Global Awakening: Apocalypse Ender's Chronicle-Chapter 627: Traces of the Cult

As Spencer was thinking of leaving for now, since he believed that the core of Gaia's Defense would still take a lot of time to build, he suddenly heard one of the engineers exclaiming in joy…

"It's syncing!" One of the engineers yelled. "The Elder Drake's Heart is pulsing as a perfect regulator!

Spencer immediately stopped as he watched Eliot Mercer input the last command sequence to confirm the activation of the Gaia's Defense Core.

Soon, Eliot chuckled and muttered softly.

"Gaia's Defense… ONLINE."

Just like that, a deep hum filled the air as a massive, translucent barrier erupted from the ground, encasing the Distillation Tower and its immediate surroundings.

Since this was only a trial and not everything was put into place just yet, the coverage wasn't too big.

Nonetheless, it was more than enough to know that Gaia's Defense was usable!

As a matter of fact, as soon as this was activated, aside from Eliot and other engineers who had made this, Shane also received a system notification about the update in the territory!

[ Congratulations! Your Eclipse Domain had activated Gaia's Defense! ]

[ You are the first Survivor to build a High Grade Blueprint from the Reputation Store! ]

[ Gaia's Defense Barrier Specifications:

Adaptive Hardening – The more it's hit, the stronger it gets (up to 300% reinforcement).

Ley Line Sync – Draws energy from the earth, making it self-sustaining (only fails if the land itself dies).

Bio-Filter – Allows humans and allies to pass freely but incinerates undead on contact. ]

The system message that Eliot received was also quite similar, and he couldn't help but feel proud of it…

"Well… We just modified the blueprint a little, and this is the result," Mercer muttered, grinning. "Alright… Deactivate the core… Let's start the finishing touches!"

***

In the meantime, while Shane and the other were busy fortifying their shelters to brace for the Fourth Zombie Wave, the New Haven Clan was tackling the other threat lurking in the shadows—the Eclipse Followers, a fanatical cult that believed humanity's extinction.

Apparently, it was her clan that gathered more information about this Cult until Shane revealed it to the public in the Chat.

Well, she decided not to make it public for obvious reasons; she wanted the weapons, technology, and even their knowledge for herself.

After researching this cult for a long time, she learned that their doctrine was simple:

"The Undead are the chosen. The living are the sinners."

"Purge the survivors. Let the world be reborn in decay."

And now, Natalie Cross, leader of the New Haven Clan, had found one of their bases.

At this time, she had only brought a small team of elite Survivors with her.

Her elite team was called Inferno Squad, because their team had been built during a volcano eruption in Sector 15.

"Let's not bring the whole army… Just our team is more than enough." Natalie, who was a former police officer, said with confidence as she looked at the map.

Perhaps, the main reason she had investigated this cult was also due to her previous job as a police officer. She was lucky that even though her investigation didn't have any results for several months, her teammates still trusted her.

Of course, one of the main reasons was probably because she had an Epic-grade Talent—[Pathfinder], which allowed her to detect hidden paths, traps, and ambushes with frightening precision.

Her team, Inferno Squad, was a handpicked force of twelve, and each member was a specialist.

They had five Frontline Fighters under Darius' lead. frёeωebɳovel.com

Darius himself was a Bruiser. The other four had Talents called Immovable Soldier, Close-Quarters Butcher, Poison Specialist, and Sledger, who carries a huge Sledge anywhere. What was even more amazing about this was that all five of them had Exceptional Grade Talent!

Then, there were three long-range Supports under Sato's lead… Sato had Epic Grade Marksman Talent, while the other had Sniper and Infiltrator Talent at Master Grade.

Lastly, there were three supports. This includes Natalie, two Priests, and one Sculptor,

The two priests can bless armor to repel undead or even create hard-light barriers for cover.

Finally, there was Hale, with Epic-Grade Living Clay Talent. Anything he sculpts gains temporary life like stone golems, ice walls, and others

"We're only detecting around 40 people in their base…There's a possibility that there's more of them." Darius reminded. After all, the base they were seeing seemed to have an underground facility where more people could be involved.

