Chapter 916 Into The Stronghold



Lee Seng and the group landed in an abandoned warehouse nearby. The group looked around while Lee Seng and Keng mapped the area around them. 

"Do you have another comm device?" Lee Seng asked Keng. "Give one to Jiro." Keng summoned the Void Storage and pulled a ring out. He turned to Jiro and stuck his hand out.

"You'll be on comms with us for the rest of the duration. Take this." Keng dropped the ring into Jiro's hand. He watched Ritsuka's older brother slip the ring on. He turned it and looked at Keng.

'Hear me?' Keng asked. Jiro nodded. 

"Good, now that that's outta the way…" Lee Seng turned to look at the rest of the group. "Everything that happens from here on out is unknown. We don't know who's here - Numbers, Deimons, other external factors. My goal is to find my father and stop him before it's too late."

"What're you thinking of doing?" Ritsuka asked. "I imagine you have some idea of how to stop this."

"Well, we're in the dark from here on out." Lee Seng told the entire group. Evan and Olivia didn't like that. Olivia began to speak when Lee Seng continued. "But, if we can deactivate and destroy the access points, it'll be harder for anyone to get in or out. We'll break communication from happening within and outside of the lab. After that, we'll descend deeper into the lab."

"Deeper? There's more to the three buildings?" Jiro asked.

"Technically four." Lee Seng looked at Jiro. "There's a reason why I came to the abandoned warehouse." Lee Seng moved past the group. "I think it's about here… Y'see, Akio showed me a secret way into a strange place when I was eight. No one was supposed to know about this secret entrance and we were attacked because of it…" He traced the rusted metal cylinder and stopped about halfway. "There." 

Lee Seng blasted the cylinder and watched as a large trace of Dark Matter grew from the spot. Lines formed from the Dark Matter and spread like a spider forming its web. The web connected with the floor and grew past Lee Seng. He turned and watched as a set of mechanical clicks went off.

"What the hell is that?" Evan asked. "How did you 'accidentally' come across this?"

"This is the reason why Akio has a scar." Lee Seng looked at his friends. The Dark Matter pulled the secret door open. A dim light appeared below, drawing the entire group over to it. 

"Do you know where to go?" Olivia asked.

"Not entirely. I came here by myself without Akio knowing and traced a couple of the floors below."

"So you don't know." Liz sighed. "Isn't there another way? An easier way?"

"What? You want to walk through the front door and announce we're here?" Lee Seng glanced at Liz. She sighed and shook her head. Lee Seng peeked and listened. "There isn't a soul down here… why?" Lee Seng jumped in first, landing on the metal flooring without a sound. He flicked his fingers and soundproofed the entire room. He motioned for the others to follow and stepped out of view.

One by one, the group dropped until it was just Ritsuka and Jiro. A loud pounding noise came from the other side of the warehouse. 

"Go!" Jiro pushed his brother forward. "I'll be behind you!" Ritsuka fell through the hole, letting out a yelp.

"Jiro!" Ritsuka shouted.

"I hear someone over here!" A voice shouted. Jiro turned and snarled. He noticed the point Lee Seng had hit and summoned his longsword. Keng helped Ritsuka up, who was looking straight up.

"Jiro! Come down!" Ritsuka shouted. Jiro listened as multiple footsteps echoed in the abandoned warehouse. Jiro sighed and jumped backwards, falling into the hole. Lee Seng hit a button and Ritsuka watched his brother fall closer to him. Keng moved Ritsuka out of the way and slowed Jiro's descent. 

"What happened?" Evan asked Jiro.

"There were people." Jiro informed the group. He turned as Ritsuka's worried face lightened up. "I thought about taking them out, but that would break our surprise."

"We should get moving then." Lee Seng moved to the door. "If people came to check the warehouse, then that's not a good sign. It means someone knows we're here."

"I thought nobody knew this spot!" Evan whispered. 

"None of the other Numbers do." Lee Seng opened the door and peeked. "As for everyone else, I have no idea."

