Chapter 58: Conceal Perception

More than twenty Mutant Vipers were coiled across the road ahead, their bodies spread out in a wide fan that completely blocked the only path forward.

Behind them, the rustling grew louder.

The swarm of Mutant Red Ants was less than thirty meters away.

"It’s over..."

Haley’s voice trembled as she gripped the back of Rose’s clothes.

Debbie held Nina tightly against her chest, trying to keep the baby quiet.

Sofia’s hands trembled as she tried to condense another ice spike.

A thin layer of frost formed between her fingers before crumbling away.

Her Ability energy was almost completely drained. She couldn’t even form a proper ice spike anymore.

Daisy’s heart hammered against her ribs.

Her Mental Ability was being overwhelmed by two completely different but equally terrifying sources of hostility.

The Mutant Vipers radiated cold, predatory hunger.

The Mutant Red Ants were filled with an overwhelming hunger that seemed almost mindless.

Both swarms pressed against her senses from opposite directions, making her temples throb violently.

"Sister!"

Daisy suddenly turned toward Debbie. ℴ

"Use your Healing Ability on me. Everything you’ve got. Hurry!"

Debbie froze for half a second.

Then she immediately placed both hands against Daisy’s back.

White light poured from her palms.

Her Healing Ability surged into Daisy without reservation.

"Sister Rose, Sofia, bring Haley over here!"

Sweat rolled down Daisy’s forehead.

"Everyone stay close. Two meters. Don’t spread out!"

Rose immediately pulled Haley toward her.

Sofia moved closer as well.

Debbie kept Nina in her arms while the group compressed into a tight circle.

Daisy took a deep breath.

She glanced toward the approaching Vipers.

Then she looked behind them at the rapidly advancing swarm of red ants.

There was nowhere left to run.

Daisy reached out and gently covered Haley’s eyes.

"Haley, close your eyes. Don’t look."

Haley’s small body trembled.

"What are you going to do?"

"I’m going to use my Ability."

Daisy’s voice was quiet but firm.

"I’m going to hide our presence. We have to gamble that neither swarm can detect us."

She looked at everyone.

"No matter what happens, don’t speak. Don’t move unless I tell you to."

Everyone nodded.

Daisy closed her eyes.

Her Mental Ability suddenly contracted.

It spread outward like an invisible net, completely covering the space around the group.

Conceal Perception.

It was the first time she’d pushed the Ability this far.

She wasn’t concealing one person.

She was concealing six.

The energy drain was immediate.

Her temples throbbed violently, as if someone were driving needles into her skull.

Her breathing became shallow.

She could feel the presence of every person inside the concealment zone gradually fading from the surrounding world.

Then the Vipers arrived.

The largest Mutant Viper slid toward them.

It stopped barely three meters away.

Its forked tongue flicked through the air again and again.

Its vertical pupils swept across the area where the women stood.

Nothing.

The Viper moved its head slightly.

Still nothing.

Daisy didn’t dare breathe too deeply.

Don’t detect us.

The Viper continued forward.

The rest of the swarm followed.

They flowed past the group like a living river.

One of the smaller vipers suddenly crossed directly over Sofia’s foot.

Its cold scales brushed against her skin.

Sofia’s entire body stiffened.

Her eyes widened.

But she bit down hard on her lip and didn’t make a sound.

In Debbie’s arms, Nina suddenly whimpered.

Debbie’s heart nearly stopped.

She immediately covered Nina’s mouth with one hand, careful not to hurt her.

The largest Viper stopped.

Its head slowly turned.

Its tongue flicked toward them.

Daisy’s heart sank.

The creature seemed to be looking directly at her.

Her Mental Ability was already approaching its limit.

The concealment field flickered.

Daisy could feel the Viper’s attention pressing against the edge of her Ability.

One second.

Two.

Three.

Then the Viper turned away.

It continued down the road.

Daisy almost collapsed from relief.

She still didn’t move.

Not until the last Mutant Viper disappeared from sight did she allow herself to breathe again.

But the danger wasn’t over.

The Mutant Red Ants had arrived.

A massive sea of red flooded onto the road.

The two swarms collided.

A sharp hiss erupted from the Vipers.

One of the ants bit into the tail of the Viper Leader.

The massive snake instantly whipped around.

Its jaws opened wide and crushed dozens of ants in a single bite.

But hundreds more immediately climbed over its body.

Their metallic mandibles began tearing into its scales.

The Viper Leader thrashed violently.

Its venom killed large numbers of ants, but there were simply too many.

Wave after wave poured over the snakes.

Two smaller Mutant Vipers were quickly overwhelmed.

Their bodies disappeared beneath the swarm.

When the ants moved on, only bones remained.

The battle spread across the road.

The Viper Leader fought desperately to escape the swarm while the Red Ant King directed the colony from behind.

Then the ants suddenly split into two groups.

One continued attacking the Vipers.

The other began moving around the battlefield.

Straight toward Daisy and the others.

Daisy’s eyes narrowed.

"Now," she whispered.

"Move slowly. Don’t run."

Everyone began backing away.

They moved one step at a time.

Slowly.

Carefully.

Nobody dared make a sudden movement.

But the dry leaves beneath their feet still produced faint rustling sounds.

