Strongest Nova: Path of Vengeance

Chapter 307: Another Carrier

Stanley was transported outside, back within the wreckage of the carrier. He paused for a moment, immediately spinning around to see the situation of things.

As he turned, he saw the other 3 that had been with him looking around confused as well.

"I’m back!" Red shouted, seeming happy. "I’m finally back."

Stanley looked at the 3 with a quizzical face. "You guys were in the game too?" he asked.

The other 3 nodded and realized that they all had been placed into the game.

"How did we get into the game?" Rey asked, looking around the place. "I never saw anyone."

"I heard a voice," Red said. "Then something touched me and I was in the game. They’re not around, are they?"

Stanley looked around, fearful that others might still be there. He couldn’t afford to be placed back into the game again. That was not good.

Once he was certain there was no one around, he turned toward the wreckage and lowered. As he did, he recognized the pain in his body. ’Dammit,’ he thought. Being in that game with a body that couldn’t feel anything had made him realize the pain he was holding now that he was out.

It wasn’t a crazy amount of pain but rather a dull ache from pushing himself too much for the past couple of days. He ignored his body’s cries and touched the metal plate below him. It was cool to the touch.

He had expected it to be warm given it had exploded recently and had been around fire—

Stanley paused and looked around. There was no fire. There was no smoke. There was no remnant of the explosion except for the wreckage. ’How long were we in that game for?’

He looked up, far beyond the wreckage and his eyes went wide. At the same time, he heard the old woman’s gasp of shock.

The barrier around the place had come right to the edge of the forest. No doubt, people were being pushed further and further toward the center.

’Dammit! How many hours did we miss?’ Stanley wondered. ’Who still remains?’

He looked at the wreckage and noticed signs of human interference. People had come and looted this place, even taking away some of the debris to be of help to them.

Stanley touched the piece and closed his eyes. He wondered if he could see what happened through this. He activated his new technique.

Upon activating Retrocognition, he began seeing things surrounding the piece of metal he touched.

The metal piece remembered being part of the carrier. It remembered being in the air. I remembered being over the ocean. I remembered being kept in a dark place.

It remembered many other things, most moving around as a carrier. There were no sound and only some vague faces he couldn’t recognize. He could only tell where the metal had been and that was too many places as a carrier. There was no point in getting the entire information right now.

He had already gotten what he wanted anyway.

’In the ocean,’ he thought. ’It came from a large ship.’

Either that was where they kept the carrier and resources for easy transfer to this island, or that was where the people running this death game were.

’I have to go to the ocean,’ he thought.

"Look!" the old woman suddenly shouted. Stanley turned around and looked toward where she was pointing. Beyond the barrier, there was another carrier coming toward their way.

’Has it already been a whole day?’ Stanley thought. ’No, the previous loot must’ve been destroyed, so they sent another one.’

It was good.

"We can take this loot and leave," Red said. "Speaking of which, that game gave me a better power. Do you guys want to— uhh!"

Red’s words were cut right with a gasp. Everyone turned around in confusion and was immediately horrified to see a knife sticking through the woman’s chest.

The feeling of danger rushed within Stanley like floodgates that had been opened. He immediately knew he had to dodge what was coming next.

Stanley jumped, trying to run and move away from the ground when roots erupted from below, suddenly enveloping him in them. They were not just fast, but many too. They picked him up from the ground, dragging him high into the air where he couldn’t move.

The old woman screamed as the roots covered her as well. Rey began screaming too.

Stanley felt the roots trying to constrict him, but he pulled himself together, forcing the roots to bend as he reached for the knife in his belt.

But another root came and grabbed his knife, throwing it away.

Stanley tried to move but more roots came and wrapped around him. Even with how strong he was, he couldn’t do anything at all. He looked around, trying to see who he could find that was doing this, but he found no one.

The only thing he saw was Red’s lifeless eyes as she lay on the grass, having bled to death from multiple stab wounds. Stanley couldn’t even see any sign of a weapon anywhere.

How had she been stabbed?

The roots kept constricting him even more as he tried to fight it. He could twist around in them, but he couldn’t break through it. He needed something sharp to cut through it.

Beastly noises caught his attention next as Rey turned back into a gorilla, his body enlarging while ripping through the clothes he had only just found.

The roots tried to grab at him too, but he managed to slip away. The roots were weaker there.

’They’re close to me’ Stanley thought, trying to move around to see who could be next to him. Where were they? Hiding in the rubble? Underground?

He tried to remember who it was that stabbed Red. He could swear he saw nobody there.

Could the killers be invisible? This was bad.

"Hehehe!" he heard someone snickering around, even though he couldn’t see who it was.

"Let me kill them, Stark," a female voice said. "I want to be the one to kill them."