After the black-clothed man brought the unknown entity with him after leaving those words behind, Zero who had been standing in the air suddenly spurted a mouthful of blood and started to fall from the sky.
Alpha was surprised, she quickly caught her, it was then her expression changed. She noticed that Zero was gravely injured.
'It must be from the earlier exchange. To think that Zero would lose, gravely injured on the top of that. What is this thing?' Alpha wondered while moving in the air.
Coincidentally, her eyes met with Alex, the latter had sensed something, so he looked in the sky to see two floating beauty.
Alex's eyes widened when he caught glimpse of the woman Alpha was holding, even though he didn't see the whole face, Alex had the feeling that he knew this woman, where he couldn't remember.
He decided to look at the woman one more time, maybe he would be able to remember, it was at that time Alpha moved, she winked at him before disappearing.
'Isn't it that purple-haired beauty I have seen earlier?' Alex thought.
''Lex, Heh! Alex, what's going on?" Luna's voice brought Alex back into reality.
Shaking his head he said, ''Nothing, I thought I saw someone I know, however, I guess I was wrong. Let's go.''
Luna nodded before following him as they went back.
•••••
On the other side, after Alpha disappeared with Zero, they reappeared on the last floor of the Adventurer Guild, the same place where Elseria received Alex and Gracier when they came to the capital.
Elseria who was sipping tea while enjoying some delicacies frowned when she sensed their arrival, she wanted to lash out at them, however, her expression changed when she saw Zero's terrible state.
''What happened?" She asked while treating Zero's injuries.
The arm she used to block the unknown entity punch was completely broken, some kind of sinister energy entered Zero's body through her injured arm, it was this energy that wreaks havoc inside Zero's body gravely injuring her. If not because of Zero's strong body and Level, she would have died.
Alpha recounted what happened not leaving any details behind.
Elseria placed Zero on a bed she summoned. After being healed by Elseria, Zero's pale face regained some color, her breathing was even as she slept.
On the other hand, Elseria wasn't calm, she started pacing back and forth. From what Alpha said, that unknown entity has a trace of that thing. It was just an assumption, however, if this assumption was the truth then this meant trouble. The mysterious organization is more dangerous than she thought. They must be eliminated asap to avoid calamity.
'To think that someone would be mad enough to use that thing. Ah!' Elseria spat out a long sigh.
Alpha didn't dare to disturb her master when the latter appeared lost in thoughts.
After a long moment, Elseria lifted her head and ordered.
''You shall leave Alex's protection to Zero, while you're going to assemble to assemble all available Numbers to search for the headquarter of this mysterious organization.''
''Understood.'' Alpha bowed respectfully before trying to leave, however, she was stopped by Elseria.
The latter added, ''Tell Conrad to open his eyes. The disappearance inside the dungeons is related to today's event. This unknown entity may be the result of some kind of experimenting made on students and adventurers.''
Alpha's eyes widened as she hadn't thought about such a possibility.
'As expected of master.' Alpha thought, she nodded before disappearing.
Elseria slumped into her chair and heaved another sigh.
''Should we seal off the dungeons for a while?" She asked nobody in particular before shaking her head.
''That won't do. We will lose a lot of money. The adventurers that depend on dungeons to survive will be dissatisfied. How can they take care of their families if they don't enter dungeons to make money? Besides adventuring comes with its risks. All of them know this, I will be criticized if I were to announce that dungeons will be sealed. Those old foxes may use this chance to replace me. Let's watch how things will go for a moment. As for the Imperial academy students, I have already done what I can.''
Elseria closed her eyes thinking about something.
''Ignorance is bliss. Most people live their lives happily unaware of the approaching darkness. I wonder how long the fake peace they are experiencing will last? Fufufu! Most of them will be scared to death if they learn what is happening in the demon continent. Talking about the demon continent, Lilith has not awoken yet. What will you do Artemia?"
Elseria mumbled. A smile crept onto her face when she thought about how long Artemia was going to play her little game.
Meanwhile, in another location Artemia who was taking bath inside her mansion sneeze, rubbing her nose she said,
''Who is talking about me?"
•••••
In the basement located somewhere that looks like an abandoned laboratory, someone dressed in a dirty laboratory coat was pummeling a black-skinned thing.
Bang! Bang!!!!
If Alpha and Zero were here they would have identified this black-skinned human as the unknown entity they faced earlier.
Even after receiving more than twenty punches in the face, this thing showed no sign of pain, there were no emotions inside its eyes.
''Enough Maddog.''
Suddenly, someone appeared and stopped the one wearing a lab coat.
''Tch!''
The person called Maddog clicked his tongue in annoyance, however, he still stopped because he knew how scary this monster is once angered.
Maddog spun around and faced the newcomer, the one that spoke earlier. He didn't forget to kick the unknown entity, the latter was blasted back, its back clashing against a broken tube. The unknown entity's face was healed by now. If Alex was here he would be astonished by this frightening generative ability.
Yellow eyes clashed against golden eyes for a moment before Maddog lowered his eyes and bowed his head.
''Maddog pay his respect to the Vice Guild master.''
The vice guild master snorted before saying,
''You know your wrong, don't you? Who authorized you to go out? You even brought with you one of the specimens. What if because of this mistake someone knows what we are doing? Do you want to destroy the Supreme planning?"
Maddog was already half-kneeling as the pressure coming from the Vice Guild master was too much, there was a fear inside Maddog's eyes.
Lowering his head he apologizes, ''Forgive me. It won't happen again I just wanted to see if I could acquire the eight body. Unfortunately, things didn't go as I planned. I didn't want to make an appearance however 007 forced me to appear.''
''Oh?! What happened?" The Vice Guild master asked, the pressure Maddog was feeling disappeared. The latter sighed in relief before explaining,
''I don't know. It just that 007 suddenly acted on her own. It was the first time. I don't know what happened. I will try to see if I can learn why she reacted like that and if possible reproduce it.''
''I see that will be helpful. You have been warned, only concentrate on producing more dark soldiers. The supreme being will reward you handsomely. If you ever act on your own you know what fate awaits you.'' the Vice Guild master said.
Maddog gulped audibly when he heard the vice guild master warning. He decided to behave or else he would suffer the same face as that fool.
The Vice Guild master nodded his head, satisfied with Maddog's reaction, giving 007 one last glance he left while thinking that it will be good if she could awaken her conscience. Having a puppet that can think was better than one that can't.
•••••
Unaware of the approaching darkness, Alex and his family were celebrating.