Chapter 122: [122] : The Abyssal Quarantine Vault, Unwanted Flirting
The entrance to the Blood Demon Realm did not look like a normal dungeon portal. It looked like a rotting infection on the side of a digital mountain.
Declan, Sloane, Morgan, and Nova stood at the edge of a massive jagged chasm. It was located deep in the outer ruins of Sector 7. The sky above them was a dark bruising purple. The wind smelled like copper and burning plastic.
Down in the chasm, the rock walls were covered in thick pulsing red veins of corrupted data. A swirling vortex of dark gray static hovered at the bottom.
"The quarantine vault is on the other side of that static," Morgan explained and pointed down. "The system dumped all the infected corporate files in there and locked the door."
"It looks gross," Sloane muttered. She held her green healing staff tightly.
"It is highly volatile," Nova corrected her.
The icy hacker tapped her wrist interface and pulled up a blue scanning screen. "The ambient Abyssal energy down there is aggressive. Keep your shields up. If the code touches your avatar, the bio-feedback will cause real-world nausea and muscle spasms."
Declan did not bother pulling up a shield. His Abyssal Sovereign stats made him completely immune to the ambient corruption. He felt perfectly fine.
"Stay close," Declan ordered.
He did not walk down the rocky path. He just stepped right off the edge of the chasm and dropped into the gray static.
The world twisted violently. It felt like being pushed through a heavy wet sponge. The system chimes in his head rang out with a distorted lagging tone.
[System Warning]
↳ Entering Abyssal Quarantine Vault.
↳ Code Corruption at 85%. Proceed with extreme caution.
Declan hit the ground. His boots crunched against a floor made of smooth black glass. A second later, Sloane, Morgan, and Nova materialized behind him.
They were standing in a massive sprawling underground facility. It looked like a high-tech corporate server farm that had been abandoned for a hundred years. The towering black server racks were overgrown with throbbing red meat and jagged bone spikes. The neon lights flickered wildly and cast long terrifying shadows.
"Outer ring," Morgan whispered. She pulled a sleek combat knife from her belt. "The Glitch Entities patrol this sector."
As if on cue, the shadows between the server racks began to writhe. A horrible high-pitched mechanical screech echoed through the facility. It sounded like a broken speaker.
Three monsters pulled themselves out of the dark. They were horrifying fusions of digital code and rotting flesh. They had the bodies of massive wolves, but their heads were just clusters of glowing red optical lenses. Their claws were made of jagged sparking metal.
[Target Information]
↳ Name: Glitch Hound
↳ Level: 55
↳ HP: 25,000 / 25,000
Nova immediately raised her silver staff. Bright blue magic circles rapidly expanded in front of her. She was a Level 55 Arcane Splicer. She knew how to handle high-level threats. She began chanting a complex locking spell to freeze the hounds in place.
Morgan dropped into a low crouch. Her stealth suit shimmered as she prepared to flank the monsters.
Declan let out a heavy sigh. "You guys take too long to cast."
He did not summon his massive halberd. He did not pull out his sword. He just shoved his left hand into his coat pocket and walked forward.
The lead Glitch Hound roared and lunged at him. Its jagged metal jaws snapped open to tear Declan’s head clean off.
Declan did not dodge. With his extremely high base Agility and the massive multipliers from his class, the Level 55 monster looked like it was moving in slow motion. He just raised his right fist and punched the hound squarely in its optical cluster face.
CRACK!
The sound was like a cannon going off in a closed room!
Declan’s fist did not just break the monster’s armor. His absurd physical density completely overwhelmed the game’s durability math.
The Glitch Hound’s head instantly caved inward. The kinetic force traveled straight through its spine and shattered the digital bones into dust. The monster’s health bar plummeted from 25,000 to zero in a fraction of a millisecond!
The hound exploded into a massive shower of bright blue pixels and dark gray static.
Nova stopped her chant. Her jaw dropped slightly. She stared at the blue pixels raining down on the black glass floor.
"What was that damage output?" Nova whispered. Her icy facade broke for just a second. "He didn’t even use a skill."
"Welcome to the party," Sloane patted the hacker on the shoulder. "Just watch the show."
The other two Glitch Hounds froze. They possessed basic combat AI, and their programming could not process what had just happened to their leader.
Declan did not give them time to calculate.
"Void Blink."
