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Although Emery knew that he should focus more on his assigned tasks, he couldn't take his mind off of Klea's situation. He pulled up the visual image of Zenonia's room and compared it to the compound layout shared prior to their infiltration.
It didn't take long for him to find the approximate location of where Klea was being imprisoned: The easternmost room on the second floor.
If he were to fully utilize his agility and space magic, he could probably reach Klea's location within just a few minutes. However, doing so would be no different from announcing his presence to the entire compound.
As he was pondering the idea and its feasibility, he heard Silva's voice enter his mind from the communication device.
<I'm currently on my way to fourth one. It's really close the guards' living quarters though, so I need be extra careful.>
Silva's words were like a bucket of cold water poured over Emery's head, waking him up from his reverie.
He quickly pulled his attention back to his task. Hundreds of lives were on his shoulders, he couldn't afford to mess this up.
Just as Emery was about to leave the cell to head to the next one, a loud alarm suddenly resounded throughout the compound.
<I'm sorry, everyone, they found me!>
Silva's voice once again came from the communication device. Judging from her tone and how hurriedly she spoke, it seemed that a battle had started on her side.
At that moment, Eeshoo voiced his order.
<Emery, do as planned.>
In truth, everyone in the group knew that they were going to be found out sooner or later, it was just a matter of when. The fact that they managed to secure nine out of fifteen cells could already be considered a success.
Everyone immediately moved quickly as they had already planned a contingency beforehand.
With Eeshoo's order, Emery swiftly dashed out of the cell to get out of the area's spell restriction.
Now that he no longer needed to hide the channeling of his spirit force, Emery didn't hesitate to summon his Jade Warriors. At his command, eighty Jade human figures spawned and filled the hallway before he cast his spatial space.
"It's your turn now, guys."
Five plant creatures came out. With his innate ability [One Mind], Twik and the four Chizpur brother's thoughts were immediately linked, readying them for action.
"Be careful," Emery briefly reminded.
Right away, the four Chizpur brothers went in four opposite directions with 20 Jade Warriors following each of them. Apart from acting as Emery's eyes and ears, they also functioned as decoys to distract the elves from the escaping captives. Meanwhile, Twik stayed by Emery's side.
Seeing that the situation had turned dire, Jai Strider hurriedly interrupted him, "Let me help! I've been gathering intel on this place's layout with my spiders, I know my way around this place!"
As they needed all the help they could get, Emery decisively threw the unlocking device and the remaining storage rings to the metal puppeteer. He couldn't afford to pick and choose.
"Bring five acolytes to help you," Emery said, pointing in the direction of the next cell that had not yet been secured. After the metal puppeteer's affirmation, he then quickly assigned Vida to act as the remaining acolytes' leader and instructed her on what to do.
"Lead them all to the western courtyard, that way."
A moment after, Emery instructed Gerri and Thrax to do the same for their team, and all the acolytes inside their cells simultaneously flooded the hallways.
Emery's [One Mind] transmitted the results of his orders; he was now able to read the movements of every living being in their vicinity. In other words, it was an enhanced reading of the entire compound.
With the ability to sense the movements of the elven saints and magus, Emery found that most of them were currently concentrated in one area.
After a quick analysis, Emery reported the situation on his side.
<I'm sending them all to the western courtyard.>
He also reported the enemy movements. Moreover, with Jai Strider having taken up the task of securing the rest of the cells, Emery cast Spatial Gate and made his way to the other side of the compound, right where he believed Silva was.
Everything Emery did happened in the span of three minutes after the alarm sounded. Despite that, when he arrived at Silva's location, the silver-haired girl was already cornered.
On her opposite, three dark elf magus and a dozen guards charged forward to finish her.
"Don't you dare!!"
[Twilight Transformation]
Both Emery and his accompanying plant creature, Twik, swiftly jumped into the battle.
With a savage blade in his hand, Emery cast his battle art [Chain Strike] to jump between the forefront enemy magus's sword strike.
He instantly finished it with [Repulsion], pushing all the surrounding enemies away.
HOWWWLLL--
His sudden appearance coupled with his fierce attack caught the attacking elves completely off-guard. One half-blood acolyte stood against dozens of dark elves, his eyes determined.
*****
Now that the entire facility was alerted of their presence, all the dark elf guards and magus on the upper floors quickly rushed down. In the midst of their rush, two figures were hidden near the staircase, silently waiting for the elves to leave the area.
Utilizing the commotion from the discovery of intruders, Eeshoo and the shadow magus managed to sneak to the second floor and even the third, to a certain room at the center of the compound.
At the entrance of the room, several guards still stayed at their stations despite the situation.
The two figures silently looked at each other. If they previously only speculated this was the place they were looking for, they were now convinced.
At their tacit nod, Magus Xion stealthily struck from the shadows while Eeshoo threw a hidden attack. In just a second, the four guards at the entrance dropped to the ground lifeless.
"Let's hope this is it!"
Eeshoo placed the mechanical device on the door's control panel with anticipation. However, it only took him a second to realize that it wasn't working.
His expression betrayed his feelings as his anticipation grew even more. After all, why would they assign a different, more complicated type of lock if it wasn't because the room was of higher importance?
Fortunately, they were prepared for such an occasion. Stepping forward, the Nephilim placed some kind of red stone on all eight corners of the door and channeled his powerful spell, [Sunbeam], toward the shut door.
All the red stones shone brightly before they flared up with intense heat, rapidly eating the door from all its corners. When the door was finally melted down, the two hurriedly rushed inside.
In the middle of the room, an unconscious white-bearded man was chained inside a transparent box. The complexion of the motionless man inside was ghastly pale, like a person who had been dead for a long time.
Magus Xion's eyes widened. Although the white-bearded man's head was hung down, the magus recognized his identity at a glance.
"That's him, Headmaster Altus Dresden!" Magus Xion unconsciously clenched his fists.
With the magus confirming that it was indeed the person they were looking for, the two of them immediately hurried to approach the transparent box. However, just halfway through, their steps abruptly froze.
An omnipotent presence rapidly crept up from the entrance behind them. Oppressive heat rushed from the figure and surrounded the two, as if about to devour them whole.
"Two little mice dare to enter my base and take away my prisoner."
Upon hearing the voice, they immediately realized who it was; the one dark elf grand magus still guarding the compound.
Eeshoo and Magus Xion simultaneously turned to face the other party. Unexpectedly, both of them had a composed look on their faces, as if unfazed.
"We merely came to bring back our friends," Eeshoo took the lead and said respectfully.
As the Nephilim words reached the dark elf's ears, the dark elf's expression turned to that of obvious disdain as he hovered closer toward the two. The next moment, a dark flaming sword appeared out of thin air and into the dark elf's hand.
The grand magus casually swung the flaming sword. Followed by a powerful wave of spirit force, the skill turned half the room immediately into a sea of flames, blocking their exits.
"You are not going anywhere!" he said with a wicked smile, ready to catch his prey.
On the opposite side, Eeshoo had begun channeling his spirit energy into the golden chakram on his chest. When it was finally filled with energy, a full white-gold armor swiftly covered his body from head to toe.
"Huh! A Divine God Armor, you must be quite a wealthy one," the dark elf half-mocked.
The Nephilim heart was beating rapidly, but it wasn't just because of fear.
Without the grand magus knowing, his presence in this room was exactly what Eeshoo had been hoping for. His aim of rescuing the headmaster dragged the biggest threat in the compound away, consequently giving the others a better chance of rescuing the captives.
To be continued