It was an odd feeling.
Like playing an instrument after years.
Familiar, but strange. Proficient, but clumsy.
That's how Varian felt when he entered the facility without ghostship's assurance.
He was back to that stage of constant risk—where even his slightest mistake would cost him his life.
As the master of ghostship, Varian had a degree of security perhaps even level 7s couldn't enjoy.
Add to that the single, but powerful teleportation formation that was yet to be used.
If Varian wasn't sneak attacked, then Varian could escape from even the strongest of level 9s.
For these very reasons, there was a feeling of solid safety in his heart.
But now, the illusion of safety was brutally broken.
"Boo, will the teleportation formation work inside?" Varian asked as he glanced at the facility's interior.
It was several miles wide and looked more like a supreme palace than an important military building.
The ground floor Varian currently was in had only a single large hall. The hall had only minimum items—a few shining orbs floating just below the ceiling.
Varian recognized them. They were Alpha Orbs—Abyssals' comm equivalents.
He didn't want to waste time and wanted to reach the second floor to grab the 'item', but when he tried to teleport, the space suddenly fluctuated and Varian forcibly stopped the attempt.
"Haa~ Haa~" Breathing heavily, he realized that there were more restrictions here than he imagined.
He could still freeze, unfreeze and bomb the space, but teleportation…it seemed to be 'prohibited' by a special treasure here.
If he was a level 9 or level 8, perhaps, he could've defied the prohibition. But as a level 6, he could only work around the situation.
"The stairs then." Varian glanced at the stairs literally a few miles away and shrugged.
It'd take only a few seconds. As he was about to sprint, the corner of his eye caught a flashing red light—it was the alpha orbs.
'Boo, are they recording this, and is it transmitted?' Varian asked telepathically.
Once he was in, Ghost ship's functions were pretty much neutralized. But communication was still possible, apparently thanks to the 'incomplete' restrictions.
'Yes, master. It is sending the video to other abyssals. They should already be on their way.' Boo said.
Varian channeled light lightning mana and was about to destroy the orbs when Boo sighed. 'These aren't ordinary alpha orbs. You can't destroy them with your current strength.'
Varian snorted lightly.
'Can you do anything?'
'No. Boo can't function in the building.'
'Right.'
Nodding lightly, Varian paused for a moment and glanced at the entrance hole he came through.
'If I throw you out, can you block the signal?'
'…Barely.'
Hearing Boo's answer, Varian immediately removed the ring and was about to throw it out when Boo yelled.
'Master, wait! This is too dangerous. I can block signals, but abyssals will enter the building anyway.
The restrictions on Boo must be together with that item. Once you take away those restrictions, Boo can freely operate.
So, once you get to the second floor, your safety will be guaranteed.'
Boo's words caused Varian to change his plans. His body blurred and he shot up the stairs.
While the abyssals were cautious about the building's security itself, they seemed to be pretty lax regarding the interior's security measures.
Varian surmised that it was mostly because they never even estimated that Pluto could be attacked. And it was even more so that this building would ever be infiltrated.
"Kuh!"
Varian's shoulders suddenly sunk and he forcibly controlled himself from crashing to the ground.
"…I was wrong." Varian felt the terrible gravity on the first floor and muttered. "I guess this is just a qualifying measure, eh."
More likely than not, it was a prerequisite: 'Only the ones who can bear this pressure can enter this place.'
Varian could only guess as he fought off the gravity.
It was relentless, asking him to just lay down and give up.
But he pressured himself and kept moving.
Unlike the ground floor, the first floor was filled with unique items—treasures, herbs, medals, and even…skulls.
But each item was contained in a special transparent glass box. While the glass looked fragile, Varian knew that he wouldn't be able to break it with his strength.
'I have a bad feeling about this…'
Varian was only a few hundred meters away from the stairs to the second floor, and he had an ominous premonition.
'Fuck it!' Ignoring the treasures, Varian ran to the stairs with all his might.
By the time he reached the stairs, he was already bleeding from his nose and mouth due to the pressure he put on himself to run at a very high speed.
"Haa~" As Varian was about to climb the stairs, his hair suddenly stood up while his instincts screamed.
Varian jumped away without a thought and a lightning bolt blasted his previous position.
"Fuck!"
Dozens of abyssals stormed into the building. They all had heavy injuries—some lost an arm, others lost a leg, a few were bleeding profusely.
But they were all level 7s.
Zaap!
Zap!
Varian fought off the gravity and deftly dodged the lightning bolts raining down.
Boom!
Boom!
The attacks hit the walls and the ceiling but failed to damage them.
More importantly, Varian noticed something particular.
"Their attacks are all weaker than level 7!" Varian determined and sprinted down to the ground floor.
Boom!
Boom!
As more and more abyssals joined, the lightning bolts kept rising.
When Varian reached the ground floor, there were already thirty-six abyssals.
Of course, all of them were level 7.
Before Varian's bombing, all the level 7s were guarding the core facilities.
In the first bombing, a few abyssals died while the seriously injured ones were sent for treatment. The lightly injured and not injured ones stayed behind.
In the second bombing, all of the ones that stayed behind were dead.
So, the only ones that were alive were the heavily injured ones in the hospitals.
And since everything happened so quickly, they didn't even have the chance to heal and had to rush here.
Thus, Varian was presented with a hard, but not impossible challenge of defeating abyssals that were much stronger than level 6, but weaker than level 7.