106 Purple Mana Experiments (1/2)
The next day.
Ed reverted to his human form and waited patiently near the entrance of the maze. He spotted several elite groups but ignored them. Soon, he spotted his targets. 'Looks like my luck is good today.' He grinned as he started following the group of espers. This group had the same leader and several of the same men that had attacked him previously. As for the rest of the original group? Maybe they had switched hunting groups or died. Those were really the only possibilities since espers never leave the cage. If they have a trial, then the best they can hope for is a life sentence as opposed to a death sentence.
Ed followed them for nearly a day before they set up camp. 'Hmm. I only have 6 mana-cores. I'll probably need to focus on mana-powder experiments.' He examined the group of nearly 30 espers. 'Fortunately, there are plenty of test subjects, but this is going to be difficult without killing them.' He calmly watched as he waited for the men to go to sleep. It wasn't long before there were only three men awake on guard duty.
Ed activated his chimera form and controlled the purple flames to barely cover the tips of his claws. He gripped the cavern wall, the flames easily allowing his fingers to sink into it. Then he climbed up to the cavern ceiling, slowly moving across it until he was directly above the esper encampment.
The three guards were close enough together to support each other, but far enough that he couldn't take out all three at once. It was made even more difficult due to the fact that he didn't wish to kill them, and he had nothing to bind them with.
Instead of pressing the attack, he continued to wait. Several hours passed before an opportunity presented itself. One of the guards had left the encampment to relieve himself. Ed followed while clinging to the cavern wall. When they were out of sight, he dropped down and covered the man's mouth to stop him from screaming. He carefully choked the man to the point of passing out. 'Whew.' He sighed in relief at succeeding. It wouldn't be good if he accidently damaged his precious specimens.
It would only be a few minutes before the remaining guards grew suspicious about the unconscious guard not returning. If they were fools, then they might come check out what happened. But espers were rarely fools, and chances are they would wake up their fellow espers to survey the area. Knowing he didn't have much time, Ed searched the body for anything that might help. 'Hmm.' He eyed the manullium cuffs that each prisoner wore. 'Come to think of it, I lost my cuffs. It should've been when I lost my sanity and went swimming in the lava river. Why didn't the mana-powder sealed within them explode then? Did Carlos lie to me about the cuffs containing mana-powder? Or does mana-powder react differently to the purple smoke and the purple lava?' He shook his head, escaping the trail of thought that he didn't have time for at the moment. Continuing the search, he found nothing particularly useful. The only things the man carried were a short spear, a small shield, and his leather armor,
'To hell with it.' Ed frowned as he took the spear. 'No point losing a pack of sheep by trying to save one or two of them. It's simple risk management.' Now resolved to kill, he climbed back up to the cavern ceiling. He positioned himself over a guard and let go of the ceiling, the air brushing past him as he fell. As he landed, he wrapped his tail around the guard's neck, crushing it instantly. The other guard noticed, but it was too late for him to shout as Ed's spear flew through the air. It stabbed straight through the guard's head. Ed hurriedly and gently lowered the first guard's body to the ground with his tail. Then he dashed across the room and caught the 2nd guard's body before it hit the floor, softly placing it on the ground as well. He carefully examined his surroundings and sighed in relief. 'Good. No one noticed.'
With the hard part of the job finished, Ed began to search the camp. He soon found their supplies and what he was really looking for. Several manullium chains were piled up near their food. It was common to bring the chains to carry back mutant flesh as well as restrain mutants during fights. He took the chains and went towards a sleeping esper. His hands shot down to cover the esper's mouth and neck, startling the man awake. However, the man soon fell unconscious again due to the lack of air. Then Ed bound the esper's hands and feet with the manullium chain.
Ed moved from one esper to another, repeating the process. Soon, he had captured all of them. Not even their leader had been able to resist the surprise attack. 'I wasn't stronger than their leader before.' Ed rubbed his chin in thought. 'I must have strengthened up a lot after losing my sanity. I wonder if I'm comparable to Tai yet?'
With all the men captured, Ed took over the camp. He leisurely cooked himself a meal while waiting for them to wake up. It was nearly two hours before their leader, a large blond man, awoke. He glared angrily for a moment before his eyes widened in shock. ”You're the esper that killed Samantha?! I thought you were dead!”
”Well, people make that mistake sometimes.” He replied nonchalantly while biting into a mutant steak he had cooked. ”I once fooled OP Baldy into thinking I was dead too. I really do have a knack for it.”
The man's eyes trembled as he examined his captured men. ”What do you want?” He questioned in a soft voice.
”To start, I want answers. How long has it been since you last saw me?”
”Uhh.” The blond man closed his eyes in thought for a moment. ”About six months, I guess?”
”Six months?!” Ed replied in shock. He had half expected it to have been a while, but it was still surprising to hear it out loud. 'So much for celebrating my 17th birthday.' He smiled, finding it funny he was still concerned over such a mundane thing. 'Come to think of it... I'm about the same height as this blond guy now.' He looked towards the man. ”Hey, how tall are you anyways?”
The man appeared confused by the question but answered anyways. ”I'm 1.9 meters tall.”
”That tall?” Ed's eyes widened in surprise. 'I must be about 1.85 meters tall now then? Damn, I finally hit my growth spurt and I didn't even notice until now.' He reverted to his human form and rubbed his chin, feeling a small patch of hair. 'I'm starting to grow facial hair too, I might need to start shaving soon.' Discontinuing his train of thought, he returned to questioning the man. ”How are things in the settlement? Any recent changes or undercurrents? How did the Warden react to me disappearing?”
This time, the man hesitated to answer. ”You're just going to kill me once I'm done answering all of these questions, right?”
”Fifty-fifty.” Ed answered instantly. ”I'm going to run some experiments on you, so you might survive. But if you don't answer my questions then I guarantee I won't stop until you're dead.”