Year 2971, Day 190
It has been more than two thousand years since I began exploring this world, yet I have not heard of anything that could allow me to enhance my spiritual root.
I even heard that the Young Lady reached the realm of expansion a few decades ago.
Apparently, she's one of the best geniuses the sect has seen in a long time, with a chance of becoming immortal, and even one of the great elders of the sect has taken her as a direct disciple.
It's important to know that each great elder has already attained immortality and answers only to the sect leader.
Compared to her, I still fall woefully short. She may have already forgotten about me; after all, I was just a small figure in her life.
But well, moping won't help my situation.
Even though my cultivation has stagnated, my sword aura has deepened considerably. I learn new techniques every day, and my sword aura improves rapidly.
...
On the other side of the door.
The two guards quickly snapped to attention, saluting the strange group that had just appeared before them.
"At ease, soldiers. Anything to report?" asked the white-furred monkey leading the group.
"Nothing to report, Sergeant!" said one of the guards.
The large monkey looked them over and nodded.
Behind him, about twenty guards stood in two columns, flanking a group of five small creatures covered in brown fur.
(For a visual representation, they look like Star Wars' Wookies but stand at an average height of 1.2 meters.)
Their hands were chained, and most bore numerous open wounds, a testament to the torment they had endured.
At the same time, they dragged a large levitating cart filled with various trinkets and strange equipment.
"Here's the mission order," said the sergeant, pulling out a small reflective metal piece.
The guard nodded, took the item, and silently inserted it into a terminal on his left.
Moments later, the terminal emitted a green light, and the guard returned the piece.
"Everything checks out, Sergeant, but be careful out there. Apparently, the barbarians launched a raid earlier, and it got pretty messy. You might encounter some body parts."
"Hahaha!"
The monkeys burst into laughter as the heavy door slowly opened.
However, their laughter abruptly ceased when the door fully opened, revealing a gigantic scaly being emanating a nearly palpable bloody aura.
...
Moments earlier.
"There are twenty-six additional individuals. The five in the center seem even weaker than the others, barely mortals, but the one leading them has the strength of a rank 2 warrior. Still no spiritual energy," reported the lead cultivator.
Max nodded thoughtfully.
"They're probably about to exit, so let's keep it simple. As soon as the door opens, we go in. The mortals seem to be protected, so we'll keep them alive along with the rank 2. The others, we eliminate them and then we get out of here as fast as possible. Anyway, this is the best shot we'll get!" he concluded.
They quickly got into position, with the cultivators in front and the mages behind, while the five healers stood in the center of the formation, protected by two rank 3 mages.
Finally, the door began to fully open, and they heard their enemies laughing heartily.
Clack
When the door was fully opened, the mage responsible for concealment dispelled the spell, and the team appeared before everyone's eyes.
The monkeys froze momentarily, and the naga seized the opportunity to strike.
He imbued his spear with his internal energy and thrust it with all his might toward one of the columns of soldiers.
Before they could react, a thick beam of energy shot from the spear's tip and surged forward at high speed.
What could mere ranks 1 do against a full-power attack from a rank 3?
The energy beam pierced through them one by one and, without losing any momentum, slammed into the wall.
BOOM
The entire corridor shook as a dozen bisected bodies fell to the ground, spilling their internal organs.
Meanwhile, Max had formed a spell model in his sea of consciousness and raised his staff.
A long column of fire materialized in the air and shot toward the right column of soldiers.
Their bodies were utterly consumed by the flames, leaving only charred remains and molten metal fragments.
BOOM
Again, the corridor trembled violently, causing the five brown-furred mortals to lose their footing.
Only the five mortals and the soldiers' leader remained, while the two guards had long been eliminated by the rest of the team.
However, this leader was no novice. Reflexively, he raised his strange metal staff and pointed it at the expedition.
Instinctively, he knew he couldn't do anything to the two in front of him, so he aimed behind them, where a head with a pair of violet horns appeared.
Sensing danger, Max quickly cast a simple rank 2 spell to disarm him, but it was already too late.
BAM
Milliseconds after the first shot was fired, Max's spell hit the weapon, reducing it to powder.