Natalie went silent for a moment as she looked at the map.

This map already had various labels of some areas that needed to be targeted for better calling out during the mission. After some point, she pointed at Area 22-B.

"You're right… We can expect more underground rooms. Look here… It's the former subway maintenance tunnels. There are two entry points—the maintenance hatch here, and a disguised vent here."

Darius nodded as he also noticed this. "So we go in quietly…"

"No." Natalie's lips curled. "We go in smart."

She had a better plan, and soon, she shared it with everyone.

***

Natalie's team soon started their Operation Purification….

The first part of this ops was, of course, sentry elimination.

The cult had eyes above ground. They had three snipers on the rooftops, two patrolling the perimeter with zombie-hybrid hounds.

Indeed, they were actually controlling modified Zombies as part of their defense!

"Sato," Natalie said as she turned to the marksman. "Your team handles the lookouts."

Sato nodded, tapping the Phantom Rounds he'd bought from the System Store.

They were bullets that left no sound and no muzzle flash.

"Ash, take the east sniper. Ran, west. I'll drop the patrol."

"Wait… Use these instead." Natalie said as she slid over a small case. Inside, three Chameleon Spikes—needle-thin projectiles that injected a neurotoxin, paralyzing targets in seconds. "Non-lethal. We need their uniforms."

Only now did she recall that there could be blood splattering once they killed the sentries. Although some blood shouldn't be a problem in this Apocalypse World, they weren't sure about the Cult's system, so it was better to get cleaner clothes.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Just like that, the three Snipers neutralized their targets. It was only after getting what they needed that they killed their targets.

After doing that, they took the clothes of the snipers of the cults to assimilate themselves with the cult. Although the disguise was bad and could be easily seen through, a few seconds of hesitation was more than enough for high-level Survivors like them…

Soon, they reached the main hatch, they realized that it was also filled with traps—pressure mines, laser grids, even a crude bio-scanner keyed to cultists' DNA

Thankfully, with Natalie's Pathfinder Talent, she was able to easily detect these problems.

"Hale," Natalie said. "We need a distraction."

The sculptor grinned, pulling a lump of Living Clay from his System Inventory

With a few quick strokes, he shaped a wolf, then pricked his finger to smear blood into its eyes.

Just like that, the creature twitched, then stood up… After a few moments, fur started forming from hardening clay.

"Good," Natalie said. "Send it to the vent. We need to confuse the Cultists even for a little bit of time."

For the bio-scanner, she had the Priest's Skinweave Patch. It was a special skill of Priests that mimicked epidermal signatures for 10 minutes.

Thanks to that almost useless skill, they were able to enter the facility safely.

As soon as they entered, Natalie's Pathfinder started working once more…

"Let's see…"

Natalie muttered as they soon reached a tunnel that split into three branches. According to her Pathfinder Talent, they led to the armory, barracks, and the "Sanctum" where they kept their research.

"It will be too slow if we started going through these areas one by one." Darius muttered.

"But it will be too dangerous to split up." Sato replied.

"Well, there's our leader anyway… She should be seeing the level of threats on each path by now." Darius said as he fully trusted the Clan Leader.

As expected, Natalie nodded as she was able to assess the situation in each path.

"Darius, you're right," Natalie ordered. "Hit the barracks. Gas them. You can do this alone."

Darious chuckled as he pulled out a couple of Dreamshroud Grenades, another System Store purchase. It was a canister that released odorless, fast-acting sedative smoke.

Of course, he also had a special Protection Token against this smoke, so he would have no issues moving with it.

"Sleep tight, zealots." Darius muttered... He was confident even after hearing he was about to be sent alone to the barracks. After all, if Natalie assessed that he was enough, then he was enough.

Meanwhile, Natalie also ordered Ash, who had a Sniper Talent but also a Poison Specialist Talent, to attack the armory…

Like Darius, Ash didn't need a companion as well, since her Poison Fog could be a huge problem for others.

"The rest will take the Sanctum with me…" Natalie said. "Priests… We will be needing your support, please stay at the back."