"We haven't seen them yet..."

"How did an intruder pass through our barriers?"

Allen and Lyn spoke out their thoughts. They're the 2 SS+ Ranks that got out of Hibernation a month ago.

"They must've created something that could bypass our ancient barriers. It's been 1,000 years if you forgot."

"But Madam, our people that we planted on the current major powers didn't say anything about this."

"That's true. They might've kept this a confidential information then."

The Madam, one of the 3 Deputy Leaders of Dawn Cult—Ena Price. 

"We planted the "seeds" back then, but even us couldn't dig deep into them. Just like 1,000 years ago."

1,000 years ago, prior to the deterioration, the Leader of the Cult had predicted that this will happen, thus he made a move that will give the Dawn Cult a huge advantage after they wake up. That is, planting a special type of seeds called "Nefarious Seed".

Also known as "Ghost Seed", it contains a very weak evil spirit inside it. Once planted, the subject could be controlled by making the evil spirit the main controller of the body.

It absorbs energy from the air, thus it is very hard to detect. They can also be split and passed down to the planted subject's descendants. 

After 1,000 years, everyone had a very normal life. It won't be affected until.. the Planet Awakens and their superior would exit Hibernation.

Of course, there's also a condition for it to be planted—The one getting planted should allow the seed to germinate inside them. As for the descendants, this condition isn't needed.

That's why the ones that got planted in the past were all loyal to the Dawn Cult.

"Their descendants are so useless."

"Agreed."

"Stop it, you two. Focus on searching."

""Understood.""

***

I admit. I made such a stupid mistake before, but it worked on my benefit in the end.

Right now, we're inside the base. Just like what you would expect from a Secret Organization, their base really looked like one.

At some parts, the Antiquity can be seen; on the other, the Modernization can be seen. It's a mix of both.

"Aria!"

We're in a hallway full of rooms. Thanks to Xiao Song detecting whether a person would pass by in this area or not, we safely evaded them.

I pulled her in my direction, towards the room.

"T-this.."

A flustered voice could be heard in the comms. 

Without me realizing it, I brought her closer to me. There's no way I would be dense st this point.

"S-sorry."

I sperated from her, when suddenly, Xiao Song's Notice made me vigilant.

{Master, there's 2 C+ Ranks approaching the room!}

What the.. We're in a place similar to a storage room, and it's night time.

Yes, after we got through the barrier, we saw a backdoor. We entered from there and arrived at this small hallway. 

"Aria, let's hide I'll knock the ones who will enter the room."

We then went behind the pile of boxes. Thanks to our Stealth Modules, we won't be discovered by these C+ Ranks until we attack them.

Aria broke through D+ Rank moments ago, plus the 2 Minor Realms enhancement that the SSS+ Rank Armor brings made her strength up to C Rank.

Still, it's not enough to take action in this kind of place. That's why I'm always the one that takes action as of now. Only when I'll encounter a troublesome enemy will I ask her to help with [Dragon Form].

The door opened, and 2 people entered the room. A man and a woman pair.

"Let's do it here."

"No one comes here, right?"

"I planned today well. He's on a sudden duty today, and no one's gonna find out."

"Andrew.."

What.. Did we just become a live witness to an affair?

Mn?

I can feel that Aria grasped my arm, and its becoming tighter. I think I know why.. She's embarrassed.

It's disappointing that I couldn't see her face beyond the Armor, but I'll get to see more of it soon.

"Don't worry, I'll finish the task quickly."

I said so. After that, I went behind the 2 kissing couple, knocking them out by bashing Little Xue's Rod Form(Default) on their heads.

Bang!

They didn't die, they just got knocked unconscious. I learned my mistake before.

"Let's go."

"Nn."

She couldn't speak properly due to her embarrassment, so she only answered like this... How Ad-

I'll stop for a while, no distractions while on this mission.

'Xiao Song, did you finish detecting where the people from the 4th floor are going down?'

{Affirmative. After the hallway, there's three pathways. On the West, you need to go straight until you see the elevator.}

That's right, the room where the Teleportation Array is located is on the Second Floor. Thanks to it having the Floor Number "0449" on my vision, I didn't need to struggle finding it on each floor.

After walking through so many pathways, hallways, rooms, and so on, we finally arrived at the elevator. Thankfully, nobody is using it at this time.

After entering the elevator, I inputted the 4th floor as the destination.

Not long after, we finally arrived. More hallways greeted me, dizzying my sight.

Just you know, there's about 8 floors in this base, plus the basement. How many hallways are there in total?!

"Hallways.."

"Nn?"

"Nothing.."

4th floor is dark right now. There are even less people here, and most of them are staying still—most likely sleeping.

"Let's go."

Holding her hand, we sprinted towards the hallways, intent on finding that room "0449".

