BXBX NOVEL Chapter 168 A Ball, a Helmet, and another Ball
Chapter 168 A Ball, a Helmet, and another Ball
After confirming with Andrew Collins that he was now ready to help Alex out, Alex looked at Alina who seemed impatient already.
Her face was scrunched while her foot was tapping the ground, clearly showing that she wanted to get this matter done already.
But aside from impatience, Alex could also sense nervousness and restlessness from Alina, which was actually rare for someone like her.
But even if it was rare, Alex can understand Alina’s jittery feelings. After all, she was about to obtain her home world! Even Alex will be just as nervous as Alina if he was given the chance to hold his home world.
"Alina, don’t worry. We can handle this easily." Alex said as he tried to pat Alina’s shoulders. "Just trust in the process..."
In response to what Alex said, Alina gave Alex an angry look, as if she was blaming him for something.
"...I’m not nervous at all, okay?" Alina replied with a slight flush on her face, as she seemed to want to deny Alex’s observations. "I... I am just excited that we are about to finish this Main Mission!"
"Well, if that’s what you say, then that will be the truth~" Alex replied with a singsong voice as he avoided the angry glare from Alina.
Behind Alex, Asteria could be heard snickering, as she obviously found what had just happened to be funny.
"Wait a minute..." As Alex stared at Asteria, he suddenly remembered something important.
"Where did that Mephisto go?"
Mephisto, who was Professor Frances’ Guide, was nowhere to be found now.
That Guide must have been dead already, since Asteria mentioned before that once a Traveler dies, his/her Guide will die too.
However, there was something about what happened to Mephisto that does not make sense to Alex.
If Mephisto will die once the Professor dies, then why did he not do anything to prevent Alex from killing Professor Frances earlier?
Mephisto’s absence to prevent the Professor’s death was just so illogical, that Alex felt that there was something fishy going on here again.
"Ugh... Let me think about that matter later. For now, I have to get what we should have obtained already." Alex muttered to himself .
He gave Alina a confirming nod as he said,
"Alina, lead the way now."
"Ok." With one of her hands holding her katana, Alina grabbed Andrew Collins with the other as she floated towards Alex.
Queen Mother did the same, bringing Lauren with her towards Alex.
"Alex, teleport us inside the base of the Pantheon." Alina said as she pointed at the massive ship above them, which somehow still survived the blast that Alex made. "The Legacy of Tartaros is inside there..."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Before Alina could say more, Alex raised his hands as if he was pleading Alina to listen to him. "Do I really have to just teleport inside? What if there are traps inside the Pantheon base that are designed to attack intruders like us? Won’t that be bad for us?"
"Don’t worry Alex, as long as you use Nomad’s teleportation to go inside the Pantheon base, most of the traps will not trigger." Alina said as she shook her head. "Most of the traps there in the Pantheon base are designed against Rogue Teleporters who might teleport inside the base. Nomad was the only Teleporter that will not be attacked by most of these traps. That just means that you will be fine as long as you use his power to bring us in."
"But how about the rest of the traps?" Alex inquired, wanting to make sure that their operation will not be jeopardized. "How will we deal with that?"
"With our power, we can just brute force our way with those traps." Alina replied as she gave Alex an amused smile. "However, there are some traps that will result in the destruction of the whole base itself. But don’t worry about these self-destruction traps... With Nomad’s memories scoured by me, I was able to obtain the location of these traps..."
"Now that’s what I love about you, Alina!" Alex said as he resisted the urge to hug and kiss Alina. In the end he only gave her a pat in the back, ignoring the knowing smile of Asteria above them.
"..."
Alina looked unaffected by what Alex said, but intense scrutiny can show a slight flush in her cheeks.
"...."
Alina shook her head swiftly as she glared at Alex for a moment while saying,
"Alex, stop saying those cringy things! Just... bring us inside now!"
"Oh yeah, right, I got it." Alex replied hastily as he cowered under Alina’s glare.
He closed his eyes as he covered the entirety of the Pantheon’s base with Nomad’s power.
"..."
Alex was able to sense the space inside the Pantheon’s base, with Nomad’s power supplying him info about the safe spots where he could teleport in.
Alex willed Nomad’s power to activate as he chose the spot nearest to the center of the base.
"Blik." Only a slight cracking sound could be heard as Alex and the other 4 with him disappeared on the spot, leaving nothing but the floating dust around them.
**************
"Woah! That was something else!" Alex heard Lauren saying these words as they appeared inside a hallway covered with metallic sheets.
Alex chose to not comment on that as he looked around him warily.
So far, everything’s still good for Alex.
There were no angry laser beams threatening to destroy them to pieces, nor any kind of explosive that were about to destroy the base.
"Woosh~"
As they started to acclimate to their new surroundings, Alina suddenly waved her hands, which was followed by the disappearance of Lauren and Andrew Collins.
