Code Collector

"Mind telling me why were going towards it instead of going away from it?" Gwen asked as the group was rushing towards the camp.

The Serrata was coming for it, it was a humanoid figure with a long straight hair. The sex of the creature seemed to be female judging by the curves of its body that was contained under a cloak.

It was hovering in the air, not moving as it moved closer to the camp. The Serrata was also not attacking the camp unlike Allen initially thought. After the first beam of light that it shot, the Serrata did not attack again since.

"What is it doing?" Gary asked. "It's moving so slowly that we can just go past it."

"No," Allen said. "I read about Serratas the other day and found that they have odd behavior. They looked human, but they act nothing like us. They also think nothing like us."

"Their main behavior is attack and destroy," Jeremy said. "I don't think it's too hard to understand that, Allen. Serratas just destoy and destroy until they are killed."

"But not really," Allen argued. "There are Serratas that are just like this one. Some would not even attack at all until it finds a cue. Either a color or an object. It's hard to tell what Serratas are thinking."

"Let's just hurry," Gary said. "I feel weird just watching the camp being destroyed. Where are the prideful A rankers?"

Just after Gary finished his sentence, six people got out of the camp and faced the Serrata. Each of them were weilding their weapons, raised high as they rushed towards its direction.

Meanwhile, Allen halted their movements as he waited. He wanted to observe what the Serrata and the Hunters would do, and what they can do to prevent further damage to happen. This was an opportunity to see what the A rankers of Paradise can do.

"Hiya!" the warrior of the group was the one who attacked first. The tank was behind him while the assassin had vanished into thin air, hiding and waiting for the right opportunity to attack.

The warrior raised her sword and was about to slash when the Serrata stopped its motion. It stayed still in the air, just standing as the Hunter approached. Just before the woman could attack, a beam was fired and her head had vanished.

The tank who was behind her froze as he saw his lifeless ally's body fell to the ground with a thud. "W-What happened–"

Another beam was fired and this time, it was launched towards the tank. He panicked and raised his shield, just enough time to protect himself from the attack. Or try to protect himself.

The beam swallowed the man and he was instantly pulverized. The mage, ranger, and support who was a couple of meters behind him froze in the spot. They were speechless after two of their teammates were killed not even a minute apart.

"Shannon!" the woman yelled. She seemed to be the support judging from her clothing. "Shannon, come here. We need to retreat!"

A thud sounded from a nearby tree, prompting the three to look at the source. There, they saw the body of their assassin, burnt to crisp like a charred barbecue.

"No!" the mage screamed. He looked at the Serrata but it was gone from the skies. He looked around and turned behind him when the creatures was already standing there.

Its paper white skin that was as shiny as porcelain, together with its wide blue eyes and its red lips with a red dot on its cheek were all gruesome to watch. The creature just stared at the mage, the man just realizing that all of his allies were already gone.

He was the only one left and their opponent was standing right in front of him, its face so close to it that he could almost hear its breathing. "P-Please don't kill me. I don't want to die. Please."

The man could only close his eyes and waited for his demise. He waited for a couple of seconds, but the terrifying presence that was just in front of him had vanished. When he opened his eyes, he saw the Serrata was already in the air again, hovering and traveling back to the camp.

The man fell to his knees. His head turned to the direction of his friends' corpses, seeing them one by one. He placed his hands in front of his face as he sobbed in despair. He was the only one left.

"That was gruesomely horrendous," Gwen groaned after they watched the scene. They could only watch from afar as they saw six A rankers getting killed one by one by a Serrata. The sight was a one sided massacre.

"This just goes to show how vast the gaps between worlds are," Allen said. "An average Serrata is equal to the power of an average Eternity Hunter. There were already six A rankers in the scene, meaning that six A Rankers is not equal to the power of an Eternity Hunter."

"True," Jeremy added. "If we calculate an estimation, it would be at least fifty A rankers that is equal to one Eternity Hunter. I saw that article before."

"I saw it too," Allen said. "Before, I would not believe it. I mean come on, I'm not going to lie but A rankers are already powerful Hunters. They could take down powerful creatures on their own and fifty of them is equal to a single person? That sounded ridiculous.

"But after what we just witnessed, this changed my perception heavily," Allen continued. He sighed and then turned to his friends. "We're equal to A rankers in terms of power. To get even stronger, we need to multiply our current power to fifty."

The group continued to run towards the camp as they followed the Serrata. When it reached the camp, it hovered over the hole that it destroyed, waiting for a couple of seconds before entering.

"A Serrata!"

"The Eternity Hunters had just fled. What do we do now?"

"Call them! Call all of them."

…

The Hunter inside the camp had already panicked. They just saw a Serrata destroy their wall and kill six A rankers. It wasn't just until a couple of minutes ago that the people were still cheering after the group of A rankers walked out of the gates to deal with the problem.

"Let's stay here and watch," Allen said. "We need to see how powerful can these Hunters be. They prided themselves with power, now let's see how this goes."

The Serrata landed on the fron of the gate inside the camp. It stood still for a few minutes before opening its eyes. "Humans. Leave. Now."

"It can talk?" Gwen gasped. "They have the same language we hage too. What could this mean?"

"I don't know, Gwen," Allen sighed. "I don't know."

Allen had read dozens of articles in one single night regarding Serratas. Turns out there were a lot of information that Dennis could give him, the man just waited for Allen to come to him first.

With the boy's intelligence attribute, he had learned all the things that were written in the article. But not this one. There has never been any record for a Serrata to talk or have a voice.

They would usually make a gutteral sound, much like groan that had a raspy tone to it. This sound were also in a different wavelength much like light from the Otherworlds.

"From all I dislike, I really don't like it when someone messes with my camp," a man stepped out from the crowd. He was wielding a black iron bat that he was swinging around as he walked in front of the people. "This place is mine, punk. You have to deal with me first."

"Wesley is here."

"We're saved. The top Hunter of Paradise has come."

"Praise Wesley! You kill the Serrata, Wesley!"

…

"He's going to die soon," Gwen sighed. "His stupidity is mistaken as bravery. What an unfortunate soul."

The Serrata did not respond. It slightly moved, making everyone gasp and step back. In a flash, the Serrata had fired a beam towards the man.

"See?" Gwen sughed. "He's dead. I'm right–"

"Was that all?" the man arose from the mist of dust that formed a cloud around him. He was grinning while swinging his bat on one side, looking at the creature who was wrecking havoc.

The Serrata did not move for a few seconds. It finally raised its right hand and pointed the palm at the man. The mouth of the Serrata slightly smirked, making Wesley's eyes widen. "Everyone, run as far as you can. This fight is going to get bloody."

The Serrata fired multiple orbs of light towards Wesley. It was firing rapidly like a gun that was endless. Meanwhile, Wesley was now covered with a mist of the dust that formed as clouds.

"Yep," Gwen sighed. "He's finally dead. He didn't stand a chance, why didn't he just call out for help?"

"Amazing!" Wesley yelled. He slashed his bat forward, clearing the dust in front of him, revealing his unfazed body. "That was indeed amazing."