Mission Complete

Damien didn't see any realistic out for his current situation. Compared to the flower, this pitch-black figure was far smaller and thus didn't have as much of a presence. However, the difficulty rating of the lab flower was only 0.2, while the difficulty rating of this floor was instead 0.5.

Although Damien felt that something was wrong with how the difficulties were set, that didn't change the fact the black figure he was facing was several times more difficult compared to the flower, simply because of the agility it showed off.

Damien's pupils constricted when he saw the figure's spear pull back once more.

He had already put his all into dodging one of the thrusts and needed some time to recover if he wanted to dodge again. Unfortunately, the figure was simply too fast, already about to stab him once more.

Damien's eyes widened all the way and became bloodshot. He gripped onto his katana so tightly, that the skin of his hand started to stretch to its limits. A nasty frown had formed on his face, one that had already accepted the consequences, despite how severe they would be.

The black figure was staring straight at Damien, and when it saw this air around him, for whatever reason it froze.

Almost like it recognized something in the way Damien looked.

Blue veins bulged across Damien's entire body.

He was ready to let loose.

...But he was cut off by a deafening bang.

The black figure's head exploded, splashing ink-like blood everywhere. Zenos had hit it in the head with a sniper bullet, directly killing it. Damien held up his hand to prevent the blood from splashing onto his face, then dropped the katana, panting hard.

His hand that was bandaged began trembling fiercely, almost like it was being electrocuted.

"...You almost hit me, jackass."

Zenos clicked his tongue.

"If I didn't kill it right there, then you would've died, jackass."

Damien rolled his eyes.

"I would've been fine."

Zenos furrowed his brow.

"And how in the world would you have been fine?"

Damien did not respond immediately.

"...I might've been able to dodge."

Zenos looked quite flabbergasted.

"Ok, sure. You would've dodged, then died right after."

Killian raised an eyebrow.

"Why are you guys fighting pointlessly? We already killed the monsters and got the research results."

Damien turned to him with a deadpan expression.

"You're the last person I want to hear that from."

Killian smirked as he walked over to his shotgun.

"Ah, why am I being attacked here? I've never done anything wrong."

Damien picked up his katana with the hand that wasn't trembling.

"Maybe with your twisted logic, sure. The fact you're here with us proves that's a lie."

Killian picked up his shotguns.

"Ah, morals are all dependent on the individual anyway."

Adonis walked over to the center of the room and picked up the black box with the pedestal.

"Regardless, it looks like we have what we came here for now."

Zenos took a deep breath.

"I must say our ammunition situation isn't ideal. I doubt we have many bullets left to work with."

Adonis frowned.

"All my guns are completely out. The only bullets I'll have for the next mission are the ones that I buy."

Killian tilted his head to the side.

"I don't have much, but I still got ammo for both my shotgun and submachine gun."

Damien narrowed his eyes slightly.

"I have two magazines for the pistol."

Zenos sighed.

"It seems like we're always going to be strained for resources."

Adonis rubbed his chin.

"Maybe we can salvage something from the lab?"

Damien clicked his tongue.

"We might as well search, but we shouldn't get our hopes up as I doubt they will have ammunition just stored away in some lab. As for food, anything we find is probably long expired by now too."

Killian cracked his neck.

"If that's the case, why even explore in the first place?"

Zenos shrugged his shoulders.

"The chances may be low, but we need anything we can get at this point."

The corner of Killian's lip twitched. It seemed he wanted to retort, but also felt like Zenos wasn't exactly wrong.

"Whatever. I'm going to patch my bleeding ear while you guys do that."

Adonis turned over the black box a few times before putting it away.

"Alright then."

Despite it being a little redundant, the three of them explored the rooms that they were in to find anything they could salvage. Unfortunately, what little they could find had already worn to uselessness purely due to age.

Adonis frowned as he tossed away a cracked test tube.

"How old is this place? If it keeps going on like this, then we won't ever find anything helpful, and even if there was something that had been useful in the past, it's going to be useless now."

Damien blinked a few times as he briefly glanced over a table with countless papers.

"It appears that these are the very first labs that they had. I'm not sure why they didn't just reuse labs, but it appears that they've constructed entirely new labs just for new experiments. In other words, as we continue to clear the labs, we will soon come across ones that were more recent, and thus should have relatively new objects we can salvage."

Zenos smiled bitterly.

"And how did you come to that conclusion?"

Damien blinked a few times.

"...That much doesn't matter. Would it kill you just to hope a little bit?"

Zenos shrugged his shoulders.

"The only thing hoping will do is set false expectations. It's better to be realistic and handle the worst-case scenario."

Damien waved dismissively.

"Alright, alright. Anyway, is Killian done?"

Adonis raised an eyebrow.

"Probably. Chances are he's just staying back so he doesn't have to help out with searching."

"As if! Do you think it's easy to bandage something when you can't even see it directly?"

Killian walked back with his hand gently brushing against where he bandaged his ear. The bandages themselves were bloody and were wrapped rather crudely, but it got the job done.

"We're heading back now, right?"

Zenos nodded.

"Yes."

The four of them stepped into the shuttle, after which Emmett's mechanical voice rang out in all their heads.

"Please put the black box in the collection chamber!"

Adonis frowned as he pulled it out.

"That was the plan, you don't have to tell us."

Emmett responded promptly.

"It's always important to be sure!"

Adonis clicked his tongue, saying nothing more as he set the black box down on the pedestal.

From there, mechanical clasps caught onto it before bringing it down. Then, some more familiar mechanical bindings wrapped around everyone before the shuttle started moving with a jolt.

Emmett's voice chimed out.

"Congratulations, you have completed your mission. Your reward consisted of one credit to Team Alpha, two personal credits for each of you, and a new purchasable option in the shop after twenty-four hours! It will increase your physical strength greatly, so I highly recommend you buy it!"

Despite how enthusiastic the robotic voice was, the four of them all looked rather despondent. Completing their mission was definitely something worth celebrating, but with how things were currently, it was looking grim, to say the least. And as though to rub salt in the wound, it didn't seem like their situation wasn't going to get any easier either.

After a few minutes, the mechanical bindings released, and they were back at their normal base.

Damien took a deep breath.

"Alright... let's discuss our game plan."