119 Sudden Complications

"My evolution path shall be Electromagnetic Manipulation." Alex said as he let out a sigh.

Subatomic Particle Manipulation could be a good power for Alex, but deep in his heart, he was more interested on obtaining Electromagnetic Manipulation.

"!!!" At the instant that Alex said these words, his whole body lurched as he heard a cracking sound inside his mind.

He closed his eyes as he shouted in pain, as he felt like there were countless swords stabbing his brain.

It did not feel good at all, and Alex was forced to kneel on the floor as the pain continued to intensify.

He felt some hands on his shoulder, which gave Alex some reassuring squeeze.

Through the haze of pain. Alex heard Alina's voice, encouraging him to persevere through the pain.

"Ngrh…" Alex gritted his teeth as sweat beaded his forehead.

His vision began to swim as he felt his body starting to weaken.

Out of his volition, countless tentacles appeared behind him, lashing around Alex, signifying the intense emotions that he has right now.

"Gryah!" Alex shouted as the pain reached its peak.

He then slumped down to the floor as the pain faded away. His vision then blurred as he felt his consciousness fading away too.

The last thing that Alex heard after before his mind went blank was an irritating voice.

"See! I told you that Alex will faint! Now, both of you should pay up!"

"Motherf**ker…" Alex thought to himself as his vision went black.

********************

A few minutes passed by before Alex regained his consciousness.

"….." Alex stayed silent as he inspected his body.

Just standing nearby Alex were his Companions and Asteria, who were busy mingling with the Sprites.

Well, Asteria was not actually mingling, as she was busy quarreling with Pride.

"Hey, I am awake now. Why aren't you greeting me?" Alex complained as he stood up.

He found himself wobbling a little as if his balance was slightly skewed.

It took him few seconds to stabilize himself, and even with that, Alex was still feeling slightly light-headed.

"Well, you did not encounter any life-threatening danger, so we are not that worried for you." Alina replied as she continued on poking Sloth's cheeks.

Sloth, being the lazy Sprite that he is, did nothing to stop Alina. This indifference of course just spurned Alina on continuing what she was doing.

"…. That kind of pain is not life-threatening? Wow, magic." That was all that Alex could say as he shook his head. "Way to show your concern to me, guys."

"Hmph, just look at what happened to your Esper Ability." Asteria said as she started on exchanging kicks with Pride. "Just complain about the pain later."

"…" Alex took Asteria's advice with a sigh as he activated his Esper Ability.

"Holy s**t!" Alex shouted out as he felt all the changes in his Esper Ability. He had to close his mouth shut as he felt massive improvements with his Esper Ability.

One of these improvements was the change on Alex's controlled targets.

Before, everything that Alex could feel and manipulate inside his Range were only electromagnetic waves.

But right now, what Alex could sense and control inside his Range were everything related to electromagnetism!

Alex can now sense all the electrical currents flowing inside his range, as well as the technology that these currents were powering up. With just a thought from his mind, he can gain access to them all!

Alex also knew that he can easily create powerful lightning bolts inside his range, with each bolt packing enough power to mow down anything!

Of course there was also the classic metal manipulation ability.

And if Alex was willing to do so, he can also use his evolved ability to hijack a person's nervous system!

"…."

A dazed look could be seen on Alex's face as he imagined all the possibilities that he could with his improved ability.

His Companions and Sprites could only stare in confusion as Alex started to laugh quite maniacally.

"He's getting bonkers already." Asteria muttered to herself as she shook her head. "About time it should happen."

"Shut it, dumb fairy." Alex shot back as he stopped his laugh. "I was just happy with my upgrades… Am I not allowed to have some fun?"

"Well, you can worry about having fun later." Alina suddenly said, with her voice suddenly turning sharp. "We have a problem right now."

With Alex's closeness to Alina, he was pretty sure that something big just happened for it to warrant Alina's worry.