Under normal circumstances, the noise would have been insignificant.

With two massive swarms fighting nearby, it sounded deafening.

Daisy maintained the concealment field with everything she had.

Every step felt like another needle being driven into her skull.

Her vision blurred.

Her knees began to weaken.

They kept moving.

One hundred meters.

Then another fifty.

Then two hundred meters from the battlefield.

Daisy’s vision suddenly went black.

Her Mental Ability collapsed.

The concealment disappeared.

"Run!"

She forced the word out with the last of her strength.

Her body swayed.

Debbie immediately caught her.

The group abandoned all attempts at stealth and sprinted down the road.

Behind them came a mixture of hissing, screeching, and the constant clicking of countless mandibles.

Both swarms had noticed something was wrong.

But the battle between the Vipers and the ants was still raging.

The Viper Leader and Red Ant King were locked in the middle of the chaos, and neither could spare enough creatures to pursue them.

"Keep going!"

Sofia grabbed Haley’s hand.

To everyone’s surprise, the girl was running faster than before.

The close call seemed to have pushed her past her previous limits.

They ran another kilometer.

Only when the sounds of the battle had completely faded did everyone finally collapse onto the grass beside the road.

Haley immediately threw herself into Rose’s arms and burst into tears.

"We survived..."

Rose hugged her tightly.

Daisy leaned against a tree and closed her eyes.

She couldn’t even lift her hand.

Using Conceal Perception to hide six people at once had drained nearly every bit of her Mental Ability energy.

Debbie knelt beside her and immediately activated her Healing Ability.

Warm energy flowed through Daisy’s body, gradually easing the mental exhaustion.

"That was incredible," Rose said as she handed Daisy half a bottle of water.

Her eyes were still filled with fear.

"If you hadn’t hidden us..."

She didn’t finish.

They all knew what would have happened.

Daisy took the bottle and drank.

"It was mostly luck."

She wiped her mouth.

"If the Vipers and ants hadn’t started fighting, we probably wouldn’t have escaped. Even with my Ability, there was no guarantee I could hide six people from both swarms indefinitely."

After resting for more than half an hour, everyone gradually recovered.

Daisy’s Mental Ability had recovered to roughly thirty percent.

It was enough for basic perception, but nowhere near enough for another large-scale concealment.

"We can’t stay here."

Daisy stood and brushed the grass from her clothes.

"We need to get out of this area as quickly as possible."

Rose frowned.

"What if the ants win?"

"Then the survivors will probably come looking for us."

Daisy looked back toward the mountain.

"And if the Vipers win, they’ll do the same."

She tightened her grip on her weapon.

"Either way, we can’t be here when the battle ends."

The group continued down the road.

They hadn’t gone very far when three Mutant Dogs suddenly burst from the woods.

Their jaws hung open, saliva dripping from their teeth as they charged.

Sofia stepped forward.

"Let us handle them."

Her expression was much calmer than before.

Ice began forming around her hands.

This time, the ice was noticeably denser.

Rose activated her Plant Growth at the same time.

The first two Mutant Dogs lunged.

Ice spikes suddenly erupted from the ground.

Thud!

The spikes pierced straight through their chests.

Both creatures collapsed instantly.

The third Mutant Dog reacted faster.

It twisted sideways, narrowly avoiding the next ice spike.

But that only sent it straight into Rose’s trap.

Thick vines erupted from the ground and wrapped around its body.

The dog snarled and struggled.

The thorn-covered vines tightened.

Its movements became weaker.

A few seconds later, the struggling stopped.

"Nice!"

Debbie couldn’t help cheering.

The others smiled.

The battle with the ant swarm and Vipers had pushed all of them to their limits.

And they could already feel the difference.

Their Abilities were becoming more responsive.

Their control was improving.

Daisy walked over to the three corpses and used a machete to split open their skulls.

Three small Cores rolled onto the ground.

They were roughly the size of pigeon eggs.

The four women exchanged glances.

After a brief discussion, they decided that Debbie, Daisy, and Sofia would consume the three Cores.

Debbie picked up the first.

Daisy took the second.

Sofia took the third.

The energy from the Cores spread through their bodies.

Daisy felt her exhausted Mental Ability rapidly recover.

Her energy climbed back above half.

Debbie’s Healing Ability became noticeably stronger. The white glow around her hands seemed brighter and more concentrated.

Sofia also felt a difference.

The ice formed around her fingers faster than before.

She stared at the frost gathering across her palm.

"I can feel it."

Rose smiled.

"That’s good."

She looked at the others.

"Maybe we’re finally getting stronger."

Their morale rose.

For the first time since the ant swarm appeared, nobody felt completely helpless.

They continued toward the city.

By noon, they reached an abandoned gas station and stopped to rest.

Haley sat quietly beside the building, staring down at her shoes.

After a while, she raised her head.

"Will Ethan be waiting for us in the city center?"

Rose reached over and gently patted her head.

"He will."

She smiled reassuringly.

"Ethan is strong. He’ll find somewhere safe, and we’ll find him."

Haley nodded.

The others looked toward the distant city skyline.

They all hoped they would find Ethan soon.

They needed to warn him about what had happened at the Underground Casino.

But while the women were making their way toward the city center...

What was Ethan doing?