Over forty dead bodies littered the long staircase in front of the gate as Reign stood at the very top. The gate wasn't budging, even when he and Wolf tried pushing it together, nothing happened, it didn't move an inch.
Reign stared at the gate before suddenly opening his mouth.
"Is this really ok with you, all of your friends have died because of your selfishness, you know?" Reign spoke with a smile on his face as those that were inside the building all grit their teeth upon hearing his words.
"You might have saved a couple more had you waited for a couple more seconds, but you guys decided to close the gate, and now, all your friends are dead."
"Well, what else was I supposed to even think a bunch of cowards like you would do anyway."
"Always sticking to the shadows, never showing yourselves, using monsters to fight because you don't want to stain your hands, truly, a gang of cowards." Reign said before clicking his tongue a couple of times in disappointment.
"I'll kill you, you bastard!" One of the people inside said as he charged at the gate, only to be stopped by the elder who stared at him and the others sternly.
"You idiots, he is trying to make you mad, to make you lose control and open the gates in order to slaughter us all!"
"He knows that they have come to a dead end, no matter what they do, they will never be able to break through the gate."
"But sir, even if they don't, we will just die from starvation in the end." One of the members said as the elder sighed.
"That is correct, but I would rather die like that and have the gate closed, forever denying them entry than allow them to kill us and take over the base." The elder said with conviction visible in his eyes.
"And who says that we will certainly die here, the leader is still alive, and his connection with the base is still present, as long as he returns, he can kick them out and move the base away, saving us all!" The elder said with a serious expression on his face while the rest all looked at him with hope in their eyes.
"Ah, sorry to disappoint you, but your leader won't be doing any such thing, I have him, he will never be able to escape," Reign said from behind the gate, pouring cold water over them all.
"Then we shall die here, you demon, but we will not give you the pleasure of taking this place for yourself." The elder said with conviction as he stood in front of the gate, ready to stop anyone who would try to open it.
"Tch." Reign clicked his tongue before glancing at Wolf who shrugged his shoulders.
"I guess we can only try to open it with force," Wolf said as he took his sword while Reign did the same.
Both men poured their man into their weapons before using their skills. They knew that the gate was sturdy and perhaps even their full power wouldn't be enough to break through it.
[ Rage of the Kirin ]
[ Sword of Flames, Obliterating Slash ]
Reign's Kirin appeared around him as he struck the gate while Wolf slashed forward with chaotic flames pouring from the sword, mixing with his golden flames. The attacks landed and a loud banging sound was heard through the entire base, forcing some of the weaker members that were inside to cover their ears upon hearing it.
And yet, their attacks did nothing, not even a scratch was left on the building.
"Perhaps that would be powerful enough to deal some damage to the other buildings, but even then, you would need tens if not hundreds of such attacks to break them, not to mention this building which is the most important and sturdiest of them all."
"Even if you were to attack this gate for a whole year, you wouldn't be able to do anything to it, so I recommend you stop it and not make fools out of yourselves." The elder said from inside the building as Wolf and Reign stared at the gate.
"Seems like we can only hope our friend here can get this open." Reign said in a calm manner as he stared at Wolf's sword and the soul that was staring at the gate.
Wolf placed the sword in front of the gate while the soul stared at it, seemingly lost in his thoughts.
"Just lean it against the gate, we don't even know if it will work, or how long it will take if he can really open it." Reign said as Wolf nodded to him before letting the sword lean against the gate and turning around.
"Wanna have lunch?" Reign asked Wolf who nodded at him before the two made their way to the side of the platform that was atop the stairs. There were no dead bodies on the side so the two sat on the edge of the platform before Reign took out some food from the inventory and placed it between them.
"How long do you think we will have to wait?" Wolf asked Reign before taking a piece of meat with a fork.
The meat came from the giant dinosaur-looking monster that Greenie had fought against and it was quite delicious. The mana inside the meat was potent enough to actually cause a Tier I individual to fall sick if they ate the meat, and that was even after it had been cooked and a part of the mana was gone.
"No idea, maybe it will take it minutes, maybe even hours, hell, he might not even be able to open the gate." Reign said as he took a piece of meat and started eating it.
"So, what do we do then?"
"Well, nothing, to be honest."
"The gate is too sturdy, we can't do anything to it, but we can make sure that none of them escape though."
"After we manage to increase our power further, we should be able to break through the gate, maybe at Tier V, maybe Tier VI, or even higher." Reign said as he glanced at the closed gate of the building, fully aware that their only option right now was to have the soul open the gate if it was possible.
About half an hour passed like that. Reign and Wolf finished eating and were waiting for the soul who was not speaking a single word, merely staring at the gate and thinking.
"Yo, what's up, you managed to remember something?" Wolf finally asked the soul who glanced back at him before continuing to look at the gate.
"It's familiar, that's for sure, I've seen this gate many times before, but I just can't remember when or why I had seen it so many times."
"Argh, it's so frustrating!" The soul said as it stared at the gate with passion.
"Well, what if we get inside, wouldn't that help you remember even more?" Reign asked the soul who glanced at him and scoffed before looking back at the gate.
"Perhaps." The soul answered before suddenly extending its two ethereal arms toward the gate, touching it.
"Hmmm, even souls can't pass through the gate, interesting." Reign commented upon seeing how the soul of the leader was pushing against the gate with his hands.
"A gate powerful enough to make even us, Tier IV combatants unable to do anything to it, and one that can actually stop souls from passing through it, just how powerful were the ones that had created this thing?" Wolf asked from the side as Reign sighed.
"No idea, much more powerful than us, at the very least." Reign said before looking at the gate.
"Hmph, still not giving up." The elder said with a low voice as he was able to hear everything that Reign and Wolf were talking about. He was confused a bit, however, upon hearing them talk of souls and how they can't pass through the gate.
'The leader was able to manipulate souls to an extend, I do remember that, so it's not a novelty for me to hear someone speak of souls in such a manner, but what do they mean they can't pass, can these people actually manipulate souls to such an extent that they can control them?'
'Was that how they were planning on opening the gate, by using souls to get inside?'
'No, it makes no sense, even if souls were able to get in, they can't do a thing, they don't have a physical body after all.' The elder said before glancing at a member that was at the very back with the others.
He was the direct disciple of their leader and the one whose body their leader would take over if he was to be killed. The elders knew about that, the leader had told them about it in the past, but even after so many days had passed, nothing happened, and the young man was still the same.
'My lord, just what has happened to you?' The elder thought before his eyes opened wide as a creak was heard through the hall.
The gate had moved.
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