Chapter 272: Romanov - The Agent of Gaia
Keith was brave, but he was not some suicidal maniac like Agiel, and he knew that there was nothing he could do against those dragons. When he hid, he hadn't even been thinking about anything other than preserving his life for another moment. That was just how all humans were.
"Yes, commander. I was hiding."
Keith finally answered Agiel's question, and Agiel let out a scoff as she allowed him to support her weight. Agiel was annoyed by Keith's action, but she let go of that feeling quickly enough since it was expected. Agiel saw most humans as sheep that only wanted to preserve their lives for one more day if possible, and Agiel knew that when a sheep is faced with such unbelievably raw power, most of them would immediately hide from fear. It wasn't anything to be ashamed about since it was just thier nature, and Agiel understood that she was just different from everyone else.
'I wonder if he's different as well.'
An image of Jason appeared in Agiel's mind, and Agiel couldn't stop her thoughts from returning to that first moment when the both of them had met a few days ago. Agiel knew that there was something different about Jason at that moment. Jason wasn't like the other sheep around her. He was a kindred spirit. Someone who could look death in the face and laugh! Someone who could finally give her the feelings that she had been desperately searching for all along! Agiel wanted to meet him again.
"Commander, we need to get you to a healer. You can't even stay on your feet."
Keith spoke up while trying to drag Agiel towards the building where the other superhumans were gathered, but Agiel stopped him by force and raised her hand in the direction that the dragons had gone while telling him to take her there.
"Help me for a few minutes. I'm recovering already, so I should have enough energy by the time we reach them."
Keith was shocked once he heard this! Agiel literally looked like she was about to collapse, and she was still thinking about fighting!?
"Commander, your injuries—"
"Lieutenant…"
"Yes, commander."
"Just shut up and do what I say."
Keith grit his teeth before releasing a sigh.
"Yes, commander."
Agiel looked like she was only a moment away from passing out, but Keith knew that there would be hell to pay if he didn't follow her orders. Keith turned toward the north and held Agiel's body closer to make sure she didn't move around too much before he blasted off the ground and began following after the dragons.
…
[On the northern side of the city]
[A few minutes before the dragon riders felt Riyala's mana signature]
The Enforcers had been trying their best to convince the agents from Gaia to let them inside the city so they could help the superhumans against the Orange Gate. There was a girl standing at the border of the city with a magic staff in her hand. She was wearing an artefact that was shaped like a long hooded cloak that covered her face with a half shadow, but the lower part of her face that was visible would easily show that she was very young.
This girl was a superhuman named Romanov from Russia who worked for the secret organisation known only as Gaia. She had beautiful short red hair and black eyes that looked up at the dome in concentration. She was very young, but anyone who came near her would be able to tell that she had an absurd amount of mana inside her body! Romanov had been called in by the Gaia branch that oversaw America when they saw that the Yellow Gate in New Jersey had allowed interworld travellers to enter the city. Gaia worked to make sure that the truth about interworld travellers and the fact that they were interested in Earth stayed a secret from the masses. Most people thought that the only things on the other side of Gates were monsters with low intelligence that couldn't rival humans, and that is one of the only reasons why humans were able to adapt so quickly to their existence. If humans knew that there were creatures out there that were both smarter and stronger than they were, then it would become far more difficult to prevent mass panic!
Romanov was an A-Rank emitter-type superhuman who had been working for Gaia for the past five years ever since she was eleven years old. She was very young, but no one in the agency could deny that her presence in the agency had made their job far easier than it used to be! Romanov's ability was called [Spatial Prison]. It was a unique ability that allowed her to manipulate space and time to create impenetrable domes! Whenever Romanov used her abilities, she created a large dome from her mana that she could spread over a specific area to separate that area from reality! It acted almost like a wormhole that connected each end of the dome to the other end to make sure no one could enter or leave. If someone entered Romanov's the dome from the north side, instead of appearing inside the dome, they would simply exit the dome from the south side! And if someone inside the dome wanted to escape from the east, they would just reappear inside the dome from the west! The mechanics of her Gift were very simple, but it ensured that no one would be able to enter or leave any space that was contaminated with interworld travellers!
But since Romanov worked for Gaia, there was no record of who Romanov was or where she came from in the government files, and that always led to issues with government agencies in situations like these! That was why there were so many guards around Romanov to make sure that they didn't distract her while she kept the dome active. The security men around her were currently having a heated argument with the Enforcers that had come to help out… the Enforcers wanted to go inside, but Romanov had been instructed not to let anyone in or out, so there was no way they were getting past her. Thankfully, the men with Romanov were all close to S-Rank, so she knew they would be strong enough to handle the Enforcers.
Romanov suddenly felt that she was low on mana, and she needed to get more. Romanov used one hand to keep the dome active as she reached into a pouch on her side to grab a Magic Crystal and bite into it. Romanov let out a disgusted sound and stuck her tongue out while shaking her head! The taste of magic crystals was always disgusting! But the Magic Crystal did its job as Romanov's mana immediately soared back up to a reasonable level! Since she was only an A-Rank, Romanov didn't have enough mana to keep a dome this large active for so long, but since she only used mana to sustain the dome, Romanov was currently using magic crystals from Magic Beasts to boost her mana. A technique like this would normally cause serious damage to a superhuman's body because humans weren't built to ingest magic crystals, but Gaia had genetically altered Romanov's body in a way that allowed her not to feel any significant side effects other than slight disgust due to the taste!