13 Chapter 13 - Eve of the Boss Battle

"No. I sort of just woke up one day in the forest and was recruited into this group called SAS."

"And you just agree?!" Winter is beyond infuriated when she asks Adam to explain things including why he is a soldier and what he is doing in a restricted area.

"Yeah." He shrugs.

Adam went and explained what actually happened to the Grimm and how his organization is doing their best to prevent a potential Zombie Outbreak worldwide. But that somehow touches on the topic about himself. Adam really isn't in the mood for an elaborate lie.

So, he just said he woke up one day in a forest which is true and he was recruited to become an SAS Operator which is also true to some extent.

He basically admitted he was possibly an amnesiac which fit to her brother's disappearance although Adam lay no claim to that identity and said it's probably coincidence because their face didn't look the same. Whitley is still a teenager around 16 years old meanwhile Adam already looks like an adult well into his 20'.

Winter said Adam could simply have plastic surgery to change his face but there is no proof of such surgery on him because his System left no evidence behind and seamlessly modified his body, not just the face.

With their conversation getting nowhere and they already talk for over five minutes. Adam immediately put that into a halt and asked if they would go down deeper into the mine.

"Of course, we have people we need to arrest." Winter replied and would like to return to the topic about Adam but he didn't give her the chance.

"Great then, we can work together. My goal is to destroy all the remaining pods below." Adam said and took out his Scroll. "As you know, those pods are producing Mutated Grimms and this one I fear is no different." He asks Agent to show the footage on the giant pod and show it to Winter who immediately freezed.

The giant pod is more than 10 times bigger than normal pods. Thats a 20 meters tall pod incubating a Grimm.

"That thing is down there. So, I kinda hope you and your group can assist us." Adam said.

"Of course, we would help since it aligns with our goal." Winter replied with a nod but her eyes trailed to her subordinates and then herself. "But I am afraid we cannot provide much help. We all ran out of ammunition and Dust.

Adam also frowned at this problem. If they run out of ammunition it would mean they will be forced to fight with melee. Not something anymore would want against an opponent that can kill and turn you into a zombie with the smallest scratch.

He is contemplating if he should share his guns. He still has a Raptor AR and a Sabre Pistol in his inventory. In the end, he decided to lend his gun. Gods be damned if he fails and gets killed because he refuses to arm his allies for the battle.

"Here. This is the only spare firearm I have. You know how to use one right?" Adam takes out Raptor and Sabre from his inventory and hands them to Winter who looks shocked at the void that suddenly appeared before it spat out guns into Adam's hand.

Winter looked honestly disturbed by the void Adam opened but she decided not to ask considering he was quite tight-lipped just now, she figured asking him when he didn't want to share is just a waste of time especially with their current situation.

"Also here, this might be more useful for you people than us." Adam also unloads a small hill of Fire Dust dynamite which makes Winter and the Specialists open their eyes wide.

"Where did you get this?"

"The warehouse in the upper section. We don't have Aura to detonate it on demand. So, better you people that have Aura use it." Adam points out his lack of Aura and could only trigger them with a detonator which unfortunately will detonate all other dynamite he already planted.

"Wait, hold on a second. You and your…" Winter paused when she looked at Agent and Alice, wondering what their relationship to Adam was. Adam understands what she is trying to figure out and answers. "They are my companions and yes, none of us have Aura."

Not just Winter but the other specialist who is busy stuffing those dynamites into their pockets and bags, paused for a moment and stared at the three like they were aliens or something.

"So, you all are fighting against enemies that can infect you with even the smallest scratch. Without any Aura, not even a Huntsman or proper soldier?"

"Kinda… But we know what we are doing. Why else do I wear a suit to cover my entire body? Fashion? It's stuffy as hell and uncomfortable, especially with sweat drenching my body." Adam shifts his body uncomfortably as he wishes he could take off his suit right now and take a quick shower.

Winter didn't look convinced at all because only Adam was in full armor why Agent and Alice didn't. At least Winter didn't know yet what the two were wearing underneath the cloak.

"Anyway, enough talking about useless things." Adam quickly put a stop as he thought they wasted enough time talking.

"What enough? I will not agree to send Auraless people to fight those monsters!" Winter growled with a hint of desperation to stop Adam and his companions. Probably because she is afraid she will have to put down two more people and her own amnesiac brother.

"Say what you want. We are going with or without you." Adam shrugs and walks toward the dug out hole on the ground leading down and has a mine shaft elevator installed to bring people up and down the hole.

"We are not done talking! Get back here." Winter was infuriated when she was shrugged off by Adam who didn't care about what she said.

