Chapter 45 - Dark Reunion

  On an empty road, two robot horses, Phillip and Randy, trotted ahead, pulling the cargo containers behind them. Jager and Manuel rode atop the mechanical horses, while Lucas, Chloe, and Samantha sat inside the container.

  Despite the containers looking like ordinary cuboid blocks on wheels, Lucas had modified the bottoms to include all-terrain tracks, enabling them to traverse bumpy and uneven ground with ease. Moreover, he also fitted a hydropneumatic suspension system to the containers to absorb large shocks from the terrain.

  Coupled with a network of gyroscopic stabilizers that constantly generated counteracting torque to offset any tilts or jerks, the system maximized comfort inside the container. Lucas also added a simple smart control system that analyzed the surrounding terrain and adjusted the suspension and stabilizers accordingly.

  “Feels like we’re floating, it’s like a high-class presidential suite,” Chloe sighed, leaning back against the padded seat.

  “Well,” Lucas chuckled, “I’d rather not spend hours bumping and tumbling around.”

  Samantha glanced out the small window of the container to see the dense woods passing by. She mumbled at the eerie woods, “Didn’t this whole road used to be oil palm trees? These look nothing like oil palm trees.”

  Curious about her words, Chloe also looked out the window and exclaimed, “You’re right, they look so creepy!”

  All of the trees by the roadside, which used to be oil palm tree plantations, had transformed into some kind of gnarly-looking trees with their branches creeping out. The kernels nesting on the oil palm trees had mutated too, becoming blackened, crystal-like objects.

  “Calling it now, those trees will attack us,” Lucas suddenly said, and when the girls heard his words, they were baffled. But he just smiled at them.

  As if approving of Lucas’s words, numerous vines extended from the gnarly trees, slamming down at the road in front of them. Jager and Manuel promptly helmed the horses to stop, staring at the creeping vines.

  Despite the sudden halt, the trio inside barely felt any tremor, showing how superior the system Lucas had installed in the container was.

  Jager’s voice rang in the container, “Master, enemy attacks. Plant-type monsters.”

  “See?” Lucas smiled at the girls. He instructed, “Just deal with them and collect whatever’s usable.”

  “Understood, sir,” Jager’s voice rang out again.

  Manuel slammed its metal fists and shouted, “Alright! Time for some action!” It flicked its arms, and a hammer unfolded in its right arm, while a shield appeared in its left.

  However, before Manuel could take any action, countless screeches echoed in the sky again. Both mechanical soldiers stared up into the sky, their red lenses flickering. Similarly, the trio in the container also frowned at the sounds.

  “More vampires. We should move,” Samantha frowned, equipping her suit.

  “No, just kick back and relax,” Lucas waved his hand at her. “Since this thing is a presidential suite, it certainly has a presidential defense to it.”

  Outside the containers, Manuel called out to Jager, “Brother, I’ll beat the tree, you can have the bats.”

  Jager just nodded before a pair of mechanical wings unfolded on its back, propelling itself into the sky. Staring at the screeching bats with its red singular eye, as if analyzing them, Jager flicked its hand and a rifle materialized. Leveling the barrel at an incoming bat, it pulled the trigger.

  An energy beam erupted at lightning speed.

  Surprised by the speed, the bat screeched and erratically shifted its body. But the beam tore through its wing, sending it spiraling down to the ground.

  The remaining groups of bats bared their fangs, transforming into humanoids. One of the vampires shouted, “Mere puppets! How dare you attack us! You inferior beings!”

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  Listening to the insult, Jager shook its head and sighed, “Looks like Master is right. The vampires are vocabularily-challenged.”

  The vampires snarled, their blood-red eyes glowing with fury as they spread out to surround it. One vampire hissed, “A mere puppet dares to challenge us? You’ll regret this!”

  Unfazed, Jager analyzed their formation, his red singular eye flickered. It aimed his rifle at the nearest vampire and another energy beam fired, but it was easily dodged by the vampire.

  The vampire mocked, “Do you think that trick will work?”

  The other vampires charged at it with inhuman speed. Jager ascended higher and retracted his rifle and in its place, a minigun formed and attached under its arm. The barrel of the minigun whirred, raining a hail of crimson laser beams at the vampires.

