Chapter 162 The Battle at the Tower Top 2

Mike and "Cysper" suddenly appeared at the stairway entrance to the throne room. "Cysper" looked stunned, pointing at Fernando and shouting frantically.

"You again? To have followed us all the way here, what rotten luck!"

Noticing them, Fernando frowned in annoyance, clearly having dealt with them before. 

"Isn't this Chromos Tower? How did digging a tunnel lead us to the rooftop???" 

Spotting the white airship embedded in the outer wall, the being possessing Cysper's body - actually Cyra - immediately recognized their location. But seeing the rest of us there left her confused, clearly unaware of the preceding events.

"Even Feliciana and Alfreed...what are you all doing here?"

Without further ado, the two rushed over to join us. Cyra then recounted their recent escapades non-stop.

"Listen! We accidentally ended up in that so-called Central Lab place. So many weird things there! We even discovered an underground hangar nearby. But then that creep showed up too. Mike and I couldn't beat him, so we had to play hide-and-seek to escape. Lucky we got away, but who knew we'd run into him again here? Strange..."

At this point, Cyra seemed puzzled herself, turning to Mike for confirmation. "Didn't we slip into a small room earlier? How did we end up inside this tower after leaving it? I don't recall climbing any stairs while fleeing."

Mike seemed equally clueless. "I only remember we should've still been in the underground area. But suddenly we were downstairs! We just entered that room, then came up here..."

"Wait, wait! What's going on? I can't follow at all!"

I stopped them, seeing Mirium and Fernando still deep in discussion with no intent to fight. I quickly had Cyra recap their story to get the gist.

Essentially, after the three of them entered that hidden passage in the underground shelter, not only did they shake off the pursuing demon Arick, they also stumbled upon the Central Lab.

The Central Lab wasn't an unfamiliar term - we'd learned about it from the notices left in Judith's hideout. But Cyra's experience was noteworthy.

First, none of them understood anything in the Central Lab, nor dared tamper with things recklessly. However, they did discover a hangar nearby during their exploration.

The hangar housed a single white airship - the very one now embedded in Chromos Tower's outer wall! Out of curiosity, Cyra boarded it alone. But she accidentally triggered something, causing the ship to activate on its own.

The underground hangar then opened an exit to the surface. Under Cyra's clumsy control, the ship lurched violently before crashing into Chromos Tower's apex, knocking her unconscious in the process...

Miraculously, this triggered a soul swap. Cyra's perspective instantly shifted back to the underground hangar, while Cysper was transferred topside. 

Unfortunately, Cyra possessing "Cysper" and Mike failed to follow through the closing hangar door to the surface, as they encountered Fernando who had appeared underground for some other purpose.

Fernando likely wasn't there for them specifically, but the hangar's opening had alerted him. Hopelessly outmatched, Cyra and Mike fled back into the Central Lab to avoid battle. There, they witnessed Fernando extracting a chip-like object from the facility's equipment.

Recalling Fernando showing something to Mirium earlier, could their secretive discussion have involved this "chip"?

It dawned on me - Cyra and Mike's ensuing adventure remained bizarrely eventful. Though Fernando eventually discovered their trail, they managed to play an extensive cat-and-mouse game through the facility's chambers, until finally cornered in a tiny room.

This cramped room had no other exits, comparable to an oversized elevator shaft. Prepared for a final standoff, Cyra and Mike were baffled when Fernando's footsteps simply vanished outside...

Thinking they'd lucked out, the two emerged from the room only to shockingly find themselves downstairs from this very throne room - the floor below us, as if they'd tunneled right up to the rooftop!

"Could it be some kind of teleporter, directly linking the underground area to this throne room?"

Unlike the others, my experience gave me this notion immediately. Cyra's description was too reminiscent, and after experiencing so many displacements, I was unfazed. For a sky city of Lantine Oasis' scale to possess such fantastica teleportation tech seemed plausible. Besides, I couldn't fathom any other explanation for now.

"Is that even possible with teleportation magic?" Eleanora pondered skeptically, still struggling to grasp many details. "But what was that 'chip' thing? Why would monsters want to obtain it from this city's lab? What use could it have?"

Unfortunately, even the term 'chip' was simply parroted from Cyra - its meaning and potential applications eluded Eleanora, and me as well.

However, one point was noteworthy - unlike the others, Cyra and I had witnessed those very chips within the "Galadra's Eye" relic, coupled with the robotic-like beings we encountered in Makalan's outskirts. So the monsters' desire for chips didn't seem too baffling.

What I couldn't fathom was - could the forces behind the monsters be remnants of an ancient civilization? But weren't they supposed to be extinct? How did they reappear after thousands of years, unless there were other factors at play...

"Everyone, done planning? Any tactics ready?" 

Evidently their discussion concluded, Mirium stretched before approaching us. A tremendous noise followed from behind her - I had no idea what Fernando did, or why, but he blew off the entire tower's domed rooftop!

In an instant, the boundless sky opened above, clearly displaying the aerial battle between the Empire and Republic's airships. In another direction, we could make out Cyra possessed by Cysper embroiled in combat with the demon Arick, seemingly stalemated for now.

"Well, with two more allies now, you're doomed!"

Likely to create more open space, I paid no mind to Fernando's bizarre act. Pointing my longsword at Mirium, I responded confidently. I then nodded discreetly at Mike and Alfreed, casting a defensive light spell to fortify them before patting their shoulders meaningfully.

"Notice anything? You've been enhanced, so...no, just charge!"

"Huh?" Alfreed froze for a moment, but the semi-corporeal aura enveloping him clarified my intent. Without hesitation, he drew his blade and rushed at Mirium once more.

"Tsk, still haven't learned?" Mirium flicked her wrist disdainfully, swatting Alfreed away again. But Mike's fist followed in the next instant...

This was no puny phoenix strike. Mirium's brow furrowed as she turned to confront Mike head-on. Yet she failed to notice a radiant draconic head materializing from her blindspot, slamming directly into her face like a solid slap!

This light dragon was Brennan's creation, but lacked enough potency to truly harm a draconic foe like Mirium. Only Mike's fists seemed to pose any credible threat - yet Mirium blocked his strikes before kicking him into the distance as well. 

It appeared another resounding defeat? Heh, this was merely the opening skirmish...