Adam understands where that anger came from. It's not anger because she was angry. She is angry because she is frustrated that someone she genuinely cared for are trying to do what equivalent to a suicide mission.

Although Adam only has this to say. "I appreciate your worry, Miss Schnee. But I am afraid you have mistaken me for someone else. My name is Adam White and nothing else." Adam said as he walked into the mineshaft cab and closed its cage before the elevator slowly descended down the hole while their eyes remained in contact until the cab disappeared into the hole.

———

"So, anything anyone wants to say before we challenge the boss fight?" Adam turns to Agent and Alice while he fastens back his gas mask and then he puts on his helmet.

"I wonder why the Master does not just proclaim himself as Whitley Schnee? Master could be the owner of the largest Dust company that has connections to the military, politics and underworld." Agent asked the question Adam didn't want to hear the most.

"Guh!" He grunted in faux pain as if he was jabbed before he sighed. "Yes, it is advantageous. But I can't see myself pretending as someone I am not and lying to who knows how many people that I am Whitley Schnee when I am not." Adam answered truthfully.

"Hmn. Master is truly an idiot." Agent shook her head disappointedly. "But being truthful is also beneficial. From what I had studied. There is a high chance Master will be forcefully captured by Jacques Schnee since Whitley is his precious tool to rise in power."

"Yeah, that too. I'd probably kill him the moment he tried any of that. So, better I keep myself away from the Schnees and focus on saving this world from a fucking Zombie Apocalypse instead." Adam grumbles at the last part when the elevator cab shaked after it landed at a solid ground, indicating their brief respite had ended and it's time to fight.

Adam got a brief nostalgic flashback which made him smile a little.

"Remember, girls. No Zombie." Adam said with a slight cheerful voice as his guns appeared into his hands.

"Sure." Agent looks a little puzzled but still gives a nod. Their goal is to exterminate the Zombies after all.

"Of course, Master! I will do my best not to disappoint you!" Alice literally hopped in excitement to earn her affection. Not that she needs to.

"You would never disappoint me, Alice. Well, do your best and remember that your safety is much more important than the mission." Adam said after giving her a last head rub which left her squealing in joy.

"Let's go." Adam steps out from the elevator and briefly looks at the surroundings to take account of information the security footage failed to provide.

Indeed, the giant red pod is in the middle and Adam can see a faint silhouette of a humanoid shape inside the pod and around it are two layers of green pods constantly pumping nutrition to the giant red pod.

"God be damned." Adam cursed as he looked at the wall of the cavern which the camera couldn't see. There are probably hundreds of red pods up on the wall.

*Howl!* *Hiss!* *Screech!*

"Probably trying to get some levels before this would be a smart move… Fuck." Adam cursed as Agent and Alice already opened fire while he is still stuck by his fear. His logical mind tells it's near impossible for him to win this fight with this many enemies.

Taking a quick deep breath and exhaling, Adam used Reinforcement and ordered them to focus on destroying the red pods that will spawn more enemies if they didn't destroy it quickly. Then he turned his attention to the spawned enemies coming toward him. He fired few shots sporadically to attract their aggro and essentially try to kite them around into a large herd before Adam call an Artillery Strike on himself and activate Die Another Day skill which overload his barrier module with energy to temporarily overclock his barrier around his body to make it denser and absorb more impact for a few seconds.

Alice looked in horror when the artillery shell dropped literally next to Adam and threw him like a ragdoll from the impact and the following explosion. She wanted to rush to help him but Agent put an immediate stop to that with her hand firmly holding Alice's arm.

"Believe in him, you Griffin trash. Our Master is doing it on purpose and I will not let you ruin his plan." Agent warned Alice before letting her go. "Instead of trying to ruin the plan. How about you focus on our job and destroy those red pods?" She added while bursting open those pods with Raptor instead of her laser cannons which she reserved for the boss as her energy based weaponry is far more effective against the enemies so far compared to ballistic guns.

Alice saw Adam stood up moments later like nothing happened and the barrier around him lasted a second more before it fizzled out.

"Master, are you alright?" Alice asked through the comms, a little too worried about Adam.

"I'm fine. Why?" Adam in the distance waved at her before giving a thumbs up. But the Agent quickly interrupted them. "Master, enemies behind you." She warned him calmly.

Adam turned to his back and saw a gorilla-like monster charged at him and smashed both of its giant muscular arms which dented the ground easily into a crater.

"Jesus!" Adam barely dodged by a hairbreadth and immediately activated Adrenaline to increase his reaction and movement speed.

