"These two golems are as strong as a fully armed A-rank powerhouse."
Souta muttered with a serious expression while looking at the two golems.
He wasn't sure about the golems' battle prowess but if it was extensively made for battling then there's a high possibility that these two golems possessed combat skills or arts.
"Let's find another way."
He said as he glanced at the two golems one more time. He didn't want to start a battle here and destroying these two fully-equipped golems would at least take him three minutes. That's the limit of his current strength.
"Okay."
Amanda nodded at his words. She knew why he choose to find another route even though there's a high possibility that the golems wouldn't attack her, a person with a witch bloodline.
Once this gate was opened, it will catch the attention of the other people in this place. After all, opening that majestic looking gate will surely cause some changes in this place and they don't have any idea about the changes that it would bring.
The two left and they tried to find another route upstairs.
Almost two hours had passed since they left the gate and they finally found a gap in the floor that could lead them to the floor below.
What's waiting for them on this floor was out of their expectation...
Dozens of people equipped with leather armor and sharp weapons emerged from the shadows and surrounded them.
'It seems that they knew that we're here.' Souta said inwardly while looking around with a vigilant expression. He slowly counted the number of people around him.
"Who are you?" Amanda narrowed her eyes and she covered her head with a hood.
Layers of flesh quickly covered Souta and Amanda's face like a mask. Who knows if these guys had connections to the organizations in the central continent?
They don't want those guys to knock on their door.
A man with a short white hair stepped forward. He was wearing a set of formal clothes and his features were sharp.
"I didn't expect that there will be a visitor today. Forgive me for not welcoming you properly but I don't think that the two of you will be able to leave this place." The man said with a wide grin that almost reached his ears.
'Twenty seven people and they are hiding their energy level so I couldn't guess their rank. Maybe, it's some sort of artifact or skill to hide one's energy.' Souta ignored the man as he started to ponder what he should do to escape this place.
"Before I attack you, I want to know how the two of you discovered this place." The man asked.
"We've come across a book. The contents of the books indicate that there is a Hidden Base of the Witch Clan in this place." Amanda quickly thought of a suitable answer. "Now tell me why are you people in this place? Also, where's the previous owner of this place?"
"The previous owner of this place is gone after we completed our deal so we're the owner of this place." The man said before he raised his hand and pointed at the two. "Attack!"
Boom! Boom!
Instantly, several energy surged fort inside the room and it caused the whole place to tremble. This place was full of mold and cracks so it couldn't handle when a bunch of powerful people release their energy at the same time.
"An intruder like you should die!!"
More than ten people with an aura of a B-rank charged at Souta and Amanda. To be precise, nineteen out of twenty seven people were B-rank and the remaining eight people were A-rank.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
"Let's go!"
Souta grabbed Amanda before he charged on the ceiling as ten black balls formed on his back.
The black balls spun quickly and it released gravitational power that tried to push the twenty seven people away.
Boom!
Huge cracks formed on the ground. After a few seconds, the floor collapsed and Souta punched the ceiling borrowing the power of his parasite.
They needed to escape from this place.
He was careful so that these people don't recognize their appearance. The conversation between this man and Amanda just now gave Souta a hint about what happened in the past.
There's a deal between these guys and the previous owner of this place which was the Witch Clan.
He had to know it but for now, his priority was to escape. At least he had a lead in this event.
The seven A-rank experts, Extermination Realm on this planet, charged through the ceiling and chased the two. Their speed was fast and they could somehow keep up with Souta's speed.
'They are using several combat arts to increase their speed and there's a support mage among that that casted buff spells to further improve their speed.' Souta glanced behind him as he saw several A-rank destroyed the floor like him.
He waved his hand and the ten black balls behind him scattered throughout the hidden base. Then, a heavy pressure bore down from above as if it was trying to crush everything into meat paste.
[Cat's Speed]!
[Agility Boost]!
[Shadow Step]!
He increased his pace as he swiftly avoided the falling debris while carrying Amanda who was slower than him.
Amanda lifted her head and looked at the people that were chasing them. The gravity slowed their movements but she realized that these people wouldn't give up.
Layers of black flesh covered her hands.
Tentacles made of flesh protruded from her arms and they wrapped around the debris of rocks before throwing it on the A-rank experts.
Of course, ordinary rocks wouldn't work on A-rank experts. That's why she imbued her mana on these rocks every time she throw it.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
[Dark Cloud Hunting]!
Black smoke seeped out of Souta's body and it quickly spread in the surrounding area.
Souta used this chance to escape from the hidden base with his fastest speed.
The man with white hair just narrowed his eyes while looking at Souta's back.
"That man thinks that he could conceal it after using all these spells. He's not a human at all nor a demi. He is a monster that could use our spells. I wonder if he's a spy from the monster dungeon."
He turned around and walked downstairs as the debris of rocks continued to fall. He didn't care about it being buried alive by these rocks. With his strength, he could effortlessly get himself out of this place.
But he didn't do it.
This place was his workplace. As long as the deeper level of this hidden base was fine then nothing would happen even if the upper level had collapsed.
...
Souta slowed down when he confirmed that those people didn't follow him and Amanda. He released Amanda and looked at the two tall mountains behind him.
He will return to this place soon.
There's still something that he needed to know.
"Those people! They are occupying the territory of Witch Clan!"
Amanda gritted her teeth but she knew that she couldn't do anything without Souta's help.
There were eight Extermination Realm and nineteen Disaster Realm guarding the hidden base. It was already a strong lineup in the southern continent yet in this place they were from an unknown group.
Who knows how many powerhouses the top organizations of this land had?
A mere Extermination Realm like her couldn't do anything alone. She needed to rely on a strong person that could protect her.
"Don't worry. At least this expedition isn't fruitless. We learned something from them as that man said that he made a deal in the past. A deal to the previous owner of the hidden base. It means from the Witch Clan."
Souta glanced at Amanda before he turned around. The flesh on his face turned back to normal as he slowly removed his disguise.
"Yeah, I understand." Amanda nodded at him.
...
On the next day, Souta and Amanda were already back in the Earthen Core City. They've returned safely and rested on the inn that Yenxa was quietly protecting.
Souta and Amanda were having a meeting about their plan. The plan to attack the hidden base and to eliminate those people that were occupying it.
It was a simple and direct tactic, and he likes it very much.
But he guesses that their manpower wasn't enough.
Souta planned to take all those A-rank experts alone but what about Amanda. She had the power of an A-rank but there's too many B-rank in that place. From his understanding of her current power level, Amanda could only handle a group of ten B-rank experts. Also, her mastery of her parasite wasn't high.
So he will take Yenxa with this expedition so that she could help Amanda. Amanda's equipment was lousy so her battle strength among A-rank was limited. But Yenxa had great equipment and it will be enough to handle two to five B-rank. Plus, her control of parasite was higher than Amanda's control.
Yenxa could already imbue her toxins on her parasite.
Hmm...?
Souta noticed something as he looked at the window. The people outside were few and all of them had a tense expressions.
It seems that something happened while he wasn't here.
