The inner section of the passage was devoid of a single camera.
This was a precaution against potential information leaks from hacking.
It also implied Lu Qian’s desire to conceal whatever lay within the passage.
Nor, for that matter, were there any sensors.
The interior of the passage was utterly pristine.
Perhaps this was due to their confidence that no one would enter, or perhaps their certainty that no one who entered would leave alive.
Regardless, the crucial point was that a corporation as formidable as Lu Qian would not have done nothing without a reason.
Such conjecture, however, could not halt their advance.
Having already turned Lu Qian’s research facility into a chaotic mess, they had to complete their mission, even if it meant their demise.
Thump— Thump—
Rustle— Rustle— Rustle—
No conversation passed between the two as they traversed the passage.
Ordinarily, it would have been Soo asking questions and Enoch providing answers, but with Soo utterly silent, no dialogue transpired.
The usual Enoch would have welcomed such an atmosphere, but not now.
Since Tivolt’s death, Soo’s demeanor had subtly shifted.
It wasn’t an emotion like anger or sadness, yet neither was it bright and cheerful.
“Are you alright?”
He couldn’t help but ask.
Asking such a question wouldn’t change anything.
In fact, it could sometimes be detrimental, as inquiring if someone is “alright” is a question reserved for those who clearly aren’t.
“Yes.”
Soo replied indifferently.
Yet, it was undeniable that something had changed within her.
He found himself unable to offer any solace.
Enoch, who had never been particularly good at comforting, even with his younger sibling who had passed away long ago, now lacked even the time for it.
Thump—
They reached the end of the passage.
Rustle— Rustle—
A large, cavernous space, entirely covered in pristine white tiles.
At its far end, a small door was visible.
Anyone would recognize it as the server room.
[Just in case, let’s observe first.]
Nod—
Enoch scanned Soo’s blind spots, and Soo, in turn, checked Enoch’s.
Then, she held up Angela’s drone, guiding it to survey the surroundings.
A moment later, they exchanged hand signals, confirming the absence of cameras and sensors.
From this point on, it was best to speak as little as possible.
There might be a hidden listening device.
While it would be difficult to pinpoint them based on their voices alone, there was no harm in being cautious.
Rustle— Rustle—
After a brief exchange of hand signals, they advanced.
Enoch led the way, instinctively guarding against any sudden ambushes, masking their footprints, and maintaining a vigilant watch.
To put it simply, he was acting as a meat shield.
He simply couldn’t bring himself to tell Soo to be the meat shield.
While it was true that Soo was faster, tougher, and stronger than Enoch, his pride would not allow it.
Rustle— Rustle—
Soo stepped where Enoch had just been.
The pristine white cavern remained silent.
The only sound was the rustle of Soo’s tail brushing against her clothes.
‘The fact that she’s making sounds she usually doesn’t… she must truly be in a bad mood.’
Enoch thought, quickening his pace.
Only 4 minutes and 31 seconds remained.
Enoch’s steps reached the pristine white door.
Soo, peeking out from behind Enoch’s back, nodded.
Enoch boldly grasped the doorknob.
This was different from when they entered Irina’s office.
Click— The door was unlocked.
The doorknob turned freely, and the door swung open silently.
If something were to spring out, it would be… now.
‘Now? Is it now? Now…? Now…?! Now!’
Enoch tensed, his body twitching with alertness, but still, nothing emerged.
Rustle— Rustle—
“It’s quiet.”
Soo murmured.
The rustling sound of her tail continued.
But that was all.
No other sound echoed within this cavernous space.
Opening the door, they stepped inside… and with a click, plugged the hacking shard into the server computer’s port.
Now, in 30 seconds, they just needed to plug in the shard containing the dummy data, and it would be over.
Yet, still nothing sprang out.
Had someone already been here?
Had Zairex sent other mercenaries or agents besides Angela?
Or perhaps Tivolt had already finished his business and left…
As Enoch watched the hacking progress, a torrent of thoughts assailed his mind.
Rustle— Rustle—
The rustling sound of her tail persisted.
At this point, it almost seemed intentional.
Rustle— Rustle—
Perhaps it was her way of showing she was displeased.
Enoch turned his head, intending to suggest they eat something delicious after the mission.
Rustle— Rustle—
“…What is that?”
Soo had her tail cradled in her arms.
The sound it had been making was now still.
Rustle— Rustle—
Yet, the sound continued.
“Is it just me, or do you hear that too?”
“I hear it too.”
“Was that… not the sound from your tail?”
