A sprawling sea spanned for as far as the eye could see, tinged in a gold hue by the sky above.
It was currently just approaching dusk, giving Elena a solid 24 hours to work with.
The base she was looking for was directly below her feet, submerged in the waves and hidden from the world.
Now that she'd arrived here, it was time to take action.
'Yggdrasil's Roots, come.'
Yggdrasil's roots, the foundation of the world tree that extended below the earth and supported its growth from the shadows, a title given to the covert operations unit among Elena's Valhalla Souls.
These souls were special in that, unlike the rest of the soldiers, these souls didn't make it to Valhalla.
These were the abandoned souls residing outside Valhalla, begging for a way to salvation.
When Elena encountered them the first time, she realized that these souls were a manifestation of the dark underside of society that even a race as upright as the Valkyries had to deal with.
And though these souls represented such ugliness, all things were equal under heaven. Elena immediately saw their use and added them to her army as a separate and specialized unit.
These black souls that were even darker than shadows, able to blend in with any environment and exist without a single hint of breath coming from their bodies, these were the best possible reconnaissance agents one could ask for.
"Go," Elena commanded.
The souls dispersed into streaks of smoke that collapsed into the ocean below. As Elena moved to a more secure position and found an underwater cave to observe from, she poured mana into her eyes and shared vision with the impure souls.
Immediately, her vision was covered in the blackness of the deep sea, a place where no natural light could reach.
All around, flora and fauna alike glowed with beautiful bioluminescence, their evolutionary mechanisms that allowed them to survive in such a luckless environment for their entire lives.
The impure souls traveled deeper and deeper until they were several hundred kilometers below sea level. At this time, they finally came in contact with the sea floor.
'Hm? It's not there?' Elena thought to herself.
She sent out around 20 impure souls, but none of their perceptions picked up any hint of a hideout in the surroundings.
'But it's impossible to lie under Judgement…then it can only be that.'
Elena ordered her souls to dig deeper into the ground, bypassing the levels of earth and molten lava until they'd dug into the planet's core by almost an entire kilometer.
Whoosh!
A slight breath of mana meandered through the area, imperceptible to all. However, the impure souls weren't normal beings.
In exchange for their sentience and a majority of their senses, they gained an extreme acuity for mana, something that one would be hard-pressed to match even if they searched the entire universe for equals.
The impure souls snapped in the direction of the mana traces, moving like a pack of predators chasing their prey until finally, they arrived before a thick wall of bedrock that seemed to prevent them from moving forward.
'This is it.' Elena thought as she looked at the wall.
It was extremely coarse and it was clearly a natural structure, but Elena could clearly sense traces of tampering in the rock itself.
'If the roots can't penetrate it, there must be some sort of preventive mechanism blocking them. Is there a way around it, or do I have to…?'
Elena would definitely prefer the quiet approach, but she was pressed for time. She had to think of what option would bring her the greatest efficiency, even if the risks were higher.
'Cracking the mechanism isn't completely out of the question. Light is particularly useful as an elemental key, however, it's unknown whether it'll set off any alarms when I try. The safest method is to wait for someone to enter and let the roots follow them, but it's also impractical to hope someone comes along at a convenient time like this…'
Then again, there were 65 million Blacl Dragons in Beast Emperor Star at the moment. Even if the ones present in this base were less than a third of that number, it was still a considerable number of troops.
'Assuming that they continued their activities after I stopped actively protecting the festival, the improbability is lessened considerably.'
Elena's eyes sharpened. 'Then that's that.'
She was already in over her head. There was no need for her to recklessly get herself in trouble when other options existed.
'If nobody comes within half an hour, I'll break through myself.'
It was the absolute safest option within the restrictions of the current situation.
As such, Elena waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Half an hour passed without suspense, and despite her somewhat small hopes, not a single soul passed through the depths.
'I have no choice but to be violent.' She sighed to herself as she stood up and prepared to act.
However, as if waiting for that moment…
A presence appeared in the ocean, traveling rapidly through the water and penetrating the world's surface, eventually making his way near the slab of bedrock where the impure souls were.
'Disperse!'
Elena immediately ordered the souls to vanish, and they faded into nothingness immediately.
In the next second, that man appeared, drawing a strange set of patterns on the bedrock and activating the teleportation formation present on its surface.
Unbeknownst to him, several shadows had attached themselves to his body.
And when he arrived on the other side of the teleportation formation, a majority of them quietly slipped into the surrounding darkness and spread through the facility they'd arrived in.
One soul, however, decided to stay with the man, following him until he arrived before a specific room.
Bang!
He slammed the door open with force, his eyes filled with burning rage.
He stormed into the room and faced those gathered within, slamming his hand down on the table furiously.
"Delia is dead. How do you plan to explain this away?!" He growled, panning his gaze over those few individuals.
They all had extremely powerful auras, far surpassing the man himself. Yet, he showed no fear.
Elena watched with bated breaths as the relative of the woman she killed was enveloped by the desire for revenge.
She watched him roar at the influential figures before him with gusto, creating a scene with his power and even threatening them more than a few times.
However, their response…?
"You will receive proper compensation for your loss after the plan reaches completion."
A single cold-hearted sentence.
The man's eyes frosted over.
"You actually dare say that? After all that bullshit about family and camaraderie, about how we're fighting for the fate of our clan, you don't even have the ability to sympathize with the deaths of the clan's members?" He sneered.
"Watch your mouth, Darrius!" A nearby woman commanded.
The man at the head of the table waved his hand dismissively. "Don't bother. Darrius, if you cannot understand my sentiments and the sentiments of those above at the moment, then you are nothing more than a hazard to this mission. Tell me one more time, will you accept proper compensation when the mission ends, or will you remain confined in the Cube until the mission ends?"
Darrius grit his teeth in frustration. "Damnit! Fuck your mission! Why should I care about the clan when my only family no longer exists in this world?!"
He stormed out of the room, prepared to leave Beast Emperor Star. But would he be given such luxuries?
"I see you've made your decision," the man spoke indifferently.
"Then, do not blame me for what happens next."
Wap!
A blue holographic cube abruptly sprung out from the ground below Darrius and expanded until it enveloped him inside.
His eyes widened in shock.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" He yelled, banging against the sides of the cube.
Unfortunately, his strength was useless.
"Since you have decided to abandon the cause, slumber until we have achieved victory. When we return to Necros, you will receive a proper punishment."
"No! You can't do this to me! Let me out, dammit!"
The man looked away, paying no more mind to Darrius.
And with him unable to resist at all, the cube compressed into a miniature prison that was placed on a nearby shelf.
That was the end of Darrius' involvement in Beast Emperor Star's affairs.
Or at least, that's what his captors assumed.
