Sedative gas

Everyone turned around to face a man who had been standing there, leaning against a tree.

Eryndor narrowed his eyes before speaking. 

"That would be me. I would need your name to verify your identity."

The man chuckled. Eryndor could see a strange emotion whirling in his eyes as he gazed at him.

"Identity? I lost mine years ago. People call me Erin now, does that satisfy you?"

Eryndor couldn't quite put a finger on what the strange emotion was and it bothered him to no end. 

Chuck it.

Eryndor inwardly shook his head as he gave Erin a polite smile.

"Yes. Thank you for coming to help us."

He then turned to his teammates and explained to them what Sander had told him. 

"You must truly be powerful if Sander himself asked you for help."

Drakarion commended with a look that was half respect and half itching to have a battle. 

Sander wasn't exactly a secret agent, anyone who researched a bit into The Human Federation would easily know about his exploits.

Erin had long black hair flowing freely till his waist, black eyes which were faintly glowing even in the darkness of the woods, and a well trimmed beard.

The man respectfully nodded his head. 

"Sander was the only one who could match me in my realm back then. I don't know about his recent situation. I'll only move once to help you, so think wisely before asking me to make a move."

Eryndor nodded.

*****

Professor Melissa put the phone back in the pocket of her battle suit after she read through the message delivered to her.

During the containment process of an Anomaly, all the agents had been trained to switch off their phone. The Federation gave them different devices which they used to contact the agent in case of an emergency.

After reading through the message, Melissa was sure it was an emergency. A very big emergency alright.

She remembered talking to her co-worker after her mission failed. It was exactly the containment mission of the Anomaly of misfortune and fortune.

Since the Disruption and Risk class of that Anomaly was relatively lower compared to its Containment class, The Human Federation had postponed the attempt to contain it.

Melissa was sure the Human Federation would've attempted again when their containment teams had been freed from their current tasks. 

But who knew Rodrick would mind control the Anomaly in that time frame?

Her co-worker had said that she suspected the Anomaly had leveled up to Stable realm, which was the second level of the Anomalies. This might be the primary reason their mission failed.

But since she couldn't procure any concrete proof, coupled with how The Human Federation had lowered the priority of containing that Anomaly, the mission file wasn't updated.

She worriedly thought while glancing at Rodrick's direction.

Since he could at least partially mind control a Stable realm Anomaly, doesn't that mean his mind control is powerful enough to overwhelm an individual in the second realm?

Melissa herself was at the third stage of Qi Condensation realm, which was the second realm of Cultivation power system.

She wasn't sure if she could successfully resist his mind control.

I need to hold on.

She clenched her fists inside her sleeves and led her team through the forest. She knew that Rodrick would somehow hurry up his plan so she would have to somehow hold on.

The only silver lining in the plan was that the original Anomaly they would be dealing with only attacked people who slept in its range.

It wouldn't indiscriminately attack other people in its original form. And when it split into multiple mini-anomalies, its destructive prowess would be reduced significantly, enough for her students to handle.

There weren't many ways available for Rodrick to implicate everyone using the Anomaly.

Hold on, hold on. 

Melissa repeated the phrase, afraid that mind control and misfortune would twist her thoughts. Her only hope now was the small team of beginners who were heading her way along with a sufficiently strong helper.

After a couple minutes, they finally reached a deep pit.

Everyone on the anomaly containment team could see an extremely deep and precise round pit in the middle of the forest.

Situated in the middle of the circle, floating in the air was a shriveled, massive hand of about six to seven meters, resting on a slab.

Professor Melissa switched on her heavy-duty torchlight, shining it on the Hand of Destruction, making it easier for the students to see the Anomaly.

"Look carefully, this is what we would be dealing with."

It was a large shriveled hand, but under the clear light, they could see dried blood on its surface with eyes opening every now and then. 

It had various sizes of eyes situated on its skin, with some having blue pupils while some had red.

Among the seniors there were some who had previously gone on anomaly containment missions while for some it was their first time. 

Regardless, every anomaly was a new experience since no two anomalies were the same.

Melissa led them towards the pit, instructing everyone to descend carefully.

Taking out her prepared sticks, she stuck them deep into the slope of soil and slowly descended. 

The majority of them followed her approach, while a few simply ran down, uncaring if some unfortunate incident might cause them to tumble or the high speed during the steep slope of descent may hurt their bodies.

Melissa recognised these few students.

Martial Artists, these brutes.

Scoffing inwardly, she continued downwards carefully despite fully being capable of running like the Martial Artists. 

Breaking through from Qi Gathering realm to Qi Condensation realm gave a boost to their bodies along with sharpening their senses.

When they finally reached the bottom of the pit, they could directly see the slab holding the Anomaly directly above them.

The students, under the guidance of professor Melissa and a few other experienced ones, quickly set up a camp with various tents. 

In a few minutes they had also started a bonfire with the materials they had prepared beforehand. 

The group gathered around the fire, eager to keep each other company and to prevent anyone from sleeping.

Professor Melissa's mind was still on full alert when her enhanced sense of smell felt something weird in the air.

Suddenly, one of the students sitting near the bonfire had an expression of confusion as he muttered.

"Why do I suddenly feel sleepy?"