Once the soldiers got the images of the M'arrillians that were missing, they immediately began to search for them on any cameras in the cities they didn't observe.

The general cursed himself, "How could we overlook this?"

"They aren't that many and harder to spot from the satellite imagery. It is powerful, but it has some limits," one of the experts on the matter replied as they continued the search.

"The other towns have already evacuated. If they went north, we would have heard of this already," Tom's father commented. He scratched his chin, "Which means that they didn't go to any of the cities."

"Where then?" The general asked as he checked everything carefully.

George replied, "A place we aren't thinking of searching. If I remember, they are after my son and his friends. That's why they attacked the farm. Which means that they might use this chance to search for them. Out of the eyes of the 'spy'."

It was only a theory, but the probability was high.

"Check the farm and see if there are any traces of them," the general ordered.

George nodded, "Yes sir!"

"I'll contact the Codemasters to help us in the matter," the general concluded.

Chapter 130: A Closing Danger

The M'arrillians already left the farm as the soldiers began to observe it. They didn't touch anything.

Neth'uar took the lead and the others followed him with doubt.

(I can feel their energy going that way,) his tendril pointed forward. He chuckled, (I'm certain we will find those Chaotic Players there. The creatures will bow to us in the end.)

Rath'tab and the others shook their heads as they thought together, 'He lost a part of his brain.'

Rath'tab pushed that thought aside, just in case the chieftain decided to see what was in their mind, "And if you are wrong? You could… 'find' the energy of someone else."

(Maybe, but they will know where the four humans are. They escaped with them. Maybe we will save Aval'par too. They took him,) he grumbled. He then wondered, (Do you think the humans tortured him for information? Maybe tried to break into their mind? I cannot be certain of which tribe they closely act like.)

(After a few days, he's probably dead,) the other chieftain replied.

(I think they'll keep him alive and do something worse,) one of the M'arrillians commented.

(Enough,) Neth'uar quickly interrupted any other guesses. He knew it would end badly with a horrible situation that he didn't want to imagine. They were on a mission. He didn't care how little trust they had in him. They had to follow his commands. He muttered, (For our late Aa'une.)

The other M'arrillians bowed down in respect for a few seconds, before they continued on their mission.

The Codemasters quickly searched for the missing M'arrillians. The exception was Imthor who focused on the repairs of the portal. He hoped it would be fixed soon. The cables were repaired, the potential sabotage blocked and the crystal was in Chaotic. The energy crystal was safely transported to the portal. The four leaders left the room when they heard the crystal was there. They wanted to witness the progress. They also went to prepare their army to leave Chaotic for the Cothica.

The last thing they would need is to calibrate it and use the right coordinates. This was only a matter of hours.

Chaor entered their room alone. His back was against the wall and growled, "What's going on?"

Imthor turned around, "We are searching for the missing M'arrillians. They might pass near the farm where Kaz and the others were," he sighed when he noticed the shining blue eyes of Chaor shining up.

"Then hurry up already! We don't have much time before they manage to capture them!"

"Why aren't you preparing your troops already?" Hotekk asked with annoyance. He muttered to himself, "And you are back way too soon."

"Takinom is taking the charge. She is very capable," the Underworlder crossed his arms, "And if anything happens to Kaz, I'll hold you responsible."

"And if we go too fast and we break the portal for a longer time?" Hotekk replied before the other Codemaster could, "Then I'll hold you responsible. We have enough on our shoulders already without you telling us how to do things!"

Chaor gazed to the side, "Fine," he decided not to pressure them on going faster and mentally took back his threat. He whispered, "The inactivity is killing me."

Crellan sighed, "The military are preparing an escape plan as we speak. Tom and his friends will evacuate soon. Kaz among them of course," he took a deep breath, even if he didn't need to, "You need to be ready when we are."

"Fine," he turned around and was about to leave, "Anyway Kaz can get his memories from his coded self?"

"Hum?" Crellan asked.

Imthor replied, "Alas not. His code is gone and the memories along with it. Why did you ask?"

"Nothing important," lied the ruler of the Underworld as he left.

Hotekk sighed, "Something tells me he waited a long time to ask this."

"Kaz has most of his memories already," Imthor muttered to himself. He could only guess something happened during the day Kaz got coded. Whatever happened, it probably meant a lot for Chaor. Still, there was nothing they could do. They focused once again on their task.

Milla'iin and his troops reached the next town, but it was empty once again. It was way too small for even himself to call it a town. He considered this a village.

"Why are the cities getting smaller and smaller? We came to a big one and now, they are much smaller."

"Guess we are going to less dense places it seems, because this one isn't the biggest," another M'arrillian replied.

"There are many more towns in this place than in the Overworld," another one said.

"With how many humans are alive, it makes sense," a fourth one muttered.

(Enough chattering. We will collect some supplies and we move forward,) "The spy cannot predict how much we can progress," with that, they went forward. (Neth'uar. Report right now.)

