Chapter 1349 The Wait Begins Author's Note: Unedited Chapter ------------------------- "Leave that to me. Oola, you focus on sending the message to the troops to be ready to storm the place," Matilda instructed. "Understood," Oola answered with a nod. "Riole, you send Gustav a message... tell him to be ready," Matilda instructed. Upon conclusion with their plans, Matilda and the others made their way out of the workshop space. Meanwhile… "Today was fun Father," Sersi said to Gustav as they returned to their accommodation area Gustav patted her head softly as they sped away on the back of a massive bird that looked like a mix between pigeon and wolf. Its claws were covered by the massive fur around its figure but it was no doubt there. On the body of this same creature were two officials in green and black robes. They seemed to be the guards in charge of watching after Barron Diov and Valuri. Gustav looked down and could see the state of a lot of places on the planet from his bird's eye view. The grey gases occupied a large part of the planet's floor and structures erected on the tips of massive spikes. "Hmm? Why are these parts different from what I am used to seeing?" Gustav questioned like this was his first time seeing the situation of the planet in some areas. The question had totally taken the guards by surprise as one could easily see the look of uneasiness on their faces. "Uh… well… you see erm Barron…" One of them began stuttering. They were scared of answering wrongly knowing this could put the planet at risk of being forcefully obtained by the alliance which would also mean their heads on a pike since Emperor Dhios would not let such a blunder pass. "Lord Barron, these places are under construction," The other guard quickly spat out a lie. "Construction? It seems to cover a lot of places. Wouldn't that be expensive?" Gustav questioned with a look of cluelessness. "Ah yes, Lord Barron… Our great Emperor is only after bettering the planet so this will turn into an upgrade soon." The other guard added with a convincing tone. "I see…" Gustav's face showed understanding and cluelessness but internally he was laughing at the guard's responses. It didn't seem like they were aware that Gustav had collected the bribe yet and they were doing their best not to screw things up. Internally they prayed that the Barron would not ask any more questions. 'Three days up… those guys better be ready or I will really have to leave tomorrow,' Gustav said internally as a twin mountain came up in their line of view. Fwwhhhhhoooosshh~ The flying bird was controlled to land exactly on the middle part of the left mountain where a gigantic establishment could be spotted. They had arrived at the location where they were given accommodation. Gustav and Sersi wasted no time in getting off the flying creature and heading into the large establishment that was structured like the helmet of a gladiator. The moment they got in Gustav noticed one of the male workers in the establishment giving him some kind of signal. [Mental Manipulation Has Been Activated] 'They're watching our every move so I'm heading to your room with you again. Remember what we did the other day, make sure no one…' '…Comes in. Understood Father but why can't I join you this time,' Sersi asked internally. 'Cos I don't know what the situation is yet. I need to hear from the mole first,' Gustav answered internally as they maintained mind communication. They soon arrived in Sersi's room and the moment they settled in, a knock was heard on the door. "The emperor sends his greetings. I have been tasked with delivering departure gifts to the Barron and his beloved daughter," A voice was accompanied by the knock. Gustav went on to open the door and a bald, blue man holding onto what looked like a box handed the entire thing to him. Gustav nodded after accepting it before shutting the door. "Must contain a message from Matilda. They're probably done with making that machine," Gustav immediately drew up this conclusion as he opened up the box. A tab-like device could be spotted which he reached out to grab. Upon activation, it projected a footage of Matilda. "The separator machine has been completed successfully By the time you get this message, we will already be infiltrating the main palace where Dahria and the others are kept. This message will display a fifty-minute countdown after it finishes playing. That is how much time we would need to free her of the slave shackle. Then you can come in and deal with the fake emperor and his guards. On no account must you attack before this time frame or Dahria would be lost to us." Immediately after Matilda finished speaking, the projection went dark for a moment. In the next instant, a timer appeared and began counting down. <49:55:01> "So now I gotta wait…" Gustav muttered as he stared at the display. ("You could still watch though…") The system voiced internally. 'True…' Gustav's eyes emitted a crimson glow in the next instant. [Life Sign Tracking Has Been Activated] 'Coupled with my perception, this should be an interesting watch,' … … … In the dark of night, a bunch of silhouettes could be seen circling a perimeter that had a large beast-like structure centered within. The dim glow of the three green moons in the night sky didn't do well enough to unveil the looks of the silhouettes as they hid behind rocks in the vicinity to hide their presence. A well-structured path could be seen leading from the mouth of the beast-shaped building up ahead down into the distance where the silhouettes originated from. The visibility of the extremely beautiful surroundings would have been spotted had it not been nighttime. The area appeared to be more secluded in comparison with the others so it was naturally darker as well. They proceeded slowly as they could already spot tens of guards moving around the vicinity. "The moment we're at the entrance of the beast's mouth, we need to deactivate the alarms or we risk attracting backup guards to our location," One of the silhouettes whispered. "I'll take care of that," Another one of the silhouettes whispered back. One would wonder how they could hear each other despite how quietly they spoke with each other. However, they had a method of communication that made this possible. "We need to deal with the guards here first and very quickly before any of them alert others…" Twwhhhhssoooohhh~ A strange breeze suddenly encapsulated the entire vicinity causing even some of the silhouettes to lose their balance. "What in the world is that?" One of them uttered with a tone of momentary confusion. "Done." A feminine voice was heard from up ahead. Their eyes widened as they swiftly stood to their feet and headed in the direction of the beast's mouth up ahead. Tens of guards could be spotted sprawled across the place in pools of their blood with a feminine figure clad in all black waiting for them at the entry point. Some of them were visibly shocked as they froze in place for a bit. 'Did she slaughter them all?' Their eyes widened at this realization. The Dhios guards were the most powerful force on the planet yet she had just slaughtered them like weak chickens in mere seconds. "What are you guys waiting for? Move!" She said with a tone of apprehension. "Yes senior Matilda," A bunch of them answered in unison before heading further. The entrance to the beast-like structure gave way to a bunch of stairs waiting for them the moment they got to the end. This whole structure appeared to be constructed in such a way that nothing was located at the center except for a gigantic hole. The stairways led only downwards so it happened to look like a dungeon of sorts. "Quickly! We don't have all day!" Matilda said to the others as they made their way downwards on the spiral sloppy stairways. "Hey stop the…" Two guards down ahead spotted them and yelled but before they could even complete their sentence… Twwwiihh~ Puuuurrrkkkklll! Two large silvery projectiles shaped like spikes shot forward at an insane speed and pierced through both of them. Their figures were blasted across the air and before anyone could understand what was going on, they spotted two guards impaled into the walls by the side while bleeding out. "Keep going!" Matilda instructed. Every one of the silhouettes wasted no time in continuing forward. Sure, the strength that Matilda had shown there was terrifying but she was on their side so they had nothing to worry about. So he just keeps her down here until he feels like showing her off again or whenever he wants to try mating? Unforgivable! Matilda was bottling up rage that had been building up within her for over ten years.