Chapter 447 - A Monster

To be honest, she'd love to see him as a military high general or even Athena commander.

But going by his track record of being a drop-out cadet and a shadow guardian who defied literally every rule written and unwritten, he'd not suit those roles well. Instead of commanding people, he'd likely join the battle himself.

As her thoughts spun, Varian's words snapped her out.

"We can ask her to suppress her tracker so that by the time it functions again, we'd already have reached Pluto," Varian said and then shook his head with a wry smile.

"But if we do that, Enigma will be in a weakened state. Without her strength, the success rate of the mission is too low."

To be honest, Varian had a worst-case option. He could train with Enigma and Blue Flash and take their help to advance. But to reach level 9, even he'd take a lot of time. 

And from his 'training partners', Varian discovered that fighting the same people would likely create bottlenecks and slow down progress.

But unless it was a last resort, Varian didn't want to wait for too long to solve Enigma's problem. There were many uncertainties in the solar system. Who knows? Maybe tomorrow, the abyssals might start something even crazier than cluster cities' conspiracy.

"Enigma's strength is indeed needed, but if she can't help," Blue Flash tilted her head and asked. "How about recruiting more people for the mission?"

"No." Varian shook his head. "If they leak our info, we're over."

In fact, Varian already checked the people he could trust—Evander, Anna, Richard. All of them were busy.

Enigma and Blue Flash themselves admitted that the trusted level 9s and level 8s weren't available.

If they were careless, they'd jeopardize the entire plan.

If the teammate was a little too patriotic, he or she might pretend that they joined their team and at the last minute, betray them.

They'd also die on Pluto, but they'd have no regrets. Because in their opinion, they sacrificed themselves to kill the one threat that could exterminate the human race. Enigma.

Humans sometimes were too extreme. Some betrayed and hated their race while others loved it more than anything.

So, Varian didn't dare to bet inviting anyone else.

Bali was different for multiple reasons.

One, he was about to be a Sovereign. Such a man wouldn't risk his life. Two, Varian believed that Bali was a straightforward person. If he joined, he wouldn't betray.

"I don't blame you. The options are truly limited." Blue Flash said, and her lips finally curled up.

She zoomed out the hologram and it now showed the Thunder Abyss, the arch-nemesis of Neptune.

Blue Flash's voice turned sinister as she said. "We'll do what the abyssals did to us. We'll enter Pluto from Thunder Abyss."

"Wait, what?" Varian raised a brow and stepped towards her, but a feeling of repulsion came to his body and he realized that he was also stepping into the Enigma zone, causing him to step back.

Shaking his head, he muttered. "Do what they did to us…entering Pluto from Thunder Abyss…"

"I SEE!" Varian slammed his palm and nodded with wide eyes. "cross tunneling!"

"Smart." Blue Flash nodded.

Indeed, their current problem would be solved if they could enter Pluto without Enigma having to suppress the tracker.

But the distance between Neptune and Pluto was very long. Even if they pretended to be just crossing Neptune and wandering in space, by the time they were even half an hour from Pluto, the abyssals would be on guard.

To this complex problem, Cross tunneling was the perfect solution.

Based on what he learned, Cross tunneling worked on connected spaces. So, cross tunneling was possible from Abyss to Abyss, Abyss to Dungeon, Dungeon to Dungeon. 

Back then, abyssals used cross tunneling to teleport from planets to low dungeons and assassinate geniuses.

After Dreamer revealed their secret locations, abyssals no longer continued their insidious plan.

The army and major powers also got their hands on cross tunneling formation and were frantically researching.

The primary reason humans were able to grow from the point of defending themselves in bunkers being on the verge of extinction to an equal footing where they contested fiercely on planetoids was the willingness of humans to relentlessly improve.

Varian didn't hear any news of breakthrough, but he knew that it was only a matter of time.

However, the time was clearly not now.

Or so he thought.

"Did the army already crack CTF?" He asked with a confused expression. 

Blue Flash shook her head and tapped her comm. "No."

"Then who?"

"Her." She pointed to the petite and thin girl in the hologram, causing Varian's jaw to drop.

"Maya? Are you kidding me?" Varian tried hard not to roll his eyes.

She was only a first-year student. Cracking CTF was something only old scientists could do…right?

"She joined Shadow Guardians long ago. And turned out to be a monster genius…as expected of my daughter-in-law." Blue Flash said with pride.

"…Long ago?" Varian muttered and suddenly, he remembered something from not so long ago.

After Demon King attacked planetoid Rena when Defense academy cadets went on a mission, Enigma killed the abyss princes.

When the news was announced, Kyle, Maya and he were in his newly reconstructed house.

The news received mixed responses. Some praised Enigma while others hated her. 

And Maya…she was hardcore defending Enigma.

Varian retrieved his memory of that day using his mind powers and analyzed it. She showed emotions other than just anger.

She looked personally hurt and angry. Emotions that could only be justified with her being in Shadow guardians.

It wasn't clear back then, but looking back, it was too obvious.

"Still, how the hell did she crack CTF before everyone else?" Varian couldn't help but ask. "Isn't that a monster-level achievement?"

Blue Flash rolled her eyes. "You, the guy who reached level 6 in less than months is calling her a monster? Compared to you, she's a cute puppy."

"…."