The Call of Hope
The embers of the battle in Buenos Aires were still smoldering when Rob gathered the regional leaders. The echoes of patriotic songs for Ramiro had not yet faded, but duty was already knocking at the door of the present. They met in a reinforced concrete room, surrounded by maps and screens covered in chaotic markings and annotations.
Rob spoke with firm voice:
"We have two months. We need to find as many survivors as possible in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Brazil. This continent already fell once. We won't let it happen again without doing everything in our power."
Lorenzo nodded solemnly. Ramona crossed her arms, and Gabriel and Elena simply glanced at Lucia and Santiago — the golden couple looked more determined than ever.
Rob distributed coordinates, set up mobile meeting points, and assigned patrol zones. Drones, tamed beasts, armored caravans… everything would be mobilized. Each country would have its own "hope gatherer."
While the others departed to fulfill their missions, Rob had to return to Bolivia.
But this time, he chose not to use his teleportation ability. He wanted to go on foot—viewing the journey as a form of training. After so many battles, he had already reached B+ rank, and he wanted more experience by hunting beasts—not only to improve himself, but also his sword.
The journey to Bolivia wasn't easy. The mountainous routes were treacherous, infested with creatures mutated by altitude. Even the drones sent ahead were attacked by massive birds with black scales and serrated beaks. Even so, Rob made it to La Paz.
From above, the city still looked like a fortress carved into living rock. But this time, signs of progress were evident: reinforced walls, towers with solar sensors, vertical farms adapted to the harsh climate.
There, José, his old special operations partner, awaited him—alongside his wife, Maria, a biomechanical engineer. They embraced in silence, like soldiers who had shared too many wars. Maria quickly offered her hand.
"We thought you wouldn't return," she said with a smile. "But, as always, you show up when we need you most."
Rob smiled faintly. He knew he couldn't stay long, but every hour mattered. José guided him through the facilities—showing him the lab where they cultivated medicinal fungi, the new command center, and a newly excavated tunnel leading to an abandoned mine repurposed as an underground shelter.
"How are the new trainees?" Rob asked as they reviewed energy distribution schematics.
"Motivated, but still green. They need you. I do too," José admitted.
For a week, Rob threw himself into the training. He taught them how to read their environment, how to work as a team, and how to survive under extreme conditions. He ran simulated battles, delivered tactical briefings, and shared his experience with contagious intensity.
Each night, after their duties, José and Maria would sit on the terrace, gazing at the distant lights of the bastion.
"What Rob is doing…" Maria said, holding a steaming cup, "isn't just for us. He's fighting for all of humanity. It's like he's carrying the world on his shoulders—and still keeps walking."
José nodded, eyes distant.
"Yes. And we must make sure he doesn't carry it alone."
Before Rob left again, they decided to do something special: record a joint video for the allied bastions. In a room turned into a studio, they gathered Bolivia's leaders and sent a message to the survivors in Argentina.
"From the heart of the Andes," José said, "we send you strength and hope. We are not alone. Every bastion is a flame that still burns. Soon, we will be an unstoppable fire."
From Buenos Aires, Lucia, Santiago, and Ramona responded with a message just as warm. Rob watched from a rest area, lips pressed together. Maybe, after all, it was still possible to rebuild more than just shelters—to rebuild the human spirit.
Silence in the North
After those days of planning and human connection, Rob was preparing to rest for the first time in weeks. But fate does not forgive pause.
It was Alan. His voice didn't tremble, but something in it was off.
"There's no response from Venezuela, Colombia, the Guyanas, or Suriname," he reported. "No thermal signals. No calls. No signs of life."
Rob said nothing. His body tensed. This wasn't a typical communication breakdown. It was a total blackout—one that didn't match any memory from his previous life.
Rob decided to act on his own. Equipped with supplies, sensors, and weapons, he flew across parts of the continent in light aircraft before landing and moving silently through territory. His mission was clear: determine what had happened in each of those countries.
