ƥαṇdα-ηθνε|·ƈθm
10 Seconds Ago,
“Is somebody coming into the restricted area?” The second A-Rank Hunter asked himself.
“I should go greet them,” he decided, knowing that only a few officials could enter this area.
Although it was also part of the security protocol, he moved in that direction.
“What is this?” he frowned.
He was planning to use a bit of mana to reach where Asher and Kai had entered from, but he felt something was off with his mana control when he tried to use it.
Nonetheless, he didn’t stop. Instead, he used a bit more of his mana to chase after the first Hunter, as his senses were telling him something was amiss.
However, considering no alerts had been sent from the team in charge of surveillance in the security room, he didn’t think much of it.
He was heading in the same direction the first Hunter had taken and quickly caught up, but the sight in front of him shocked him.
“What?!” he shouted, seeing a sword pass through one of the people who were guarding the Third Level with him.
Immediately, he activated his mana but could feel that his body’s response was considerably slower than he was capable of.
He unsheathed his sword, ready to charge at whoever had just killed one of the guards responsible for the Third Level’s security with him.
Asher didn’t draw his sword when he sensed the presence of an A-Rank Hunter nearby.
Feeling the A-Rank Hunter rushing towards him at high speed, Asher quickly grabbed the Hunter he had just killed.
He pulled the body of the Hunter towards himself as he leaned backward.
This was Kai’s cue to prepare his spell.
Since the spell was nearly invisible and was in the blind spot of the A-Rank Hunter charging at them, it was virtually impossible for the second Hunter to detect it.
Kai noticed Asher leaning backward and could now see an A-Rank Hunter approaching Asher.
The arrow he had crafted was a special spell he was confident could penetrate most A-Rank armors.
He immediately shot the arrow, and Asher could feel the heat of the flaming arrow in front of his face.
Unfortunately, the second Hunter couldn’t sense the Tier 3 spell coming toward him.
The arrow collided with the wall behind the Hunter and dissipated soon after, leaving a deep mark on the wall.
Thud!
Asher’s eyes fixed on the second Hunter, who now had a massive hole in his chest and was falling to the ground.
“Phew,” Kai said as he observed the impact of his spell.
He had used a spell that didn’t cause much destruction.
“Let’s go,” Asher said, pulling his sword out of the Hunter’s skull.
Asher and Kai headed towards where the entrance and the portal to the Fifth Level were. It took them about 2 minutes to reach the exact hallway they needed to enter.
However, Asher stopped and looked toward the entrance of the Fourth Level.
There was still one more A-Rank Hunter left, and he wanted to take care of him before proceeding to the Fifth Level.
This time, Kai didn’t question Asher’s intentions and followed him. Despite not knowing why Asher wanted to take out the people himself, he prepared to assist him in case things went south.
Asher saw the entrance of the Fourth Level and, standing in front of it, a single A-Rank Hunter with a carefree look on his face.
Asher eyed the A-Rank Hunter and extended his mana sense, but he couldn’t probe beyond a certain distance in the Fourth Level. Most of the security devices that Tom had disabled until now were still active on the Fourth Level.
Asher gripped his sword as he dashed towards the Hunter. Unlike the previous kills, this one was the easiest so far as the A Rank Hunter who was standing there was too carefree.
[ Host has gained 20,000 EXP ]
[ Host has leveled up ]
Asher looked back at the metallic entrance and the various runes that were still active around it. But he ignored them and walked out of the room.
They entered the main hallway and saw a special room with a unique design. On the metallic door, a white-colored, heart-shaped gem was embedded.
The moment Asher and Kai stepped near the room, they heard a robotic voice.
< You have entered the highest level restriction area. Identity Confirmat-!#@# >
< Identity Confirmed: Kamden Whiteheart >
Asher recognized the name. It was Kamden Whiteheart, the Seat Holder for the Whiteheart Family, and Kevin’s father, a SS Rank Hunter.
Kai grew a bit nervous as the realization hit him again. Things were going so smoothly that he had forgotten they were robbing the Whiteheart Family.
The door opened, revealing a special area where a single portal, shining in blue light, was present.
<I have given you access to the Fifth Level, but it might take me some time to completely secure the Fourth Level>
Asher heard Tom’s voice.
“You can remove your ability now,” Asher said as Kai immediately lifted his ability.
Both of them became completely visible again.
“Are you sure using this portal is safe?” Kai asked.
The portal in front of them was a connecting portal, not an actual teleportation gate. It acted as the medium for two teleportation gates to connect with each other. This method was used to connect teleportation gates through mana-blocking barriers that were present all around the Fifth Level.
Due to the mana distortion caused by such barriers, there were high chances of failure during the teleportation. Such issues never happened with large Teleportation Gates that could overpower the mana distortions, but such Teleportation Gates were only used for transporting large numbers of people.
Portals like these acted as the third dot between two dots, fixing the path that could be taken and removing any possibilities that could bend the path. But the downside was that such portals could only be used as one-way portals. And the destination was always fixed.
For this portal, the destination was the Fifth Level. It was something that Tom found when he studied the structure of the Underground Facility.
Far from this facility, Tom was still working on the security of the Fourth Level.
“How did the Boss manage to get this passkey?” Tom was genuinely impressed.
The Passkey Tom was talking about was a special code that must be entered into the security system to gain complete access. He was sure only the family head would know about it.
He didn’t know how Asher managed to get this Passkey, but he was impressed by whoever accomplished that task.
‘Even I am not sure that I can do this,’ Tom always thought he was one of the best in his field, but seeing the amount of information Asher had given him, he was sure that Greville had someone better than him.
But he never knew that the information that Asher had given him was something he had discovered in his previous life as Tom Gylip.
Tom thought Asher wanted to avoid his family knowing about his actions, so maybe that was why he was using him.
He confirmed this theory because the way Asher found out about his attempts to hack into the World Association Database was something only a person even more talented than him could discover.
“Well, doesn’t matter. I am sure I can reach that level,” Tom muttered, not knowing that his unknown rival was himself.
“This is tricky,” Tom said as he looked at the information.
“Why the hell are they using a completely different system on the Fourth Level?” Tom said with a frustrated look on his face.
Breaking into the previous system took weeks of preparation, but he was now working with a completely different system.
“Should I just force my way in?” Tom muttered.
But that method had various risks that Tom was unsure whether he should take now. So in the end, he decided not to do it.
It was better not to take unnecessary risks.
“Finally,” Tom said as he looked around the Fourth Level.
“What?” His eyes widened as he nearly sprang up from his seat.
Three minutes before this happened,
Asher had entered the portal as soon as they arrived at the Fifth Level, with Kai behind him. The sight in front of them surprised him.
“So this is one of the 7 Vaults of the Kalvas Gala?” Kai looked at the massive sight in front of him.
“Yeah,” Asher replied as he approached the Vault.