Chapter 156: Alice’s Desperation, Self-Destruct
They passed by Isaac as they entered the hive tunnels.
He didn’t look at them.
His attention was fully focused on maintaining control over the roots. Coupled with the fact that he was controlling ambient mana in air and underground, his mana expenditure had increased significantly, but it was no problem for him.
His Mana stat was already at 1,000. And coupled with his Physiques, which made increased the value of every single Mana stat of his, he was a walking mana reservoir with nearly 5,000 Mana for normal humans.
Isaac opened another channel.
"Team Alpha. Team Beta. Once you’ve destroyed the node cores at your respective locations, head directly for the Central Node."
There was a short pause.
Vale, the leader of Alpha Team, replied. "We’ve scouted part of the area around the Central Node. The traps there are intense. If we’re rush through the traps, we’ll lose people."
"I’ll guide you through the traps," Isaac replied. The Wisp Spirits Emily had deployed earlier had mapped the patterns. "Follow my instructions precisely."
"Understood."
He wasn’t done.
"Team Delta," he said, switching channels again. "Please move toward the location of Scout 4. I’ve marked it on your HUD."
They acknowledged.
Isaac took a breath. He didn’t have time to rest. A mental strain was building. Not just from using multiple abilities or holding his control over the battlefield, but from the constant attention required to micromanage multiple simultaneous team operations.
Still, he pressed on.
The map he had constructed with Wisp Spirits, and secondhand reports was almost complete now.
With it, he could pinpoint almost every route, and every defensive trap.
His plan was working.
But it came at a cost.
He looked at Emily’s section of the battlefield again.
She was still standing, and fighting.
But her movements were slowing.
Her summon had already lost one leg. Her claws were flickering in and out. Even with mana recovery at 40 per minute, even with potions and life drain, her body was nearing its limit.
The Guardian Machina wasn’t giving her any space to breathe.
Its assault was relentless.
It attacked not with emotion or anger, but with precision and efficiency. It knew Emily’s tempo. It had seen every attack she used. It was adapting, calculating, and pressing forward.
But so was Emily.
’Just a little longer,’ Isaac thought.
Not far away, another battle was unfolding.
Alice swung her warhammer and crushed a flesh cyborg’s skull into the wall. Gore splattered across the tunnel’s uneven surface. She didn’t even glance at it.
She knelt briefly to pull someone up.
It was Liara, Delta Team’s leader. Her left side had been torn open, and her weapon was missing. Alice dragged her up with one hand and shoved her towards the healer in the back.
Alice didn’t use her healing skill on Liara. It was a multiple target skill, and the team had decided to save it for emergencies.
"Take care of her," Alice muttered.
Liara coughed, startled. "Th-thank you—"
But Alice had already turned away. She didn’t wait for thanks.
Her hammer was already in motion again, smashing another charging cyborg into a twitching mess.
’She is amazing,’ Liara stared at her, stunned.
Alice wasn’t even using a skill. Her hammer moved with practiced force.
Each swing was like a brutal berserker’s attack, but they were calculated, and refined moves.
Her footwork was solid. It was as if she was fighting in an open plain, instead of a narrow tunnel.
And she was a support?
Liara couldn’t believe it.
If Liara herself used all her offensive skills, she might be able to match to Alice. But could Liara really be proud of that when Alice was a support, and Liara was a warrior?
Liara could only watch as Alice tore through the enemy ranks without hesitation.
’She’s amazing,’ Liara thought. ’Her style is brutal, but it’s controlled. She isn’t struggling at all, even with a warhammer that size. In tunnels this cramped... that’s not something just anyone can manage.’
She wasn’t the only one watching in awe.
Other Delta members felt it too.
’She makes it look easy.’
’I want to be that strong.’
’She’s... beautiful.’
But Alice didn’t care what they were thinking. She didn’t even notice their awe and reverence. Her focus was absolute.
Her objective was clear.
She had to reach Emily.
’Please be okay. Please don’t fall before I get there.’
Alice didn’t know when it had changed. At first, she’d kept her distance. She hadn’t liked how Emily received Isaac’s affection. Part of her still didn’t.
