Chapter 26.3 : Impending escalation

As he stared at the African Priest in front of him, who had a totem like creature flying behind him, even Andropov, who was usually pretty calm, couldn't help but feel sweat fall down his forehead.

In no way was Andropov scared of the priest in front of him, who he could fill with lead at any moment.

No, Andropov was sweating because of the temperature of this damn volcano, which annoyed him to no end.

Without any warning, the eyes of the African Priest now popped open, alongside the eyes of the totem behind him, which acted similarly.

The moment his eyes opened, the African Priest, as well as his stand, suddenly stretched out their hands towards a certain direction.

"It's close, really close, I can feel the life essence of this 'Stone' you are talking about," said the Priest as he looked at Andropov, causing the latter to let out a smile.

The moment the Priest gave his instructions, a bodyguard who was standing behind Andropov suddenly began walking up to the workers, who were around fifty meters below the three of them, ready to instruct them on what to do.

"Very well, do not worry, as long as we are able to find what we are searching for, and you keep your end of the deal, we will keep ours," said Andropov as he looked at the priest with a meaningful smile on his face.

Hearing this, the Priest, who knew he did not have many other options, hesitantly nodded his head, signaling that he had understood before turning his attention back to the wall point he had pointed at, as well as the workers that were driving up to it.

...

As he watched at the TV in front of him, which now had a red banner shown on it, Joseph, who was relaxing just a few moments ago, couldn't help but grip the cup of coffee in his hands.

"Just 7 minutes ago, an active shooter has been sighted in the Oakridge High School, Oregon, as of now, police officers have already arrived at the scen-"

A moment after he heard the words of the news reporter, the cup of coffee in Joseph's hands suddenly shattered, sending coffee flying all over Joseph's left arm.

In his current frustrated state, Joseph ignored this and simply turned off the TV in front of him using the remote in his right hand.

"Why does everything have to go wrong these days?!"

...

Hearing the shout that had just come from the inside of the room in front of him, Josuke, who was just about to knock on it, couldn't help but hesitate for a brief moment.

But even so, after just that brief moment of hesitation, Josuke knocked on the door before opening it and walking inside.

What greeted Josuke the moment he opened the door was his father, Joseph, standing on his chair with the left side of his body dirtied by coffee, which the shattered remains of a cup lay on the floor.

"Father, are you alright?" asked Josuke as he quickly walked up to Joseph, with Crazy Diamond appearing behind him.

"It's nothing, I was just a little bit frustrated," said Joseph as he raised up his left hand, which, although bleeding, had begun even before Josuke used his stand, thanks to the golden light that was covering it.

But even so, merely a moment, later, Joseph, who previously looked rather embarrassed, instantly became brand new, causing him to turn his attention to Josuke.

As he heard the words of his father, Josuke faintly nodded, not desiring to make him even more frustrated.

"That's good," mumbled Josuke as he breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"So, why did you come here this time?" asked Joseph as he looked at Josuke, causing the latter to instantly become serious.

"Whilst I was going through Europe, I heard something rather serious happened at one of the locations you mentioned," said Josuke, causing Joseph to frown.

Not long after Josuke and he left Morioh, Joseph begun telling Josuke stories from his past.

As such, now that Josuke mentioned these once again, a faint frown appeared on Joseph's face.

"What location was it?" asked Joseph as he touched his chin with a confused look on his face.

"It was that volcano in Switzerland," said Josuke, causing Joseph to suddenly freeze.

After just a few more moments though, Joseph, who had somewhat returned to his past self, realized what was going on, causing him to instantly become angry.

...

"Just 7 minutes ago, an active shooter has been sighted in the Oakridge High School, Oregon, as of now, police officers have already arrived at the scene, you can be sure that the moment any new information is released to the public, Channel 3 will be the first ones to showcase it to y-"

Seeing that there was nothing interesting happening at the moment, Diana stretched out one of her hands, which was holding a remote, and closed the TV.

The moment the TV was closed, the true darkness of the room revealed itself, allowing Diana to slightly relaxed whilst sipping from a glass full of blood.

After around thirty seconds of just relaxing, Diana's eyes suddenly opened, as a pair of footsteps could quickly be heard approaching the room.

Then, after around twenty seconds, two knocks were heard on the door.

"You can come in," said Diana, making the room light up once again, allowing the guard, who opened the door just a moment later, to see inside the room.

"Lady Diana, I have just received an urgent report from Switzerland," said the guard, causing Diana's eyes to suddenly pop open.

...

As he looked at the crew in front of him, which was rapidly drilling through rocks, searching for something, a faint smile couldn't help but appear on the face of Andropov.

Suddenly, though, the digging began stopping, causing the trucks, excavators and drills to suddenly begin retreating far away from the wall that they were digging through.

Right now, the crew was about fifty meters in front of the protected position, Andropov and the Priest were at.

A moment later, a loud beeping sound was suddenly heard from the wall, followed by a second one.

Then, after another second, a third one.

Then, under Andropov's happy eyes, the wall suddenly exploded, sending rock, volcanic ash, and some small amounts of lava flying.