"…Go on. I'm listening." Alex said as he willed his Sprites to come back to him. Most of the Sprites could only pout as they went back inside Alex's body.

"Well, while you were unconscious earlier, Asteria took her liberty to browse the net in order to 'look for potential enemies'." Alina said with the look in her face stating that she did not believe what Asteria said by one bit. "And when Asteria opened SODB, she saw a massive news there that could be a problem for us."

"And that is…"

"A new Villain Team broke out Glacia of her prison." Alina said as her eyes narrowed. "Right now, Glacia and that Villain Team were nowhere to be found, although evidences show that they could still be inside the Grand Point City."

"…That is bad news indeed." Alex muttered as he realized the implications of what Alina said. "A new Villain Team popping out to break out a prisoner that was captured by us? That sounds suspicious already."

"Indeed." Alina said as she and Queen Mother both nodded her heads. "There is a high possibility that the new Villain Team was the Enemy Traveler and his/her Companions… They could have broken Glacia out in order to know about our capabilities. After all, we are the one who fought Glacia last night."

"F**k, we are at a disadvantage here then!" Alex shouted as he realized that they f**ked up by fighting Glacia yesterday.

Not only did they show to Glacia some of their fighting capabilities, they also allowed the whole internet to see their capabilities too!

However, this was not the greatest problem that Alex and his group had.

The situation turned to worse when Asteria decided to name themselves as Travelers in the SODB!

If the Enemy Traveler Team saw this post by Asteria earlier, even if they had no idea about the Main Mission, they could have started to feel suspicious that there could be another Traveler Team besides them.

And this suspicion was most probably confirmed when the Main Mission once announced.

It was highly likely that the Enemy Traveler Team decided to break Glacia out in order to confirm from her if Alex's Team were actually a Traveler Team too.

And with the time that elapsed since the breakout, it was highly likely that the Enemy Traveler Team had already gotten the info that they want.

"Godd**nit." Alex spat out as he let out a deep breath. "Even if we only used some of our fighting abilities on Glacia last night, I am sure that the Enemy Traveler Team will start some countermeasures from what they got. That might be fatal to us…"

All of them then went into somber silence, as they mulled on what they should do next!

"Oh no!" Queen Motehr shouted out as she realized something. "If your hypothesis was right, then Lauren herself could be in danger too!"

"…She wore a costume last night, right?" Alex replied as he saw the panicking expression on Queen Mother's face. "There is no way that her real identity could be found out with that."

"Hmph, you should remember that our enemy is another Traveler Team." Alina said as she glared at Alex. "There is a possibility that they have a member that can uncover Lauren's identity! And if that was right, then Lauren will be their next target, as it was shown in the video that we brought her with us!"

"!!!" Alex's eyes widened as he realized that the situation had indeed turned to worse.

With the life and death stakes of the Main Mission, Alex was sure that the Enemy Traveler Team would be willing to do anything that they can in order to win.

And if that meant kidnapping an innocent newbie Hero in order to fetch information about Alex's group, then the Enemy Traveler Team will most likely do it!

"What are you staring around for? Wear your costumes!" Alex said as he pulled his costume from his cabinet. "We are now about to save a damsel in distress and fight off an evil group!"

"….."

Alex's Companions did not give Alex any reply, which just made Alex feel awkward. The only thing that they did was to go in their rooms to change, leaving Alex stewing in his own embarrassment.

"Swish…."

Alex heard some swishing sounds as Alina changed to her Vampire Queen Form, and Queen Mother reverting back to her World Tree Form.

Once they were done suiting up, Alex and his Companions left their apartment, with them not caring about the door that they almost destroyed in the process.

Alex's body suddenly paused as he closed his eyes, as if he was concentrating on doing something.

Both Alina and Queen Mother looked as Alex with confused expressions on their faces as if they could not understand what he was doing.

Alex took their confusion in stride as he said,

"Before we do some actual Hero Stuff, let me do some Hacking first."