The Almighty Ring

Jiang Fei was getting more excited by the minute. The thought of finally acquiring the Main Engine room was actually making his heart beat faster. It made sense since once Jiang Fei obtained the Main Engine room and secured an almost unending power source, Jiang Fei could make almost all of his problems vanish. He could have 0542 make as many equipment and weapons for himself, revive Nina and Sylphy who were being kept out of the game, and even have a chance to develop a method to break pass the barrier that had been keeping Level 5 out of his reach.

“Is it here?” Jiang Fei asked when they had reached the location pinpointed by 0542. They had only taken several minutes to travel since Ariel had teleported them close to the capital.

“Yes, captain.”

“Good. Let’s start digging.”

Jiang Fei took out the excavator from the ring and thought he should start working as fast as possible. They were just too close to the military base and anything he did, he might alert them to his presence.

“Wait!” 0542 suddenly blared out.

“What’s wrong?”

“The Main Engine room is the most important part of the ship. It has been equipped with the strongest and deadliest form of security. Digging down now might set it off,” said 0542.

“What do you suggest me to do?”

“Please wait until I shut the security system down. I need to connect to the security system and establish a link to obtain authority over it. Once I deactivate the security system, only then, you can start digging.”

“How long would that take?”

“I… cannot provide a time estimate… I will try my best,” said 0542, stammering, for the first time.

“Alright then,” Jiang Fei answered, without suspecting anything. He then had Ariel and Isabella take care of the surroundings as he configured the excavator. As soon as 0542 gave the green light, he would start digging at max speed.

What was supposed to be a few minutes became half an hour. Jiang Fei, Ariel, and Isabella had started to feel restless as 0542 did not return with a successful report. This was the longest time 0542 had taken just to establish a link to a part of Braveheart.

A few moments later, Isabella staggered, as if she had felt something.

“Something’s wrong!” Isabella cried out and quickly came to Jiang Fei’s side.

“What is it?” Jiang Fei asked. Amongst the three of them, Isabella had proved herself to be the strongest. If there was anything wrong, she would be the first to sense it.

“Someone’s down there!” Isabella cried out.

“Are you sure?” Jiang Fei barked with both eyes opened wide. Down there was where the Main Engine room was. If someone was there, Jiang Fei would lose it.

“I am sure. There are 13 of them! All are Level 5!” said Isabella after she concentrated for a little while.

“What?! 0542, have you been sleeping this entire time?!” Jiang Fei yelled.

Now was not the time to be afraid of a security system. There were people down there that were stealing his Main Engine room!

At this point, Jiang Fei put the excavator away. It would take hours with that thing before he could reach the Main Engine room.

“Ariel, you’re up!” said Jiang Fei, gesturing a hand signal to have Ariel to dig downward.

“I got it!”

With a powerful surge of telekinetic power, Ariel placed her hands on to the ground, releasing all the power that she had built up. One second later, the earth in front of her cracked opened. She used her powers, like an invisible claw to remove part of the earth. In just one second, she had dug 10 meters deep.

“Again!” Jiang Fei nervously cried.

Ariel’s first attempt was merely to gauge the position of the Main Engine room. Now that she had firmly grasped the position of the Main Engine room, she placed both of her hands onto the ground, releasing more chucks of earth than before.

“We’re set!” said Ariel after a few seconds.

“Wait!” Jiang Fei cried out as he grabbed Isabella’s tiny hands.

“Can you do it? Is it safe for you?” Jiang Fei asked. Although the danger of losing the Main Engine room was looming over his head, having Isabella to fight in his stead might end up hurting her instead.

“I’m fine. Don’t forget. I was once a dragon and the princess of the Royal Nephilim!” said Isabella, with eyes that glowed crimson.

She had, before Jiang Fei had permitted it, released the limiter in the bracelet, releasing Valium into her bloodstream to grant her power.

Both Ariel and Isabella leaped into the hole which led straight down to the Main Engine room.

In the dark hole, there was still a thin layer of dirt that separated them from the entrance of the Main Engine room. Just as Isabella was going to remove them, two powerful beams fired from beneath, heading straight for them. Both Ariel and Isabella were able to deflect the oncoming projectile. Isabella had merely slapped it away effortlessly while Ariel had to put up muster all her powers just to put up a barrier strong enough to block the beam.

“Argh… They’re strong!” said Ariel. Isabella had only needed to slapped the beam away because of her overflowing power. In that state of Berserk, being able to recognize Jiang Fei and answer him normally was good enough for her. It would be asking for too much if Jiang Fei wanted to have her relay information about the enemy.

“Die…” Isabella uttered slowly and eerily.

In the next second, Isabella vanished from sight and reappeared beneath the layer of earth, right in between the two Unknowns that fired the beam. Before they could even react, Isabella’s hands were already plunged deep into one of the Unknown’s chest. When she pulled her hands out, she was holding onto a piece of crystal that had a distinctive incandescent-like glow. It was a glow that Jiang Fei would recognize from a million miles away; the glow of an Energy Crystal!

“Is that… a severed piece of an Energy Crystal?!”

With his power source removed, the Unknown fell to the ground, lifeless. Sparks of leaking power could be seen in the void of its chest. From that moment, Jiang Fei knew that these Unknowns that he had seen just once, were Supreme Androids. They were not the same Androids that China’s military had developed. Nothing of that sort. These Androids were so advanced that it made those that the military had developed look like a child’s toy.

The second Unknown responded slightly faster than the first one. Unfortunately, before the second Unknown could pull the trigger of its weapon, Isabella flashed herself in front of it and used her powers to flatten it into a piece of A4 paper. Before the flattened Unknown could hit the ground, it released a series of violent sparks, which triggered an explosion. Isabella cupped her hands and the explosion that was literally happening in her face was extinguished like a candle.

After dealing with the first two Unknowns, Isabella proceeded forward, leaving Ariel and Jiang Fei to chase after her from behind.

“I’d like to see the faces of those who dares to steal from me!” Jiang Fei snarled. He had had it with the Core of Life but when it came to the Main Engine room, the thing that he had been wanting to acquire since the start of this crazy journey to supremacy, he would kill anyone, or anything that dared to come in his way!

After the first two Unknowns, the rest of the journey was uninterrupted. All three of them made their way deeper toward the entrance of the Main Engine room. Oddly enough, there weren’t anyone stopping them there. It felt as if all those people had left the place.

“Ariel, are they still here?” Jiang Fei asked. Isabella was incapable of processing information as Ariel could due to her state. It was already stressing her out having to suppress the urge to destroy everything and everyone.

“They… are still inside…” said Ariel, pointing toward the entrance of the Main Engine room. Her tone was strange, as if she was taken aback.