“I thought it was, but it wasn’t.”
Soo shook her head.
“I thought it was you making the sound, Enoch.”
Rustle— Rustle—
“This is clearly scales… isn’t that the kind of sound that would come from your tail?”
The moment Enoch, bewildered, looked around.
Soo’s tail shot upwards.
Her eyes widened, her pupils splitting vertically and opening wide.
“Found it.”
A single, short declaration.
Enoch didn’t know what she had found.
Soo extended her hand.
The instant he registered it, Enoch found himself sprawling on the floor.
“What the sudden—”
Crack—
He couldn’t finish his sentence.
Where Enoch had stood moments before, large claw marks were etched into the ground.
Soo hadn’t done it.
He was certain.
There was no way she could have carved such marks in such a short time.
She would have smashed it, not meticulously carved it.
‘Then who, and from where?’
A gust of wind brushed past his cheek.
Enoch instinctively activated Hood.
In a world where everything slowed, he sprang to his feet, leaping backward to create distance.
Crrrack—!
Simultaneously, new claw marks were etched where Enoch had just been lying.
Scars that looked as though something had clawed its way through.
The assailant remained unseen.
But Enoch knew its speed was incredibly fast.
His nerves were accelerated to their limit, yet even then, he couldn’t visually track the etching of those claw marks.
‘Human cultivation… hadn’t they been cultivating humans?’
Those marks simply couldn’t have been made by a human.
The creature was enormous… roughly the size of an elephant, a creature that only existed in the past.
Despite its immense size, it remained invisible.
Enoch felt his blood turn to ice as he loaded Moonlight.
Conversely, Soo’s eyes could perceive ‘it’.
More accurately, she didn’t see its true form, but rather the flow of its mana.
The mana’s scream resonated.
Its nature was different from the mana that had enveloped her body and sung in the ruins.
Soo’s instincts resonated with it.
Her usually impassive face contorted.
Like a snarling beast, the corners of her lips stretched wide, baring her fangs.
With a thunderous crack, the floor shattered beneath her light, extended step.
Soo’s body shot forward, tearing through the air.
A menacing crunch resonated from her tightly clenched hand.
Though her target remained unseen, she unleashed her fist towards the source of the mana’s scream.
The trajectory of her fist.
It veered off course.
As if two magnets of the same pole were pushed together, Soo’s fist tried to slide to the side.
In an instant fractured into hundreds of fleeting moments, Soo twisted the trajectory of her fist.
She splayed her hand wide, extending her claws.
She hunched her back and stretched her leg further forward, digging in deep before swinging her claws.
With a wet, bursting sound, green blood erupted from the seemingly empty air.
Soo’s claws were embedded with black scales and flesh.
Clearly, it was not human.
She did not question this.
Soo immediately recoiled, raising both arms.
With a resounding crash, a forceful impact sent her small frame soaring into the air.
In that same instant, Soo snapped her waist, kicking her leg upwards.
Met with fierce resistance, a resounding crash echoed as something was sent hurtling into the distance.
‘It’s heavy.’
Soo rose to her toes, looking down at her body.
She was unharmed.
The colorless scales that had sprouted on Soo’s skin had blocked the attack.
However, a few crushed scales among them indicated the opponent’s extraordinary strength.
But that was no reason to stop Soo.
Instead, her heart pounded with exhilaration.
By using ‘magic’.
She could tear through reinforced steel doors.
She could surpass the speed of a buggy.
She could block Void Spikes.
Scalpels couldn’t even pierce her skin.
Mercenaries’ bullets were slow enough to make her yawn.
The opponent before her was different.
Strong, fast, heavy, and novel.
The magic that concealed its form and the magic that arbitrarily twisted the trajectory of her fist were also astonishing.
The former was likely the same invisibility magic Miko had used when escaping Lu Qian.
The latter probably shared a similar nature with the magic that enveloped Zairex’s test subjects.
Perhaps it was even the perfected version of that magic.
If she were to destroy this monster, would she uncover another piece of magic?
It was something she wouldn’t know without trying.
“Heh.”
A smile touched Soo’s lips.
However, it was the same snarling smile as before, creating a somewhat chilling atmosphere.
Tap— Her light, extended step had already reached its destination.
She immediately threw a punch.
This was no ordinary punch.
It was imbued with the magic she had seized from the test subjects.
With a thunderous roar, a fierce concussive blast ripped through the cavern.
Green blood splattered through the air, painting the pristine white space.
