The time passes as the next morning of the next day came.
Upon China and at a military base located at one area of the Tian Quan City. Hayato along with Claire and the other Slayers are gathered for a briefing in one tent as they are checking a 3D Scale map of a mountain area nearby.
"let's begin the mission's briefing." Claire spoke as she along with the others are all wearing their Variable suits on and are checking the map that shows several red dots and then creates screens that shows photos of Savages lurking in the forest. "at 1300, each squad will take their helicopters to their designated mountain-entry points where Savages have been spotted and located before terminating them on sight. We will return to the base at 1700 hours tomorrow." She then looks at the team members in the group. "any questions?"
"yes, right here." Said Fritz as he raises a hand. "wouldn't it be more efficient for there to be a reconnaissance before the mission?" he lowers and then waves the hand to the side. "first of all, we have no clear number on how many Savages are lurking at the area, right?"
"true, but LiZA has estimated that there should be at least 30-40 Savages which had gathered in the area for the last 3 months." Claire replied as more red dots appeared on the 3D image which soon shows screen images of Savages. "this is only a prediction of their location, but we know that the Savages are in these areas."
"it'd be better if we cross out the areas that are not close to any water sources, cave shelters, and damp areas." Hayato stated as everyone looks at him crossing his arms on his chest while having a hand cupping his chin. "Savages tend to roam on those areas because for some reason; their physical prowess are more stable in the aforementioned environment."
"I see.." Claire spoke before she nodded to Erica who nods back before she did some tinkering to the 3D Map that cross out several areas in the mountain. The blonde twin tail then looks back at Hayato. "Anything else to note?"
"we need to inform the other Squads on the possibility of an Ambush by the Savages." Hayato stated while raising a hand with a finger pointed up. "over the years I have been killing them, there has been particular behavior for a group of 4-5 Savages working together in creating an ambush that nearly killed even me."
"you mean like the time at Zwei Island?" Liddy asked Hayato who nods.
"since the number of the Savages in this mountain is nearly 30 or more, it's best to tell the others to be cautious as early as possible." Hayato stated as Claire nods while Erica quickly sends a message in an instant.
"man, this mission is getting scarier by the second…" Reitia whispers while looking a bit nervous. "I don't know if we can handle an ambush from those Savages."
Fritz soon came and rubs a hand on the hobbit girl's head.
"don't worry! With me as your support, you got nothing to worry about!" Fritz told Reitia with a grin.
"stop doing that!" Reitia angrily shouts at Fritz who chuckles before he looks at Hayato.
"well, with all that I had said." Said Fritz while waving a hand to the side. "you think my Sniping skills will work against Savages before their ambush?"
"if you can spot them before they can spot you, it can work." Hayato replied with a nod before he checks the map and begins to point at several areas. "tell the other squads that they should be careful in areas such as R21, W24, U19, K92, and…" he checks the other parts of the map as his eyes focus a moment to an area by the mountains that he soon looks away before pointing to a cliff area. "Z10. Those areas are locations with environment advantages for the Savages." He then points back to the cliff area. "Although area Z10 can be dismissed because Savages do not take any areas with higher altitude." He then looks at Claire and nods. "that's all."
"understood." Claire replied while nodding. "well then.."
The blonde continues the briefing while unaware of a small smirk that forms on Hayato's lips.
'it'd better be your stable month, Vitaly.' Hayato thought with an inner smirk as his eyes turned gold slitted for a second. 'you have no idea how long I haven't got on you since last time.'
An hour later, Hayato and his team are at the mountains near the Tian Quan City as there are numbers of explosions occurring in one area near the lake where 3 Savages roars and screeches loudly before getting bombarded by energy beams from Fritz who has his Hundred On and is currently using his rifle to snipe against the alien monsters.
"3 Savages nearly 2kms from my position!" Fritz exclaimed on his communicator as he continues to fire several shots at the alien monsters who gets bombarded before they all scream and began to charge at where the sniper is. "and they're coming my way now!"
The 3 Savages screeches as they opened their mouths and begin to charge yellowish green energy, intending to fire laser beams at Fritz but they were thwarted by Reitia, and Liddy who came from hiding in the forest.
"Oraaah!" Reitia shouted as she jumps and punches a Savage down to the ground where it fires and cause an explosion from its energy misfiring. The hobbit girl then begins to punch furiously at the back dome of the alien monster cracking its shell in just a few seconds before exposing the core which she destroys with a charged up energy fist. "got'cha!
"haaa!" Liddy thrusts her spear forward and right into the mouth of another Savage, the energy its charging clashing against her weapon that begins to spin very fast. "raaah!" her attack pushes through and breaks the energy before the alien monster's back then goes right to the back where its core got shattered from the inside.
