After arriving at the mountain top, the vehicle busts itself right through the walls. The huge drill piercing intrusively through the layers of the great fortress. The guardsmen are all alerted by the sudden movements. Many of them head over to the vehicle's location as notified by those observing through the security room.

Chella and the other hop off the vehicle, expectedly greeted by the battle-ready men. None of them intend to back down to those who seek to defy their king. A guard in the front start speaking up.

"Hands behind your head! Or else... you'll have it."

"Hey, one of them's got a fine body there. Maybe we should ask them to give her in apology for their actions."

*chuckles to himself* "You heard the man. Bring that greenie over here and you might live to see another day."

As usual, Chella's clothing can be quite revealing. However, she never meant to show it off. She just wanted to dress comfortably as an ecentric person she always has been. Gilbert speaks up, unexpectedly.

"Have you no shame? How do you expect to catch us without bothering to see if you really have the upper hand?"

*Chella feels creepy out by the detected thoughts in her vicinity* "Do it please, Junko."

With a swift of her hand, Junko knocks the front enemies away. The other guards positioning behind are hit by the sudden flying bodies thrown at them.

*panics* "They're Apexes! Shoot immediately!"

"I won't let you."

Nova reaches out her hands, already equipped with the high-tech gloves she developed last night in order to significantly amplify her combat capabilities. A big circle on each of her palm starts glowing yellow as she concentrates her Addition. Two electric beams are launched at the guardsmen, inflicting significant shock damage to them.

Chella and Evaline see this and are impressed at her improvement. Junko is secrely impressed as well while she's fighting a few men.

*Nova pats her chest proudly* "Amazed by my talent huh? I could give you some adjustments too if you ask nice- Ouch!" *turns around and looks at her grandfather* "What gives?"

*Gilbert lets out a sigh* "Focus on the task at hand." *He begin shooting the guards*

And with that, the team outmatch the guardsmen in terms of fighting capabilities. The remaning ones have to retreat inside the fortress, initially expecting to overwhelm the intruders with the number.

Chella and the others continue their pursuit, entering the area. A notification is made about special reinforcements coming their way.

A guard throws a remote bomb at them but Junko puts a stop to his attempt and throws him behind a door. A bunch of men armed with submachine guns shoot at them restlessly, forcing the group to hide. Evaline throws crystal projectiles at them, only knocking some of them down due to the arrival of the shield squad armed with hand-held barrier. Junko uses her ability to forcefully tear of a thick iron door and throws it at them. It knocks the shielded guards away after coliding with the barrier.

Chella swiftly defends herself against the incoming guards by reading their thoughts to know their movements or confusing them using the voice in her mind. Nova takes the offense with the help of Evaline with the defense by creating a crystal shield. Eventually, they have cleared out the first floor of the fortress.

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*Gilbert looks at the girls* "Listen, despite our earlier attack, our enemies might have something unexpected for us. This isn't a place where anyone could easily enter. They might have some special manpower, including those like you." *holds his rifle firmly.*

"Understood, gramps." *Nova smiles*

"We won't be reckless." *Evaline nods in agreement.*

"I did not choose to come along to be foolish." *Junko brushes her hair aside with one hand.*

"I won't forget how tough our life is. My mind will always be ready to pick up anything." *Chella smiles gently.*

The group ascends toward the second floor, reading themselves for another batch of guardsmen. Expectedly, guards are everywhere. At the moment, the group choose to sneak past most of them using Chella's telepathic capabilities. As they progress further, they take down anyone who happens to notices them and that they could take down swiftly without alerting the others.

After that, they finally reach the third floor of the fortress but there are no one around the place. They look around almost every room and corner available but to no avail. Gilbert finds this incredibly concerning.

Suddenly, as if on cue, two slash beams are flying at their direction. Chella and the others barely dodge the surprise attack.

"Ho? You guys are good."

A mysterious voice can be heard behind Junko, she turns around and sees that it's a guy clad in a shinny silver armor with the most noticeable feature is sharp blades attached on each hands.

*Junko grunts* "Is this guy... the special force?"

*Chella senses a few more individuals approaching* "Look! There's more of them."

And there it is, Chella and Co are surrounded by eight distinct individuals. All of them wear the same outfit. The one that tried to sneak attack them earlier speaks up.

"Allow us to intruce ourselves. I am Wolf. From left to right, these guys are Cheetah; Hyena; Rattlesnake; Vulture; Rhino; Giraffe and... what was his name again?"

"Hippopotamus, I think."

"Too long, Hippo it is."

Gilbert and the girls don't know how to respond to this. The Wolf continues speaking regardless of their silence.

"We're all apprentices of the Lion. He tasked us to have some fun with you guys. So..." *exhales* "...consider this a game. If you win, you can have the access key to the elevator. If you lose however, we will have your life as our trophy."

Nova gulps slightly at the idea. Gilbert however remains calm and thinks that they could sneak pass these guys somehow and go through the floors normally. But it doesn't seem to be simply like that.

"You must be thinking of passing through each floor your own way, right? Unfortunately, this fortress has nine floor and most of them already have deadly traps activated. You will need to use the special elevator using the access key we're holding our possession. And don't even think about leaving either, the stairways are blocked off by thick titanium doors already."

This means Chella and her companions never had a choice in such situation. They could only fight. This is the game that the ruler of this place has planned for them. Without even giving Chella's group a chance to think. The eight figures begin chasing after them. The group ends up separating by going to respective left and right wings of the floor.

Chella running alongside Evaline and Gilbert are chased by four guys while Nova and Junko are tailed by the other four. The battle has actually become hard for them.

In the hallways of the left wing, Junko and Nova are being dangerously tailed by Rattlesnake, Hippo, Vulture and Giraffe. Suddenly, Nova notices that Hippo is missing. But she ignores that and keeps running. Eventually, both Junko and Nova hide inside a room.

Panting heavily, they hope that the enemies lose trace of them. Junko turns her face to Nova, intending to tell her something. But Nova suddenly dashes off on her own.

"What are you doing? Come back here. We need to come up with something."

"Nuh uh, I'll make them regret challenging us."

Nova is running on her feet but something suddenly makes her falls to the ground. Turns out a hand emerged from the ground is grabbing her leg. Even though she doesn't believe is ghosts, this still terrifies her.

*Nova screams* "Get off me! You ugly thing!"

Her hands start blasting electric beams but only the ground is burned by the attack. The hand earlier is now gone.

'Ew... That was creepy...'

Nova thinks to herself, panickingly touching her leg to see if it's fine or not. Whereas Junko looks at her with a calmed face.

"That's why I told you to be careful. Look what just happened."

*Nova frowns* "Not my fault! Don't you find it scary too?"

"Junko lets out a sigh* "You're painfully careless huh. Here." *reaches out her hand* "Get up."

*Nova stands up on her own* "Thanks but I'm fine."

Junko looks at the surrounding, seeing that no one's chasing them. She exhales, worried that this might be the end of it. Yet, she can't afford to keep thinking like that forever. She begins wondering how their enemies are toying with their minds in this very situation.

'So one of them has that kind of Addition, but I'll have to make sure of it first.'