LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 104: The Burned Base
***
Three days later.
The outer area of the Tenth Floor City.
Sara and the members of the 13th squad had finished preparing their equipment. Karen approached Arthur and showed him her new sword, a sword with a red blade and the element of fire added to it.
Arthur smiled while bringing out the purple light of his dark magic again, "Do you mind if I test the sword's durability?"
"No! I don't want you to break my sword again, Arthur."
The young man smiled. He had to admit that the sword in Karen's hand was much better than the Sansevieria one, probably because of the elemental difference between the two, which gave the former sword a bad energy aura when Karen held it.
With a short swing of the sword to the side, Arthur saw a sparkle of red energy appear faintly, like a leftover particle of light. Karen was satisfied with the sword.
Not only Karen but Mona and Hana also had their newest equipment. Hana bought a staff with an amethyst gem on it, effectively enhancing water elemental abilities. Mona bought a necklace and earrings that would increase her abilities temporarily.
Morgan bought a cloak that would increase his defense, while Nolan bought a spear to make it easier for him to use his talents.
Sara arrived last among them. She said she bought a TP Elixir to increase her Talent. Currently, she has already done Ascension and is ranked as a B talent in the 3rd stage.
Arthur smiled, and all the members of the 13th Squad bought the equipment they needed. It would definitely help them a lot in the monster raid on the 11th floor later.
"Then what about you, Arthur? Did you buy anything good?" asked Karen, starting to get on good with him.
"Yes. I'd say it's a good item and will help me a lot," Arthur replied. He hadn't told them about Thalenia yet.
Sara smiled, greeting all of them who were planning to go upstairs to the next floor. Andrew gave a special mandate letter to the 13th squad.
He made the 13th squad, the envoy team, to go to the 25th floor. It made Sara feel honored and proud.
With the mandate letter, every Sky Sword base on every floor had to give their hospitality and friendly attitude to the 13th squad. Sara liked that even more, feeling safe when arriving at each floor.
[Travel across floors confirmed ]
[Floor access privileges confirmed]
[Floor destination: 11]
[Squad name: 13th Sky Sword Squad Tenth Floor]
[Captain's name: Sara]
[Total members: 6]
[Starting cross-floor travel ]
Those in the same group began to emit blue light from their bodies, a sign that the journey to the 11th floor was about to take place.
One by one, the members of the 13th squad disappeared in particles of blue light that evaporated into the sky.
Arthur opened his eyes, seeing himself and the others outside the closed 11th-floor Dark Pillar gate. Not a single adventurer was there, either to raid or travel across floors.
Compared to the situation on the tenth floor, the 11th floor was even more deserted. There was no crowd whatsoever, considering no city had been established in this place.
Sara arrived at the floor, looked forward, and witnessed the wilderness, which was the first thing she saw.
"Where are we going?" asked Mona, worried.
"Andrew gave me a map of the eleventh floor."
[Map opens]
[Map: 11th Floor]
[Number of group bases: 30]
[Number of Red Zone: 5]
[Number of Green Zone: 10]
[Objective:]
[1. Night Liberators Headquarters]
[2. Dimension Justice Headquarters]
[3. Sky Sword Headquarters]
[4. Archangel Headquarters]
[5. Dark Guardian Headquarters]
There were many destinations that Sara and her squad members could go to. The Sky Sword base was displayed on the digital map in a golden blue dot color.
The woman pointed to the place, saying that they should visit Sky Sword to stay until the raid opened.
Arthur agreed, as did the other members. The best option they could do was to stay overnight and ask for protection from Sky Sword on the 11th floor.
Sara pressed the destination, Sky Sword Base. Slowly, a pointer panel appeared in front of Sara, in the form of a green 3D arrow that would lead them through the Green Zone to reach their destination.
The woman stepped in front accompanied by Karen, in contrast to Arthur, who stepped behind to guard in case something happened. However, Arthur thought the journey to the base would be safe as they passed through the green zone area.
'It looks like this trip will be safer than I expected,' Arthur replied.
Sara kept on walking, guiding her members to avoid getting lost. At every intersection, the guide panels pointed Sara and the 13th Squad in the right and safe direction. Arthur continued to watch from the back row.
The woman said that they would reach Sky Sword base in ten minutes. Sara was looking forward to seeing them as she handed over Andrew's mandate letter.
Slowly, Arthur sensed something strange in the surrounding area. Sara explained that this route led directly to Sky Sword's base, but Arthur saw that the trees around him were burned to the ground, leaving only leafless tree trunks.
"What's really happening here?" asked Arthur, curious.
Sara stopped her steps. She and the rest of the 13th squad members were already outside the wilderness.
Sara's eyes looked forward and saw a building which looked charred and exhausted as if it had been set on fire by someone or a group of people.
The smile that was originally on her face faded, Sara ran fast, leaving her squad to quickly arrive at the place. Arthur and the others chased after Sara by raising their guard.
Arriving at the Sky Sword base, Sara cast her eyes around and saw people lying dead with bodies rotting.
The fire smoke had dissipated, but Sara was pretty sure this place had been burned down by someone —the ashes of the collapsed building were still piling up.
Arthur arrived at the place. He was utterly shocked to realize that Sky Sword's base was destroyed, flags burned, buildings collapsed, and people died horribly.
"Split up immediately and see if anyone is still alive!" ordered Sara, obeyed by the other members.
"What happened?" asked Arthur, approaching Sara.
"I don't know. Andrew didn't tell me about this."
"I'll help with the search!"
[Servant Activated]
[2. Gregori Rasputin]
[MP -12000]
[Name: Aaron]
[MP: 218000/230000] [-12000]
Rasputin's figure appeared before Arthur, sitting on his knees in front of him. With Arthur's brief command to him, Rasputin nodded and flew away to check on the situation in that place.
Sara's face turned worried, fearing that all of this was the result of the group war. Arthur squinted, thinking that the three major groups were friendly and allied.
"No, no. The alliance of the three groups was only established on a few floors. Many of them are enemies on other floors," Sara replied.
"Is there a policy from the Sky Sword Guild center about this alliance?"
Sara shook her head. They were simply too proud to make an alliance as the goal of the three groups was one, to reach the Dark Ruler.
Only one person from one group could reach that, and the most likely was the President of Dimension Justice, Alfredo Mash.
"I must report this incident to—" Explore more stories with empire
"I didn't expect any Sky Sword members to be alive!" said a man, emerging from the base gate.
Not one, but ten men came in their black and red uniforms. Arthur clicked his tongue; he was really tired of dealing with them —Night Liberators.
"Night Liberators are troublemakers!" complained Arthur.
"What's going on here?" asked Arthur, sternly.
"Huh? Are you an idiot? The Night Liberators are the rulers of the 11th Floor."
"To become ruler, you must destroy other threats," said the man, smirking.
Suddenly, hundreds of Night Liberators appeared above the Sky Sword base wall. Arthur alerted, ordering Rasputin to return nearby. Morgan and the others also returned near Sara.
"This is bad!"
"They're trying to kill us."