474 Close Call (1/2)

The atmosphere within Tartarus is already unpleasant but sure doesn't hold a candle with how repulsive the air is within the Devil's Cradle.

The ever-present killing intent was one, but the smell of rotting corpses fused with the vile energy was bound to leave a nasty impression to those who experiences it. Added to the dark and gloomy atmosphere as well as the creatures lurking around, this place surely is something that one wouldn't want to visit on a regular basis.

That being said, it defeats the purpose of disciples being…well, disciples of the Ancient Elysium Sect, therefore they had to do it.

Roughly half an hour passed since Unit-17 moved out. The atmosphere surrounding the Unit was a bit awkward. Its mostly because none of them truly knew each other that well or it's influence by the general theme of their surroundings - that, or it might be both as well.

No one was talking. They all just silently marched forwards with no real goal in mind. They had yet to encounter a single Devil during their patrol. Nevertheless, the 'sensors' of the Unit were on alert thanks to Raven's arrangements.

As per said arrangements, Raven was tasked to keep an eye on their rear. It wasn't a difficult thing to do specially since Raven could stretch his spying range according to his desires. He might be facing forward and following the team but he could see what behind them even without looking back.

”Wait!”

Unit-17 stopped dead on their tracks as they heard someone exclaimed. The one who did so was Juniper.

As everyone's attention went to him, Juniper crouched down, traced the dry ground and brought it close to his nose. Mere inches away and they heard him retching, causing some people to wince, thinking to themselves that what he smelled wasn't probably something pleasant.

After recovering a little bit of his dignity and composure, Juniper stood up and said: ”Damn, that smelled awful. Anyway, something's nearby. It went towards east, probably not too far. What do we do?”

Automatically, all heads turned over to Raven, causing him to be shocked: ”Hey, why are you all looking at me?”

”Give it up, man.” Jason grinned, ”You brought this to yourself.”

”Shut it.” Raven glared at him, he then turned towards the rest and said: ”Do a voting system instead, discuss it amongst yourselves first, I'll go wherever you guys go.”

The rest looked at each other and felt the hesitation. Jason then received a voice transmission, causing him to perk up and stepped forward to take the lead.

”Alright, voting system it is.” Jason stated, ”Before we start voting, I'd like to point out a few things.”

”That being said, it is a lead.” Jason added, ”Even though it is our first hunt and Senior Brother won't take it against us if we decided to play it safe, in the end we will still encounter them anyway. Either we face them now or some other time later, doesn't make a huge difference I think.”

Jason paused and said: ”Alright, those who wants to hunt it down. Raise your hand.”

All of them, except Jason and Raven raised their hand, not that their votes actually matter since both of them would probably end up following whatever the majority decided to do.

”Alright, we hunt it down.” Jason nodded, he then looked at Juniper and said: ”I'll trouble you to point directions.”

Juniper looked a little bothered but agreed nonetheless. Jason noticed his hesitation and understood why it is so. There was a friction between him and Juniper during the time they competed against each other. They haven't had the time to sit down and discuss so their relationship is civil at best.

Needless to say, they're in no position to oppose each other right now nor settle down their differences. That can wait for some other time. Right, they had a Devil to hunt.

With that, Unit-17 decided to go on a detour. But they haven't even had the chance to go far before they heard Raven yelled:

”Enemy spotted. I see three, one charging towards me, others encircling us to do a pincer attack.”

The unit froze on the spot and gripped their weapons tighter.

”I'll deal with the one coming at me, you guys deal with the other two who's going for a pincer attack. Be careful, we don't know what they're capable of.

After saying that, Raven took a couple of steps forward to confront the Devil that's charging towards them. The rest of his teammates wanted to offer their help but couldn't since they could feel the confidence behind Raven's voice.

They focused their attention to the other two coming. Thanks to the sensors and Raven's advanced warning, they were able to track their targets closely. The two incoming devils decided to split up. One was headed towards Michelle, the other going towards Nelson.