Chapter 24: The Footage

On the other side, Neil was going through the same footage but for different reasons.

He too started watching from the beginning, right from the moment he walked onto the warp ship.

And within moments, he noticed the tiny insect.

“Wait, that insect, it wasn’t an actual insect.” Pausing and zooming in, he could clearly see it all.

He watched ahead but couldn’t find anything else.

“Hmm. Aside from that robotic bug which Amanda left on me, there was nothing strange.”

After a moment, he spoke, “Nemo, can you show me Amanda’s footage? Has she done anything shady during the whole week?”

“Give me a minute, master.” Nemo carefully scanned through the footage and, after a moment, replied.

“I did find her pausing before your sleeping pod and room a few times, but aside from that, there really wasn’t anything strange.”

Neil stared at the paused image where Amanda was standing before his sleeping pod while he was undergoing awakening.

“Wait, can you zoom over her right ankle and move the frame forward slowly?” Narrowing his eyes, Neil sat up.

“Alright, master.” Nemo did as she was told, moving the video forward frame by frame.

“Pause!” Neil suddenly said in a startled voice.

“What’s wrong, master—oh!” Nemo too noticed the tiny symbol on her battlesuit, on the back of her ankle.

“Wait, how can this be?! T-That symbol, it clearly is the symbol for my father’s company.

Then were it really my parents behind the whole incident? Were they trying to kill me?”

The more he thought, the more confused he became.

If they really wanted to kill him, then with their strength and influence, it should have been a really easy task.

Why would they play all this drama? Then were they also in cahoots with the Lizzard race?

“Sigh, forget it. No point in thinking too much. At least now I know that my parents have something to do with all this.”

He didn’t really have any feelings for them, but if they really wanted to kill him, then that would change things.

He was feeling really sleepy, so Neil decided to check out one more thing only for now.

“Tell me what is the information you have found about the Phantom.” He muttered.

The only thing he knew was that his new identity was that of a dangerous monster hated by all races.

If it were to be discovered by others, he would certainly be hunted down.

“Yes, master. I actually found a couple of videos showing previous catastrophic attacks from Phantoms.

Each attack had resulted in large casualties. One such attack from a single Phantom had even almost resulted in the fall of one of the Elves’ settlements.”

Nemo replied, her tone making it evident just how dangerous those creatures were.

“…Play the video.” Neil was suddenly afraid of losing himself and becoming one such monster, but there was no going back now.

The first video started, and he focussed but the figure of the Phantom was a bit blurry.

It was an attack against a foreign race, but Neil’s complete focus was on the Phantom.

Its height easily reached around ten feet, its body pitch black and appearing extremely strong.

Veins bulged all over its body, and he could feel that the blackish blood was flowing through them at an extreme rate.

“It feels like there is a pattern to it. Even the heart is beating in a certain pattern.” Neil thought, but couldn’t exactly make it out.

After watching it for a while, he asked to play the second video.

It was the very attack against one of the Elves’ settlements, which is still considered one of the greatest catastrophes.

As the video started, Neil couldn’t help but frown.

The creature from that evil realm was killing everyone so mercilessly.

The poor Elves stood no chance against it.

Even though there were people at the same or even slightly higher rank, it was no use.

Plus, the attack was at night, where the monster’s strength was higher, and after the infiltration, it somehow opened links, bringing in a flood of Phaged after killing many of the strongest Elves.

Neil focused only on the black creature.

Thousands of Elves were already dead, and there was nothing he could do about it now.

Neil focused on the pattern of blood flow, the pattern of heartbeats, how the Phantom moved, how it attacked, noticing every little detail.

He continued to watch until he could make out some of the patterns and memorized them to the best of his abilities.

“Haa, that was tiring. I guess I will check the world server later on…”

Exhausted mentally and physically, Neil couldn’t keep his eyes open for another moment.

There was too much on his mind anyway, but planning things properly was the only way.

***

Just a bit over three hours were left for the day to be over when Neil woke up.

First, he freshened up, and after wearing comfortable clothes, he went out to eat.

He decided not to bring his armor along to the Lizzard settlement. Not only would it be of no help, but it might also end up getting destroyed or stolen.

The only thing he planned to bring along was his bow. There was still risk, but he would need it for his plan.

“This place should be safe enough.”

Unless his domain was discovered by some Lizzard men or a dangerous link opened around it, his domain shouldn’t be in any danger.

Thankfully, he could use Nemo to get proper updates even from far away and move his domain in case of emergency.

First, he ate some delicious food and packed quite a bit. He had left enough shards to last them long enough.

The pressure disc traps he had purchased earlier had already been built around his domain.

Neil would have loved to see how they worked, but that would have to wait.

The elven archers were keeping watch over the domain, each pair working in shifts of twelve hours.

“Nemo, when I return to the Lizzard settlement, they won’t immediately know that I am one of the survivors from that death zone, right?” Neil asked as he walked closer to the two Cloud Vultures.

“They won’t. Only once they check your identity will they know that you weren’t one of the few selected humans who were sent into other realms.

And I doubt they would notice that the dangerous realm has already closed, unless they try to throw someone inside.” She answered.

The realms all teenagers are sent into to conquer their domains disappear once the domain shifts outside, and they get teleported to random locations in their respective race’s territory.

The Lizzard men had thrown quite a lot of low talent teens into the death zone, while selected few went into realms of their choice.

Probably either silver or gold class.

So Neil would still be in a great risk by returning now, he most probably would be caught soon after returning.

“There really isn’t much I can plan. With my strength, I can’t do much.

Guess I will have to depend on trial and error. I just can’t be captured by them.”

Neil shuddered just at the thought of becoming a live experiment.

Those people would definitely tear his body open if they were to know that he was a Phantom.

“Hmmm, a Phantom… can I do that too? Will it increase my strength?” He wondered, remembering the video he had seen before.

Those creatures seemed to be doing it instinctively, but Neil couldn’t do it no matter how much he tried.

So he decided to try it in his own way.

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