Varian wiped his sweaty palms and glanced at the yellow valley.
'Go or not go?'
He stood up and sat down. For the twentieth time.
Even though he knew it was dangerous, the ominous feeling only increased.
From his encounter with Abyssals, and their meticulous assasination planning, he regarded them not through the prism of power, but that of intellect.
Despite possessing a strong force, Abyssals resorted to stratagems.
He thought of the possible dangers they could encounter.
'Poison will be useless. They'll have antidotes. Stronger force waiting? Most likely not.'
He marched towards the valleys.
'Explosions? Cap said Crimson would check every Abyssal for explosives. His mental power is capable of penetrating many metals and as his level increases, he could perceive through more metals.'
Varian paused for a moment.
He checked his comm. There was no message from the other side.
'Things that can go wrong will go wrong. In my case, that's a given.' He reached the entrance of the special zone.
The abyssal bracelet shone and one step, he'd be in.
'I'm not trying to risk. If they lose, then the enemy inside would surely be able to track me, a level 2.
If they win, then great. I only need to make sure I don't die as a collateral.'
He convinced himself and stepped in. The black building in the red plains greeted him.
Contrary to his expectations, it was completely silent.
At the same time, underground, the fight was reaching a conclusion.
Olivia wasn't at her strongest since the ground was separated from her by a very hard alloy floor.
An earth awakener was blessed in earth, a water awakener in water. So the current situation wasn't in her favor.
However, she directed her earth mana and created walls to confine her target.
The female Abyssal was rushing back in a hurry and smashed into the earthen wall full of spikes.
"Argh" she hissed and raised her arms.
The attacker caught up.
Bang!
Crack!
Luca's fist broke her arm bones and punched at her chest.
"Blurgh" The female Abyssal endured the pain and bolted to her left.
Bang!
A brown club swung at her and struck her head. She flew into the air and felt the world spin.
Her head was dizzy and she couldn't react properly.
All she could see were the eyes of the hateful human before darkness engulfed her.
Thud!
Luca glanced down at the Abyssal corpse and turned to the others.
Crimson used his mental power to hold down the short abyssal while Ivy snapped his neck.
Thud!
Only one Abyssal was remaining!
The four rushed towards their captain. At that moment, they heard Sarah say:
"You're done."
The Abyss Duke's glanced at them for a moment and turned to Sarah. He smiled.
"Do you really think so?"
Sarah felt her heart stop for a moment.
Keeping her guard on, she glanced at the area they were fighting in.
They fell from the upper floor, but before they knew it, the floor reverted to its position.
The height and breath of the underground facility were high enough that they didn't feel congested. And subconsciously regarded as fighting in an open area.
She didn't know why, but she yelled. "Fallback."
The Abyss Duke watched them distance themselves from him and withdraw to the corners of the underground facility.
The corpses of the abyssals were strewn on the floor. Most of them died a cruel death. The tall man and the petite girl killed them like they were animals.
The Abyssal duke was distressed for a moment before calming down.
There was no turning back now.
"Don't be afraid. I was just kidding." He spoke with an innocuous smile.
"You trapped us?" Sarah glanced at him and gritted her teeth.
"What can that even do? You can break the alloys whenever you want." He pointed to the cracks on the floor.
Locking them would work only if he had high grade alloys they couldn't break. Unfortunately, this facility didn't.
"Captain, should we...?" Crimson pointed to Olivia and asked. They could conduct ranged attacks on the Abyssal.
Sarah shook her head. She felt disturbed for some reason.
"Break the ceiling. I'll take care of him." She said and waved her hand.
A soft blue light flashed and covered her.
Sarah slightly moved her feet and the next moment, appeared in front of the Abyss Duke.
His red eyes clashed with her blue eyes.
Without hesitation, an ice sword formed in her hands and she swung it at the Abyssal.
"Do you think you've achieved something?" Abyss Duke blocked her attack with his shield.
Sarah waved her hand and a thorny ice whip slashed at him the next moment.
"You only found the keys because we approached you first." He spat and barely dodged the whip.
Then another sword strike followed.
Boom!
"Without the keys, you'll be helpless." He tried to block this sword strike too, but it broke through his defense and slashed at his chest.
The sword cut deep and blood gushed out.
However, the Abyss Duke didn't flinch and continued. "I sent the report already. This will be the only hideout destroyed by humans. You'll never find the passes in other dungeons."
Sarah stagnated for a moment.
Slap!
"Your efforts are futile." He grinned as the ice whip broke through his armor and pricked his skin.
His words were equivalent to telling her that despite all the hardships, they only solved one dungeon.
They would not be able to repeat this anywhere else.
Without the Abyssals coming out on their own, they'd never be able to get their hands on the entry bracelets and hence, never be able to access the hideouts.
Bang!
Bang!
The team of four destroyed the ceiling right then. With their power, they could now easily leave the building.
The Abyss duke saw this and squinted his eyes.
"You are the first humans to enter the base. I didn't let even those shadow bugs in." He touched the deep cut on his chest and smelled his green blood.
He then switched the topic.
"Mind Awakener, did you sense what was under the floor?"
"What?!" Crimson was startled and used his mental power to probe.
Since entering the building, he knew his ability to sense his surroundings was curtailed.
He was also not able to sense through the special alloy used in the building. He focused on the Abyssals and didn't try sensing deeper.
His mental sense couldn't penetrate through the floor's material. However, there were enough cracks and he was able to sense…
"Even though I didn't allow those bugs in, this is their warehouse. Of explosives."
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
A huge mushroom cloud rose into the air.