The Young Master in the Shadows

Lily and the girls were ready… The banging at the doors, although disturbing, didn't make them pause as they filled the control room with GEMs around the scroll which Lily placed in the middle of the room.

To be precise 149 Gems, Lily carefully calculated them using Victor’s formula, according to the building's dimensions.

The girls had no idea why they did this, they were only following Lily’s commands.

The steel doors were barely holding at this moment, if it weren't for the reinforcement talismans the gals pasted all over them, they would have been breached long ago.

“Ahh… Lily… You told me there were six monsters….” Cora who was tasked to keep an eye on the monitors suddenly said.

“Yes?” Lily asked,

“There are more” She replied, absentmindedly. 

“How much?”

“A lot… About a 100.” She said, 

“What?” Lily let go of the gems in her hand and hurried to look at the monitor, where she froze in shock. “Where did those come from?” She asked…

“I Don't know ….Just a minute…” Cora said as she began flipping through the security cameras. “I can’t find it… No…no…no…. There!” Cora suddenly stopped pointing to a side monitor which displayed the end of another corridor. There was an opening in the floor where those things were coming out… This secret basement facility obviously had a secret basement of its own!

“Let’s finish this quickly…” Lily said as her forehead became full of sweat. 

At first, she thought that one of the careless guards might have caused the monsters to escape when he fell asleep. But now she had another theory, it might have something to do with the soul gas they used. It may have interfered with whatever containment mechanism that guy’s placed here.

These monsters, strangely enough, didn’t hurt each other, on the contrary, they were cooperating as they headed toward the control room, the only connection this place had to the surface.

“We will be increasing the number of Gems to 300,” Lily said as the girls began to work faster… Thankfully after they got familiar with the formation, they finished in no time.

Making sure that everything was ready, Lily nodded, then took out a dark brown stone and put it at the center of the scroll. Thankfully she chose this method… It will eradicate everything up to 5 stories below ground. If this base went deeper, whatever was there would be buried for a long time.

“What is that?” Ivy asked.

“Uranium,” Lily replied

“Uranium? Isn’t this radioactive?” Cora asked as she stepped away.

“Barely… This thing will not hurt you for holding it for a while.“ Lily replied after making sure that everything was in place. She finished by placing a Talisman in the center and staining it with her blood.

“We have 15 Minutes. Let’s go.” She said as she bolted out of the room.

The girls who had an intuition about what was this about quickly followed her out of the basement without forgetting to firmly close the doors behind them.

“Are you going to make that uranium explode?” Ivy couldn’t help but ask.

“There will be an explosion, but it will not be the uranium,… This is only to leave a trace. The young master doesn’t want people to ask unnecessary questions… ” Lily said,

“That would make people ask more questions!” Ivy complained as she hurried behind her sisters.

“I don’t really know… I am telling you what the young master told me… We will throw the blame on the army. He talked about depleted uranium warheads or something... Anyway, the explosion will be very contained I calculated it well, no need to worry.” Lily said… She was also curious about this… Would the young master punish her for using this so soon? But this was the only way she thought of to cleanly eliminate whatever was in there.

Without stopping, they ran out of the mansion through the yard's back door which was nearest to where they parked their bikes.

A lazy guard who was not there when they went in was surprised to see a group of masked girls running out of the mansion as if their life depended on it.

“Hay…” He wanted to stop them, but the next moment a mean girl kicked him nuts because he was standing in her way, making him regret coming to work today despite waking up very late.

He watched as the girls disappeared into the forest then as the sound of motorbikes started then faded at the distance…. What the hell?

…

As Victor collapsed to the grounds the girl stood in shock.

“Ah…” Margret quickly ran to Victor’s side and checked on him… She didn’t notice as Hana smirked and then frowned in the back.

Victor was breathing. He seemed to be in pain first, then relaxed slowly, as if he was soundly sleeping.

Margret quickly remembered his instructions when he woke up from his coma the last time and scolded them for acting like headless chickens.

She quickly remembered what to do as she took out a small notebook and began to flip through it.

Don’t PANIC Act as if this was normal.  Feed him a healing pill and an antidote pill. Wait for 2 to 3 hours first…  If nothing changes, use a dispelling talisman then transport him to a safe location if possible. Try to hide his condition for the next 48 Hours. Try to contact a healer like Anna…(These instructions were written before Ruby got her new class) If he didn’t wake up after that, contact George or his father to follow their instructions.

That’s all Victor told her back then. According to him, he had many life-saving abilities and he would wake up sooner or later. So Margret was not really afraid for his life.

She was just wondering what the hell happened to him all of the sudden? Could it be Sebastian's punch?

She considered telling the security to get Sebastian but remembered what Victor told her to keep this a secret. And that Sebastian was a scion. The further away from him the better.

“Is the young master ok?” Theta asked.

“He must have exhausted himself last night… It is my fault for demanding to do it in that position…” Margret said, making the panicking assistant look at her and then at him with a weird face. Hana frowned too. Both wanted to ask, What position? 

Hana wondered whether Victor suffering from poisoning after hugging her? She didn’t tell him about her curse on purpose, as the contract didn’t specify that, and he was the one who hugged her.

Though Hana felt that something was wrong. The poison curse was very slow acting. It usually takes days… It only activates fast if the target gets too excited. Was Victor really this horny?

Wait… Didn’t he show her Sebastian’s attributes earlier? He seemed to have an appraisal skill. Did he also see hers? Did he know about the curse…. She didn’t know the answer to that…

“Do you have a room where he can rest a bit?” Margret asked the assistant as she popped a healing pill in Victor’s mouth. He was not swallowing, so she quickly resorted to a mouth-to-mouth method making Theta and Hana blush.

