Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman

          "This should be it."

        Wrik removed the antiradiation suit and felt some chills. Perhaps he was getting excited and afraid, but there was no stopping now. He swirled maha mana inside, and the mad rush refreshed him, bringing his excitement to another level. He forced the [Eye of Insights] to the limit and his eyes burned in whiteness.

        Now he needed to build up momentum, and only a few seconds were enough for that. Mana burned through his circuit and his eyes narrowed on the tunnel path.

        He released a breath and took in a deep one, filling every nook of his lungs. He released the momentum built up at the very moment and his body rushed at the same time with unimaginable speed.

        The first turn came within a couple of seconds, but that did not appear as a problem at all. The problem was the streams that were coming from forward, slowing down his speed. It did not bother even a little with his vision with the help of [Eye of Insights], but the fiery hot air was more than just uncomfortable. Coupled with the burning man inside his system, it was almost unbearable.

He jerked his body weight and kicked the wall at the turn easily, making way for the next one. None of the smaller turns or the 90-degree ones proved to be difficult, just that the hot steam rose and the further he moved. The pressure became harder, and he ignored the heat. The white armour was hotter than a kettle on a burning oven. if it goes on for even a minute, he will be deader than boiled meat.

        He did not know the speed he was going would be enough to get to the end. If he was only a few milliseconds late, then selling the item would be only a dream. If everything went along with the rehearsal, then he would have nothing to fear.

        Now the hardest turn was coming. "Come on," he muttered and revolved the mana like a madman. All the maha points were swirling in madness, crying as if it would break through his flesh.

        The U-turn came, and he released the breath he took first. His vision slowed down and a U-turn appeared. A thin smile appeared on his lips and he found it to be not that difficult.

        'I had done this before,' he screamed inside. 'Dozen times.' He controlled his body weight and let the body fall on his back. Just as he was before the wall, he worked his leg, and released high-pressure mana from his leg. He did not need to even kick the wall as he crossed the turn.

        He released another breath and crossed the burner where the steam was coming out. He did not waste a moment there and went to the vault next to it. First, he brought out a vial of blue liquid and gulped down at once, ignoring the bitter taste. It was the intermediate healing potion that was especially used for burning mana circuits and calming down maha points.

The entrance was locked with thick metal painted in a dark colour. There was a lever in it, but it would need the signature of Lorn Rudyard and something more.

        This was when Nirav came to play. He would make a mess of the power supply of the site and cut off the supply to here. Lord Rudyard was not stupid to give the same power supply to the one that hid the treasure, but even with all his play, Ryat had found out the original line to cut.

        Wrik brought out a small crystal marble. it was the device that would alarm his companion and Nirav could do his thing, but just he was about to crush it, he heard some noise as the machine got sluggish and the temperature here turned down. The burner stopped. the power was cut down.

What happened? He wondered. Did Nirav turn psychic or something? How could he know he was here? Wrik could not ponder long as the alarm would start soon as so did the emergency power supply. 

        Just stopping the power supply was not enough. Now he had to break the wall. Fortunately, he had a thing for that as well. If the power supply was not cut, then that won't happen either.

        He brought out six small red-coloured orbs of the size of the thumb finger and pasted them in a small circle on the liver. These were the mana bombs—things that were one of the hardest things to put hands on. Yet with the good relation, Ryat had with Alec Zandra, he managed to get these few. Though they were not of the highest grade, it was pretty high level to get the job done.

Stepping back a few metres away, he sealed his airs.

        It exploded after making a beeping noise a couple of times. And the lever was broken. Wrik was about to break in when he heard the loud alarm, informing everyone that there was something wrong.

        He could not wait long and pushed the heavy entrance with all his strength. The entrance opened, but there was no light. Though he could see, no treasure came in his vision. It appeared as a cave tunnel with unpolished stones all around. Something unexpected. That was not the only thing that was unexpected. 

        By the time his mind and body calmed down a lot from the over-exhaustion, he rushed into the cave again. Fortunately, there was no mage-like path inside and he did not have to move long to see the item. His [Eye of Insights] picked it up first. Even in the dark, it was glowing with golden light.

But before he got near it, a beeping noise came from another orb with him. it beeped three times then turned silent. This indicated something was wrong, the others sensed something that might cause problems with the completion of the heist.

        A frown appeared instantly on his brows. The thing was within his reach. It would be really stupid to give up now. He walked further towards the item, while the frown did not leave his brows.

The thing was actually attached to the earth, and he did not know why they had not broken it yet. He went near it and hesitantly touched it with his right palm.

        Just a simple touch as his mana was sucked out of his body. He instinctively pulled his palm away. He already caused some change to it. Instantly, chains of runes appeared all over him, everywhere his eyes could follow. These were the Axi scripts—far more complicated than something he could decipher.

        Well, just by looking at it, his eyes hurt and a piercing pain came to his head, yet he could not look away. These all looked too beautiful and unconsciously he let the [Eye of Insights] to analyse it.

        Within a couple of seconds, he knew what these axi scripts were. They were knowledgeable. Insight—that could break someone's mind. Even his mind was overflowing with all the insight that his eyes did not have enough time to analyse or eliminate. It was just devouring and dying.

        Wrik gritted his teeth and understood why they could not take it away so far. This thing would just break one's mind with the overflowing information. Grinding his teeth, he pushed his arm on the golden orb again, and he appeared in a dark space of nothingness.

        He felt like his flesh was crushing, and what he did was nothing to stop it. His flesh was gone, so were the bones and everything else. Only the spirit remained in the space. Did not know if he did or was still alive, but he did know he did not want to get out of here. Here he found freedom, nothing and everything. It did not make sense, but it was addicting. Yet then a white light rose from his body and chased out the darkness.

        He felt like a warm arm touched his cheek, and he was out of the space. 

Wrik breathed in a couple of times and found he somehow actually managed to break the orb. It was a fist-size orb that was still glowing with golden like though thousands of times bleak than before. 

Wrik did not need to think twice and pocketed the item for more investigation later. He swirled his mana inside his system and went to the path he came in. He was supposed to be in no rush as they had a well thought out escape plan, yet the alarm a few moments ago made him rush out. 

There was no steam or hot air on the path, though it would help much as he would be leaving with the flow. But then the crystal made the beeping noise again, and it did not stop until it crushed entirely. 

this was the signal to abandon everything and escape at once.

A figure appeared before him, amounted to teeth like him, but he was far broader than he is. "Well, well, looks like someone else beats me to it."