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Chapter 183: Observing Aberrants
As they arrived at the top of the Defense Tower, several people were already gathered there. Even Jade was present, giving instructions to Percy, who seemed to be nervous.
Gideon was a little offended by that. Jade had entered the defense center of his territory without informing him and was now giving orders to one of his people as Percy was in the middle of dealing with the insect-type aberrants that Elaine had correctly identified earlier.
One of the screens displayed a swarm of giant beetles. They resembled bark beetles, except their bodies were covered in thick, white fur and measured nearly ninety centimeters in length.
Their grotesque faces filled the screen every time the camera zoomed in, making Gideon immediately turn his head away.
"Fucking hell, can you focus on the aberrants on the ground instead?" he commented, making everyone turn toward him.
"Oh, you’re here?" Jade said.
"Sorry for not telling you. Delilah said you were around, so I came here to talk to you, and that man was panicking because of the sudden insect swarm."
"Hu-uh."
Gideon nodded. Whatever irritation he had felt disappeared almost immediately as another close-up of the beetles appeared on the screen.
Their giant bodies, tiny branch-like legs, and horrifying faces were enough to make his skin crawl.
The second aberrant was slightly better. It was a swarm of locusts with translucent bodies that looked like ice.
Strange flowers were growing from their backs, and every time they flew, clouds of pollen scattered from their bodies. Gideon assumed the pollen was toxic.
Now he understood why Delilah had refused to come here and inspect the attack herself. It turned out she hated insects just as much as he did.
"And you weren’t here, so I helped," Jade continued.
Gideon grabbed her shoulder.
"It’s fine, but next time just send me a message and let Percy do his job. He needs to get used to situations like this. I’ve already shown this place to Killian and Aaron anyway. It’s not exactly a secret base."
"Yes, Chief! I’m sorry. I know you trained me, and yesterday’s attack wasn’t this big, so I panicked a little." Percy lowered his head.
"That’s okay. They can’t get inside anyway. I put barriers around the entire territory."
"Interesting. Can you put barriers around all of Climber Rift too?" Jade asked.
"Yes, if you move everyone here."
Jade immediately punched his arm.
"Anyway," she said while turning back toward the screens, "you really chose a terrible place to live. I’ve never seen this many insect swarms before. The Queen is awake."
"The Queen? Is that the aberrant guarding the King’s territory?"
She shook her head. "Not guarding. It’s not like they’re friends. They simply benefit from each other’s existence despite being completely different species."
"They also have separate territories, and because they live in different climates, it’s impossible for them to attack each other which makes it perfect as the other will chase away any strong aberrant when one of them is hibernating."
Jade pointed toward one of the maps hanging nearby. "If I’m not mistaken, the Queen of White Death is an insect-type aberrant. A wasp."
"Hm... is it still possible to observe the King’s territory?" Gideon asked.
"Well, I never sent an exploration team specifically to investigate White Death’s King, we don’t even have a name for it."
"Some Kings hide underground when in hibernation, and when they do, their territories become almost impossible to locate unless you’re willing to dig thousands of meters beneath the surface."
"If I could find it, could we kill the King immediately?"
Elaine raised an eyebrow. "What kind of question is that? Do you want White Death to turn into another Deliric Desert?"
The Deliric Desert was a region without either a King or a Queen. There were simply too many powerful aberrants living there, and the fight for the ’throne’ never truly ended.
One ruler would emerge only to be challenged and killed by another, creating an endless cycle of conflict that had likely continued for years.
Even so, desperate people still crossed the desert to reach Climber Rift or other factions, relying on relatively safe routes that had been discovered over time.
"Because I’m worried," Gideon said as he looked at the screen. "What if the King is slowly moving toward this place?"
Everyone fell silent, wondering if Gideon was joking. Yet his expression revealed nothing either way, making it impossible to tell. Jade, however, simply laughed.
"What? Are you that influenced by the possibility that the King near Edelweiss Town is moving?" She shook her head before hopping onto the table in the middle of the room.
Gideon had remodeled the room so that a long table occupied the center, covered with maps of the Deliric Desert, White Death, and Climber Rift.
Chairs surrounded it, allowing everyone to gather for meetings or coordinate defenses whenever things went south.