And there, far away, something was sent crashing into the wall once more, its body drenched in green blood.
Its body had the physique of a human male, yet its right hand was enormously large.
Like a dinosaur’s hand…
‘Dinosaur… dragon? Dragon?’
Miko’s murmurs flashed through Soo’s mind.
Hadn’t Miko said that the chimeras Lu Qian was creating were modeled after dragons?
However, the fact that only one hand was like that seemed far from a dragon.
“Ugh…”
Lu Qian, who had created bizarre tentacle monsters in the game, was suddenly trying to create dragons.
Was it the influence of magic?
Of course, that was not her concern right now.
A veritable vending machine of magic, dispensing its secrets with every strike.
That was all Soo saw.
Wind enveloped her entire body.
The speed at which she sprang from her spot defied all logic.
So too did the speed of her upward-kicking leg.
With a crunch, the monster, covered in green blood, was impaled on the ceiling.
Thump— Soo, who had leaped from her spot, extended her fist towards it.
She tore at it with her claws.
A stone, seemingly self-propelled from her pocket, shot through the air.
Blood splattered and scales fell.
Yet, the monster remained alive, not dead, and struck Soo.
Thud— Soo landed precariously on the floor, rubbing her stinging backside.
Was it a leg or a tail that had kicked her backside?
She couldn’t quite tell, but it was certainly flexible.
She shouldn’t think of it as a human body.
Its durability was also exceptional.
She had struck it with all her might, for quite a while, yet this monster was still rampaging.
Dodging the colossal, swinging claws, Soo retreated, contemplating.
She felt she could probably kill it by diligently and for a long time swinging her fists and claws.
But she shouldn’t.
This was Lu Qian’s research facility.
Only 1 minute and 58 seconds remained.
If they allocated 1 minute for escape, they needed to kill the monster within 30 seconds to insert the dummy data shard.
Therefore.
‘I need a decisive blow…’
An attack that could finish it in one go.
She continued her thoughts while dodging the wildly flailing, tentacle-like appendages.
Parrying an incoming claw and countering with a punch, she made her decision.
1 minute and 52 seconds.
‘Reconfiguration of Magic.’
In a fleeting instant.
Hundreds of billions of magical circuits surged into her mind, instantly disassembling before re-coalescing and intertwining in a chaotic dance.
Among them, Soo altered the circuits for the parts she needed.
She didn’t think deeply.
She simply transformed the magical circuits as mana guided her.
At that very moment, the monster hurled a stone.
Soo did not cease the manifestation of her magic.
For she was not alone now; she was with her comrade.
She trusted Enoch, and Enoch lived up to that trust.
Thwack— Enoch, rushing forward, kicked the stone.
Bang-bang— His subsequent shots shattered the remnants of the stone, perfectly protecting Soo.
Soo offered a radiant smile, continuing the manifestation of her magic.
She began by combining two spells.
She imbued the wind with speed, rotation, and a razor-sharp edge.
The repelling force was maximized, transforming into an explosive power that she then channeled into the wind.
The resulting wind took on the precise form of an awl.
Smoothness would not suffice; to ensure deep penetration, she etched helical grooves into its surface.
To facilitate throwing, she crafted an elongated handle, a shaft.
To further enhance its rotational power, she added pinwheel-shaped fins at the rear.
Soo gripped the long, transparent spear she had created in her hand and leaned back, arching her body.
She extended her left arm forward.
The shaft of the spear was beside her cheek, its tip perfectly aligned with her line of sight.
She tautened every muscle to its absolute limit.
Her entire being felt like a taut bowstring, drawn to its breaking point.
In that state, Soo conjured the wind.
The wind, obeying her will, flowed and gathered into a single point.
From her toes to her thighs.
From her thighs to her waist.
From her waist to her shoulder.
From her shoulder to her forearm.
From her forearm to her wrist.
From her wrist to her hand.
The moment all the wind converged into a single point.
Thud. With a powerful push from her back foot, she launched the spear.
1 minute and 51 seconds.
The spear, wreathed in a fierce storm, shot forth.
The immense rotational force imbued within it made it appear as if its spin had vanished entirely.
Yet, she knew it was rotating.
The storm spiraling around it proved its rotation.
And so, the moment it made contact with the monster’s body.
Kwa-rurung—!
With a sound akin to a thunderbolt striking, the monster’s body was utterly obliterated.
Black scales fluttered down, and green blood profusely soaked the pristine white cavern.
And then.
“Ugh…”
Soo collapsed onto the ground with a soft thud.
