Chapter 46: Formation Activate

"Need anything else?"

Gars asked Mart, who was still standing dumbfounded and scared.

"N— nothing!"

Mart denied and hurriedly procured the necessary materials.

He went into the middle of the formation. He looked around and saw hundreds of thin corpses scattered around. All of the survivors went out of the formation once the [Bomber Botflies] attacked, so they didn't get hurt, but....

Mart looked at the few survivors, who were hardly standing. They were sitting on the ground with their eyes dull, as if empty of emotions. Some of them were still traumatized, mumbling apologies and trying to prove their innocence, saying that they were only forced, but the dead can't hear them anymore. All of them though, were wounded, and now they were looking at him eagerly, as if telling him to speed things up.

"Stop daydreaming! Hurry up!"

Gars said angrily.

"Y— Yes!"

With that, Mart wandered around the field of corpses, looking for the suitable materials. Whenever he comes across a human skin, he would immediately procure it. Even if the skin was bloodstained, burned, damaged, or not, he would collect all of it.

Since the flesh was already gone, removing the skin from the corpses didn't prove to be too difficult, although it was a bit... gory. It unsettled him a bit because he didn't expect that one day, he would go around collecting... human skin.

... So weird...

Furthermore, he would also collect some of the... hearts. The hearts felt kind of... slippery because of the blood. Whenever he touches them, he feels like he can still feel its warmth and hear it beating.... He kinda felt like they were still... alive...

He felt like he could feel every cell, veins, blood, temperature, wrinkle, and such when he touched them and.... all of those things disturbed him... He felt a chill in his spine and it creeped him out a bit.

Even though he was used to seeing gory things because of the war, the fact that he was touching human organs of people who were once alive still unhinged him.

He can't help but imagine grasping and touching the beating hearts inside of living people.... Wait... why did that thought invade my mind?

He shook his head to deny the creepiness crawling up his mind and continued working.

The process of collecting them hastened because the others helped in collecting, but it still took quite some time. In addition, they also collected some of the mana crystals. Unfortunately, most of them were destroyed because of the chaos.

After collecting the skins, they removed the damaged part and collected the clean parts of the skin.

Using the blood as an ink, Mart wrote runes on the skins, as well as on the other 4 hearts. The rest of the unused hearts were given to the [Bomber Botflies] larvae to eat.

After writing the runes, Mart scattered the skin around the formation.

Since ancient times, the skin has always helped us contain the life energy in our body, preventing it from leaking. So I should somehow be able to seal the energy using the natural runes of the skin.'

Mart nodded to himself, praising his ingenuity.

Afterwards, he wrote another rune on the hearts and inserted a life-mana crystal inside.

He gave the four hearts to four other people and stationed them near the four small circles.

'The heart is the organ that spreads the life energy throughout our whole body. With the natural runes of the heart, moving the life energy would be possible. Although gravity also has the same effect, that would be too slow.'

Runes can be man-made, but most of the runes are actually naturally made everywhere. There are runes in the skin that prevent our life energy(blood) from leaking, there are runes in the heart that direct the life energy throughout our whole body, there are also runes in the eyes that senses light aura. Even in just a tub of water alone, there are also runes!

That's why there is a famous saying in this world, "Knowledge everywhere, we just need to look. Because as long as there is existence, there is knowledge.".

Anyways, back to the topic. These natural runes can be used if it fits well with the designated formation.

However, almost all of the runes have one prerequisite— energy. No matter how awesome a machine is, as long as it doesn't have its own energy source, it won't work.

After everyone who participated in the chaos got inside the formation, the four people on standby inserted their hearts into the formation at the same time.

"Activate the formation!"

*Zing!*

As if a switch had been pressed, the formation came alive.... literally.

After the 4 hearts have been placed, the runes embedded within them lit up and came to life. The hearts immediately moved and jerked, just like a normal beating heart. Every heartbeat sends a bolt of life-energy and it coursed through the veins.

It would have been mistaken for a living thing if it weren't for the lack of warmth and other organs.

Like pulsing veins, the lines of the formation lit up and pumped. Life energy crawled through the lines of the formation and went to the circumference of the small circle.