The monkey let out a howl as his hands turned to charred coal and his weapon melted, but it wasn't long before the naga reversed his spear and struck him hard on the head with the shaft, knocking him out.
On the other side of the door, a Valyr acolyte collapsed as the upper half of his head had vanished.
His brain had burst, splattering onto the nearby team members.
The scene is lengthy to describe, but everything happened in mere tenths of a second.
Shortly after, a naga at the pinnacle of body refinement, who had been standing just behind the fallen Valyr, plunged two fingers into the bloodied chest, retrieving a deformed metal object.
Before the team could react, a shrill alarm blared throughout the base as a gruff voice repeatedly broadcast an incomprehensible message.
Max grabbed the unconscious monkey leader and roared, "Let's get out of here."
A few cultivators rushed toward the mortals and secured them, then everyone sped toward the entrance of the conduit.
To their horror, sections of the corridor began to seal off every hundred meters.
"Hurry up!" one of the cultivators yelled.
Everyone surged to their maximum speed.
The adjutants regulated their speed, staying in the lead.
In less than two seconds, all the security doors had closed, leaving them trapped three hundred meters from the conduit.
"Damn it," said the only rank 3 novarian in the group.
Since they had been discovered, there was no point in being discreet. He raised his staff and cast the most powerful spell he knew.
A large, pointed cone of swirling water condensed before their eyes, and he hurled it at the door.
BOOM
Once again, the corridor shook, but the door now had a large hole in its center.
The team's morale soared as they rushed forward again.
A powerful spear strike and an enormous ice spell later, the team found themselves at the foot of the conduit.
Fortunately for them, there were no obstacles inside the conduit.
Max handed the unconscious monkey leader to a cultivator and roared again, "Climb up quickly, one after the other, we're out of time. I'll be right behind you."
The urgency in his voice was palpable. It had been less than twenty seconds since the alarm started, but he had a bad feeling.
However, the ranks 2 couldn't fly, so they had to climb the ladder one by one.
At the same time, they couldn't move at full speed on a ladder.
Nevertheless, no one panicked or pushed the others.
Aside from the three ranks 3 who climbed first to bring the hostages up, only Max and a naga adjutant remained to cover their retreat.
About thirty seconds after the alarm began, Max heard noises in the corridor.
The two furthest doors opened, while the other three creaked but didn't budge, too damaged.
He turned his head and saw that there were still a dozen members left on the ground.
And there could only be one reason why the doors, meant to prevent their escape, were opening.
"Move it, they're coming," he said.
No sooner had he said this than he saw several large black silhouettes appear at the end of the corridor.
He suddenly saw a golden flash, and his danger sense flared, sending massive warning signals as he felt his hair stand on end.
He quickly infused mana before him, forming a thick barrier reinforced by his own mental power.
BANG BANG BANG
Even before hearing the gunshots, he saw his magical barrier tremble as dozens of ripples formed on its surface, and flattened pieces of metal fell to the ground.
Using his spiritual sense, he saw that the naga cultivator had also deployed a spiritual energy barrier, blocking the shots.
However, they had only protected themselves in the heat of the moment. Behind them, only three people were still alive, while the others had been turned into bloody sieves.
It wasn't that these three were special, but simply that they were behind them.
"Climb! We'll cover you!" Max shouted.
He immediately reinforced his barrier and extended it across the entire corridor, giving the three survivors enough time to climb.
At the same time, he couldn't help but be fascinated by these strange projectiles. Their power wasn't extraordinary, barely rank 2, but their speed was more than enough for them being unable to react.
Even though the soldiers from Alandal could withstand them, they hadn't had time to react and were turned into sieves.
Even the nagas, known for their defense, couldn't withstand the barrage with just their scales.
The only difference would be the extent of the damage, but against hundreds of bullets, that didn't change much.
However, against ranks 3 at their peak, it was a completely different story. While the bullets could eventually exhaust them to death, it wasn't so dire.
Max was almost certain that the nagas could withstand the bullets with their scales as long as they were both great Warriors and foundation establishment realm cultivators.
