Chapter 128 - Walter After School
Chapter 128 – Walter After School
"Absyntia, huh?" Walter commented as he flew above the great snow land. Del was flying alongside him too, albeit slower than what Walter usually flew with. He was just learning after all. He was only moving as fast as a slow moving car.
The regular speed that Walter would be flying with was around 300 MPH. Del was only flying at probably 30 MPH, and that was with certain struggles of maintaining his altitude from the ground. The coordination of using gravity magic and wind magic was easier said than done. Nevertheless, his knowledge of knowing how airplane generated its lift and thrust helped him a lot.
Absyntia was a gray flower that grew on the great snow land. It had a characteristic of being a strong painkiller, probably because 60% of its mass could be converted into Isobutylphenylpropionic-acid when boiled. Yeah, that mysterious grey flower was a source of organic Ibuprofen. The other 40% was impurities that wasn't poisonous at all, but it had a strong bitter taste.
Del used ibuprofen so many times, mainly for people who had injuries. When hiking, someone would be injured pretty often, oftentimes, the wound would be swollen, so giving ibuprofen was completely reasonable. Of course, there were other medicines that needed to be administered such as antibiotic and all, but painkiller usually got the priority. Fracture was uncommon, but it did happen.
"Yeah, I think they want to manufacture a painkiller or something, is that illegal though?" Del wasn't sure about drug being manufactured by high-school students. They might overdose on it if there was no supervition on its consumption.
"I don't think so. MSVI and TMV are related. Usually, the supervisor of a high-school TMV is a freshly graduated medical student that just got MD that used to participate in the MSVI. I don't think that's illegal, in fact, I think it's something that their supervisor tasked for them," Walter said.
"Really?" Del doubted that.
"Yeah, it's true," Walter said.
"Anyway, Del, remember our priority task, alright? We are here to do a favor for the town and Salve Group. We are tasked to hunt down the snow wolves pack." They have been roaming around the southern part of the snow land. Due to the whiteness of the snow, it was no wonder why the snow wolves pack would be quite a threat, Del thought.
About great snow land itself, it was a flat land covered in a layer of snow. The snow wasn't that thick, but it wasn't that thin either. However, one thing for sure, it was white as far as the eyes could see. The combination of white wolves and white snow would be devastating for any unaware person. They could die, or worse.
"Sure, search for them, shoot them, and be done with it, correct?" Del asked.
"Yeah, but remember to use the blast spell that I gave to you. You should familiarize yourself with that spell. It's the main weapon of a flying soldier," Walter said.
The blast spell, or the projectile-effect-manipulation spell, was a spell used by the flying soldiers to convert their bullet into a grenade like projectile that would explode on a certain distance to kill another flying soldier. The area of effect of the explosion produced depended on the size of the bullet, the velocity of the bullet, and the amount of magical energy put inside of the bullet.
Luckily, it was compatible with any weapon so AK-74M could also be used for the blast spell. The high fire rate in comparison to a bolt-action rifle would certainly give him an edge on battle. Walter was using a bolt-action rifle, sure, it had a bigger bullet, but Del had full-auto on his side while still having a large enough projectile in comparison with a regular SMG.
"Del, do you find the pack that we're looking for?" Walter asked.
"I don't know, I don't see anything that is white and moving very fast, how about you?" Del asked back.
"Negative, I have no visual as well. Do you find Absyntia yet?" Walter asked.
"No, I haven't found any. Should we begin walking, Walter?" Del asked.
"Good idea, you can walk while I watch you from the sky."
Del descended from the sky and he landed on top of the layer of snow. It was very cold, really cold. If not for the cold-weather clothing that he wore, he would be freezing to death right now. Why would they give him a close to impossible task just for the sake of entering? Were they insane?
Del stepped on the snow, it seemed solid. His feet wouldn't suddenly sink into the bottom of the snow. Overall, it was safe to walk on top of it. He begun walking while looking left and right for any possible target. It could be a flower, or a pack of snow wolves. Both needed to be found first, though.
Del continued walking, then he found one of the thing that he was looking for. He looked at the Absyntia in awe. One thing was extraordinary about this flower, it didn't really grow on dirt. This flower literally only grew on top of ice or snow. That was one of the reasons why great snow land was the perfect place to look for that flower.
"Ah, finally, the flower," Del pulled his combat knife and cut the flower from its root and put it inside of his combat pack. Now, he only needed to find the snow wolves. How would he search them though? Wolfie wasn't exactly there so it wasn't an option.
Del lifted up from the ground again and reached the same altitude as before. He waited on that altitude for Walter. He didn't want to search for them, he would waste his reserve magical energy if he did that. He would just observe the snow land from the sky. Walter would be most focused on finding the wolves, he wouldn't search for Absyntia. If there was an explosion, there would be Walter.
And explosion happened soon enough. A loud boom could be heard from the south. Del immediately flew to the south direction to search for the explosion. He flew lower to get a better look on the snow and the source of the explosion. And he found the explosion, or the remnants of it.
The dead wolves were scattered on the ground. Blood was also spread thinly on the snow land, turning the white sheet of snow sheet. Del noticed where the explosion was coming from and he flew towards that direction. Walter was standing in mid-air while her rifle was aimed at the ground.
"Subjugation completed," He said.
"That was quick," Del commented.
"Yeah, you're late, kiddo, anyway, since you're flying, it's enough for me. Still, Del, do a target practice back in the cabin, I don't want your aim to go all over the place when you meet the student that will want you dead later," he said.
"Why are you so sure that there will be a student that want to kill me? I meant, so far, there was nobody too suspicious to even be considered to be a threat."
"You've only been there for a day. Don't be too hasty, when the time comes, she will ambush you and kill you and your sister. It's better for you to pull the trigger first before someone pulled their trigger and kill you. That's the golden rule of being a contractor, it's better to kill than better to be killed," Walter explained.
"How long have you worked as a contractor?" Del asked.
"Me? I've worked on this thing for like twenty years. To be honest, I really feel nothing when I pull the trigger, whether it's children or enemies, it's just bland. That's what contractor's life will turn you into, a husk of your former self, only motivated by sole greed."
Del nodded. Had he gone that far? His motivation was indeed money, but he needed those money to get back at Eric as soon as he could. He would get every single money that he could get just for the sake of getting back at the person that hurt his sister the most. Still, the way of doing it, was it right, or was it wrong?
Sure, stopping the heroes would stop the war effort in Elbanian and making sure that Reian was safe. However, would it be enough to keep Reian no to attack Elbanian in retaliatory strike? After all, Reian was a victim of a genocide comitted by Elbanian. What would be the reason that Reian wouldn't fight back against Elbanian?
It was just similar to replacing one evil with another evil? What was the bright side of that? He got his petty revenge, that was for sure, but would it be enough to keep the world stable? Del really doubted that to be entirely honest. All he knew was to kill Eric, and be done with it. Sadly, reality was not as simple as that.. Action would always have its consequences.