***

Outside the base..

"What?!"

"What's the matter, Madam?"

"The Intruder's in the base!"

""What?!""

Unexpectedly, Ena found out about the duo's intrusion on their base few minutes after they entered.

Both Allen and Lyn wanted to ask her how did she do it, but she had beaten them to it.

"My Trait."

"Ah—you already utilized it ever since you woke up?!"

Ena's trait—[Puppet Control]. It is a control-type trait, but it doesn't affect any elements; rather, it allows one to control puppets over a very long range.

It is similar to the Mechanic's [Data Control] that allows them to manipulate their works even across star systems.

"I already placed some eyes at our base. I didn't expect that the intruders would be so bold."

"Then, let's go back!"

Allen said so.

"No need to hurry. My puppets from the past had been preserved through the Space Ring. I'll have them in action soon."

***

Boom!

"Shit!"

Right now, many wood puppets are chasing after us like the ones on a certain movie.

Boom!

"Wood puppets also has repulsers?!"

Holding Aria, I went to the right.

'Xiao Song, can you scan a place where its wide?'

{Understood.}

While scanning, I focused more on evading these wood puppets.

Yes, it was so sudden, but more than a dozen wood puppets, each having the strength of S Rank, appeared.

I can totally beat them, but this attack only meant one thing—we're discovered. Time is not on our side, so I only focused on dodging.

{Master, bad news! The SSS+ Rank and the 2 SS+ Ranks are rushing back to the base. Time of contact: 2 minutes.}

{Master, bad news! The entirety of the 4th floor got alerted by the explosion and are rushing towards your direction. Time of contact: 2 minutes.}

Ah, shit. What sh—

Boom!

Boom!

2 wood puppets suddenly came close to us and self-destructed. The power of this explosion is at SS Rank already..

Thankfully, we're both fine due to our Armors. Mine has an SS+ Rank defense, while Aria has the SSS+ Rank one even though its abilities are restricted.

After seeing that we're both fine, the puppets stopped, as if the one behind them were shocked.

"Lugh, I'll-"

"NO, DEFINITELY NO!"

I can sense what she's thinking. Since she's the main target of the kidnapping, then their goal is her.

Still, if we're talking about sacrifices, then it should be me with my 3 extra lives.

{Master, the biggest room in the base is found. It seems like a training room.}

Nice. Thank goodness. 

Yes, I saw that in my vision, the teleportation array is in a wide area. I didn't know that it is actually found in the training room, which is the room that should be most frequented.

The spy that placed it here is good..

{Turn Right, left, forward..}

Thanks to Xiao Song, we didn't become lost in this place filled with hallways.

{Master! Time of contact: 1 minute.}

1 minute have passed, and we're finally in this "Room 0449".

Breaking the door, I saw a huge training area. It's quite similar to my Master's. It's just that it's only composed of steel coatings.

We went to the corner of this room. After injecting my Mana on this area..

[Teleportation Array—Greatly Damaged (Unstable)]

-A teleportation array built by a Government officer of the Yamashiro Country. 

-It leads to the Yamashiro Country, but due to it being used, the whole array is destroyed.

-Due to it being unstable, there's a high chance of being teleported to a Space Storm, Space Tunnels where the very dangerous beasts live, and so on.

-Even if it's repaired, the previous coordinates are wiped clean, thus this array only serves as a random teleportation array.

[Repairing the Array's Stability costs 250,000 Exp. Continue?]

'Continue!'

The [Panel]'s Pure energy flowed to it again.

Boom! Boom!

The puppets finally arrived at this place. Repairing the array will take around 30-60 seconds, so we need to defend it.

"Aria, after you see that the array has been repaired, pull me into it okay?"

"Un!"

{Master! Time of contact: 10 seconds.}

"Huff…"

I controlled my Heaven's Force, accumulating it on my [Evil Vanquishing Sword] according to the technique.

A very transparent substance also coated my Sword. It's the physical materialization of my Controlling Stage Mental Aspects.

3..2..1..

The array lit up, and at the same time, the enemies arrived.

"Who are you?!"

A mature lady who's wearing something similar to an Alchemists' robe shouted.

"[Sword of Destruction]."

Slash!

Boom!

The [Sword of Destruction] sent them flying. It also damaged the entire building, evident to the slash that I made which damaged the rooms on my range of attack.

[Experience gained. 10,000 exp gained.]

[Experience gained. 20,000 exp gained.]

[Experience gained. 40,000 exp gained.]

..

Exp Notices popped up in me, but I didn't see any that confirmed the deaths of those higher ups. I didn't expect for them to not be killed.. Still, this is their home base, so its reasonable too..

"Lugh!"

Pulling me who almost collapsed, I and Aria jumped into the Teleportation Array.