SSS-Class Profession: The Path to Mastery
Chapter 233: Scatter Pattern

Chapter 233: Scatter Pattern

The sound of static didn’t go away.

It crawled along the tree line like fog through a wire mesh, faint but undeniable—wrong in a way nothing natural ever is. And the scout? He smiled.

Not wide. Not cruel. Just... knowing.

3830 swore under her breath, already halfway into the brush with her back low, eyes scanning the trees.

Evelyn tilted her head. "I’m guessing we’re not alone anymore," she murmured, almost like she was surprised it had taken this long.

"Everyone," I said, my voice sharp and immediate, "grab what you can. Move."

Camille pulled her bag onto one shoulder, wincing as the motion jerked her newly reset arm. "Not even a minute to rest?" she muttered.

"Wouldn’t be us if we did," Alexis said, slinging her salvaged gear over her back. She was bleeding from the arm, but it was shallow—more bark than blade.

Sienna moved to lift Camille.

"I’m fine," Camille said, limping two steps forward to prove it.

"You’re not," Sienna growled, but she let her walk anyway.

I didn’t argue. There wasn’t time.

The scout remained tied to the tree behind us. Watching. Calm.

That bothered me more than the static.

Then it hit—the noise of pressure splitting the air overhead.

A sharp hum, followed by a dopplering whine.

Drone.

"Move!" I snapped.

We bolted into the jungle.

The underbrush didn’t part for us—it fought back.

Vines lashed at our arms. Thorns raked skin. Roots surged beneath every step like the jungle itself wanted us down. The air was molten, thick enough to choke on, pressing against our lungs in invisible waves.

We ran anyway.

I took point.

My System parsed the chaos in real time—outcroppings became landmarks, pitfalls became data. Hazard markers lit up in my mind’s eye like a blueprint etched in breath. Detective’s Instinct tracked motion trails. Firefighter’s Advanced Hazard Assessment scanned the terrain in flashing pulses. Boxer’s Muscle Optimization drove every stride—efficient, economical, relentless.

I ducked under a low branch, felt it whistle past the top of my skull.

Behind me, Camille tripped.

Her boot caught a hidden root—she pitched sideways but caught herself with a grunt, one hand slapping mud, the other clutching her ribs. She didn’t call out. Just pushed back to her feet.

To my right, Evelyn staggered, hand reaching blindly for something that wasn’t there.

I looped back and scooped her up in one smooth motion. She wrapped her arms around my neck, light as a breath, silent as breathlessness. She knew better than to waste time arguing.

Alexis flanked left, eyes sharp, feet light. Her silhouette darted through the foliage like a blade between shadows—one hand clutched a jagged branch, the other a blood-slicked stone. Her breathing was shallow. Her pace wasn’t.

At the rear, 3830 moved like a fixed point in the storm. Eyes scanning, steps sure. She wasn’t watching the jungle.

She was watching the what had just entered the sky.

A flare erupted overhead.

Blinding.

White-blue and brutal, it slashed through the canopy like a blade drawn across the sky. Trees lit in flashes, shadows cast sideways.

Not heat. Not impact.

It was a beacon.

A position marker.

Camille cursed between pants. "They’re not chasing us."

Her voice was raw.

"They’re guiding us."

Another flare lit to the right—lower. Closer.

Alexis slowed, enough to hiss: "They’re drawing a perimeter."

"At this rate," Camille said, limping beside me now, "we’ll be funneled into a clearing."

Her face was slick with sweat. Her braid had come half undone. Her good hand never left the strap of her bag.

"They’ll be waiting for us there," she finished.

She was right.

They weren’t hunting us.

They were corralling us.

We ran until the air turned to glass—every inhale dragging like sandpaper down my throat, every exhale coming out in ragged, burning bursts. The humidity clung like a second skin, thick enough to drown in. Despite this uncomfortability, I knew that Endurance Boost would keep me moving. The problem was that the girl’s wouldn’t be able to keep up in the long run.

Then—just as Alexis stumbled, her foot snagging on a gnarled root buried beneath the undergrowth—I saw it.

A wall of stone.

Cracked and weather-beaten, almost hidden behind a curtain of vines and ferns that spilled down like a broken waterfall. At first glance, it looked impassable. But as I zeroed in, I spotted it—a shallow recess, jagged and narrow, but just deep enough to give us cover. A natural overhang cut into the rock, choked in shadow.

