their mission was to locate the missing martial artists.

Roughly 30 minutes later, Baron Blood and his men arrived at the beach, only to find it empty and quiet.

“Where are they?!” Baron Blood roared.

“Didn’t you say they were running towards the beach?” one of his men asked.

“I did. But something is off. I need to bring this in,” Baron Blood quickly contacted Lincoln and told him the situation.

“No one there? Impossible!” Lincoln was taken aback. After a while, he replied, “Look around and see if anyone has ever been to the beach!”

“Yes, sir!”

The Scarlet Hunters went on their own ways to search the entire beach to find any traces of anyone being there.

At the same time, Lincoln contacted the American Naval Fleet to ask request for surveillance footage. Unfortunately, the 3rd Fleet was so busy with their own problems that they had their hands full!

Concurrently, the American 3rd and 7th Fleet were engaged in nautical warfare, the likes of which no one had ever seen.

“Sink that submarine!” cried the commander of the 3rd Fleet, Halsey.

“Damage report. All missiles had detonated successfully! Hold on a second… I’m… I’m getting readings… The Chinese vessels are unharmed! They are still alive!” cried the operator.

“Impossible! All ten missiles hit them but none of the enemy’s ship is damaged?!” Halsey blabbered.

The intercepting drones that had destroyed the missiles were launched right at the moment of the missiles launch, they were able to fly a few kilometers away from the Chinese fleet and detonate the missiles away from them. That gap between the predicted detonation was only 2 seconds margin of error. From the perspective of the Americans, they had thought that their missiles had hit their targets successfully were not intercepted.