Cynthia stopped in the middle of the ground floor of the building.
In front of her were three doors leading into Extractor shafts, while to her side were two doors leading to staircases.
One of the biggest weaknesses of the building was that these were the only ways to move floors, making it easier to guard them.
Although, that could also be considered a strength since the enemy only needed to guard this area to hold off all invasions.
Cynthia eyed all of the doors, while Steve charged through one door after the other, checking through all of the rooms.
Steve kicked in all the doors, inspected the rooms, and left again.
Whenever he checked a room, he used his Barrier to scan for signs of any Barriers.
If it felt any other Barrier inside the room, it would send an alarm to Steve.
When Steve kicked in a door, his insides seemingly constricted in nervousness.
He knew that he had to kill people today, but he was still hoping that he wouldn't find any powerful person.
Bang!
Steve kicked in another door.
DIIING!
Steve's Barrier warned him, and he immediately focused on the back of the room.
There was a person at the back of the room, but to Steve's highly trained senses, they were moving extremely slowly.
In an instant, Steve arrived in front of the person.
The person froze.
Veterans had an acute sense for Zephyx, and they could somewhat estimate the power of another Extractor based on the density of Zephyx they felt.
These senses couldn't pinpoint someone's exact level, but they were precise enough to tell them that the other person was either so weak that they were not a threat or so strong that fighting was meaningless.
And, right now, the person felt that Steve was so strong that they couldn't even attempt fighting.
So, the person immediately threw up their arms in surrender.
Steve grabbed the person's arm, ran out of the room, and threw them towards the exit. "Surrender to the guards! Wait for further instructions!" he shouted.
At that moment, the person felt a wave of relief wash over them, but they quickly followed Steve's order and came out of the building with their hands raised.
The guards quickly took the person into custody.
This was only a Mid Veteran.
Steve was a Late Expert.
Steve continued opening doors.
BANG!
Suddenly, one of the doors to the stairwell exploded, its splinters hitting the surrounding walls.
At the same time, thick purple fog flooded the first floor, making it difficult to see anything.
Immediately, Cynthia's Barrier activated, and an image was overlayed.
Her Barrier showed her people rushing out of the stairwell.
Cynthia felt her heart beating in her ears.
The enemy!
This was the enemy!
She had to stop them!
She shot at the first person.
BANG!
But hit the wall behind them.
She had missed.
Next, Cynthia saw the silhouette of the person turning towards her.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Bullets scattered around Cynthia, and a couple of them even hit her Barrier.
At that point, Cynthia panicked.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
And shot back.
The silhouettes that her Barrier was portraying turned into shiny pieces before vanishing.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
After Cynthia had killed the seventh person, no one else dared to come to the ground floor.
Cynthia's ears were ringing constantly, and her eyes were torn open.
She wasn't thinking about anything.
Her body was looking for any remaining attackers.
"Status?!" Steve shouted as he arrived near Cynthia.
Out of reflex, Cynthia pointed her gun at Steve, but she quickly regained control and lowered it before she could truly lock onto him.
"I-I'm fine!" she answered. "They came through the right staircase. I dealt with everyone that passed through."
Cynthia was trying her best to sound professional, but her voice shook occasionally.
When Steve heard that, his own anxiety lessened.
For some reason, hearing Cynthia's repressed fear and anxiety calmed Steve down and gave him a clear mind.
"Good work! Continue!" Steve ordered as he returned to checking through the rooms.
BOOOOOM!
The sound of a sniper rifle firing entered the building.
Steve and Cynthia knew that Mendor had just shot someone.
When Cynthia heard that, she calmed down a bit.
She was not the only one in this situation.
The purple fog quickly lifted as it turned back into Prephyx. Obviously, the fog had been an ability of an enemy Extractor.
As the fog lifted, Cynthia finally saw the corpses.
She felt like the organs in her chest shook in horror.
She had seen corpses many times in her past, but she had never seen the corpse of someone whom she had killed.
Brains, blood, bones, organs, fluids…
Headless corpses.
Bloody chunks.
What she was looking at didn't even feel human.
It was just meat.
BOOOM!
Suddenly, Cynthia's Barrier activated, and she saw a huge bullet turning into scrap as it hit her Barrier.
It was the bullet of a sniper rifle.
Cynthia felt that she lost some Zephyx and immediately turned to the other staircase.
BANG!
Out of instinct, she shot through the new hole in the door and saw a shower of blood appearing behind it.
A moment later, Cynthia realized how much Zephyx she had lost.
Around 3%.
That was barely anything.
That meant that the person who had shot at her had been an Early Veteran at most.
She realized all of this, but she only felt greyness in her chest.
This incident was put in the back of her mind, and she focused on the task at hand again.
No other incident happened until Steve was done checking through all of the rooms on the ground floor.
"Ground floor clear. Mendor, is the outside secure?" Steve asked.
"Perimeter has been established," Mendor answered as he looked at the surroundings of the building.
By now, the entire surroundings were covered with guards, and no one had escaped from the building for over a minute.
Naturally, while the squad had to do the dirty work, they were not completely alone.
They were working for Aegis, and the city guards were supporting them.
While the guards would not kill anyone, they would still apprehend anyone who would escape the building.
"Good! Advance!" Steve ordered.
Mendor put his rifle away and jumped over the wall.
He landed in front of the main entrance and entered.
When Mendor saw the staircases and Extractor shafts, he laid down and pulled out his rifle.
This building was hard enough to resist the power of Mid Experts, which meant that the vast majority of people could only change floors via windows, staircases, or shafts.
Naturally, if they broke through the windows, the city guards would take care of them.
Steve had secured the entire floor, which meant that the enemies could only be on the other floors now.
This meant that Mendor would not get ambushed.
Only the Chief Zephyx Extractor and the rogue Fanatic could break through the floors and walls.
While Mendor waited here, Steve and Cynthia charged into the Extractor shaft to go to the next floor.
As soon as Steve entered the Extractor shaft, he saw several people aiming their guns at him.
Steve narrowed his eyes and jumped upward.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The people unleashed a hail of bullets, but none of them were fast enough to hit Steve, who was over three levels stronger than the strongest of the ambushers.
BANG!
Steve broke the Barrier of the first person, grabbed them, and threw them at the ground of the Extractor shaft.
This was only an Initial Veteran, which meant that they were not minions.
They didn't have to die.
Steve quickly reached the next people and did the same to them.
After just two seconds, four people were thrown down.
BANG! BANG!
While Steve was looking for any more enemies, he heard gunshots from below him.
One of the Veterans had somehow recovered some Zephyx and was shooting at someone outside the Extractor shaft.
BANG!
And then, their head exploded.
When Steve saw that, his insides churned.
They had attacked him, but since he didn't have the guts to kill them, he had just incapacitated them.
'I'm a failure!' he shouted at himself.
They had attacked him, but since he didn't have the guts to kill them, he had just incapacitated them.
And because of that decision, they were attacking his teammate, Cynthia, which forced her to kill them!
It was his job to kill them!
But due to his weakness and insecurity, he had put another life on Cynthia's conscience.
Steve gritted his teeth and jumped down.
CRKSH!
He landed on top of the people and cut all their heads off with his rapiers.
He had already messed up and forced Cynthia to do his work for him.
He would not do so again!
Steve looked out of the door and looked at Cynthia.
She nodded at him.
He nodded back.
Then, Steve jumped upward again and entered the second floor.
A moment later, Cynthia entered as well and joined him.
As Mendor kept watch over the staircase and shafts, he heard more shots.
Cynthia and Steve were fighting on the other floors.
BANG!
And then, the floor below him exploded, and his Barrier activated.