Strongest Superhuman System - Chapter 54

Chapter 54: Underground
In the underground tunnels, James and the other members of the team that went belowground trekked forward with their senses at high alert and a cautious air around them.

The first thing that told James that this was going to be a terrible fight was the feeling he had once he entered the tunnels. James couldn’t explain it even if he tried. There was this unnatural foreboding that he had never felt before spreading across the entire cave! It almost felt like he was in the den of a wild beast and the beast was simply watching from a distance and waiting for him to come closer! But James didn’t heed his internal feelings because he knew that he needed to go deeper into the cave to see what was inside.

James, Meta, and the other A-rank and B-rank superhumans all trekked deeper into the cave and they found a pathway that went down for a long time. It was lined with multiple glowing green lights illuminating from rocks that protruded from the cave wall. They eventually came across some monsters along the way and they were able to dispatch them easily because they were low-level monsters that didn’t pose any real danger to them.

James and Meta didn’t even need to intervene as the A-rank and B-rank superhumans were able to easily destroy these monsters. This raised their morale for some time as they continued on their way. They thought that the monsters down here would be weak since the ones that they had met were all weak, but James and Meta knew that this would not be the case. They told the other superhumans to keep their eyes peeled and to not get too relaxed because they could meet a calamity class at any point, but the other superhumans were too happy about how easy it was for them to destroy the previous monsters and they didn’t listen!

Boom!

The sound of fighting coming from above them was the only indication they received that something had gone desperately wrong above ground! They could not even understand what had happened before another long, intense tremor made the tunnel shake and they were forced to move faster so they would not get buried under the falling rocks.

They moved quickly through the tunnel and they finally reached a small cave that split into two different pathways on the left and right. The entire group stopped as James and Meta both realized immediately that this was a problem.

James and Meta were the only two S-rank superhumans there and the rest of them were only A-ranks and B-ranks. That meant that they would have to split the S-ranks into two groups if they wanted to really search the tunnels and take care of any monsters in the caves. James wondered what would happen if they were to encounter a monster that an S-rank could not defeat inside those caves.

Suddenly, a man spoke up from behind James.

“We should just split up. Half of us should go with James and the other half will go with Meta. You are both strong, so I am sure that there will be no issues if each group has one of you.”

The person who spoke was called Greg. He was a member of the NSA that worked directly under James. He had a lot of experience in the superhuman world, but he didn’t have as much experience on the battlefield since he was only a bank clerk before he became a superhuman four years ago. He was an A-rank that had a blessing from Hermes. This made him extremely fast and he tended to handle orders very efficiently. But he was not very good at making tactical decisions.

James knew that splitting up would be the best option, but he was still worried that there was a monster here that was stronger than an S-rank. But suspicion was not enough reason for him to stop the team since they were all on the same page. Even Meta eventually agreed and told James that he would go down the left tunnel while James should go down the right tunnel. The monsters that they already encountered down here were too weak and so the monster ahead would probably be weak enough for them to handle as well.

“Yeah, let’s just finish up quickly and go help the others up on the surface.”

“I need to get back home to my girlfriend later! Let’s finish up quickly.”

“There’s no way a mere monster can kill all of us if we gang up on it!”

“We have S ranks, so we will be fine! We can finish this in no time!”

James sighed internally and he relented when he heard everyone voicing their agreement! He knew it would be impossible to argue against all of them since they seemed to have all come to the same decision together. They wanted to split up and that was fine by James!

But this decision would turn out to be the worst choice they could have ever made.

James took half of the A and B ranks and walked down the right tunnel while Meta took the other half and walked down the left tunnel.

“Be careful over there and try to come back in one piece. I wouldn’t want to start explaining to Talia how I couldn’t get her old man out.”

That was the last thing Meta said to James before they both separated and entered the different tunnels. It was the last time they would ever speak to each other.

James kept his eyes peeled as they went deeper into the tunnel with his smaller team. The tunnel was still illuminated by the crystals, so there was no need for them to light it up, but James couldn’t help but feel like something was watching him from the shadows. He narrowed his eyes and looked around calmly before he stopped as another tremor shook the entire region from the surface!

Boom!

James immediately wondered if that tremor was coming from the fight against the monsters up there. James didn’t think that it would escalate to this level since there are many Superhumans with Fiona and Tyler! They even have Archer, so shouldn’t the fight already be over if Archer was watching their back?

Don’t tell me they ran into the monster that was too strong for Archer to snipe. That’s impossible! Archer has one of the strongest long-range skills. He should be able to handle Calamity classes easily from a distance!

Boom!

Another tremor passed through the cave and James heard the other people with him murmuring amongst themselves as they looked around at all the falling debris in the cave, but he was not looking around like they were. Instead, his eyes were transfixed on one particular spot on the ceiling where he could see a crystal protruding from. He narrowed his eyes and he reached out and touched one of the superhumans blessed by the god of fire.

“Put a light over there.”

The superhuman looked up in surprise and she saw that the spot James was talking about was already well-illuminated by a green crystal. Why would he want to have a light over there? But James insisted on it and the superhuman didn’t have any choice as she brought her hand up and lit a flame!

Phwoom!

Her entire face paled as she felt her heart drop down to her stomach in dread! She took a step back immediately as she shouted at the top of her lungs.

“ANIMA!!!”