The runes of the small circle activated and the life energy gathered into those runes. One of the runes separated the wills and the life energy, while the other one gathered the life energies.

After gathering the life energies, it was then sent to the circumference of the larger circle— the place where the wounded soldiers gathered.

After the life energy was sent to the circumference of the larger circle, the runed embedded in it lit up and glowed a red light. It was supposed to be eerie, but... somehow, there was a hint of soothing aura in it.

A red burst of energy was suddenly dispensed from the rune. It looked like a... bloody fog.

The surroundings quickly accumulated the scarlet fog, creating a pool of blood fog, with the peeled skins as the container.

A gust of scarlet fog blew over to one of the sitting soldiers. Seeing the approaching energy, he initially got scared. He tried to crawl away but the energy was too fast.

After the scarlet cloud surrounded him, he felt the energy entering his body, be it through the orifices or wounds. He felt his blood rushing, as if on adrenaline.

'Soft' warmth entered his body, flowing from the wounds, with every beat of the heart, to the whole body. The warmth felt oddly soothing, just like a mother's caress.

His blood increased, his cells split, his flesh regenerated, his limbs regrow, his sleepiness was swept away, and his bloodshot eyes disappeared.

He felt... alive.

It was as if a massive weight was removed from him. Like he had spent all day on a soft bed and woke up comfortably. All of the negative emotions of the past disperses like smoke.... It felt... euphoric...

Don't you just wanna bask in the sun comfortably? Don't you just wanna forget all your problems? Don't you just wanna be happy?

All of those questions were answered with just a smoke of life energy, making it addictive, euphoric, delightful... just like a star that disperses the darkness of the night.... An oasis on a scorching afternoon in a desert... a blanket on a chilling night... or a mother's caress...

"Mmnnn~!"

"Huhuhu...."

Some can't help moaning in pleasure, while others burst into tears. But mostly went... crazy.

"HAHAHA! YES! THIS IS IT! I'M ALIVE!!!! I'M FUCKING ALIVE!!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!"

With their eyes open wide like saucers, they looked up at the sky and screamed. They left maniacally and basked in the happiness of life. They cherished every pleasure they felt like they were treasures, to the point of obsession.

They cherished the feeling of having their limbs back, to be able to move, grasp, feel warmth, and touch. They cherished the feeling of being able to breathe deeply again; the feeling of the cold air rushing into your lungs... It brought about a feeling of freshness. They cherished the feeling of their eyes not burning... All this time, they've wanted to have some shut eye. They wanted to sleep. They wanted the feeling of comfort and safety!

Happiness was fickle. It easily disappears. All this time, they've been feeling melancholic. They've discovered how blessed they actually were! Now that they've obtained joy, they want to grasp it. They don't want to let go! They wanted to own it! They wanted to be happy all the time! They don't want it to disappear!

After all, if you're gonna die anyways, why not die happy?

'IT'S MINE!! IT'S MINE!! IT'S MINE!! IT'S MINE!! IT'S MINE!! IT'S MINE!! IT'S MINE!!'

Like hungry beasts, they went to the edge of the formation to absorb the energy, even though it can reach them even if they're in the center of the formation.

Most of the people gazed at them mockingly, thinking they were superior. Some, however, just minded their own business.

'I see... so this is what is called a 'system'.'

Rolly said to himself while admiring the circle of runes. He hadn't personally constructed a formation yet, so he was quite eager to learn.

There were parts of a formation, but the most prominent were the circles, which are called 'system(s)' or 'circuit(s)'.

Every circle has its own purpose, just like an organ system. It was said that the first artificial formation was inspired through observing the animal's body. After they saw the individual runes on the organs, they created the first formation ever.

In this case, the small circles' purpose is to cleanse the energy, while the large circle's purpose is to release the energy. Meanwhile, the skin was another circle, and its purpose was to contain the energy.

Right now, the runes written on the skin lit up with a scarlet light. It then seemed to create a barrier that sealed all of the life energy, so that not much energy is wasted.

Some parts however, were leaking, but it was mostly ignored as it was only a small amount.

"Haah... Finally, some shut eye."