The assistant hesitated as she watched her,

“Please wait a second.” She said as she ran out then returned a minute later with two guards. 

“The master instructed me to help me transfer your young master to the VIP suite upstairs.” She said, making Margret sigh in relief as Theta and Hana frowned not knowing what was going on with the young master.

For now, all they could do is wait and see.

…

Alpha left the Auction hall in a hurry after getting Victor’s signal, she quickly located Troy’s three SUVs convoy which was delayed for some reason.

Alpha wanted to quickly begin the massacre, but the convoy didn’t move, making her curse as she couldn’t wait near the auction house where the von Geldstadt guards would suspect her. So she quickly left, deciding to wait at a certain intersection near the highway. Troy would surely pass there.

She also used the communication talisman to inform Victor about her plans before leaving.

She got no reply after three tries making her frown as she put the talisman away, not knowing that Victor was passed out at the moment.

…

“Master… What just happened to me?” Sebastian asked as he looked around, they were in the auction house’s lobby.

“You lost your mind there and fell for that evil Victor’s tricks! He wanted you to really hurt him so that he would call the auction guards to take you out and then kill you.” Evan lied with a straight face. 

“What….” Sebatain said.

“I had to drag you away before that guy’s method activated… It was a close call. Those guys here had weird formations, not even I can stop them.” He said

“What about Hana?” Sebastian asked,

“You heard her. She wants to stay with him…I tried to convince her before leaving, but she refused…. Do you want me to help you kidnap her?” Evan asked.

“NO… ” He said with angry eyes, making Evan smile… Another sign of Scions is their over-reliance on their own strength, and refusing others’ help despite facing an overpowered enemy. 

"Could it be that he used some skill on her?" Sebastian asked.

"Possible... But does he need to? He already bought her." Evan said, making Sebastian nod... He was not happy at all but somewhat convinced... He didn't realize that Evan's power was affecting his thoughts to be more gullible.

According to Evan’s calculations, That pervert Victor will be in some very deep shit pretty soon. 

“Come on now… sheer up… You are still young, you will find better girls in the future.” Evan said, “I have a good friend who knows a thing or two about girls, come I will introduce you.” He added, making Sebastian hesitate then nod… Since that b*tch was not around him anymore, he should just enjoy his time.

…

In a dark room far below ground, the old master opened his eyes.

When did he fall asleep? He was sent here by his family to protect this place… This is the first time something like this happened. He must be getting old.

Suddenly he frowned as he could hear the sounds of howling outside…

Did one of the failed subjects escape again? Those fools can’t even apply the soul-sealing talisman correctly! Did they fail to connect it to soul formation again?

He flexed his old bones and stood up then headed to the door and opened it… It was empty outside.

He took two steps and then swung his sword to his left, cutting a monster that was crawling at the ceiling. It had 12 eyes covering its human-like body. It slid to the ground in two halves, exactly six eyes on each side.

He didn’t lose his touch yet, and his instincts were as sharp as ever!

But when did this subject escape? Wasn’t this one stored in the fifth “hole”? Why didn’t those idiots follow the protocol? The master quickly walked to the side and pulled the emergency switch on the wall. Nothing happened… No sirens and no guards.

This was not normal.

A shiver ran through his back as he took out a golden compass and activated its inspection skill that resonated with the formation around the facility, allowing him to see everything.

WHAT! All the guards were dead… The monsters were roaming around… No, SH*T! They were digging their way to the surface!

He quickly tried to activate the soul restraining formation… He failed… WHAT? He tried again… The compass in his hand made a strange noise and then stopped working.

WTF!

Sh*t… Sh*t… Sh*t… If the patriarch and the young master knew that this happened on his watch they would surely cut him to pieces. The failed subjects were supposed to be stored here and kept as the family's secret weapons to be released upon their enemies… They have been working with Troy for years to set up this laboratory. Their main objective was to turn humans into players by transporting Monster’s blood to them… The ones who succeeded turned into super soldiers. The failures were kept here. They were monsters with very simple minds, only knowing how to kill and devour.

Although they kept this place a secret. He knew better than anyone that no secrets can remain if the families put all of their energies to unravel them…

He couldn’t let those monsters reach the surface and escape, as they would surely be traced back to them. Their blood contained samples of monster carcasses that the family had purchased throughout the years. This would surely be traced back to them and that would incite public anger without a doubt.

Their destiny would be no better than that of the Von Richter’s. 

The master ran toward the control room killing every monster on his way. For someone of level 120 like him, this was supposed to be a piece of cake… But those damn monsters are crazy, they keep regenerating, draining him out of his stamina. If the monster didn’t die in one strike, it would regenerate… How do you kill a slime in one strike?

The master changed his approach, he just ran forward, striking only once to deter the monsters before proceeding… Damn it. They should have made them less resilient.

Soon he reached the control room whose door was about to completely crumble under the claws of a group of monsters that he beheaded in seconds then ran into the control room where he threw a talisman at the door, sealing it temporarily.

 He intended to go to the control console to assess the situation, and if necessary, he would retrieve the safe and then activate the secret self-destruct mechanism… Hopefully, all the monsters will be buried here… Although a few of them might be able to regenerate and escape, it would take them years, and by that time the family would have long erased all evidence of their involvement.

He paused… The control room was not the one he knew… The terminals were all pushed to the side and the floor was full of GEMs in a strange array. They were glowing red hot…

What is this? He wanted to ask but didn’t get the chance, as his intrusion into the room seemed to have triggered something that was not meant for him.