Chapter Twenty Two

"Come!"

She grasped the youth's hand tightly.

The earthquake had begun to crack the building's foundation and seemed to be able to destroy it in a matter of minutes.

'Even the enhanced buildings won't last under this disaster!'

Biting her lower lips, she thought of a place near the city. If she teleported both of them there, then they would at least be safe from the collapsing buildings.

All they had to do next was to survive the earthquake and the trees around them.

'Both of them are strong enough to survive that.'

Immediately, she thought of the place near the city gates.

'Trees, gate, bushes, mud, the view…'

Focusing on remembering every single recallable detail, she let the light engulf both of them and teleported away from the room.

Dropping the youth to the ground, she thought of the room she visited almost every day.

Just like the person he just let go of, it was the room of her other sibling. He had a childlike face and was the most energetic out of the tree of them.

"Hey—Ugh!" The person he had just brought reached out to her, before stumbling due to the massive shaking.

Once again, she let the light consume her being.

'Sorry Kyle, not enough time.'

Ignoring Kyle, she teleported herself inside of Karan's room. The baby-faced man was being tossed around in the room, destroying furniture in his path.

Sighing, Loine grabbed his arms and lifted him, preventing him from continuing his role as a human wrecking ball.

"Up you go…!"

"Loine?!"

Karan flailed on Loine's grasp, but her strength didn't allow him to do much except to dangle on the air. Immediately, she used her Authority and teleported them back to where she left Kyle earlier.

"Uwah!"

She threw Karan to the ground and thought of the hidden room under their building. Only team leaders and other important personages would be allowed entry to that place.

Glancing at the struggling duo, she furrowed her eyebrows before relaxing them almost immediately.

'This should be over soon,' she closed her eyes and used her Authority, teleporting her into a room

The candles hung on the ceiling that didn't reach two person's height were the main source of light here.

Random tools such as shovels, ropes, and whips were scattered on the floor, falling down from the impact of the earthquake.

It generally felt like a normal meeting room with a long table and chairs for people to sit on. Of course, the furniture has been toppled to the ground before she even arrived.

"W-what is this earthquake?" she spoke to no one in particular.

In that room, seven other people were already present. These people were also the same as her, the leaders of their respective groups.

All of them were unperturbed by the earthquake. One of them was a blond-haired man with a large scar running from his left eye and through his mouth.

He was holding something in his hand and wore a hopeful expression while staring at it. But he eventually sighed and put it into his pocket when she arrived with a blinding light.

"As you can see, a high-tier Ruler is attacking this city."

The impact from the earthquake could also be felt here, but none of them even did as little as to stumble.

"Should I transfer all the recruits to a safe spot?" she asked.

"Don't worry, the other two are on it already. You should just stay here and help us instead."

Beside the blond-haired man, a woman with long chestnut hair spoke. Her hair was messy and she was wearing blue pajamas.

Perhaps she was speaking sharply due to being disturbed from her sleep.

Loine nodded and swept her gaze through the dimly lit room. The candles on the ceiling were shaking harshly, but none of them were extinguished. Some of them even fell to the ground, yet somehow were still lit.

[Boom!]

Specks of dust and dirt fell from the ceiling, as explosions rang one after another. The group of people had varying expressions. Some of them jumped back from the sound, but most of them wore serious expressions.

"Explosion!?"

Loine glanced to the shaking ceiling as if she could see the flames rising on the city. She bit her lower lips and clenched her fist.

'I should've brought them even further away!'

She felt a hint of regret rising on her mind.

'No, calm down Loine…Nothing should happen to them as long as they stay alert.'

Breathing deeply, she almost coughed back due to the amount of dirt she inhaled. Even underground, the shaking made the walls crumble slightly, sending dirt and specks of dust all across the room.

She heard a burst of laughter from behind her and glared towards its direction.

A short person was trying to conceal his laugh, but couldn't stop his giggling.

"What, had your fun?"

"N-nothing!"

If Karan was a quarter of a child, then this person is a quarter of an adult. His face was childlike, and his stature was also childlike. Even his attitude resembled that of a child.

Sighing, Loine turned her head to the blond-haired man.

"What now, don't tell me we have to hide here forever?"

"Don't be impatient now, wait for him to finish," The scarred man pointed to a direction with his nose. At the end of his nose, a man dressed in all black was staring at the air with a serious expression.

Loine can't see anything at the end of his stare, but she knew that he was currently using his Authority to divine this situation.

She ruffled her black hair and decided to wait for the man to finish his divination. She wanted to immediately go back to the surface right now, but facing a high-tier Ruler would be risky even with everyone in this room.

But fortunately for her, the man in black suddenly opened her eyes and stood up immediately, shocking the person sitting beside him.

Most of them were waiting for the results of his divination, but they didn't expect him to yell in panic.

"An all-out attack! They are thinking of destroying this city and building their new base here!"

"H-hah?! W-what are their numbers?!" the woman in pajamas shouted back.

"Someone on their side has an Authority related to secrecy, but I saw three high-tier Rulers coming!"

All of them widened their eyes at his words. They would probably be able to hold back one high-tier Ruler, but three of them would annihilate them in an instant.

Cold sweat slid down the blond man, and he immediately pointed to a man in the corner. He was wearing a fancy tuxedo and a top hat as if he was going to attend a gathering somewhere.

"Contact the headquarters and call for help! Wait, contact that personage first and tell him about this!"

"I have requested for help to that personage earlier, now only to the headquarters."

He was holding a huge seashell. Slowly, he whispered something to the shell and hovered one of his hands on top of it.

Looking closely, strands of energy were being transmitted to the hollow shell.

They were almost unaffected by the severe earthquake, but couldn't help to stumble when it abruptly stopped. Almost tripping himself, the short man spoke.

"It stopped?" he lifted his head.

"Someone is probably confronting that high-tier Ruler, and it's probably from our side!"

The woman in pajamas smiled in relief.

But Loine still kept her stern expression.

"I'm leaving then,"

"Bring us to the surface as well, would you?" the blond man said.

Loine glanced at the others and said, "Who's coming?"

In the end, six people left the dimly illuminated room.

----

Shaking her hands, she shook off the blood from her sword. Below her was a still-warm corpse. The corpse appeared similar to a regular human, but his appearance was vastly different from that of a human.

His face was as rough and hard as stone, and the horns protruding from his forehead made him appear extremely fierce. His body was covered in a black robe.

But he was no match for the black-haired woman.

She looked all around her at the burning city, the scorching heat from the flames slightly hurt her enhanced skin.

The black-haired woman was about to look for another robed individual before she felt a tickle on her ears.

At first, it only felt like an itch. But it gradually turned into illusory noises made by various objects, they harmonized with each other to form audible words.

[As expected, that personage is the one confronting our enemy. Reinforcements from the headquarters are also arriving soon.]

Her ears vibrated from the noises. Even she felt as if her head was about to burst, a normal person would have lost their mind once they listen to these overlapping collections of noises.

She bent down and held her ears, gritting her teeth in pain. It took her a while to collect herself from the phantom pain.

Loine looked at the corpse below her and glanced to the city walls.

"Perhaps it's time to see both of them."