In fact, that's exactly what the naga did. Seeing the bullets' low lethality, he dissipated his barrier and faced the gunfire head-on.
TAC TAC TAC
The bullets ricocheted off his scales, at best scratching or slightly cracking them.
He simply condensed his internal energy over his vital areas, namely his eyes.
However, nagas were violent and warlike by nature. How could he let himself be attacked without retaliating?
He grabbed a fallen naga's spear and threw it with all his might down the corridor after infusing it with his internal energy.
The weapon whistled through the air, traveling over three hundred meters down the corridor before striking one of the strange black beings.
It was instantly thrown back, crashing into two of its comrades, but it quickly got back up with the spear embedded in its chest.
"How is this possible?" thought the two ranks 3.
According to their spiritual sense, these beings were mere warriors with no trace of spiritual energy.
Even though it was only a rank 2 weapon and the distance had weakened the attack's power, it should have been more than enough to kill one or two of them.
The realization momentarily troubled their minds before they pulled themselves together.
"They may be tougher, but they're still ranks 2, and there are only about thirty of them."
However, they made no move to advance.
Their role was to cover their allies' retreat, not to massacre everything in sight.
Nevertheless, the black-armored beings quickly approached.
Upon closer inspection, they were large robotic suits standing about 2.3 meters tall, painted black.
They carried long, wide black tubes similar to the one the monkey leader had earlier, but bigger, seemingly more powerful, and with a faster firing rate.
As they rapidly closed in, the suits made strange mechanical noises and air depressurization sounds while the ground trembled slightly under their heavy weight.
That didn't stop them from firing as they advanced, even though it was clear that it had no visible effect on the Valyr and the naga.
When they reached less than a hundred meters from the two men, they put away their strange black weapons and drew various melee weapons.
Some pulled out swords from their backs, others short daggers, or even a short telescopic lance.
At the same time, the naga drew his spear and took the lead, while Max dissolved his large barrier, leaving only a protective shield around himself after ensuring they were the last ones in the corridor.
For his part, the naga was finally done waiting. He leaped directly toward the armored beings, condensing his internal energy into his weapon, enhancing its strength and sharpness.
BAM
He thrust forward and impaled one of the figures right in the abdomen, then swept sideways, opening a large wound and cutting another in half.
Max also condensed several fireballs and sent them toward the three closest suits.
Two heads exploded, while the last missed, hitting the shoulder and simply severing an arm.
On the other side, the suit that had nearly been cut in two lunged and slashed at the naga with its large sword.
The naga was clearly unprepared for someone half-dead to still have such a strong will to fight and urgently parried the blow with his left arm.
His eyes filled with blood as he felt the blade pierce through his scales, skin, and muscles before lodging in the bone.
But the injury didn't intimidate him; it only made him more ferocious.
He swung the spear with his other hand, decapitating another foe, then lunged at the one who had dared to wound him and opened his jaws wide.
The other, clearly weakened after suffering such a severe injury, couldn't dodge the unexpected move.
The naga clamped his jaws down on its head, crushing the steel as a fountain of blood and brain matter sprayed through the cracks in the helmet.
As the overhead lights were destroyed one by one, the naga's red eyes seemed to glow in the darkness, and as fearless as they were, all the monkeys inside the suits felt a chill run down their spines.
But this brief interlude didn't last long before a fire lance appeared out of nowhere, skewering three of them before exploding.
The battle raged on, but it was clear to everyone that one side was at a distinct advantage.
Despite this, the monkeys fought to the death, and none of them retreated.
Less than ten minutes later, the fifty meters near the conduit were completely devastated.
Pieces of armor, long blood trails, and severed limbs were scattered everywhere, while the walls and floor were covered with bullet impacts and deep gashes.
Several sections of the ceiling and walls had large cracks and dents or had melted.
All that remained was a blood-covered naga and a pale Valyr.
The naga was covered in several wounds that still bled, and while the Valyr appeared in better condition, he had actually exhausted two-thirds of his mana, while most of the naga's wounds were negligible.
Only the large gash on his left forearm was somewhat problematic.
The two men looked at each other and nodded before turning around and climbing up the conduit.