[NORTH EMPIRE – PRISON CASTLE]
[THE NEXT DAY]
"Arise" Suho said.
!ALERT!
[MONARCH'S DOMAIN has been activated by the Monarch of Transcendence.]
Thalia smiled… 'my turn.'
[MAIDEN'S DOMAIN activated]
[CORONA skill used]
Over 10 million shadows soldiers started to glow white. It was a beautiful mixture of black and white, ying and yang, like a perfect fusion of light and darkness…or like the morning coffee when you pour a little bit of creamer.
A deafening roar erupted, never had the shadow soldiers experienced so many powerful buffs stacking and overlapping, complimenting and enhancing their power.
Shouts were heard from within the prison…the Empire army caught off guard scrambled to respond to the threat.
[Empire Soldier defeated]
[YOU LEVELED UP]
Those two alerts kept popping up.
Suho smiled as he said, "those system alerts get annoying during intense battles, don't they?"
Thalia laughed…it was certainly good to have someone to talk to about the System and what it was like to have it constantly buzzing.
[Kavar Squad]
"That's the signal…let's go!" Kavar shouted as he rallied his soldiers.
The 26-man squad breached the stronghold, defeated the guards and made their way down the corridor with ease.
[Liu Zhigang Squad]
"This is getting boring…I'm falling asleep over here." Liu Zhigang complained as he cut down a dozen Empire soldiers.
"I almost tempted to ditch this squad and join Suho and the gang…it sounds like they are having fun." Liu said cheerfully.
A black shadow popped out and scolded Liu for such reckless thinking.
"Ah shut-it…I was only joking…tell your master all is going well over here." Liu said to the shadow soldier.
Having experienced Thalia's share-sense, the team decided it was too much noise and would present a problem during intense battles. Instead, they opted to communicate through Suho's shadows acting as messengers.
[Suho Squad]
"My Lord, all is going according to plan…both teams have reached the prison and are currently freeing the prisoners." A shadow soldier relayed the status report to Suho.
"Good, let the teams know that we are moving on to Phase 3 - Extraction" Suho said to the shadow soldier messenger.
"Arsha, prepare gates for extraction…we are moving ahead with Phase 3."
"Yes, my Lord." Arsha replied as she and millions of her void insects prepared gates (more like thousands of interconnected tunnels through the Void).
"Thalia, do you see anything unusual?" Suho asked.
Thalia had been alternating between fighting on the front lines and "seeing". While she was busing "scouting", Gaia had been dutifully guarding her daughter.
"The prison is very large…it will take some time for both teams to extract all the prisoners. It seems the Empire has figured out our plan and are redirecting some of their forces there." Thalia said.
"Ok…that's as we expected. It's time to move ahead with Phase 4 – Penetration. Tell the teams to prepare for increased opposition and let them know we are moving ahead with Phase 4." Suho ordered his shadow messengers.
[Liu Zhigang Squad]
"Finally! Phase 4 – that's my favorite part…ok guys you handle the rescuing, I will handle the rest." Liu said with a bright smile.
He unleashed his maximum power causing the stronghold to rumble under his feet. What came next were a series of explosions which further added to the confusion.
Phase 4 was the most daring of the phases…only used as a contingency. It required Liu Zhigang Squad, Suho, Gaia, and Thalia to exert maximum power and penetrate the stronghold straight to the Command room.
The team figured the "dungeon boss" was located in the Command room that appeared to be in the center of the castle. If the Empire figured out Suho's attack was a diversion and sent reinforcements to the prison, Phase 4 would be initiated.
The goal of Phase 4 was to "cut-off the head" of the enemy…and thereby destabilize the chain-of-command and weaken their communication. The resulting chaos would buy the team the needed time to evacuate the prisoners.
[Kavar Squad]
"Tell Lord Suho that we rescued our Seraphim brother…but tell him that the shard has been taken by the Empire. We believe it's still here in the stronghold." Kavar said to the shadow messenger.
"General…we reached roughly 20% evacuation." One soldier said.
"Pick-up the pace! We need to move! Move! Move! Move!" Kara shouted
[Suho Squad]
"Understood." Suho said while deep in thought.
"What's wrong…did something happen?" Thalia asked.
"It looks like we are moving to Phase 5." Suho said with a playful smirk.