The last Savage roars as it continues to charge energy but this time aiming it for Liddy who is trying to pull her weapon out from the other already dead Savage's corpse.
"hurry and jump away!" Reitia shouted out to Liddy who sees the Savage readying to fire its attack but was stopped by chains that came from the side and wrapped around the alien's body that gets pulled back, causing its charged attack to misfire into the air.
"Erica!" Liddy looks in surprise to her comrade who came on time for her rescue.
The brown haired vice president merely nods before she pulls her armament in tightening the chain wrapped around the Savage that began to screech while struggling.
"move!" Hayato's voice shouted out as Liddy and Reitia hears it then quickly jumps away because a powerful stream of red and green energy came firing from a few kms and directly hits the Savage that gets hit with the blast before being incinerated in an instant.
Liddy, Erica, and Reitia looks at the result of the attack that creates a large and long burned scorch mark on the ground.
"That was a bit too far, don't you think?" Reitia asks as she and the others turn and look at Hayato who is with Claire, both are a few miles from their location and the two are wielding their Hundred in their large riffle mode.
"seems that we got it." said Claire as she lifts up her Buster Cannon that has its barrel steaming before the weapon disappears into sparkles. "but it's strange, is it not?"
"I know." Hayato replied as his Mumei that had transformed into its Susanoo cannon mode, begins to glow red before reforming into the Savage Killer's armor. "only an hour and we only encountered three Savages so far." He looks to the side as his helmet's visor glows and scans the area. "can't find any other in this area." He turns back towards Claire. "let's go and regroup. Something is definitely not right around here."
"indeed." Claire nods as she and Hayato began to walk to Reitia and the others, Fritz having already joined them a minute ago after the Savages were killed.
While the two were walking away, at a cliff nearly 10 kilometers away. Krovanh along with Nesat and Nakri could be spotted as the three Hunters were watching Hayato and the other Slayers from their high advantage point.
"he's finally here." Said Nakri as she is using a pair of binoculars to have an enhanced view on Hayato who joined Reitia and the others, the Savage Killer chatting to them about their next step in the mission. "he brought his friends along with him too." She pulls down the binoculars from her eyes and then looks at her comrades. "I wonder why?"
"he got to keep up the act that he's a member of their team, remember?" Krovanh stated while having his arms crossed. "even he has to put up with the goody two shoes acting."
"where is he going now, Nakri?" Nesat asked her female comrade who looks to the view with her binoculars back on, she sees Hayato and his team on the move as they are heading up north of their location.
"seems that they're going north." Nakri replied before she smiles while pulling down the binoculars from her eyes. "they're trying to find Savages, but they won't find any there." She turns and looks at pile of Savage Cores collected near them. "since we already hunted half of the numbers in the entire area."
"all that is left to be done is to get more Cores while also collecting more Variable stones." Krovanh stated with a grin. "after that, we're on the next step of the plan."
"I wonder how many Slayers we can take down in an hour?" Nakri asks with an excited smile while Krovanh begins to smirk while chuckling.
Nesat remains silent before she made a noise when she sees a red blinking light from a distance.
"give me that!" Nesat said in a hurry as she went and grabs the binoculars from Nakri who made a surprise yelp. The one eyed Hunter held the item by her sight as she checks on where the blinking red light is coming from.
"what's wrong, Nee-san?" Krovanh asked Nesat who shushes him while just focused on her sight with the binoculars. "the heck?"
Nesat checks the sight with the binoculars as she sees Hayato walking with his group, but he is sending blinking signal lights on the back of his Hundred's armor that is barely noticeable to anyone who isn't behind him.
"start the plan…1805 hours…I'll be with Vitaly…have fun…" Nesat spoke out as she is reading the signal light through morse code.
"start the plan?" Nakri spoke as she looks at Nesat who smiles while pulling down the binoculars. "he's giving the plan a go already?"
"let's go." Said Nesat as she throws the binoculars to Nakri who panicked a bit in catching it before looking to the one eyed hunter who is walking away. "we need to prepare for the mission"
"she gets really pumped when that guy comes into the picture…" Krovanh spoke while looking awkwardly to his fellow teammate who picks up a few of the Savage's cores and leaves to another direction.
"that's just Nesat, don't you think?" Nakri told her comrade before she got up and followed after Nesat with Krovanh who sighs afterwards.
Time passes as the sun was slowly setting off the horizon and the sky turning orange.
In one part of the forest, Hayato and his team are by a campsite as they prepped up for the coming night.
"seems that the Savages of this area had already been taken care of." Said Fritz as he came out of the tent with Reitia. "couldn't find one no matter how far we go."
"it's like someone already took them out and sent us here for a wild goose chase!" Reitia grumbles with her hands folded behind her head. "aahh! This is boring!"
