Hazel came to a shivering halt as the paths once again split.
[Choose the correct path.]
The hallway split into right, left, stairs up and down. Four choices. 75% chance of death.
"Hurry up." A red light flashed from behind and the gravity of her body twisted.
Hazel felt as if she was thrown into a hydraulic press with the pressure enveloping her from all directions of the body.
"Haaa!"
The pressure dissipated all of a sudden and she collapsed onto her knees, panting desperately and trying to control the blood leaking out of her mouth.
Oleg glanced at her with disgust. He inherited his father's heirarchical view which treated every race under them worse than their pet animals.
Even though a normal zion would've found her beautiful, he only found her abnominable and disgusting.
But there was something going on here.
"The Right," Hazel muttered and turned in that direction.
[The correct choice]
The voice said with a laugh and the three other paths flashed once before showing their true form—a horrifying power that gave Oleg goosebumps.
The power of death. Mixed with another energy he couldn't understand. But the mix made it much more dangerous.
If they stepped in, even though Oleg would survive, he'd take significant injuries. A few more such injuries and he would be done.
For the next ten minutes, however, his fears didn't come true.
[The correct choice]
[The correct…]
[The…]
Looking at Hazel's fragile silhouette, Oleg wondered what secret she was hiding. Was she just so lucky? Or did it have something to do with her race?
There was no special thing about their race. If Oleg had to pinpoint something, it'd be that they bore some resemblance to a 'caretaker' race that directly served one of the six gods in the legends.
His thoughts paused as Hazel stopped in front of a large sleek blue door with sharp, weapon inscriptions engraved.
"Wait!" Oleg trotted past her and reached out his hand towards the door. His palm didn't touch the metal but a tingling feeling assaulted his skin.
'A door made of three different metals mixed with a special formation. If I go at it bluntly, it'd take ten full minutes. No wonder my subordinates failed.'
Oleg reached out his other hand and pressed them close towards the door. The gravity power engraved into his blood and soul activated at full power.
Craaack!
The space-time coordinates in which the door existed fluctuated for a moment. It was like the ripples spread on a calm lake when a pebble was thrown.
The foreign power spread through the entire door and aligned itself into three separate groups based on the metals used.
"Break for me!" Oleg roared.
The gravity between the three different metals fluctuated in a blink. It went from normal to extreme repulsion.
With a tremendous force, the door ripped itself apart at the most basic level, revealing an entrance to the most important room of the base.
But nothing could be seen except blue gas.
Oleg's senses didn't work and he couldn't perceive anything on the other side.
This was the place to find Black Rose and kill them off before they tried anything funny. It's the final thing he had to do.
But…
A heavy, depressing atmosphere filled the quiet hallway.
Oleg gulped, the courage and desire in his heart struggling against his self-preserving instincts.
The blue gas twirled and curled, forming shapes that resembled skulls, bones, and flowers.
It was inviting him. Mocking him. Daring him.
Oleg could feel a razor-thin killing intent in the gas. It was a just sample but when he glimpsed into it, he smelled a thick scent of death, one that would need the death of an entire civilization.
'M-Monster!'
Oleg had taken a lot of lives in his long life but he never wiped out an entire civilization.
Not out of benevolence but for his own well-being. People who kill so much tend to lose the little compassion in their hearts and turn into ruthless warriors without any emotions.
Oleg wanted to preserve the bits of love for his mother even though he could no longer recall the time he spent with her.
And his father…
He didn't want the possibility of restoring the bond with his father.
"Go in." Taking a deep breath, Oleg threw a treasure at Hazel and ordered the woman.
"Y-Yes…" With a shivering back, the fairy princess put a foot in the room filled with blue gas.
Nothing happened.
And then another foot.
"No!"
Under Oleg's incredulous eyes, a black arc sliced through Hazel and reached him in an instant.
The hastily set up gravity shield clashed with the black arc.
Like tongues of fire pouring into water resulting in scattering steam, darkness scattered out as the shield took it on with a firm grip.
A few cracks appeared in the defense. Oleg enforced it and held his ground.
A silhouette covered in darkness rushed out of the room and glanced at Oleg with thick killing intent.
But noticing his shield, it kicked the ground and a wave of darkness swept the hallway and drowned everything.
Oleg bled from the corner of his mouth as he pushed his body to the limits, putting up an invisible gravity shield that repelled the predatory darkness.
As the darkness couldn't hit its intended target, it raged and destroyed everything in sight.
It blinded his sight and Oleg fell back onto his gravity sense.
Unlike vision, gravity sense was a 3D graph with endless lines passing through him as the center.
The plane formed by the lines sunk in multiple places, as it was a piece of cloth weighed down by pebbles at those points.
And in that plane of lines, there was a huge depression that approached him from a far distance at a breakneck speed.
Oleg exhaled lightly in the real world and in the world of his gravity sense, the plane fluctuated and spiked.
The lines flowing around the depression tightened around it and the depression was forced down to a manageable speed. Then, Oleg clenched his fists and the lines around it were brought dangerously close to each other.
A powerful explosion swept the real world and sounds of bones cracking rang. For a moment, Oleg thought he had won.
But the silhouette tilted its head and swung its sword. Oleg was sent flying, blood spluttering out of the gaping wound on his chest.
Oleg didn't pull any punches and brought his palms together, while in his gravity sense, he was actually pulling the two lines together.
The silhouette in darkness, which looked much weaker in comparison to its previous self due to injury, fluctuated violently against the attacks. Then, with a voiceless scream, it imploded and scattered into particles of darkness.
"Haaa!" Oleg exhaled deeply and walked back to the secret room.
That fairy or whatever body was gone. That battle was enough to vaporize her fragile body. Oleg didn't give it much thought and stepped into the place where his entire team tried and failed.
It was a room that would've repulsed any person with half-decent aesthetics. Bright red walls pitch black floor, and a ceiling with the design of a black rose—the mix of red and black.
Oleg wasn't burdened by things called taste. So, he gave it no heed and searched through the few things left in the safe. It was all the information.
For a moment, Oleg wondered if this was too convenient. Shouldn't it be common sense to destroy this information after reading it once?
But then he remembered he was dealing with Black Rose—an organization that seldom failed. They wouldn't need to follow such protocols.
'They wouldn't have expected us to strike back so soon. That's the reason these bases are clean. No one in defense.'
Oleg frowned.
'Or they are somewhere else. Doing something else. Trying to kill my father isn't as simple as trying to kill that whore's son. They should be plotting something big.'
Shaking his head, he rummaged through the few pieces left behind. The pieces that'd reveal the truths.
