Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 186 Mission

"Do we really have to listen to the orders of a fucking influencer!?"

"Don't let him hear you, he might cancel you to death, Pft."

"Man, fuck this woke shit. Why do we have to follow a dregger?"

The location of the suspected base of the Dregs of Society was in a small town near the edges of the Safe Zone, very much like the HQ of the Wilder's Harem — one of the reasons why the defense staff thinks there is a high chance of probability that it may truly be the base of the terrorist organization.

And right now, the soldiers who were tasked to take them down were on their way there. The ride on the truck was bumpy and filled with all sorts of noise due to the fact that they were not traveling on the roads, but the voices of the other soldiers seemed to be even stronger as they talked about Rhys.

Rhys, however, ignored all of them as he just reviewed the layout of the building they were going to infiltrate.

"I admire your restraint, Sir."

"...Lieutenant," Rhys lowered his tablet as someone sat beside him before turning to look at the other soldiers with him on the truck, only for them to smirk and scoff at him. He then turned to look at Lincoln, who was handing him a piece of jerky.

"If I were you, Sir…" Lincoln let out a short but deep sigh, "...I would have already ordered them all to walk to our destination. Well, how about it? Learned something new about our mission?"

"No," Rhys smiled and shook his head, "There's really nothing here but the position of their building and the layout. There's a lot of civilians in the surrounding areas, so we need people to quietly evacuate and isolate them first, and observe them just in case there's a hostile hiding within them."

"I think it would be best for Stretcher and his men to handle that, Sir," Lincoln suggested, "It would also prevent… complications during the assault."

"No," Rhys shook his head, "You and your men will be handling the safety of the civilians, Lieutenant. I do not really know any of you to make a judgment this early, but based on all of your records, I can really only trust you with this."

"That—you've read our files?" Lincoln could not help but force out a chuckle before just nodding, "Of course, sir. I'll go brief my men about our assignment. Also, I'm actually here to inform you that we will be in the vicinity in 3 minutes, 2."

"Hm," Rhys stood up as he heard that. He then leaned his head into the cab to look at where they were before tapping the driver on the shoulder, "Stop here."

"...Sir?" The driver was confused with Rhys's orders, "But our waypoint is—"

"Just stop here."

"Yes, sir."

And as the driver stepped on the brakes, everyone turned to look at each other to see what was going on; lifting up the drapes covering their truck and wondering if they reached their destination, only to see the city was still a mile away.

"Alright, listen up!" Rhys then stood up and looked at the other soldiers on the truck, only for half of them to just glance at him and look away, "I know most of you don't like me, but this is not the time to be a sensitive pussy and act like an insecure bitch. If you want to complain, complain after this mission is done."

Rhys then started walking across the truck before just stopping right in front of Stretcher, causing him and his men to stop smirking.

"You, follow me out of the truck."

"Ho…?" Stretcher immediately stood up as he looked Rhys in the eyes. Rhys, however, just walked away and stepped out of the truck without even saying another word.

"Well…" Stretcher once again smirked as he looked at his men, "...Looks like the new Commander wants to prove us something, boys. Ready the med kits 'coz I am going to fuck him up."

Stretcher and his men burst out in laughter, with Stretcher high-fiving everyone as he made his way out of the truck.

"Men…" Stretcher then gave a cocky smile at Lincoln as he stepped back out of the truck, "...Meet your new Comm—"

Before his feet could land on the ground, however, he found himself losing balance as Rhys suddenly pulled him by the feet. And before even giving him a chance to react, Rhys grabbed him by the back of his head and started slamming him on the edge of the truck for everyone to see.

"What the—!?" Lincoln's men stood up, but also lost their balance as the truck started bouncing from how hard Rhys was smashing Stretcher's face; his blood, spraying everywhere along with all the shards and cracked debris of the truck.

"C… Commander," Lincoln could not help but just carefully approach Rhys with both his hands in the air, making sure to keep his balance as the truck continued to bounce, "He… He'll die if you don't stop."