"quit whining." Liddy sternly told the hobbit while coming to the campsite with Erica, both had left to collect firewood since it was going to get very chilly soon. "whether or not we encounter Savages, it is best we do not let our guard down. Understood?"
"yes" Reitia replied a bit down while Fritz just smiles and caresses her head a few times.
"Claire-sama, I received news that the other Slayers from different squads are having the same situation as they are." Erica stated to the blonde while placing the firewood down to the center of the campsite with Liddy doing the same. The brunette placed a hand to the side of her glasses as she taps it once and the glass shows a screen of information running before her sight. "although some had taken down nearly 10 Savages in total, there has not been any information of any other sightings over the last few hours."
"That puts a concern in my mind." Said Claire while crossing her arms under her chest and having a hand cupping her chin. "according to the info, there should be 30- 40 Savages lurking in the area and yet we only taken down at least 14 or so." she hardens her gaze a bit while thinking. "What is going on?"
"ah, Hayato's back." said Reitia as she looks up with everyone doing the same. The group sees Hayato flying in the air with his Hundred on, the eastern Slayer having gone on a quick reconnaissance mission to check their surrounding areas for sights or tracks from Savages lurking around undetected.
Hayato flies before he descends and lands in the campsite while his Hundred reverts to its jewel form that he catches in his grasp.
"How did it go?" Claire asked Hayato who shakes his head.
"I think in a 1km radius, there are no Savages in the area at all." Hayato stated while crossing his arms. "either they are hiding from our scanners, or they have moved to a different location, or they have been taken care of before our arrival." He then shrugs his shoulders. "It's hard to say which is the probable right answer."
"Perhaps this is the work of those Hunters, Claire-sama." Erica stated to the blonde who glance at the brunette after hearing her words. "We know that they are hunting Savages and taking their cores. In an area where there is an abundance of them would lead to the possibility that they are responsible for the low number of Savages."
"we can't jump to conclusions just yet, Erica." Said Claire in reply. "your answer does sound logical, but we have yet to find any sightings of these alleged Hunters over the course of our mission." She looks down and cups her chin. "still…we can't rule out the possibility that they really are the culprits of the situation."
Hayato looks at Claire who ponders in her thoughts before he took a quick glance to the side in seeing a blinking yellow light from a long distance that made his eyes glows gold while turning into slit for a second. He then looks back at the group.
"it's getting late and we should prepare for the night." Said Hayato as his Hundred shines and the Savage Killer dons it once again. "I'll go for another reconnaissance in the air. Need to make sure that the areas where Savages are located are cleared for the other squads to be informed."
"Understood." Claire nods to Hayato who nods back before he looks up and the thrusters on the back of his Hundred activates in repulsing the man to the sky where he soon flies away to south of their location. The blonde twin tail looks at where the man had flown away before she turns towards her teammates. "we're going to split into two groups and take turns getting four hours of sleep in the mission. The first group will stay awake and keep the perimeter secure, understood?"
"roger" everyone replied in unison while nodding.
Meanwhile in the air, Hayato flew in the orange sky as it slowly turns black.
"this should be far enough." Said Hayato as he raised his right arm near his chest, he looks down and begins to press a few buttons on the wrist part of his armor that creates a screen for a call that was connected to a private channel. "Begin the Jamming in T-30 seconds, Nesat."
"okay, Hayato." Nesat's voice replied in the call. "we'll make sure to be nice with your friends."
"nice to hear that." Hayato chuckles a bit before the call was ended and the Savage Killer flies to the mountain while his armor glows and suddenly camouflages his entire body into an invisible form.
Hayato flies in stealth while in the forest, Nesat is standing near a large cube shaped machine. She looks to the sky with a smile before she looks down and raise her right hand that holds a PDA that is activated with the screen showing a YES or NO option with the screen title showing Activation.
"Krovanh, Nakri, Hayato gave the ok." Nesat spoke out on a communicator in her ear as it relays to her two teammates who are on different parts of the mountain.
"got it, neesan." "Okie dokie~!" Krovanh and Nakri replied in unison as the two are with the same machine while holding a PDA which is the switch for its activation.
Nesat looks at the timer on her wrist as it is counting the time from 18:04:55.
"Communicator Jammer" Said Nesat as she along with her teammates pressed the YES option on the PDA simultaneously. "Activate"
Their actions caused the cube shaped machine to expand and formed into a quad legged machine that has a red screen that flash a red glow before becoming green. in an instant, the machines begin to emit an unseeable energy wave that covers a 100 km range of the mountain area.
Nesat place the PDA away before she checks the timer on her wrist bracelet that shows 18:04:59 before 18:05:00.
"Mission." Nesat spoke out while the eyepatch on her right eye expands and moves upwards to reveal her right eye that glows yellow. "Start"
That's a wrap!
Bye bye