On the other hand, Gars sighed to himself. He hadn't had a sleep yet, so it was mentally taxing. It won't even surprise him if he suddenly passed out in the middle of the day! That's how exhausted he was.

"Now all that's left is...."

Gars mentally told himself, and like a signal, the flapping sound of birds and the 'swoosh' sound of piercing wind suddenly resounded in the sky.

Flocks of birds— about a hundred, suddenly barged in. They exuded a threatening aura and they oozed with chilling bloodlust.

Riding those aerial beasts were soldiers in dense armor, with tough defenses. Some exuded a fiery aura while others exuded a mighty aura, just like a boulder.

"It's the enemies! Prepare your defenses!"

Hearing this, everyone went out of their crazed state and immediately prepared their armor.

"Ha! They have finally come! Now that I'm fully healed, I'll pay back the pain they did to me a hundred times more!"

One of them angrily screamed. His face scrunched up in wrath, making him look scary.

"Yeah! Now that the Integrated one is not with them, I can take care of them within minutes!"

"Yeah! We don't have to fear them!"

"Let's kill those bitches!"

"Yeah!"³³

The other Ayrshire soldiers angrily echoed. What they feared was the Integrated Duke, not them. Now that they were healed and the Duke was gone, they won't let the enemy do whatever they want.

"Everyone! Stop! Just because the Duke isn't with them means that we can take care of them!"

Some soldiers tried to stop them, but their warnings fell on deaf ears. The enemy was chasing them all day long, accumulating anger and fear. Now that they had the means to do so, who wouldn't fight back?

"Everyone! Let's go!!!"

One of the soldiers said impatiently, and like a lever that has been pushed, most of the Ershnirians went out of the formation and attacked.

They picked up their weapons and armors and immediately pointed their magic towards the hovering enemies.

"These idiots! Don't they have a brain!?"

Gars commented lightly.

"Oh no! Boss, what should we do?"

Mart said nervously. He had been able to survive for so long because of continuous miracles. He doesn't have much fighting capabilities.

"It's okay. Just ignore them. They'll do good as pawns."

Gars rolled his eyes and mocked.

"Soldiers! 4-Steps Bow Formation!"

In retaliation, the Fenixians became commander and they immediately went into a formation. They spread out and formed a shape of an in-cave ark, just like a bow, and took out their bows or javelins.

They looked threatening because of their numbers, and specially, with their high-ground advantages.

"Load!"

After that command, almost simultaneously, all the Fenixians loaded their weapons with their energy.

Flame, wind, stone, or such, condensed at the tip of their weapons. They exuded a dangerous aura and weirdly, they had a hint of... harmony.

In response, the Ershnirians also prepared their weapons. But they looked chaotic and there was no unity. They just individually attacked, venting out their anger as they pleased.

"Woah! This...!"

Mart said with his mouth open, looking amazed.

"Hmm? What's with it?"

Gars asked lazily. He didn't even bother looking at them.

"It's the 4-steps Bow Formation!"

Mart said excitedly.

"Yeah. And you just repeated it. I don't know what's so special about it."

Gars said as he rolled his eyes. He was a beast tamer, not a commander or such, so he didn't have much knowledge about formation.

'Whatever, after they attacked, I'll immediately bombard them with the botflies hiding in the trees under them. They won't know what's coming for them. They'll die before they realize what happened to them.'

Gars said confidently. He had 100% confidence in his [Bomber Botflies]. After all, they were notoriously known as [Integration]-class disasters, since only an Integrated can clear them.

"Just watch! You'll see it soon!"

Mart said excitedly, as if he was watching a show instead of the enemy killing his teammates.

Meanwhile, the tension in the enemy team was at an all-time high. They have loaded their bows already, yet their leader hasn't commanded them to fire yet.

They looked down to see the running Ershnirians, preparing to launch their magic attacks.

'Just when is the leader releasing the signal?'

They looked up to see their leader, frowning while observing the enemy movements. It was as if he was in a deep concentration.

'Sir! They're about to attack!'

They thought to themselves, but from how they were trained, they knew how to not voice out their thoughts and bother their leader's concentration.

They looked down to see the enemies launching their attacks. They thought their leader wasn't going to make a move, when suddenly....

"Flame squad! Fire!"