He jumped up the left arm and sprayed his Raptor on the monster's mask which apparently makes them instinctively go defensive rather than more aggressive as if they have some degree of self-preservation instinct. When Adam climbed up it's shoulder after it swung it's arm, Adam aimed his shotgun near point blank at it's head without the mask and unload his shots after shots. It takes him five shots to obliterate its head.

Without a moment of rest, once Adam is done with one, more comes forward and tries to tear him apart as his breath starts to get laborious and his gas mask starts to fog up on the lense. His arms and legs felt like they were burning and muscle felt like it's about to tear up from the extreme acrobatic moves he was able to perform due to Adrenaline pushing his performance.

*Roar!*

Adam freezed when he saw from his foggy lense that a silhouette was attacking him and he couldn't muster up a defense. Usually when he is in grave danger, his summoned operator will ignore their previous order and try to save him. But from the look of it, their times are probably up and already been unsummoned. When the attack hit him, he felt like a car rammed into him at full speed and he heard a crack like a whip.

"Gah!" Adam was swatted away by a King Taijitu like a fly and crashed to the wall. He could feel warm fluid choking his throat with metallic taste and his bones felt literally like powder right now.

Then a warm sensation spread through his body when he felt something prick his chest. He saw a darkened icon of a syringe at the right corner of his HUD and it's doing a90s cooldown. His health went up from bright red to yellow due to that.

"Master! Master are you alright?!" Adam heard Agent's panicking voice as he felt his gas mask was being ripped open.

Adam first emptied the blood stuck on his throat with a few coughs before he wiped his mouth with his arm.

"I am fine." He said and used First Aid on himself. "We can talk later but now we have to focus on the f-" Adam was cut off when Alice jumped onto him.

"Wait, Alice. Now isn't the time. We have to fight first!" Adam felt a little angry and panicked that they didn't seem to care that there are still plenty of enemies they have to defeat.

"Don't worry, Master. Miss Winter and her team arrived to help us." Agent pointed at Winter and he saw an enraged Winter killing the Mutated Grimms like her entire family was massacred by them kind of rage.

———

When Winter and her team were halfway descended down the hole, they already can see the heated battle going on as half way down they can already see the cavern.

She was curious how well Adam would fare in battle as she is curious. Adam and his team also fought their way down and with lesser numbers than them too. Which means they should be good right?

Indeed, when she spectates the battle as the elevator cab is descending, she can see Adam doing acrobatic and parkour moves as he deftly moves between the enemies, shooting and killing them one after another in a deadly dance of death. It's a surprise he could even do all that's under all that bulky armor that Winter remembers is a thick slab of metal on his body.

But his performance did last long and started to drop rapidly as if he was out of gas. Winter has a morbid suspicion that some kind of performance enhancer drug was used as some of his moves are impossible for a person without Aura to perform.

Then her worst fear came to life. A King Taijitu mutant appeared with a body three times larger than its normal brethren. It sneaks up on Adam before swatting him with his thick tail and shoots him like a cannonball to the wall of the cavern, leaving a deep dent on the wall before he falls lifelessly on the ground.

Her heart freezed and skipped a beat as the void in her stomach grew wider. She felt nauseous and air seems to be choked on her throat as she tried to get a word out but couldn't. Her dear younger brother that was missing for two years was finally found despite all the complications that had happened and he doesn't remember himself and insisted his name is Adam White. But Winter knows that man, no matter what he said, is Whitley Schnee, her baby brother.

A new found energy course through her body as rage overtook herself. She is angry at herself for allowing her brother to be killed under her own nose. Thick layer of Aura coat her sword as she slash the cab's door open and jump down from the descending elevator and created a giant white glyph to summon a Manticore with her Semblance, riding on it's back and decimate the Mutated Grimms without restraint or regard for herself. All she wants to do is to slaughter those monsters that stole her brother away.

———

Meanwhile Adam after being helped by Agent and Alice rejoin the battle but end up admiring Winter as she single handedly wiped out the Mutated Grimms like it's nothing.

"The cavalry arrived, huh." Adam mused while he and his group focused on destroying the remaining pods now that Winter is taking care of the Mutated Grimms that are trying to stop them.

"Indeed Master. However I doubt she can fight for a long time consistently because this mount she summoned is obviously quite draining that she didn't even bother to cover herself with the energy shield she normally does." Agent provides Adam her analysis.

"Well, we'll worry about that later." Adam sighed as he planned to save Winter and her group for the Boss battle instead of these grunts and mobs.

—————

(Okay, the next chapter is the real last one and we are concluding this Ansel Town arc.)

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