Chapter 270: oblivion

Among the 200 soldiers that survived, a notable fact was that none of the Spartan soldiers died. They were the only ones who noticed this abnormality though, the others were still kept in the dark.

“Who is that mysterious figure? How is he acquainted with our comrade?”

Despite the many questions in the Spartan soldiers’ hearts, they were still left standing in a daze in shock.

All the other 200 soldiers still stood shocked also, looking with disbelief on their faces at the destruction that was just wrath by this mysterious soldier.

“How strong is that figure, killing over 600 soldiers in one strike? 4th rank high-grade strength? 5th rank? Or even higher strength? What???”

The soldiers freaked out immediately as their thoughts kept on wandering to uncharted territory.

They couldn’t even confirm if the figure that appeared before them was a human due to the hood that covered his face. Despite his human frame, research already speculated that some aliens had the same shape.

“What the hell? Did we just meet an alien?”

Putting that aside for the moment, another factor that made them shocked was the pressure that was exuded by the black hooded figure.

Though their brain found it hard to accept it, they inwardly felt that the pressure which just hit at their consciousness was higher than that of a 5th rank high-grade soldier. What did that mean?

What just happened burned all the enthusiasm about getting their main mission target from their minds, the loot surrounding them now looked much less attractive to them.

If their speculation were correct, it meant that…

Boom! Creak! Creak! Creak!

All the soldiers were rudely drawn out of their dazed state. “What is happening? Is the mysterious figure back?” They panicked for a moment.

As soon as they became focused, they finally started deducing exactly what was happening.

Low rumbling sounds echoed across the hall like the growling belly of a hungry predator exobeast while blue lines representing energy snaked across the walls of the hall like slithering pythons.

The floor beneath their feet faintly vibrated like a minor earthquake was imminent, the hall now seemed like a different place entirely.

“Wait, is this what I think it is…?” The soldiers widened their eyes.

One of the leaders of the squads inclined his head upwards. Cracks were already expanding in the exotic metal that plated the ceiling, and dust was slowly dropping down…

Whoosh!

“Run!”

Even before his voice rang out to the surviving soldiers that were beside him, his legs were already carrying him away at an outrageous speed like the flash incarnate.

His voice jolted the others awake, they finally understood also. This research base was using its remaining energy reserves to sink and bury itself underground, and they were still here.

Every surviving soldier turned tail immediately and ran, some even abandoning their hard-earned loot as they escaped for their dear life. This was a situation of life and death.

If viewed up close, the soldiers’ veins were exposed as they ran with all the strength that their body mass could muster.

As they ran, the low rumbling sounds soon turned into booming sounds as everywhere was now basically vibrating.

Not all of them came here through the main entrance. Other hidden entrances were close to the main hall, just like the one Clark and Dickson came through.

As soon as the first soldier squad rushed into the closest room where the hidden entrance was, the others followed without even thinking.

Following blindly was better than trying to get to the main entrance. If they were stubborn, there was a 105% chance that they would all die before they got there.

If this research base sank with them still inside, they had no hopes of their petty armors protecting them.

With the sheer quality, resilience, and hardness of the exotic metals used to coat this research base, they were pretty sure that they’ll be crushed to bloody pieces even before they could let out a scream.

“Move! Run faster!”

As the signs of sinking became more evident, the now desperate soldiers started employing more brutal means to remove any obstacle from their way.

Swords were pulled as any slowpoke was slashed and stabbed to a sieve immediately, letting others pass. Another mini-battle started in the cramped-up room as soldiers scrambled to escape.

2 minutes later, only about half of the soldiers already entered the secret passageway but the endurance of the research base finally reached its limits.

Boom!! Boom!!

The sound was like rolling thunders in a fierce storm as the walls, ceilings, and every part of the research base came crashing down with a mind-blowing force that shook every nearby underground.

Dozens of unlucky soldiers were directly crushed to meat paste, having no chance at all to let out a sound before dying.

Others who already entered the secret passageway were either flattened by the pressure, shaken to death by the intense underground vibration, or fried to death by the last vestiges of the malfunctioning electricity in the research base.

Blood dyed everywhere but no one could see it, the research base buried everything, not letting anything escape.

Just as the effects of the sink were subsiding…

Boom…!!

Hidden extremely volatile bombs were ignited, taking the remaining parts of the research base by storm as thousand-degrees temperature fire swept across, roasting and cooking everything on sight to ashes.

This officially ended any hope of excavating anything useful from this buried underground research base, this was the end of the Aragan ruin.