  Showered by the crimson beams, the vampires’ faces contorted in fear as they flapped their wings to shield themselves from the barrage. However, the laser beams punched through the wing’s membranes and penetrated into their fleshes, causing a rain of gores and fleshes, coupled with the scream of agony.

  While the sky was raining blood, below, Manuel charged toward the gnarly trees and bellowed out loud. Vines lashed out like whips at it but it raised its shield, blocking them with ease.

  “Overgrown weeds! Come on!” it roared, stomping its foot into the ground, a shockwave rippled outward and forced the vines to recoil.

  One particular larger vine darted at it, attempting to restrain it. Manuel snorted, gripping the vines with its free hand, and pulled it with all its mechanical strength. The gnarly tree at the other end of the vine was uprooted with its mutated roots thrashing around as it flew at Manuel.

  “Hmph!” Manuel snorted, swinging its hammer at the incoming tree. The hammerhead cracked with energy before smashing into the tree’s trunk, shattering it into splinters.

  Meanwhile, numerous thin vines charged at it, latching onto its limbs. Blue streaks of lines on Manuel’s body began glowing as the smaller vines were charred at the contact of blue lines.

  Jager, soaring in the sky and gunning down the vampires, suddenly called out, “Master, several high-energy beings are closing in on our position.”

  Hearing this, the girls exchanged glances and nodded before standing up. However, Lucas stopped them with a smile. “Both of you stay here and relax. You’ve just cleared a dungeon; you’re still tired. Let me handle this.”

  He exited the container before the girls could say anything. Looking up at the sky, his vision zoomed in, spotting three more vampires flying straight toward their location at high speed.

  “Tsk, tsk. Their shirts look much more grandeur than those weirdos. Must be noble vampires or something similar,” Lucas chuckled, waiting for the vampires to arrive.

  After a few seconds, the three vampires crashed into the ground where the two containers were parked. Their eyes swept over the battlefield and instantly filled with rage upon seeing a dozen vampires sprawled on the ground, thoroughly battered.

  The vampire leader’s gaze locked onto the human male leaning casually against the metal box. He demanded, “Who are you? Why are you killing my fledglings?”

  “Fledglings?” Lucas was intrigued by the unique terminology. “Not baron or viscount?”

  A bloody aura began radiating from the vampire leader as he glared at Lucas, spitting out each word, “Who are you?!”

  In the face of the bloody murderous aura, Lucas simply chuckled and said, “Don’t you vampires value noble etiquette or something? Shouldn’t you be introducing yourself first?”

  Frowning at the human male’s knowledge of his race, the vampire leader replied, “I am Barca Glaucia, an Enforcer of the Dark Reunion.”

  Dark Reunion.

  Dark Reunion?

  Dark?

  Reunion?

  It was as though these two words were hammered into Lucas’s mind, constantly swirling around in his sea of consciousness.

  “Dark Reunion…?” Lucas’s face darkened. He covered half of his face with his hand.

  “What are you doing, inferior being?! Are you disrespecting Enforcer Barca and the Dark Reunion?!” the other two vampires snarled. However, Barca Glaucia narrowed his eyes at the human male’s sudden change in demeanor. He could sense a kind of raw, turbulent emotion exuding from Lucas.

  All of a sudden, Lucas snickered. “Kuh! Kuh! Dark Reunion.”

  “I finally found you. I won’t allow that to happen again. I will protect the world this time! For I am the Jet-Black Wings!” he bellowed out of the blue, surprising everyone, including the girls watching from inside the container.

  Barca Glaucia’s eyes hardened at Lucas’s statement. He had no idea who this human male was, but the moniker of the Jet-Black Wings screamed danger. Instinct told him that this man was someone who could sabotage the Dark Reunion’s plans.

  This human male, no, the Jet-Black Wings, must be eliminated!

  Without hesitation, Barca unfurled his wings, dashing straight at Lucas. “Die, Jet-Black Wings! You shan’t meddle with the Dark Reunion!”

  Seeing their leader make a decisive move, the other two vampires followed suit, flanking Lucas from both sides.

  Particles of tiny machinery crept across Lucas’s body, forming into a suit of armor. Lucas bent his knees and charged straight at the vampire leader. Outstretching his arms, a thick beam of laser erupted from his palms.

  “Justice Beam!” Lucas roared, firing the laser beams at the two vampires and crashing them into nearby tree trunks.