A few hundred miles away from the hidden tunnel's location, a cloaked figure with a deep wound on his chest appeared.
"Damn it! Where did that monster come from!" He cursed before taking out a bottle filled with glowing gray liquid, carefully attaching it to the cavity below his mask, and then pushing it.
The gray liquid quickly emptied in his mouth, and the wound on his chest began to heal at visible speed, and soon it was completely closed.
'Damn bastard, he had me used this precious beyond unique rank healing elixir, not to mention that billions of ZC worth talisman! And here I thought I would leave without incurring any losses. Nonetheless, since I'm already out the range, I can activate all the rune booms and hope that bastard will be caught up in the explosion. Even if he won't be killed, he'll draw those fanatics' attention!'
Malice shimmered in his eyes as he was about to remove the runic plate, but he suddenly felt a bit sluggish.
'I'm tired so quickly?' He thought in confusion, but then he realized that his vision was slowly turning dark, and the next moment, he fell into enteral slumber.
Suddenly, his eyes opened again, but they were completely lifeless without any emotion, and he muttered emotionlessly, "How spraining, sir would gonna wanna hear this!"
The next moment, he quickly swims in the same direction where he just escaped from!
---
After the small battle, Jacob didn't do anything. He just sat there calmly and waited while he slowly recovered his stamina.
'Let's see, it won't be too long now. I'm really curious about this guy's background and what he was up to…' Jacob thought with a little anticipation. He knew he might've caught a big fish this time, and he was very interested in which organization that guy belonged to.
After all, a Beyond Unique Rank expert must have a high status in any organization on the surface, and that information could do wonders in his hands. Not to mention, it's been over two decades since he came to the deep ocean, so he was a little curious about the situation up there, especially any news about the legendary key.
Although he had the key, it was still dormant, and he checked on it every day by taking it out of the pendant and seeing if there was any reaction.
Furthermore, his star watch hasn't been activated in these last two decades since he didn't want others to distract or disturb me, not to mention he was still wary of the star hackers.
After a few hours, Jacob suddenly looked towards the sealed door, and his lips curled up as he sensed Autarch's arrival. He wasn't worried about Autarch, and he didn't have to worry about him not getting inside even if a runic lock locked the door.
After Autarch became a Unique Rank, he was able to access the space rings with the mystic signatures of his victims. Strangely, though, Autarch didn't seem to have his own mystic signature; he could mimic his victim's mystic signature if he were using that body.
Although it was somewhat disappointing since Jacob would've been able to unlock all the rings with mystic signatures if Autarch had his own, it was still enough if he got what was inside the rings of important persons.
At this moment, the sealed door suddenly opened, and the cloaked figure appeared, making Jacob's cold and cruel smile grow even more.
Autarch removed the hood from the head and revealed the handsome face of an elf who was wearing a corporeal mask around his face.
"So, who was he?" Jacob asked calmly.
"His name is Dewey, and in his organization, he was known as Anonymous Star No.5, one of the Nine Anonymous Stars of the Star Hackers, which we also knew as ATLAS!" Autarch emotionlessly revealed.
Jacob, who was calm, suddenly widened his eyes when he heard this. He was utterly incredulous as if he had heard something wrong.
"Come again?" He asked again as he stood up.
Autarch repeated the same words without hesitation, and Jacob remained silent for a long time. It was simply too startling for him. After all, he wasn't expecting to encounter a Star Hacker in this place, not to mention that he seemed to be pretty high up in the rankings.
If Jacob were vigilant against any organization, the ATLAS would be on top because it was simply too mysterious and careful. It didn't leave behind any clues about its activities and operated like a ghost. Lastly, its black technology made it even more dangerous, and the Star Network considered it enemies. Even the SAAI was against it.
After calming down a little, ecstasy shone in his eyes as he looked towards Anonymous Star No.5, who was now dead and replaced by Autarch.
He quickly said in a stern tone, "Tell me everything you know about ATLAS and what they were up to. Leave nothing behind. I want to know every detail about their organization, ranks, and hideouts!"
Jacob would never miss this once-in-a-lifetime chance to get ahold of his enemies' details, especially the enemy who posed a threat to every organization in the lesser plains.
Autarch nodded and started to tell him everything in Anonymous Star No.5's memories that he deemed useful. He began by explaining Dewey's recruitment and how, because of his genius intellect, he was able to climb the ranks of the Star Hackers and earn the position of an Anonymous Star.
It took a few hours to explain everything, but Jacob didn't care since he was carefully memorizing everything about the ATLAS. Furthermore, he also learned about their hideouts and very high-level spies in the three factions who were directly under Anonymous Star No.5's control.
The more he heard, the more astonished he became, and his expression started to change when he heard that the Star Lord had sent all nine anonymous stars here two decades ago, around the same time he had vanished from the Dark City.
When he heard about the Ocean Oracle and learned that she could pinpoint the Legendary Key's location, Jacob's expression became icy and foreboding.
Although he had heard about the Ocean Oracle, he thought it was just a rumor, not to mention that the Ocean Oracle's location or affiliation were all secret.
But he never expected that the Ocean Oracle was the true leader of the Siren Hymn Temple. She even seemed to have some say in the three empires. Her position was simply too high and important!
Even Masha, a member of the Siren Race, didn't know about Ocean Oracle's presence in the Siren Hymn Temple. In fact, even the Priest Lords didn't know, but somehow, the Star Lord was able to pinpoint her location, which was even more startling.
But they didn't actually leave and started to make plans to abduct her by sowing discord among the Siren Hymn Temple.
They were planning to cause a huge commotion by starting a war among large regions and when everything would be hectic, they would've abducted the Ocean Oracle.
However, this plan was not easily or could be achieved in the short term, so they spent over two decades and took advantage of the corporation in the large regions.
However, they were very close to their objective when the Star Lord suddenly called off the entire mission and told them to leave the Siren Hymn Temple and return.
But unexpectedly, Jacob suddenly appeared in the same passage that Anonymous Star No.5 was planning to use as an escape route after using explosions to cause trouble for the Siren Hymn Temple because he was frustrated about the mission cancelation.
In fact, all the nine anonymous stars were involved in this little stunt they wanted to pull off before leaving the Star Ocean just to let loose some pent-up steam.
In the end, this little revenge act of theirs ended up benefiting Jacob, and now he knew everything that could push the entire ATLAS into an endless abyss of despair!