Red wisps of energy float up in the air as a briefcase, black dagger, silver card, and some gold coins along with small numbered pins, demonic stones, and miscellaneous items fall to the desert floor.
Beside this pile of loot, the shattered armor of the Sector 2 leader sits in a pile. It's inactive, and there's no sign of the body.
Actually, there's no sign of any bodies.
The small abandoned village continues to burn down to the desert floor, and the black flames flicker out.
The golden sun continues to heat the sand in the surrounding area just like every other day. A light breeze passes through, recalling the battle that just took place and moving the crimson residue around, but not fully ridding the landscape of its streaks.
Meanwhile, up the cliff atop the observatory, another battle is about to take place.
Maria leads the group of four as they enter through the front door of the white-walled dome on top of the cliffside. She whispers under her breath.
"Jay can handle himself, he's trusted us to do our part. So we'll trust him to protect us and do his."
The metal door swings open with a click, and Arie, Abby, and Fisher follow Maria down the curved hall.
Everyone glows lightly using their personal magic while gripping their weapons tight.
A loud man's voice can be heard through the halls of the building echoing louder as they approach one of the doors that leads to the center room.
"You sure got lucky, but we'll find out everything soon."
The sound of keys being twirled around his finger jingles as he continues.
"Did you hear all those loud bangs out in the desert? I'm sure he'll be coming back any moment now. They don't call the Sector 2 leader the Untouchable One for nothing. He's a master craftsman, supplying most of the higher-ups in the dark continent with unique gear and items that can't be found anywhere else. That suit of armor has fended off A-Rank beasts. Whoever came by just made their last mistake."
A manly arrogant laugh can be heard as the four team members line up at the door. No one says a word, there's a unanimous nod of agreement that leads to the door being kicked down and the sight in the center room is revealed.
A tall, well-built, middle-aged blond man wearing impressive enchanted gear, including a silver pin labeled "001" and a Golden one labeled "004", stands over a table, looking down on a bloodied and battered young woman with white hair and determined ice-cold eyes.
"Lydia!" Maria yells after the metal door is blasted down, and a barrage of ice, water, earth, and spirit-imbued crescents fly toward the surprised sector leader. An equally caught-off-guard look appears on the ice mage's face at the appearance of her teammates after many long days of being told they're also being held and tortured.
The large armored man glows in a silver light on instinct as the attacks all hit him.
Arie lunges forward, eyeing the keys that were jingling in the man's hand fly through the air. Meanwhile, Abby, Maria, and Fisher charge extra attacks.
This man is over 100 levels above everyone else in the room, and his gear is a step above theirs too. It'd be naive to think one sneak attack is all it would take for someone like him to be taken out.
The second barrage of energy crescents hits the same area of the room as the walls shudder and debris from the attacks fill the air.
The Sector leader lets out a pulse of his own mana while yelling.
"It's you? How? What is the meaning of this?"
The angry man's face is revealed as more of the debris falls and it shimmers silver like metal.
All of his body is coated in the same metallic coloring, and even after taking on a ton of high-powered attacks there isn't even a single scratch on him. He yells out again, raising gauntlet-covered fists in the air as they begin to glow white.
"I'll kill every last one of you. This is what I get for handing out favors to the Association, isn't it?!"
His expression gets angrier and angrier as more crescents of energy continue to barrage his silver-colored body. More pulses of white light come off the gauntlets as Fisher yells to the group.
"It's his buff... The Solid Steel Defense!! Plus that shielding artifact. We'll need to attack with more than just this if we want to do any real damage."
At these words, the Sector 4 Leader turns to the swordsman who outed valuable information about him that no one should know and makes a punching motion in the air.
A wave of bright white energy is released from the right fist and hits Fisher head-on. In response, the water user activates his ultimate defensive buff in return, but is pushed back by the immense power of the blast.
He's propelled through the side of the observatory making two huge holes in the metal and stone. The desert sand and morning sun can be seen from inside.
Without hesitation, the Sector Leader punches with his other fist at Maria, who is running up on his opposite side trying to get an attack in. The same result happens. Although Maria doesn't activate her ranked-up buff, for fear that it may get everyone else in the observatory hurt, she is still pushed through multiple walls of metal and stone while blocking with mana shielding and an ice-imbued sword.
The angered shimmering man turns his gaze to Arie next, the man that stole his keys and is running to Lydia to unlock her from the mana-negating cuffs.
"Not so fast!"
In an instant, the Sector leader charges up his gauntlets and throws another attack at the archer.
Arie saw what happened to the other two teammates when they tried to block, so he jumps off a summoned white orb of spirit magic to narrowly dodge the incoming attack. Even so, it's very close and smashes another massive hole in the observatory's side.
"Impossible!"
He punches with his opposite arm while lunging forward to let out an attack at closer range.
Arie summons another orb of magic and speeds out of the way, letting the unique energy attack narrowly miss him again.
In the cover of the falling debris and exploding walls behind him, the archer throws the keys downward for Abby to catch. Then, peeks out, waving his arms at the angry metal man.
"Pathetic, you couldn't catch me if you tried."
He smirks and turns away, hopping on summoned orbs of spirit energy through one of the holes the Sector Leader's Attacks just created.
The ground rumbles beneath the building as the silver-coated man jumps out following the archer that baited him to do so.
"You're all dead. Every last one of you!"
Before flying through the hole in the wall, he turns back with a surprisingly cool and calculated expression.
"I'll be back for you two when I'm done with them. Don't worry. I won't forget."
His sarcastic, sly tone shifts back to an angry yell while flying up into the air after the archer. His yells turn into an uncontrollable battle-crazed laugh. Abby mutters to herself, running over to the portion of the room where Lydia got blasted back in the rubble, still connected to the table with cuffs.
"I guess anyone that joins an organization like this has to be a little crazy..."
She gulps, chuckling to herself while gripping the keys tight and using earth magic to sift through the debris to uncover Lydia.
At the same moment, the silver-coated man flies through the air on a crash course for the archer, gracefully soaring through the sky. He's making his way down the cliffside toward the open desert, right between the destroyed town and the observatory up on the hill.
Fisher and Maria both see the silver man glistening in the sun, following their teammate down the cliff. They use water and ice steps to follow and support Arie in the battle that's about to commence.
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Author's Note:
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There's custom chapter art for every new daily upload too!
Thanks for reading:)
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