It wasn’t much.

But it was something.

"There," I snapped. "Inside—now."

No one argued. Not this time.

We ducked into the alcove one by one, cramming in close, pressed shoulder to shoulder with knees bent and backs hunched. There wasn’t enough room to stretch, barely enough to breathe. The dirt was damp beneath us, slick with rot and crushed moss. The vines hanging at the entrance swayed gently as if trying to veil us from the jungle’s gaze.

I held my breath and activated Thermal Perception.

Colors bloomed in my vision—blues and yellows dancing in the trees, the heat of birds, small mammals, ambient earth. But no human silhouettes. No forward sweep of infrared from drones or boots.

For now, we were clean.

"This buys us maybe fifteen minutes," 3830 murmured.

She was the only one still standing, half-hidden behind the curtain of vines like a statue carved from bone and resolve. Her stance was loose but ready. Her eyes were tracking the forest with surgical precision.

Behind her, the rest of us slumped into place.

Sienna collapsed beside Camille with a grunt. Her boots were soaked in blood—her own, judging by the way she winced when her heel hit dirt. Camille didn’t look much better—her skin had gone ashen beneath the sweat, and her eyes had that wide, unblinking set I didn’t like. But she was sitting upright. Still holding on.

Still posing like the jungle might be taking notes.

Alexis had a tear across her arm, the fabric of her shirt glued to the wound with sweat and grit. She prodded it gently with a grimace and muttered, "I’ve had worse," through clenched teeth.

But she didn’t stop cradling her side.

And Evelyn... Evelyn just leaned against the rock wall, silent, her blindfold darkened with moisture. Her breathing was steady—quiet, deliberate—but she hadn’t said a word since we’d dropped in. She didn’t look afraid.

She looked distant.

Like she was listening to something none of us could hear.

I crouched low, my heartbeat thundering behind my eyes, sweat stinging the corners of my mouth.

We weren’t going to outrun this. Not cleanly. Not together.

"Options," I said, my voice rough, low.

Evelyn spoke first—calm, clipped, and quiet. "We split. Two groups. One goes east. The other south. They won’t be able to track all of us at once."

"No," Camille cut in immediately, her voice tight but defiant. "We’re not leaving anyone behind."

Her body might’ve been failing—but her tone hadn’t lost an inch.

"She’s right," Sienna added, wiping dirt from her cheek. "They’re not here to play fair. They’ll pick us off one by one. Isolate, encircle, overwhelm."

"We’re not equipped to fight at all," Alexis muttered. "They’ve got tech, numbers, reach."

"They’re sweeping in a grid," 3830 said from the edge of the overhang, her voice unreadable. "Broad arc formation. They’re forcing movement—funneling us without making direct contact. It’s smart. Efficient."

She turned to face us.

"We’re in a dead zone right now. No motion, no sound, no heat trail. But that won’t last."

"And when they close the loop..." I murmured.

"Game over," she finished.

I shut my eyes for a breath and forced myself to rewind the mental map I’d been building ever since we arrived. The search for Camille and Alexis had taken me further east than the others realized. And during that search, I’d found something.

A dried-out streambed, nearly invisible from above. Cracked and overgrown, but it cut deep enough into the forest floor to be overlooked by air surveillance. It ran east—then dipped under a collapsed stretch of what might’ve been an old service road or trenching path. Tight crawl space. No more than a meter high in some places. But cold. Shaded. Concealed.

No exit.

One way in, one way out.

A trap.

Or a lifeline.

"I know a place," I said.

We’d just stood when the voice came.

"REYNARD VALE," it echoed through the trees. Distorted. Warped through a megaphone, but unmistakable.

"We know you’re out there."

Every head turned.

"THIS IS A RETRIEVAL OPERATION. COOPERATE AND YOU WILL NOT BE HARMED."

Camille’s jaw clenched. Alexis drew her stone tighter in her grip. Sienna tensed like she was preparing to throw a punch she didn’t have the strength for.

"No one with a megaphone says ’cooperate’ unless they’ve already locked the door," 3830 said flatly.

Then—

Click-click.

My eyes darted to the ground.

Just under the leaves, half-buried and blinking—

A red dot.

Thermal sensor.

Trip signal.

They had already swept this zone.

They knew exactly where we were.

"I don’t think they’re here to talk," I said.

And the forest lit up.