Sounds of painful screams echoed across as some of the last few survivors were cooked to death before they could celebrate surviving the first onslaught, only a pitiful amount of the soldiers escaped intact.

The Mountain Everest mission finally came to an end, but with only a few survivors escaping.

…

As all the destruction induced by his actions raged, Professor Granit’s projection sat on the highest part of the large dome-like structure.

He sat on a throne-like chair with his legs crossed like a king, gently sipping at a high-quality wine absentmindedly. He smacked his lips as the spicy taste of the wine went through his throat.

The noise echoing about entered his ears but he could hardly make out a sound from it. His brain was not here at all, he was focused on another thing entirely.

“Ahh!” He sighed.

That was all, he didn’t say anything else.

A white light suddenly filled his vision, encompassing every area of the dome structure but he was hardly phased. He just kept on sipping at the fine wine that was on his hand.

The throne-like chair was melted by the heat while also evaporating the glass and wine from his hand, but he hardly cared.

He stood in the air and looked up at an enclosed space at the top of the dome structure. Another one of his successful products- The Enhanced Life Immortality Cabin.

As soon as the raging fire touched the white circular cabin, it didn’t melt immediately like the other things that were around, showing the quality of its outer coating.

It took about a minute but a crack finally showed on its smooth exterior surface.

The crack slowly expanded, before opening up the next moment as the raging fire from the explosion eagerly went inside to spread destruction.

Professor Granit did not show pain, he did not show sorrow, only a smile outlined his face as he raised his hands in the air.

“Magnus, Rose, I’m finally coming to meet you guys…, to reconcile. I hope that you welcome me”.

Pop!

His figure suddenly flickered before dissipating in less than a quarter of a second. The Professor was gone!

Professor Granit was gone for good!

…

Back in the hall. As soon as Clark showed him a direction that he should take, Dickson did not hesitate nor did he doubt as he went on the run immediately.

He already resigned himself for the worst-case scenario.

Till now, he still felt that he betrayed Clark by abandoning him. At times, he kept on telling himself that he was ready to die for the cause if the need ever came but deep in his heart, he knew that he was reluctant to die now.

No young man wanted to die young, he wanted to marry, he wanted to have children, retire as a fulfilled General of the Daland army or even as a successful Mercenary, then die as a satisfied old man.

Like every young man, he wanted to leave his name in history and live to witness his legend. Not die and let others witness it on his behalf.

Whack! He ruthlessly slapped himself on the cheeks.

“Dickson focus, this is not the time to think about other things!”

He felt bad, but he already made his decision and he would follow through it to the end. He would escape, get these loots out of here, regroup with Diana, Anna, and the others before making sure that they all leave the Everest safely.

As he ran, sometimes he looked backward to know Clark’s situation.

They were of different nationalities. He still didn’t understand it, but he knew that the both of them already established a strange bond of trust.

Focusing his mind, he continued escaping. It did not take long before he found a secret passage at the same location that Clark showed him.

Suppressing his curiosity about how Clark knew about this secret passage when the both of them came here together, he stuffed his 2 blotted bags into the tight tunnel before jumping inside.

He didn’t know how long but he was already crawling for some time.

When he started hearing the booming sounds and the strange vibrations surrounding him, he deduced what was happening immediately.

With panic now filling his mind, he pushed his efforts at escape to a new height.

Like a diligent worker ant that was digging enthusiastically, he pushed his 2 bags forward with his head as he used his hands to propel himself forward at a speed that he originally thought was impossible.

When the metal walls of the tight tunnel started making creaking sounds and started cracking up, he freaked out immediately.

He didn’t know what he was doing again. All that was in his mind was to escape, run, crawl faster, and escape again.

“I cannot die here! I have a lot of responsibilities on my shoulders! I cannot let Clark down, I promised him!”

With such focused devotion, his advancing speed continually broke limits as he flashed through the tunnel.

The metal gradually became tight, pressing him, cutting injuries into his skin, and suffocating him but he hardly gave a damn. Only faster, faster, and faster was on his mind.

Pop!

His head finally popped out to see a gloomy sky again.

He didn’t know when he opened the door, he acted only on his instincts for the past few minutes. But it seems that he was out, he finally came to his senses.

“I made it!”

The tunnel finally disappeared with a booming sound.

The ground under him shook, loud sounds battered at his ears as the research base finally succumbed and sank into oblivion.

It was over.

[Sorry for the delayed-release for the second chapter, I had a lot going on today.]