Chapter 1259 (2/2)

Fear gripped Derek’s heart and he pressed his eyes closed. Please, let me be mistaken...

And then the images from the drones arrived on their terminal. What Derek and his subordinate, and also their direct superiors back at headquarters who had hastily gathered from Derek’s report, saw on the drone feed was a giant piece of ground with hundreds of legs scurrying across the ground toward the edge of Zone 1.

“Kharon,” the subordinate breathed with a hint of awe in his voice. Derek nodded slowly. The drones quickly fed back increasingly clear images of the diverse series of tall buildings that sat in the moving city. The drones flew closer. Derek studied the bustling streets, full of people who looked like they were simply heading to work. The drones circled around the whole circumference of the moving city, avoiding tall pillars of smoke that were belched out of the industrial centers of Kharon. Derek even noticed that the thing had parks.

Even weirder to see were the strange platforms surrounded by emerald energy that seemed to float above the level of the rooftops and carry goods from place to place. With remarkable grace, the platforms would glide around the city and then expertly lower themselves at their destination. And the people of Kharon simply cracked their knuckles and moved to shift the supplies off of these platforms as though this were the most natural thing in the world.

Very quickly, two drones fixated on the looming presence of a floating island hiding behind Kharon proper, this island shrouded with mist. Strange blue lightning bolts slithered through the floating island’s mysterious depths. Derek distantly heard the order of his superiors order one of the drones to approach and saw that the feed abruptly cut off as the drone entered into the mist. The other drone watched as its fellow fell toward the streets below.

For a second, Derek felt a flash of panic as the drone fell downward toward the unsuspecting heads of the people working below, but he saw fully six people out of a hundred on the busy street glance sharply upward and spy the approaching drone. Then the six people glanced at each other, their focus crossing the crowded streets to find their fellows in an instant.

In the end, all but one lowered their gaze and continued about their business. As it turned out, the one who acted was the youngest, a woman who was probably not even 20. She hopped upward in a low arc to clear the heads of the people walking along the street and caught the freefalling drone, landing against a brick building and clinging there for a second. Then she dropped down and returned to the busy street.

Several dozen people looked upward sharply at her large movement, but they returned to their business almost immediately. As though this was a common enough sight not to bother with it. Derek couldn’t believe it; what were the Stats and Levels of all these people…?

The young woman rapped her knuckle against the inert drone, a frown crossing her face as she examined her new find. And the still-working drone recording her catch was close enough that Derek could read her lips as the woman began using her bare fingers to peel away the layers of soldered steel of the drone’s exterior.

“What shitty materials. How do they even expect these things to withstand water damage with a seal like this…?”

Before the watching guards of Zone 1 could see any more of the city of Kharon, there was a flurry of motion and each drone they had sent to observe was blasted with that strange emerald energy. All of the video feeds were immediately cut off.

Derek looked out toward the approaching city of Kharon and frowned. He tapped the button to contact his superior and asked, “Captain Moss, reporting sir. What should we do about this…?”

Technically, this was the city of the Order Ducis. And all Orders were generally exempt from being questioned as they entered and exited the borders of Zone 1. But because the Order Ducis was bringing an entire city with them, Derek was sure that his superiors would hesitate before they swung their doors open. Even if it was for the widely recognized most powerful man in the world.

For a long time, a reply communication from headquarters didn’t come. Derek simply chewed on his lip as Kharon moved steadily closer. The rumbling grew louder. Kharon appeared even larger and imposing as it neared. Emerald energy seemed to roil around the edges and in the city’s wake. The floating, mysterious island that hovered above Kharon made Derek’s heart pound and his instincts urgently warn him away from this place.

No monster had ever made Derek feel the fear he now felt as he looked up to that floating island.

“Holy shit, that thing is huge,” Derek’s subordinate swore softly. Derek could only nod slowly in agreement.

Finally, the communication came back from headquarters. “Attempt to hail and ascertain the motives of the Order Ducis. Do not antagonize recklessly.”

Sighing, Derek picked up the radio again and tried the most commonly used frequencies to hail Kharon. To his surprise, the other side responded almost immediately. A sweet-voiced woman informed Derek that Kharon was en route to the Ogre Gorge and simply passing through the edge of Zone 1. There was no reason to be alarmed.

Derek relayed the message. Headquarters replied with the request that Kharon pause at the border so they could perform some routine administration in regards to their entrance into Zone 1. Feeling frustrated being the middleman, Derek picked up the radio and told the woman from Kharon what his superiors had said.

By this time, Kharon had arrived directly in front of the low line of hills on which the security checkpoint sat. The woman thanked Derek, but even as she did so Derek blew out a frustrated snort; it seemed unlikely that Kharon would stop.

Even as his instincts continued to urge Derek to run, he stood at the window and looked upward at the towering monolith of Kharon. It completely blocked off the sun from shining on the security checkpoint just by being next to them. Just as had been rumored, Kharon really was an entire city that could wander.

As Derek kept his spine straight as he stood at the window, his subordinate whimpered. “Derek, do you think-”

“We’ve relayed the message, it’s on them now,” Derek managed to squeeze out through gritted teeth. But as he expected, Kharon the moving city didn’t slow down at all as it approached. But Derek did watch as four extremely long legs unfolded from underneath Kharon and press against the ground. Using only a second, Kharon lifted itself up and passed directly over the security checkpoint.

Several small pebbles fell and clacked loudly against the metal roof. Both Derek and his subordinate hurried to the window on the opposite side of the building. And they both watched as Kharon lowered itself back toward the ground and continued forward without sparing them a passing glance.