Transcendent Gene-Chapter 290: Treasure [2]

Neriah immediately rushed back to Serene and Shiro.

Boooooom!

She covered her face as a wave of dust came flying at her. Her eyes narrowed in concern, but she soon found that the wave’s origin was none other than her own teammates.

The two of them truly were geniuses. The speed at which they learned, adapted, and grew was almost preposterous to think about.

Unlike their unorganized forms when they were fighting even several days ago, the two of them were working in perfect tandem and putting up a real fight.

The enemies weren’t able to make it through their defense without gathering the will to lose everything, and only a few of them were able to muster that kind of courage.

The two or three people who charged through the flames were taken care of expeditiously in a manner that prevented the two of them from dwelling on corpses. The rest...

The rest were fleeing as the destruction caused by the flames and bubbles spread through more of the mansion.

Sensing Neriah’s presence, Shiro turned around with hopeful eyes.

"You found it?"

"I found it."

Neriah answered instantly, causing his and Serene’s eyes to light up.

"Finally. Make the wall. I don’t think they’ll try to follow us this time, so it’s perfect."

They could all see that their enemies were losing motivation.

They didn’t even know what they were fighting for. They couldn’t use brute strength to win when everyone was suppressed to the same level, and the defense the two young Sequencers put up felt more like a natural disaster than anything else.

Neriah nodded at Shiro’s words and manipulated the mansion’s foundational materials, creating a huge wall in the center of the flame tornado that was eating up the enemy forces.

"Let’s go. The battle’s not over yet."

Neriah ushered them to the room she found and showed them the invisible staircase. It only took a few seconds for them to understand what it implied.

They walked up the staircase with careful steps. When they reached the ceiling, their bodies phased through what looked like solid material. They found themselves facing the world outside.

"I don’t know how to feel about this..." Shiro muttered hesitantly.

The stairs took them past the visible roof of the mansion until they were standing in the air several feet above it.

The floor they stood on when they reached the top of the stairs was equally transparent, but from within it, they were able to see the outlines of the space reflected in the sun, almost like glass.

They could see everything taking place below. There were flames spreading across the mansion’s front lawn, a product of Shiro’s interference.

The guards and servants who were outside were either on the perimeter and waiting for others or already running away.

Regardless of where they stood, none of them looked up at where the group of three was very obviously standing.

The space was invisible, but it was not transparent. Those outside could not perceive the existence of people in this space, and it was very likely that none of them even knew of its existence.

The floor wasn’t nearly as big as the rest of the mansion. It was large enough to be a ballroom or a medium-sized theater, but no more than that.

They felt a bit more secure with the outline of the space around them. With that security, they started moving to explore the space.

There was almost nothing for them to see, but that made investigating even more important. If they didn’t take the time to look at every detail reflected in the sunlight, they would have never found the door awaiting them on one end of the hall.

It was the only entrance and exit point that wasn’t the staircase. It was the only way forward, and judging from the fact that there wasn’t much space left in that direction, they immediately assumed that they’d find the vault when they pushed it open.

The three of them stood in front of it together and nodded at each other.

It had been roughly twenty minutes since they entered the mansion. Though they didn’t know it, by this point, Gio was on his way to them.

But they didn’t consider whether or not they had the freedom to wait for him. Instead, Neriah’s plan was to leave the mansion as fast as possible so they could check on him and wait at the secondary rendezvous spot that was much, much safer.

She knew something was awaiting them beyond the door.

There hadn’t been nearly enough challenges since they’d entered the mansion. It was trying, sure, but she knew that it couldn’t be so easy to access the treasures of a powerful djinn.

Someone like the Old Duke lived his life based on principles of greed. His wealth would not be easily accessible to anyone who wasn’t him.

"Three..."

She placed her hand on the door and closed her eyes. She felt presences beyond, but they were vague and couldn’t be counted.

"Two..."

There wasn’t anything like "earth" in this part of the mansion. The material that had been turned invisible, whether through magic or science, was not receptive to her touch.

She’d have to revert to her old fighting strategies.

"One..."

She opened two pitch-black portals, summoning a pistol and a massive sword that she held in each hand. Shiro and Serene both stepped back and readied their energy as well.

"Go!"

With one final word, Neriah charged her body with energy and slammed into the door, blowing it off its hinges.

The three of them charged in and were on the attack before they’d even seen their enemies. Neriah said they were present, and the other two took her words as a guarantee.

Shiro sent flames across the floor to force any enemies out of hiding. Serene filled the room with bubbles that exploded one by one, sending debris flying through the invisible space.

The immediate impact was already huge. Chunks of the room became visible as the invisibility mechanisms were broken down.

And six men had no choice but to come out of the shadows.

They stood in a line, but only one of them had his hand out. A massive projection was formed from that singular palm that protected the six of them from any damage.

However, that didn’t change the fact that the chamber was being forcefully revealed.

It didn’t change the fact that on the wall behind them, the outline of a vault door became clearer and clearer until its full form was revealed.

Their target was right in front of their faces. They only needed to reach it.

Bang!

Neriah shot forward first. A bubble covered her body as she charged into Shiro’s flames, protecting her from accruing burns.

Whoosh!

She jumped in the air and raised her pistol.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

With one hand, she emptied its magazine into the central guard’s barrier. Every single bullet flew on the same trajectory, striking the same exact point on the guard’s hand.

Her pathfinding ability could be used in many ways.

At the same time, she charged the energy of her earth control Sequence into her sword and made it much denser before throwing it as well.

It whizzed through the air like a comet and followed the bullets, putting the final nail in the coffin and shattering the barrier.

"Keugh...!"

He held his chest and stumbled back in surprise. He knew any intruders that reached this point would be powerful, but such a direct and aggressive attack was outside his expectations.

All it took was a single exchange for the six of them to understand that they wouldn’t be able to bully these enemies into submission.

They would have to truly show their strength if they wanted to win.

Boom!

Neriah stepped off the air and slammed forward.

[Star-Moon Sword Dance]

Before she landed, there were already two swords in her hands.

Whooosh!

They flew in a flurry, trapping two of the six guards within the storm. Two more approached from both sides to stop her, however...

[Golden Chaos]

[Breakpoint Explosion]

Both sides faced different disasters.

On one, a comet made of pure golden flames crashed down and created a chain explosion that pushed the two guards into the side wall and barraged them with smaller flame comets.

On the other, a collection of hundreds of bubbles suddenly appeared and connected to each other with chain lightning. The web they formed shook until it built up as much force as possible before finally exploding.

The impact on that side was far more severe. In fact, Serene was the first person to draw blood in this battle.

Teamwork was where the three of them excelled, but their opponents weren’t soft either.

They’d been hand-picked by the Old Duke for a reason. Perhaps the element of surprise painted them in a bad light, but they wouldn’t fall to just a few powerful attacks.

The entire mansion shook as if the flames consuming it weren’t enough of a catastrophe. Even from several tens of kilometers away, Gio could see the dangerously orange haze in the distance.

’I hope nothing crazy happened.’

He increased his pace to reach the mansion in less than five minutes, but that still left another five minutes before he arrived.

For those minutes, the battle in the mansion would continue to be a three-person show.

In front of no eyes but their own and their enemies’, Shiro, Serene, and Neriah would prove what they were worth.