Masteria Online: Shattering the Dark God's Grand Scheme-Chapter 107 - Level 30

Valeria didn’t hesitate. She rushed forward, pushing her blade against his neck and holding it there. "The commander here, I assume? Surrender. You’re beaten."

The man barely reacted. Fear wasn’t even remotely present. "Aria Knights." he said conversationally, continuing to burn documents. "Impressive work. But ultimately meaningless."

"Stand down." Lumi commanded. "You’re outnumbered and outmatched. We can spare you."

"Outmatched? Am I?" Admiral Seven smiled coldly. "This base in Mora is one of hundreds we have around the world. This operation is one of thousands. Did you think of yourself as a hero for destroying some machinery? You’ve accomplished nothing."

"We’ll see about that." Lumi responded, then gave an ultimatum. "Either you die now, or we take you in and ask you some questions."

"I think not," the Admiral replied. "The Wings of Darkness transcend individual lives. Our cause will continue regardless." He pressed a device on his wrist, and immediately a new alarm began blaring. "SELF-DESTRUCTION IMMINENT." A heavy metal door slammed down behind the Knights, blocking the exit.

"Forget him!" Marcus and Jin shouted at the same exact time. "This base is going to blow!"

"What!?" Valeria’s eyes widened. She immediately turned, using everything she had to hack the door open.

"TWELVE SECONDS!" Jin yelled out.

"ELARA!" Lumi’s focus was elsewhere. He kept a stare on Admiral Seven, who recoiled under his stare. "Where is the air flowing!?"

"Wha-" 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"ANSWER!"

Elara trembled, focusing. Her eyes widened and she pointed behind a shelf. "There!"

Seeing his plot exposed, Admiral Seven’s eyes went bloodshot as he dived toward the hidden exit first.

Valeria had already caught on to what was happening. Admiral Seven had never intended to blow himself up with them at all! He wanted to sneak out at the last second with a hidden exit while they were focused on the door!

"Out!" Valeria charged with the colors of both sunset and sundown as she rammed through the shelf, clearing the path for the others. In passing, she slammed Admiral Seven’s head against the corridor wall.

They ran.

A faint glimmer of light from up ahead revealed an exit. There was a ladder, different from the one they infiltrated from. Valeria directly threw them up, everyone having to orient and catch themselves their own way.

Valeria jumped out behind them-

BOOM!

[-163 HP]

The explosion was massive, a burst of purple-tinged fire pushing them all back and burning their skin. When Lumi looked back, the entirety of the base had collapsed in a crater. It was likely that most of the technology was salvageable, but no one deep inside could have survived.

Valeria jumped back into the tunnel. The entrance was just barely intact, and Admiral Seven had been in the escape tunnel as well.

"Ughhh...." A small, weak groan came from a charred body. Valeria frowned, and picked him up.

[EXP +302]

[Level Up! 29 -> 30]

Hm?

Did picking him up really finish him off?

Level 30. He’d reached the requirement for Rank Two advancement. He’d need to find Merath again to actually undergo the promotion, but just reaching this milestone felt significant.

Valeria shook her head, taking the metal plate identifying him and returned to the others.

"Check in!" Valeria commanded.

"Alive." came the responses, though not without various degrees of injury. Jin had burns on his arms, Marcus’s robes were singed, Elara had a cut on her forehead from flying debris. But they were alive, and they’d succeeded.

A sharp pain rang through Lumi’s torso. He raised his robe to check.

There was a small, yet existent hole through Lumi. "Ah."

"Lumi!" Valeria immediately rushed to him. "Are you okay?"

"Yes." Lumi stated, taking out a health potion and downing it. "The potion will fix me up."

"Hey, guys..." Marcus spoke softly, but caught their attention. He gestured vaguely to the water. "Look! The corruption... it’s receding."

The water, while still discolored, was visibly lighter than before.

"Already?" Zara spoke with a strange look. "But we just..."

"I am unsure." Marcus responded. "My only guess is that the explosion may have cleansed some of it."

"I have a theory." Susie interjected. " There were some machines interacting with the water. I could feel their resonance but didn’t understand their purpose. Only now did I put two and two together. Perhaps they were actively amplifying the corruption!"

"And now it’s gone." Elara observed, a faint smile beginning to form on her face. "Finally. Nature can begin healing."

"We saved what intelligence we could." Susie reported, checking what she had. "Not everything, but enough to understand their operations better."

"Let us return to Johno." Lumi decided. "This stage of the investigation is done. After a report back, we move from this base to the Glacier itself."

The sail back felt different despite their exhaustion. Whatever damage the Wings had done, it was already beginning to heal. They would have remnants to clear out, but just that. Their base was cleared out.

Lumi’s mind was already on the next phase. Level 30 meant Second Rank. It would bring new possibilities, new power.

It would give him the power to contend in Entei, even without the Knights, given that Entei hates the Knights. More importantly, he could start looking into making a Guild soon.

Normally, making a guild was restricted to those at Rank Three. This is because a Guild was not a simple system feature that one interacted with. It was a formal organization registered at the Golden House, even Natives could join player guilds.

Therefore, one of the requirements was a show of power. As natives could not see levels, which were more of an imaginary concept, they would have any would-be guild master undergo a combat test. He was certain he was fast approaching the required power.

Nevertheless, that was for later. At the moment, he was still in Mora, and with the Wings’ operations disrupted, Rena’s prison would begin to weaken naturally.

The question was, should they wait for that natural process, or take direct action?

He already knew his answer. It was the entire reason he had initiated this questline to begin with.