The world went pitch black. Declan teleported directly between the two remaining hounds. He casually raised both of his hands and grabbed the monsters by their thick metallic necks. He squeezed.
The heavy metal groaned and snapped like dry twigs. Declan casually tossed the two limp bodies aside. They dissolved into pixels before they even hit the floor.
[Combat Notification]
↳ Multiple Enemies Defeated! Origin Points +3,500
Declan dusted off his hands. He looked back at his stunned party members.
"Come on," Declan said smoothly. "I don’t have all day."
They walked through the outer ring of the facility. It was not a stealth mission. It was a casual stroll. Every time a pack of Glitch Entities jumped out from the shadows, Declan casually swatted them into digital dust. He didn’t break a sweat. He didn’t take a single point of damage.
Nova watched him with wide eyes. She was used to highly coordinated raid groups and perfectly timed spell rotations. She had never seen a player treat Level 55 hazard mobs like annoying mosquitoes.
After twenty minutes of uninterrupted slaughter, they reached the end of the server farm. Standing in front of them was a set of towering heavy iron blast doors. The metal was covered in glowing red warning runes.
"The Ten Thousand Demon Palace," Morgan announced. "The central mainframe room is right behind these doors. The vault access terminal is inside."
Declan walked up to the heavy doors. He grabbed the center seam with his bare hands and pulled.
The heavy iron shrieked in protest. Declan’s muscles bulged, and the dark purple veins glowed brightly on his skin. With a violent crunch of tearing metal, he simply ripped the locked doors apart and forced them open.
They stepped into the mainframe room.
It was massive. The walls were lined with thousands of glowing server banks. The air was freezing cold. In the very center of the room sat a massive circular control console illuminated by bright white light.
But the room was not empty. Leaning casually against the central console was a player.
He was tall and incredibly handsome. He wore an obnoxiously flashy suit of white and gold cybernetic armor. A heavy glowing plasma rifle was slung over his shoulder. He had perfectly styled blonde hair and a smug arrogant grin plastered across his face.
[Target Information]
↳ Name: Vane
↳ Level: 60
↳ Class: High-Ordnance Splicer
"Well, well," Vane laughed smoothly. His voice echoed in the large room. "Look what the static dragged in. I heard someone making a racket out in the hallways. I didn’t expect to see you here, Nova."
Nova stopped walking. Her blue eyes narrowed into a glare of absolute disgust.
"Vane," Nova said. Her voice dropped to absolute zero.
"You know this guy?" Declan asked casually.
"He is a top-tier corporate Splicer," Morgan whispered from behind them. "He works for the big guilds. He is notorious for stealing loot and team-killing."
Vane ignored Declan entirely. He pushed off the console and walked toward Nova. He flashed a brilliant and highly practiced smile.
"It’s been a long time," Vane purred. He stopped a few feet away from her. He looked her up and down. His eyes lingered entirely too long on her sleek silver tactical suit. "You’re looking as gorgeous as ever. What is a high-class hacker like you doing slumming it with this trash?"
He waved a dismissive hand at Declan and Morgan.
"I told you the last time we ran a raid together," Vane continued. He took another step closer and reached out as if to touch her shoulder. "You should ditch the solo act. Team up with me. We could own this server. Just you and me."
Nova didn’t flinch. She didn’t back away. She just stared at him with pure unadulterated contempt.
"Drop dead, Vane," Nova said coldly. She slapped his hand away before he could touch her. "I would rather uninstall the game than spend another minute listening to you talk. Get out of my way. We need the terminal."
Vane’s perfect smile froze. The smug arrogance melted off his face. It was replaced instantly by an ugly bruised ego.
"Alright" Vane’s voice dropped. It turned dark and highly aggressive. The golden lights on his expensive armor flared. "I don’t think you understand the situation. I cleared this room. I claimed this terminal. You don’t get to just walk in here and talk to me like that."
"She said drop dead," Declan spoke up.
He stepped directly between Nova and Vane. The Warlord looked completely bored. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his black coat.
"Move," Declan told the corporate player. "You are blocking the computer."
Vane stared at Declan. He looked at Declan from head to toe. He let out a harsh barking laugh.
"Alright, seems like you have no idea on who you are dealing with?" Vane sneered. He took a step back and grabbed the heavy plasma rifle slung over his shoulder.
Declan just sighed. It was always the same script.
