Chapter 95: Both Ways, Trouble

The passage to ASTRO was dark, just like when the first time the four volunteers had entered it. If anything, it felt even darker now—so dark that even the cameras strapped to their chests couldn’t record anything beyond a faint flicker of light, like a dying spark trapped in a black alley.

But none of that frightened the four.

They were powerful beings after all. Whatever this place was meant to do to weaker minds, it had no effect on them. Fear never even brushed against them.

So they marched forward without hesitation.

Cuddles led the team from the front, Blue of the Blue Jaguars followed behind him, Fiona came third, and Cool Joe brought up the rear.

“Hey,,wait up beautiful I wanna talk to you”

Cool Joe quickened his pace and moved toward Fiona, who was just ahead of him. His hands were buried in his pockets, a lollipop lazily hanging from his mouth.

A weird thing to be sucking on when they were heading into something serious, but that was just his style.

Fiona turned one disgusted eye toward him, though the darkness was thick enough to hide it from Cool Joe.

“I get it, the goddess chose you for this mission, but don’t think even once that it makes you a big shot in my eyes. Your still a Grid lions puppet while I am a captain. Their is a large difference in power between us ”

The words struck him cold, sharp enough to bruise pride.

But the determination on Cool Joe’s face didn’t fade.

“Wwwoooh cool down, don’t get all angry with me. Know a guy first before you judge him”

Cool Joe raised both hands slightly, gesturing toward her like a man surrendering before a loaded gun.

That’s better. This idiot doesn’t deserve any respect. He is not a ranked individual like us.

The captain of the Blue Jaguars thought to himself as he listened in on the exchange, quiet satisfaction spreading through his chest. Cool Joe was his enemy after all, and watching him get treated like trash was a beautiful sight.

Then suddenly—

The portal shook.

Like an earthquake had slammed into it from all directions, the walls began to tremble violently—up and down, left and right, over and over again.

It was an abnormality that had never happened the first time.

The entire passage turned chaotic.

The four of them felt like they had been stuffed into a box and were now being shaken by some unseen giant hand.

And if that wasn’t enough—

The cold winds arrived.

The same cold winds that had killed the earlier team.

At first, it was only a breeze, thin and harmless.

But the moment it brushed against their skin, the true horror of it revealed itself.

The cold wasn’t normal.

It bit into flesh.

It crawled into bone.

It wrapped around their spines like icy fingers and squeezed.

It was no wonder the others had panicked and fled.

But the goddess had given them a mission.

And they had to finish it.

That one thought was enough to harden their resolve, so they kept moving forward even as the shaking grew worse with every passing second.

Then suddenly, white runes began to form across the walls of the portal.

For one brief moment, the walls turned transparent.

And on the other side of the passage through the walls—

There was a cube moving.

Cuddles froze.

For the first time since entering the portal, genuine shock flashed across his face. He stood there staring like a little boy who had just seen a ghost.

“This is bad the demons are using the portal too”

The others immediately looked down at him. He was shorter than all of them, so it was only natural.

“If this was a well established passage to the other side, their wouldn’t have been a problem. But since this is more like a cut so the portal it’s overloading

.”

The moment those words left his mouth—

Clack!

A huge crack split across the wall.

Then another.

Then another.

Deep jagged lines forked across the inside of the portal, tearing from the ceiling all the way down to the ground like the whole thing was beginning to rip apart.

Blue’s eyes widened instantly.

Adrenaline surged through his veins.

His heart pounded so hard it felt like someone was stomping on the earth inside his chest.

“Shit ,, I knew I shouldn’tvr come here we are going to die”

“Stop talking , we are in Abad situation as it is, we don’t need your stupid words all over it.”

“Everybody run to the end of the portal ”

The moment those words were shouted, all four of them exploded into motion.

They sprinted toward the end of the passage like racers charging toward a finish line.

Only this wasn’t a race.

This was survival.

Their feet pounded against the unstable floor as the cracks spread faster and faster, the entire portal screaming around them like it was dying.

And just when the light at the end finally seemed close enough to reach—

The portal collapsed.

Like a house caving in on itself.

One second they were alive and running.

The next—

They were swallowed by the dark abyss.

.….. …. …. ….. …

Spark!!

Lights began to form in the poorest part of the midworld.

The exact same place that carried history as the first place where Jamie had ever seen a demon.

Particles of different colors flared through the dark corridor until, at last, Jamie materialized.

Thud

His feet touched the ground, the dim light of midworld brushing softly against his face.

A wave of nostalgia instantly crawled through his chest.

But none of his memories in midworld were good ones.

So he didn’t let himself sink into them.

Jamie slowly looked up into the sky, his eyes locking onto the cut in reality hanging above.

“They’ve already opened the portal gotta move fast ”

He stretched out his hand, and a metal key materialized in his palm.

It was the key to the secret bunker Castor had created when he was in midworld.

Coincidentally, it was exactly what they needed if the transfer of the message was going to succeed.

Jamie lowered himself into a squat, scanning the ground closely like he had dropped a coin and was trying to find it before someone stepped on it.

“Look for an opening on the ground, that’s where the key goes”

Those were Castor’s words when he had explained to Jamie how to access the bunker.

It took him three minutes, but eventually, he found it.

A small hidden opening in the ground.

He inserted the key.

Then turned it to the right.

Immediately, a hidden door creaked open with dramatic flair, like the entrance to some hero’s secret hideout.

Jamie descended down the wooden stairs into the bunker.

It was dark at first.

But after pressing a switch, the lights flickered on, revealing everything inside.

There was a metal bed in one corner of the room with a blanket lying on top of it.

A bathroom door stood to the side.

And the rest of the space was packed with supercomputers—the kind you’d only ever expect to see inside the underground base of some military operation in a movie.

Except this time, they were hidden inside the secret bunker of a demon.

Spiderwebs clung to the corners of the room.

Dust coated the computer screens in a thin gray layer.

Behind the computers stood something that looked like a giant tube, glowing faintly with neon light from within.

That was the power supply.

Using that many computers while directly connecting them to midworld would have been stupid and easy to trace, since they would consume too much energy all at once.

That was why they had their own independent source of power.

Jamie stretched out his hand again.

A blue rock materialized in his palm.

He opened the tube, carefully placed the rock inside, then sealed it shut.

The moment he pressed the button—

The bunker came alive.

Lights flickered wildly across the computers.

The low hum of electricity spread through the room.

Then came the sound of CPU fans spinning to life, growing louder and faster with each passing second.

The dead bunker that had sat in silence for who knew how long was finally breathing again.

A wide smile slowly spread across Jamie’s face.

“Now let’s begin”

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