The more they went up, the worse the staircase's condition got. Some of the stairs were broken completely and holes were seen in the walls. It was obvious that a fierce battle happened here.
They didn't need to open the door of the second floor as it was broken already. They quickly went into a battle formation before entering the floor with the team leader in the front.
Once they entered, a scene of destruction came into the view. The wall on the opposite side of the entrance was blown up completely and the floor was cracked.
They could see people engulfed in a battle. Looking closer, it wasn't really a battle by one side of the fight completely cornered. Three people wearing SMF uniforms were surrounded by a bunch of men wearing black uniforms. They seemed to have been pushed back, as they were standing on the edge of the floor near the destroyed wall. There were injuries visible on their bodies and they seemed to be exhausted.
"Wha..."
One of the attackers turned back in surprise. The team leader didn't even wait to check the situation. He emptied one of his guns as soon as he set foot on the floor. Four of the enemies died in an instant while the last one dodged the bullet by a hair's breadth.
The injured and cornered people's eyes widened as soon as they saw the team leader.
"We are saved."
"The team leader is here!"
Their expressions brightened and they were filled with joy.
Kairen observed the three people's faces carefully, but the one he was looking for wasn't between them.
'Where the hell is that bastard?'
They have met 5 of the 7 people, but Kain wasn't between them. Was he on the third floor? Kairen looked at the stairs leading to the third floor. They were destroyed alongside the wall.
On the other hand, the enemies backed away in hurry after seeing four of their men get killed in an instant.
There was a short silence as the two sides stared at each other waiting for the other party to move. The enemies were first to act. They glanced at each other and nodded their heads.
The five remaining enemies ignored the rescue team and rushed towards the three members of Unit 6 behind them.
"Stop them."
At those words, Serria cast binding magic and Kairen created a few layers of shields in front of the enemy. Two of the agents moved out of the formation and rushed forward at the same time. The three of the unit members, although powerless, raised their weapons to defend themselves.
The binding magic could only slow down two of the attackers by a little bit and couldn't hinder them much. They continued to rush towards their targets without hesitation.
"Tch."
Serria clicked her tongue and took out her sword.
BANG
The enemies' attacks and Kairen's shields collided, creating a loud voice and shockwave. The shields crackled and broke down at the huge impact of the attack. But that didn't matter as the agents had crossed the huge hallway in an instant and were standing in front of the enemies, blocking their attacks.
"You can surrender, we won't kill you if you give up."
Team leader Dains said that in a relaxed tone. He had filled his empty gun in the blink of an eye and now was aiming them at the attackers' heads.
"You only have to confess to your crimes, and we will give you a free place to live for the rest of your lives. Fair enough, isn't it?"
The team leader smirked while tilting his head to one side.
"These damn bastards!"
One of the enemies cursed loudly and gave strength to his spear. The agent in front of him was pushed back a few steps, but he still didn't attack back. He was glancing at the team leader, waiting for orders.
"Kill them all."
In this kind of situation, it was better to capture one or two enemies alive to interrogate them. Even a small piece of information could be essential in some conditions, so it was wise not to kill all of your opponents. But now they weren't in a position to waste time on capturing the enemy alive. They had to find the rest of the unit as soon as possible. If the enemies didn't accept the team leader's nice offer, they couldn't be helped anymore.
OOONG
The agents wrapped their weapons in the aura and moved them at the same time. Two crescent-moon-shaped aura slashes were sent towards the enemies.
Such an attack wasn't hard to dodge normally, well, the situation wasn't normal of course.
"Argh."
One single bullet pierced through an enemy's chest and injured the other one's shoulder. The injured one couldn't move in time and got hit by an aura slash as well. Two men fell on the floor, dead.
'What are those bullets even made of?'
Kairen avoided the disgusting scene before his eyes and glanced at the guns on the team leader's hands. He suddenly felt that he wanted to use guns instead of magic, wasn't that kinda safer and easier?
Serria, who was holding her sword with two hands, started to cast a spell and bent her body to rush forward at the same time. The moment she stepped forward-
"Wait."
The team leader grabbed her collar and pulled her back.
"Huh?"
She, abruptly thrown backward, twisted her body and landed on the ground safely. It was at the moment...
BANG
The ceiling suddenly exploded. Larg debris fell right where Serria was standing a second ago. Someone fell down from the hole created on the ceiling, rolled a few times in the ground then hit a big piece of broken was and stopped there.
"Ah!"
Kairen covered his face to prevent the dust from entering his nose and stepped back. He looked up at the half-destroyed ceiling. Nothing could be seen from the hole, it was only dust.
Drip Drip
The only thing that was there was water. Water was dripping down from the hole on the ceiling, wetting the floor of the second floor.
"...."
The team leader also looked up with a frown. He then glanced at the remaining enemies. Three of them were still alive, but their condition wasn't good. One of them was injured by an aura slash and another one was hit by the debris falling from the ceiling.
There were 2 of the unit members left. They had to find them soon. According to the woman, there should also be 9 more guards left. Team leader Dains looked down at the man that fell from the third floor. He was a guard as well, which would leave 8 of them to deal with.
He looked at the two agents on the other side of the room.
"Deal with the rest."
He then turned towards Reyan, who was standing back to protect the injured ones.
"You too."
"Yes, sir."
He stepped forward with his sword in his hand. The agent that was also in the back, cast shields and protective spells around the injured ones before joining the team leader.
The team leader then turned to Kairen.
"Cast your spell. We are moving up through the hole."
"Yes."
With that order, Kairen cast a wind spell. The wind gently wrapped around the four people and lifted them up. Serria added a shield around them and all of them moved up towards the hole.