The Hidden World

“That’s a lot of guards,” Yuki commented as the elevator reached the lowest floor. 

On the minimap in Yuki’s eyepiece, she saw a sea of red dots. Every guard had a tracker on them that Uriel was following. Based on a quick estimate, it looked liked there were around thirty guards within proximity.

“Why are there so many guards?” Yuki asked.

“Well, this is where they live,” Uriel replied. “Housing and dining. These are the reserve guards who have shifts later.”

“How did they get so many guards?”

“Beats me. There are more in barracks around here. So they’ll be coming out once you get discovered.”

“Is Yuna nearby?” 

“She’ll be joining you in a few moments. You’ll probably be in a bit of a tussle by the time she arrives.”

“Do you have a visual on the outside of this elevator?” Yuki asked. 

“I do. Want to see it?”

“Yes. How much time do you think we have until people start looking at this elevator weirdly?”

“None. I see many giving curious looks already,” Uriel replied. Video footage of the outside filled Yuki’s eyepiece. “I think you have a minute before one of them goes to investigate further rather than just looking.”

“Should be enough time,” Yuki murmured. She looked back at her team. “Well. This is why we came here. Are you guys ready for some warm up?”

“How are we going to engage?” Akira asked. 

“We’re trapped in an elevator,” Erica laughed. “I think the only option is to burst out guns a blazin.”

“I think that’s the only option as well,” Ember nodded. Kilik stayed silent. Yuki assumed he would do whatever they decided to do.

“We’ll wait for them to get near the elevator,” Yuki said. “Uriel. Are there more than one elevators in this area?”

“Yes,” Uriel replied as Yuki watched the area outside on her eye piece. A few of the guards were starting to approach. “Yuna is coming in another one. She’ll be support for whatever you decide to do.”

“Got it. Then we wait for them to approach and when they’re close enough, we burst out and get as many with the initial blast. Then we go at them. Sounds good?”

“Sounds good,” Erica nodded, wiggling her fingers. 

“I’ll be support for now. Get ready,” Yuki instructed. 

She watched the camera closely, waiting for the approaching guards to gather closer. The ones in the front drew their weapons. They looked like guns. Yuki began to gather mana into one palm, fine tuning the amount. Then when they were in the right range, Yuki made a barrier around herself and her team and let the mana explode out.

The elevator ripped apart into large pieces of shrapnel that zoomed through the air like makeshift knives. The explosion pushed back the approaching the guards and the metal shrapnel embedded themselves into whatever they touched whether it was concrete or flesh. 

Then Yuki’s team followed, rushing down to clear a way. Yuki asked Uriel to change the display in her eyepiece back to the map.

“Take us to the leaders,” Yuki ordered. 

“On it,” Uriel replied. “I’m locking down all the exits for now except for the one Yuna is coming in from.”

“Good. Team, follow me.”

Uriel projected a pathway on the map for Yuki to follow. As she ran down, her team cleared out any guards that got in the way. An alarm began to blare, alerting the entire facility of their intrusion.

“Uriel?”

“I can’t shut off the alarm. I don’t want to be noticed yet,” she replied. 

“Got it.”

On the map, she spied multiple groups of red dots converging into one intersection that they were heading to. 

“Multiple combatants arriving soon,” she said. “All sides. Get ready.”

As they ran, Yuki conjured a ball of fire in one of her hands and a swirling mass of wind in the other. When they came into the intersection, she hurled them into the pathway directly in front of her. They hit the front most guards of the group coming from that direction and combined to form a blazing inferno that blocked them from coming in. 

On the right, a wall erupted from the ground and sealed that hallway, stopping the guards from coming. But before Yuki could handle the other hallway, a thin wall of water slit that group of guards. Then the wall separated into two and slammed the guards into the wall. 

“Hello, Yuna,” Yuki greeted with a small smile.

Yuna came through the hallway and smiled back as the obstacles blocking the other routes were batted away by the guards who began to charge at them. There wasn’t time to talk. 

Erica went forward while Ember and Akira took the left and right paths. Yuki stood in the middle, ready to help whatever side. Kilik stayed put, watching along with Mathali and Yuna. 

The guards were taken care off within a matter of seconds, Yuki summoning spikes and chains to whatever hallway that needed to hurry up the process. From behind, more guards began to approach, but they hit a barrier that wasn’t there before. 

“Go,” Kilik said softly. “The barrier is going down in ten seconds.”

Nodding, Yuki ran forward, following the route Uriel gave her. The offices of the leaders and the meeting room they gathered in came within her vision. Behind her, she could hear the pounding footsteps of the guards chasing at them. The sounds of weapons being fired followed, but those projectiles were blocked by another barrier that was erected.

‘Kilik is quite good at those, isn’t he,’ Yuki thought.

The doors to the offices and meeting rooms opened up for her, but, after doing a quick sweep with her eyes, she found no one in them. 

“Uriel. Where are they?” Yuki asked calmly. 

“They seem to have a way out,” Uriel replied. “Probably not connected to the system.”

“A tunnel?”

“Or a secret elevator or something of that nature. Have a look around.”

“Hold down the fort for me,” Yuki said to her team. “Akira, help me out. Look for another exit.”

“On it,” she said.

They spread across the meeting room first, Yuki inspecting every inch while Akira used her magic to detect any openings in the walls. When they couldn’t find anything, they moved to the offices. 

In the hallway, the others were keeping the guards at bay. A pile of bodies both alive and dead were gathering on the floors. Erica used a knife while Ember wielded her gauntlets. Kilik used only his magic. Mathali would disappear now and then, appearing behind certain guards to disrupt them before vanishing again in a puff of smoke.

From the looks of it, they didn’t seem to want to hurt more guards than they needed to. Yuki knew that they were more than capable of destroying most of them within minutes. 

‘Restraint is good,’ she thought. 

In the offices, Yuki’s search bore fruit quickly. Under the desk in one of the offices, there was a button. When pressed, a shelf was pushed aside and a tunnel was revealed. 

“So that’s how they got out,” Yuki muttered. “Akira. Can you track them?”

“Let me see,” she said. 

She flattened her palm against the tunnel and shut her eyes. A few moments later, she reopened them and gave Yuki a small nod. 

“They’re still inside the tunnel. They didn’t move that long ago,” she said. “They don’t seem to be moving at a hurried pace.”

“Good.”

“You found them?” Kilik asked. 

Yuki started and glanced over at him. He was in the office with them, giving the tunnel a look over. 

“Yes. I need to cut off their exit first,” she replied. 

“No. I will bring them here. Set up the barrier,” Kilik said. “We need to get to the surface first though.”

“We’ll need to take an elevator then.”

“No need. Just follow me.”

Kilik waved his hands and a glowing circle formed around him, bathing him in a soft light. The patch of concrete floor he stood on soon shined the same color as the circle. 

“Tell your friends to come here,” Kilik said.

Yuki turned around and shouted at them to regroup. 

“What are you doing?” she asked when she turned back.

“I’m moving us up,” Kilik replied. “Don’t worry. Just watch.”

He gestured to her, telling her to join him in the circle. With a small moment of hesitation, Yuki obliged and her team followed her in. The remaining guards outside tried to enter the office with them, but another barrier stopped them in their path.

“Now, to the surface we go,” Kilik said calmly.

The light of the circle engulfed them and Yuki’s vision was blinded for a moment. She felt a small pull on her gut as if she was going down the drop of a rollercoaster that lasted for a split second. Then the light cleared and she stood on solid ground. 

She recognized the area they were in. It was the place underneath the balcony that they waited in for Uriel to do her hacking. 

“Come,” Kilik said as he strode out. “We do not have time to waste.”