But when she pictured Emily injured or worse, that tight heat in her chest bubbled over into something sharp.
Fear.
Her grip tightened.
’I’m going to save her.’
Her dragon instincts roared. Her pupils thinned into slits. The aura leaking from her skin caused the surrounding monsters to hesitate, stepping back for a heartbeat. Some even flinched.
They didn’t know what they were seeing.
But they felt it.
Something dangerous was approaching.
Alice let her power surge again. Her hammer became a blur of movement like a storm of steel and fury. Each swing left splinters of bone and shredded metal behind. She was holding nothing back now.
’Just stay alive, Emily. That’s all I’m asking.’
If Emily could survive until then, Alice would handle the rest.
Back at the command post, Isaac was fully immersed in the network of team feeds, mana signatures, and mental overlays.
His mind had been running at full speed for nearly half an hour now. He kept giving instructions, modifying plans, rerouting paths through different tunnels based on monster locations and trap detection.
"Team Alpha, rotate west through Tunnel 4B. You’ll bypass the spike traps near the fissure and avoid the second monster group."
"Beta, hold position for thirty seconds and let the beasts cross first. You’ll move through behind them, silent and clean."
"Zeta, speed up. You’re behind schedule by twenty seconds."
He was coordinating nearly every group himself. But only he could do it. Only someone with a Spirit Power stat over 600 and the Mind Echo title could handle this kind of real-time load across so many squads.
The Command noticed his abilities. Even Renald, and Celia were stunned into silence.
His speed, his efficiency. It wasn’t just impressive.
It was unreal.
But Isaac wasn’t thinking about that. There was no pride, or arrogance in his tone, only urgency.
He had to prove his qualifications today, and for that, today’s mission needed to be perfect.
They must win with a landslide victory.
’Master Isaac.’ A voice echoed into his mind.
It was Tirra, Emily’s ghost bird.
Isaac’s attention snapped to the link, immediately scanning Tirra’s sensory feedback. What he saw wasn’t good.
Emily was still fighting.
But something had changed.
The Guardian Machina had grown cautious at first. It had expected her to fall. But Emily hadn’t. Instead, she’d started improving mid-battle. Her evasion was sharper. Her anticipation even better.
She was moving before the monster attacked.
It didn’t know what was happening. It didn’t realize that Emily had unlocked the Mind Echo title after pushing her Spirit Power over 100. It didn’t know she could analyze and predict its movements in advance now.
She was adapting faster than it was.
And that made it angry.
Its movements turned erratic, sharp, and frustrated.
Emily noticed the monster’s reaction. She understood the cause behind it.
’Team Leader Jin must be close to the third Node Core,’ she thought. ’The monster’s trying to break away from here, and stop him.’
She couldn’t allow that.
With a breath, she raised her hand and summoned ten Zephyr Spirits.
The skill had leveled up a few days back. Now, the spirits didn’t create just small winds. They could unleash compressed wind blasts strong enough to stagger even Champion-rank monsters.
Whenever the Guardian Machina tried to escape toward the core, she ordered the Zephyrs to cut it off. The spirits blasted it back, again and again, forcing it to stay engaged with her.
The situation had reversed.
Earlier, the Machina had chased her down, trying to force close combat.
Now she was doing the same to it.
But victory came with risk.
Emily felt a sudden spike of mana in the Guardian Machina’s left arm. Her Demonic Eyes caught it just in time, but she was too close to escape.
Boom!
The monster’s left arm detonated in a contained mana burst. Mana cracked like thunder as it collided with her.
Emily’s Phantom Ward flared to life, but the shield shattered on impact.
The force hurled her across the chamber like a ragdoll. Her back slammed into the stone wall.
Bones cracked. Pain tore through her ribs. Blood ran down her chin as she coughed.
Her vision blurred. Her summon—the champion-ranked lizard—was dead. Its body was in pieces behind the Guardian.
She forced herself to stay conscious and raised her hand.
"Life... Drain..." she whispered, but she couldn’t focus properly due to the pain and blood loss.
The Guardian was already above her. Its remaining arm held a jagged sword, aimed at her heart.
Her body wouldn’t move fast enough to escape.
The monster roared and struck down—