For over a month, he traveled through abandoned cities and towns. He entered Caracas, Maracaibo, Bogotá, Medellín, Georgetown, and Cayenne. Everything looked as though it had been vacated in a hurry. The cities were intact—but empty. Plates still sat on tables, toys were scattered across living rooms, libraries were in perfect order. But not a single living soul remained.
Rob forced himself to stay calm, but inside, something gnawed at him. This hadn't happened in his past life. None of this was part of his memories. It was like stepping into a new timeline, as if time itself had shifted the rules.
"What kind of threat can erase entire nations without shedding blood?" he murmured, hand on the hilt of his weapon.
The worst part was the silence. No screams. No signs of struggle. In the few places where surveillance cameras still had power, he watched footage of people calmly walking out of their homes… and never coming back.
The Truth
Amid this investigation, Rob discovered a makeshift mural in a sealed refuge in Medellín. The message read:
"She fought for us. She died for us. Rosa will not be forgotten."
Intrigued, Rob searched the site's records. He found a series of notes, recordings, and photographs recounting the story of Rosa Martínez, a woman with an A+ rank ability called "Shield of Faith", capable of generating impenetrable psychic barriers.
Rosa had organized Colombia's civil resistance, protected thousands in makeshift camps, and bravely faced the first cases of disappearance. She was the first to warn that these were not physical attacks, but mental ones.
It was Rosa who, with her power, managed to temporarily contain the enemy. But in the end, she was killed by the same creature she was trying to stop. According to the few survivors who managed to leave behind recordings before disappearing, the mosquito had evolved: now it stood over six feet tall, walked upright, and had a vaguely humanoid face—no mouth, but eyes that glowed like damp embers.
"It made no sound," a woman said in one of the recordings. "It just stared at us. And then… we forgot who we were."
Rob dropped to his knees upon hearing those words. His soul felt taut like a wire.This enemy wasn't just new—it was terrifying.
Just then, Rob received a call from Alan:
"Ecuador's gone too. Only one transmission remains… from Quito. And it's old, like a scheduled message."
Rob's next destination was Ecuador, with a hardened heart and a head full of unanswered questions.
The Message from Quito
When Rob arrived in Quito, he felt the change before he even saw the city. It wasn't just the silence—it was a dense energy, as if the very air remembered what had happened there. The city was intact, but dead. Houses were in order, markets fully stocked… but not a soul in sight.
In the command center of the Ecuadorian base, a light blinked on a dust-covered console. Rob activated the message.
A projection lit up: Jorge, a young man with sharp features and lucid eyes, appeared on screen. He spoke calmly, as if he knew Rob would one day see this.
"If you're watching this, it means I failed to contain it. My name is Jorge, and I have an A+ ranked ability called 'Memories'. I can see the past of any person or place I touch."
Rob clenched his fists.
"Three weeks ago, we made contact with Rosa. She told us they had encountered a strange creature near the Amazon border. A mosquito… barely larger than a finger. At first, they thought it was harmless. Then people started to disappear. First one or two. Then entire cities."
Jorge's image flickered, switching to footage showing people walking like zombies, eyes blank, as the creature floated nearby.
"The mosquito has an ability called 'Slavery'. It can control minds, erase memories, and manipulate bodies without the victim even realizing it. By the time we understood what we were facing, it was already too late. I… I used my own ability on myself—to leave this message before I was lost too."
The video ended. Silence.
Rob felt a knot in his stomach. Never, not even in his previous life, had he heard of such a threat. This was something entirely new—beyond the known events of the past.
For the first time since his return, Rob felt truly vulnerable.
In that moment, a notification from the Survival System appeared:
[Special Mission Activated!] – Hunt the Mosquito of SilenceTarget: Locate and eliminate Class S Enemy – "Enslaver of the Mist"Reward: ???
Rob closed his eyes. He knew this mission wasn't just for Ecuador.It was for the entire continent.Perhaps even for the fate of all humanity.
With a steady step, he descended from Quito's highest tower.His next hunt had just begun.
[End of Chapter 22 – To be continued in Chapter 23: The Enslaver's Trail]