"That's the point, Lieutenant," Rhys calmly said as he continued bashing Stretcher's face; to the point that it was already completely mangled and unrecognizable. And very soon, everyone heard a crisp crack as Stretcher's face just exploded; his flesh and blood, just oozing out from the cracks of his face and onto the bed of the truck.

Those who were near the edge of the truck could really only move and lift their feet away from the… ooze.

And finally, Rhys stopped. And the only thing everyone could hear inside the truck was the squelching sound that Stretcher's face made when he tried to move it, as well as his wheezing gasps which proved he was still actually alive.

Rhys then just calmly got on the truck again while still holding Stretcher's mangled head; dragging him across the bed as he stared at Stretcher's men,

"Tie him up for the rest of the mission for insubordination."

"You… you fucking—"

"You'll be replacing Stretcher," Rhys then let go of Stretcher's head before calmly placing his hand on the shoulder of one of Stretcher's men. He did not even grip it or hold it, he just placed his hand on the man's shoulder, "I hope you do better than him."

"..." The man could not really say anything as he just looked at Stretcher's mangled face. And of course, Rhys did not wait for him to say anything as he walked to the end of the truck bed and once again leaned into the driver's cab.

"Let's go," Rhys once again tapped the driver's shoulder; this time, causing him to flinch hard. As for Rhys, he just returned to his seat and remained quiet. He did not even need to order anyone anymore — as soon as they arrived at their destination, everyone just quickly stepped out of the truck in a very organized manner.

"Hm…" Rhys could really only nod as they saw everyone lined up as soon as he stepped out of the truck, "...You know your assignments. Lincoln, once you're done evacuating the civilians nearest to the site, you're responsible for shutting down all the exits."

"Roger that," Lincoln nodded before just immediately ordering his men to follow him.

"Lincoln." Before they could leave, however, Rhys pointed at his chest, "Don't forget to turn that on."

"Oh…" Lincoln turned to look at his chest, quickly turning on the body cam and ordering for his men to do the same, "...Almost forgot. Godspeed, Commander."

"Hm," Rhys nodded back before turning to look at the remaining men near the truck. He did not even need to say anything as all of them just turned on their body cams, "You."

"Sir!?" The man Rhys tasked to replace Stretcher quickly stood in attention.

"You're running point."

"Sir…?"

"Go, I'll follow behind," Rhys ordered.

The man was confused, but after a few seconds, he just nodded and ordered his men to follow him, while Rhys followed behind them as they made their way through the streets, where Lincoln and his men were already evacuating everyone they could… or so they should be.

They were all just standing in front of the house, looking at the windows of the houses and establishments only for them to shake their heads.

"Sir," one of Lincoln's men approached Rhys, "I don't think anyone's here — my men has been checking everything, but there's no sign of anyone. Some of the doors were left unlocked, maybe because they were in a hurry to leave…

…I don't like this at all."

"Do you think it's a trap?" Rhys started looking around the street, and it truly was empty… and dark. With the only signs of life being the streetlamps.

"I don't know, Sir," the soldier shook his head, "But the Lieutenant said that we should return, they know we're going to be here. We should ret—"

And before Linconl's man could finish his words, everyone watched as half of his face exploded right in front of Rhys. Everyone then slowly turned to look at the ground near their dead comrade, only to see an arrow pierced through the thick asphalt.

"Sniper!" Rhys quickly raised his voice, "Defensive Camo, now!"

And as soon as Rhys said that, everyone quickly huddled up together; with some of the soldiers controlling and lifting up the ground beneath their feet to create some defensive cover, also effectively camouflaging them from any attackers from above.

"Commander!" Lincoln, who was one of the people sustaining the shield, quickly approached Rhys, "We should retreat!"

"No," Rhys quickly shook his head as he looked at Lincoln and the other men there, "Someone's probably already waiting for us back in the truck. We've been compromised...

...someone revealed our positions."