He walked over and joined her along with Elaine, while Eugene and Percy remained seated in front of the control panel.
Aaron, meanwhile, had stepped outside and was smoking. A moment ago, he had muttered something about wanting to watch the stars blow up.
"It’s possible, but not at the same time, Gideon. The oasis is like their coat. They can do whatever they want with it, but they also can’t."
"They still need to leave that place when they’re moving, and when the master of an oasis is gone, another one will eventually take its place. Why would a King do all that just to kill not even a thousand people?"
What Jade said made sense. Still, nothing was truly impossible anymore. His own power was proof of that.
What if someone somehow managed to control a King? The possibility existed, but it wasn’t something they needed to discuss right now. In the end, Gideon simply nodded.
"Agree to disagree. Anyway, we need to focus on the aberrants on the ground."
He shifted the conversation and turned his attention toward the screen. Since Jade was sitting on the table behind it, she had to turn around as well.
"The ones flying can be identified, correct? What about the ones on the ground?"
Percy zoomed in on the screen and began pointing out the aberrants one by one. They came in many sizes and forms, but most shared similar colors, usually white, pale blue, or completely transparent.
Some were insect-type aberrants that resembled giant bugs crawling across the snowy surface. Many of them were difficult to notice at a glance because their bodies blended almost perfectly with the surrounding white landscape.
"I already included some of them in the report, and I’ll update it with the new ones," Percy explained.
"There are a lot of newly discovered aberrants that I only know by name. We still don’t have enough information about their behavior or abilities. Fortunately, they aren’t particularly dangerous. The strongest among them are only around B-rank."
"He’s right. The biggest problem is how difficult they are to spot."
Jade added while jotting notes into her notebook. Now and then, she even sketched some of the aberrants as Percy described them.
"So it isn’t surprising that ambushes are one of their primary methods of attack."
She had told Gideon before that this information was important because some of these aberrants would eventually make their way to Climber Rift. If that happened, she wanted to be prepared.
"So there are still a few unknown species?"
Percy nodded. "Yes. This area is rarely researched because it’s too dangerous. Research teams need constant funding to keep their expeditions running, and eventually, we have to hire hunters as escorts if we want to push deeper into unexplored territory."
"Hm... why don’t you tell your friend in Greenwardens that I’ll fund it? It’s better if we know our enemy. In the end, people here still need to hunt for food."
Gideon said it casually, as if he hadn’t just casually offered to throw another mountain of money at a problem.
"Ugh, sure..." Percy rubbed the back of his neck. "I’ll ask my friend to start organizing an expedition. You’re serious, right, Chief?"
Elaine answered before Gideon could. "Just do it, Percy. He practically has infinite money stored in his pocket dimension."
Jade chuckled at that while Gideon simply shrugged.
They continued observing the screens. The barrier had already proven itself capable of holding back even B-rank aberrants, and the successful test had visibly relaxed Percy. That calm lasted only a few seconds.
A sharp gasp escaped him as something appeared on one of the monitors. He immediately leaned forward and zoomed in on the image.
On the screen stood what looked like giant frozen dandelions growing from the snow-covered ground. There wasn’t just one of them, there were dozens.
They stretched across the landscape as far as the camera could capture, their pale bodies blending into the frozen wasteland until they looked like part of the terrain itself.
"Th-th-that’s the Pyrovour Borealis!" Percy stammered.
"What is that?" Gideon asked, genuinely confused.
Jade immediately sprang to her feet and slammed her hand against the table.
"Shit!" she cursed. "How the hell did they end up in White Death? Damn it! If they’re here, it means they’ll eventually reach Climber Rift!"
Elaine’s expression darkened as she turned toward Gideon. "Is your barrier capable of exterminating something that’s closer to a seed than an aberrant?"
"What?" Gideon looked between them. "Can someone explain what’s going on?"
"Pyrovour Borealis," Aaron said.
He had finally returned from outside and casually pulled out a chair before sitting beside Gideon. Unlike Jade and Percy, his reaction was much calmer, though that only made Gideon more uneasy.
"It’s an S-rank aberrant. That thing is even more of a pain in the ass than the Verdant Devourer. They’re basically parasites that are incredibly difficult to stop."