As soon as Zeus got a little distance away from the restaurant on his bike, he stopped at the side of the road to revert the bike into bracelet form, activated the invisibility ability of his suit, and moved quickly and stealthily through the forest, heading toward the place where he saw himself die.
He started off at high speed, but slowed down significantly and became more cautious the closer he got to the location.
When he was only 1 km away, he stopped running and began moving low through the grass, completely hidden.
■ [[[Surai Suit]]] (Third-Level Genetic Suit)
● [Energy]: Maximum capacity of 1000 units of blue genetic energy
● [Abilities]: (Invisibility) (Sensor) (Advanced Vision) (Enhanced Strength and Muscular Movement) (Artificial Intelligence) (Basic Energy Shield) (Communication Jamming within a 50-meter range)...
...
"No signs of anyone so far... maybe I can set a trap in advance."
Zeus observed the place that exploded in his dream, and his fear increased as he realized it was exactly the same spot he had seen.
He scanned the surrounding area with the suit's sensor and advanced vision. After confirming that there were no traces of energy nearby, he decided to take a chance.
He threw a dagger into the middle of the path, and when nothing happened, he began sending more of his daggers to work remotely, using them to set a trap with all the portable bombs he carried.
Then he waited in silence.
Half an hour passed before his sensors detected something.
There were fast movements from multiple points on the radar, and suddenly those points disappeared.
"Did they activate invisibility!? Could they have detected the trap!? But how!?... Calm down, that might not be the case."
Zeus swallowed nervously, growing more focused and alert to his surroundings.
Suddenly, he noticed the soil shifting by itself.
"There's someone hidden, digging!"
The digging was happening exactly where Zeus had predicted. He had placed his bombs in a ring around that very spot, each explosive disc placed just about two meters apart and buried just a finger-deep.
One of the explosive discs had been inscribed with kinetic energy instead of energy storage, allowing Zeus to remotely trigger the trap.
And that's exactly what he did. The place exploded violently, and Zeus's suit registered flying body parts and blood along with the dirt.
The massive explosion wasn't just from Zeus's explosive discs, but also due to the enemy's own explosives that they were preparing to plant.
The explosion was so powerful that it could be heard faintly by Surai and the others, even though they were nearly 30 km away from the site.
...
(Beatrix): What was that sound?
(Sam): Probably some idiot testing out his new mecha.
(Hanabi): Don't be stupid. That sound was deep and distant... no ordinary mecha could produce that.
The uneasy feeling Beatrix had felt since waking up intensified, and she asked Surai:
_ Where did Zeus go?
_ I don't know... Could it be!?
Surai used his communication bracelet, and as he tried to call Zeus, he noticed the notification showing the status of the combat suit linked to the bracelet.
The alert indicated the suit was in combat mode, operating at maximum energy output, with some signs of minor damage.
Surai connected to the suit's system to access its cameras and saw fog and signs of destruction.
_ Damn it!!!... You bastard!!
Surai sprinted to his car, and Beatrix wasted no time following him. She jumped in with him, and the two sped off.
(Sam): What's going on?
(Hanabi): I think Zeus is in trouble. We need to catch up to them.
(Sam): Forget it. She took the mech and he took the car. Who's going to drive us?
_ Then we'll run. Don't be ridiculous.
And indeed, Hanabi took off immediately.
_ Damn it, I hope this isn't all for nothing.
Sam followed as well, and a few moments later, Katie stepped out to find the place completely deserted, surprised that none of her teammates were around.
...
(Battlefield)
Zeus didn't know how many enemies the explosion had killed, and he didn't dare deactivate the invisibility feature of the suit... Luckily, the fast energy recovery rate of the energy storage inscriptions was able to keep up with the constant drain from the invisibility technique.
This recovery rate was several times greater than that of typical third-level genetic fighters.
Dust and particles didn't stick to the suit; instead, they slid off it immediately—an additional feature of the invisibility function.
However, what Zeus didn't account for was that the accumulation of sliding dust and soil around him had created a visible outline, unknowingly revealing his position.
Suddenly, he sensed a serious threat, and before he could react, he took a direct hit to the head, dropping his genetic energy by 80% in one blow and hurling him into a tree that shattered upon impact.
Zeus didn't wait to regain his balance or vision. He immediately activated movement inscriptions in his legs to launch himself away at high speed, consuming another 2%, leaving him with just 18% of his energy storage inscriptions—used to fuel the other abilities and the suit.
After sprinting through the forest, Zeus used his own blood to draw new energy storage inscriptions to replace all the movement ones, and inscribed explosive energy on his hand.
Naturally, the new inscriptions were empty. However, now that he had 10 inscriptions instead of just 4, the energy recovery rate was 2.5 times faster.
That was exactly what Zeus wanted.
Running at high speed and using the suit's enhanced strength and speed abilities—which consumed a small but constant amount of energy that was currently offset by the new recovery rate—Zeus was buying time by escaping and restoring his energy.
He didn't deactivate the invisibility, and because of that constant energy use, the recovery rate of the storage inscriptions was halved.
Zeus needed 15 minutes to fully recharge the 10 inscriptions, or 1000 units of blue genetic energy—the equivalent of a third-level elite genetic fighter's full energy.
Still, things didn't go as hoped.
Zeus saw a fast-moving bullet shatter a tree beside him. He quickly turned right, took several turns, and made some random jumps, eventually settling atop a tree and coming to a complete stop.
Earlier, Zeus had taken a turn by pure chance just before the bullet hit his previous position and struck the tree.
Because of the delay, Zeus suspected the enemy couldn't see him. However, the enemy's devices were picking up on Zeus's sounds, the rustling grass, broken twigs, and even the movement of leaves.
Indeed, Zeus saw this with his own eyes as he sensed several individuals pass beneath him, though he couldn't see them.
His helmet's screen displayed alerts indicating unusual changes in the grass and sounds detected by the sensors.
At that moment, the enemies also stopped moving, having lost track of Zeus. They hadn't moved far—no more than 30 meters away.
Zeus didn't dare to move at all, and in that tense atmosphere, one of the two remaining enemies pulled out a unique, spatially-compressed device.
Their eyes met, and the leader—holding a long, distinct pistol—nodded to the man with the strange device.
Suddenly, the device released a powerful wave that disabled all invisibility abilities—friend and foe alike—covering a radius of over 200 meters.