"Great." Evan sighed. Lee Seng was the first to exit the room, turning left. The group followed after, some glancing in the opposite direction. It was dead silent in the hallway. Lee Seng couldn't hear anything but their footsteps. He stopped at the corner and touched the wall. 

"No one is here…" Lee Seng whispered. "No one." He straightened out and sighed. "Why?" Red lights flashed, drawing everyone's attention upwards. 

"Warning: Strange Activity has been detected on Floor -19. Proceed with caution to the nearest safety point!" The automated voice spoke. 

"Strange activity… What could that mean?" Olivia asked. 

"Dunno." Lee Seng shrugged. "It's odd no one's here. We should make it over to the  stairs and go quickly before anyone comes back." Lee Seng led the group to the right and down the hall. He stopped at the door labeled, "stairway" and opened it.

"Why do you think it's so quiet?" Ritsuka asked. "When do you think they'll return?" Ritsuka was antsy. He continued to blab questions as they descended down the stairs. 

Around Floor -08 they heard screams. The entire group stopped while Lee Seng and Keng listened to something wet splatter across the wall. The twins looked at each other before the door pounded. 

"Kill them all…" A low voice spoke. Another slam came to the door, making it puff out. The pounding went for a while, breaking the door and throwing the dead body down the stairs. "Need more… Argh… Stupid Deimons… So stupid.." The figure barely fit through the doorway. It looked fleshy with long limbs. Its flesh pulsated while blood dripped down its neck and body.

"Kill them all…" The tall humanoid creature turned and walked away. Lee Seng slowly descended down the stairs, turning his head to follow the humanoid creature. It was walking away without a care in the world. The hallways here were destroyed and blood was splattered through the halls. 

Keng moved down the steps, turning the opposite direction. The dead body lay crushed against the wall with the door scattered off to the side. The others followed suit with Jiro looking the way they came.

'Is everything alright?' Olivia asked. 

'What should we do now?' Liz asked. Lee Seng shook his head and turned back. 

'This is the first place we've seen any sort of activity. I wonder what they're hiding here.' Lee Seng bit his lip in thought.

'We shouldn't go to floor -19… so we're going into this place?' Evan pointed.

'What do you think, niisan? What should we do?' Ritsuka looked at Jiro. Jiro thought for a moment and looked past Lee Seng.

'Where's the access point?' Jiro asked Lee Seng.

'We have to go to the other side through this floor. That humanoid creature is in our way though.' Lee Seng answered. Jiro nodded.

'How many access points are there?'

'There's three in this area and then we need to take an underground connection point to the lab. Then we can lock everyone from going in and out.' 

'That would draw a lot of attention.' 

'Exactly.' Lee Seng nodded. 'Then I'll show myself and see what happens after that.'

'You're going to throw yourselves to the wolves once you've done that?' Ritsuka looked at Lee Seng. 'T-that's crazy! That's what they want, right? Wouldn't it be better for you to keep it quiet and lurk around?'

'I don't know how far this place even goes. Hearing floor -19 even exists is a surprise to me. I've only ever come down to floor -10. I couldn't go further because I was going to get caught. That's the only reason why I know the access points are over here.'

'Alright, what do we do now then?' Jiro rounded the group back together. 

'Find the access points and lock everyone in.' Lee Seng answered.

'After that, do you think any of the mainframe systems has a map of this place?' Liz asked. 'We could use that to figure out what's happening.'

'Let's start with the access points and go from there.' Jiro motioned at the door. 'Lead the way. If that thing comes for us, I'll deal with it. You guys get to the access point. I can handle intelligent creatures just fine.'

'We're not that bad, either. We've killed intelligent monsters before.' Evan told Jiro. 

'Let's just find the access points first.' Olivia motioned. 'Lee.' Lee Seng nodded and began to step out when a dreadful energy appeared. A loud buzzing noise filled his ears.

"Oh what do we have here?" A girl's voice asked. "Prey!"