(We are following the energy left behind by either Aval'Par or one of the creatures,) the other creature replied.

(Great,) even Milla'iin didn't believe in following energy. Still, he knew he had success somehow. The chieftain believed it was simply luck. A whole lot of luck. Much more than any creature would believe he might have. Still, that luck worked somehow and he wouldn't stop Neth'uar from doing that.

(We will bring you back those humans or die trying,) Neth'uar told them.

(What?) Rath'tab yelled.

(Don't do that,) Milla'iin replied. They had lost a few M'arrillians already and it wasn't a good idea to send more to their death. The humans had managed to kill a few of them with the creatures. They also captured two of them.

Kaz and his mother left the room where they watched the progress of the creatures. His friends and their families did the same. It caused too much tension to remain in the room.

"You're, okay?" Cassandra asked her son.

"I'm fine mom. I just have a bad feeling about this," he adjusted his glasses. He guessed that the worst might come.

"You think the M'arrillians might come here?" she asked.

"Maybe. They were after us back home and we managed to escape them. Then they chased us at the farm and now, they might try to find this place," he crossed his arms.

"There is little chance they will find it. It is far from any water. Unless they have the means to find us," she wondered.

"They might get a few clues if they read the minds of people around them. This isn't a secret base. Just not that many people come here," Kaz replied a bit worried.

Rothar chuckled as he joined them, "Then we will be ready to crush them. They aren't that many and we have many human warriors with us. I can guarantee that nothing will happen to you Miss Cassandra," he let out a small smirk.

The teenage boy saw where this was going a mile away. He glared at the creature and turned towards his mother.

"He is right. We are not alone and fighting for our lives on our own here. Still, if they managed to control minds," she wondered to herself.

"That's not really reassuring," her son replied.

"We have to be realistic. They can do that and might not hesitate to pull this off. Still, we know what they can do, the military knows too," she told him.

"Yeah, but it might not be enough… Not for now. They need to finish the battlegear. There is something missing," Kaz sighed.

Rothar chuckled, "We will crush them!" he flexed his muscles in front of the woman.

"Stay away from my mom you creep," the teenager warned him before he crossed his arms and raised his chest.

"Don't try to pull a Chaor on me," the minotaur teased the boy in a mocking tone, "But seriously. We will crush the M'arrillians once and for all. They will be on the ground and beg for mercy when we are done with them. No more M'arrillian wars," he grinned.

They could only hope for that to be true.

Neth'uar and the others continued to progress. The creatures reluctantly followed him, not sure if they might end up somewhere else. It was still in the direction the humans escaped with Aval'par, but they could easily turn to another direction later on.

Still, they had no choice but to follow the weird decision of the chieftain.

Rath'tab wanted to complain, but held back. Milla'iin told him that the other chieftain was pretty lucky and had a lot of chances to find what they were looking for somehow. He didn't like that it was all based on luck and not talent. He wanted to just punch the face of the other M'arrillian and bring him back to reality. He didn't. Maybe he'd regret it soon enough. Still, if they found nothing, he would blame everything on Neth'uar if he tried to put the blame on someone else. He could already hear an excuse about 'affecting his energy detection', or something like that.

(I see something,) Neth'uar slowed down. He raised a tendril a little higher in the air.

Rath'tab followed him and looked far away, he noticed a group of buildings that were different from the cities, (You think this is where the humans were brought?)

(There is a chance. If it is not, the enemies will be alerted of our presence. The chance was high and I'm willing to take the risk,) the worm M'arrillian replied.

He nodded and flew down. They prepared to attack.

A loud sound resonated and took the creatures by surprise. Instinct kicked in as Neth'uar grunted, "An alert. Charge now!"

The other agreed. It couldn't be a coincidence that a deafening sound like that came when they showed up.

Many small things flew towards them. They didn't waste time and destroyed them. They were surprised by how fragile those battlegear were.

"They might just be to slow us down," Rath'tab concluded as they charged forward.

George searched for the families and his own and found them together outside. They quickly came together with the creatures as the alarm rang, "Everyone! Get inside now! The M'arrillians are almost here!"

"They found us?" Annie asked nervously.

"Yes! Hide while we take care of them!" He put on one of the battlegear to protect his mind.

The creatures did the same.

"Let's go!" Rothar let out a war cry as he left to welcome the M'arrillians.

Tom hesitated when he saw his father about to leave, "Dad."

"Inside now!" His dad ordered.

"Be careful!" Tom said before he joined his mother and his friends.

Everyone was in the middle of the room. The teenager joined his friends, "Looks like this is it."

"Yeah. We will surely move farther away once this is over," Sarah said.

Remi crossed his arms, "Wonder what the two M'arrillians will do?"

They had no idea. Right now, all they could do was wait and hope for the best.

AC: This is the end of this chapter.

Next: I Won't Leave You Alone.

The attack on the military base began. Despite few M'arrillians, they were dangerous and not everyone could directly fight them, at the risk of having their minds under their control.