She then looked at Alex and Queen Mother, ignoring their slight complaints as she said,
"Follow every movement that I will make here." Alina said as she released her hold of her katana. "If you get it wrong, this whole base could get destroyed, so please, be super coordinated right now."
"..."
************
10 minutes later.
With the help of Alina’s clear instructions, and Alex’s and Queen Mother’s movement skills, they were all able to avoid any ’traps’ that Alina had seen in Nomad’s memories.
Now, all three of them paused in their tracks, staring at a metallic door in front of them.
There was the symbol of danger pasted in the door which obviously says that this door has something important inside it.
"According to the memories of Nomad, the Legacy of Tartaros is just beyond this door." Alina said as Alex saw her hands starting to tremble. "Don’t try teleporting inside. Even Nomad will be affected by the traps placed inside the room. The only way to enter this room is only through this door..."
That statement of Alina made Alex’s enthusiasm shoot down a little, but that disappointment was gone as Alina continued talking.
"For this door to open, all the Pantheon members must place their palms on this door. If it was not done that way, this door will not open at all." Alina then tilted her head as placed her hands on her hips. "In the first place, that kind of measure is a good way to secure the door, but right now..."
"We have all the Pantheon members with us, so opening this door is rather easy." Alex said as he felt relieved that the security on this door was something like this.
With the power that the Pantheon had, having this security measure is quite effective. But against Alex and Alina, this security measure amounted to nothing!
"Help me out on placing their hands on the door." Alina replied as she let out the Pantheon members once more.
"..."
Alex used his tentacles to grab 5 of them, while Alina grabbed Foresight and Queen Mother grabbed Nomad, who fortunately was unconscious right now.
"Are you ready? Heave, ho!" Alex said as he and his Companions placed the palms of the Pantheon on the door.
"...."
To anyone seeing this sight from the outside, what Alex and his Companions were doing might look ridiculous, but for Alex, what he was feeling was tension, as anything wrong could happen now.
"..."
Alex was forced to wait for 10 more agonizing seconds before he heard a ’click’ accompanied by the door turning green in color.
"Hiss..." The door let out a hissing sound as it slid open, showing Alex a room filled with futuristic looking objects.
"This door will only stay open for 3 seconds! Let’s jump in now!" Alina shouted as she waved her hands, storing the Pantheon back to her Storage. She then hurriedly leapt forward, placing her foot on the room beyond them.
Alex and Queen Mother followed suit, only barely able to enter the room before the door behind them closed back with a ’snap’.
"F**k, that made me f**king anxious." Alex muttered as he let out a sigh. He then looked at Alina and Queen Mother as he tried to see if they were safe.
To his relief, nothing unpleasant happened to them.
"So... this is the room." Alex said as he decided to observe the new place that he was in. "Hmm... this room actually looks like a villain’s lair. No wonder the secret conspiracy was hidden here..."
With just a look, Alex could tell that the whole room was built up with the sole intention of it being highly conducive to computer-related activities.
The walls of the whole room were lined up with some kind of precious metals, whose function could be to shield this room from any kind of harmful radiation.
There were countless white pillars erected along the walls, and from what Alex could see, all these pillars were letting out cold air, signifying that these pillars were here to keep the room cool and refrigerated.
At the center of the room, Alex could see a large, metal ball placed on top of a metal platform covered with countless wires and chips.
The metal ball itself looked normal, but with his Electromagnetic power, Alex could feel countless volts of electricity cycling inside the ball and the platform below it.
Aside from this, Alex could also feel zillions of chips and components inside the metal ball, all of them arranged in a very efficient manner.
Just a look at the arrangement of these components was enough to make Alex silent.
But these are not the only things at the center of the room.
Found at the left and right of the metal ball were more objects that Alex could not just ignore.
Placed at the left of the metal ball was a chair with a helmet placed on it.
The helmet suspiciously looked like the helmet used for virtual reality games, making Alex look at it with trepidation.
At the right of the metal ball was a table, and above that table was a smaller metal ball.
The smaller metal ball also had components inside it, only much fewer compared to the original metal ball.
Both the helmet and the smaller metal ball were connected to the original metal ball through wires, giving Alex an eerie sight which he can’t just avoid to look.
"..."
Right now, even a technological idiot can already tell what the set-up at the center of the room was.
This set-up was the Legacy of Tartaros, waiting for its time to be used again!
Alex slowly approached the metal ball as he felt a slight sense of connection with it.
The more that the came near to the ball, the more that Alex felt connected with it.
At the moment that Alex was just a meter away from the ball, he stopped as he felt Alina’s hand pressing down on his shoulder.
"Alex, don’t go beyond this distance." Alina said as she shook her head. "It is best if it is Andrew Collins who approaches that ball."
"Okay, I got that." Alex replied as he took a step back.
"..." Alina waved her hands again, this time making both Lauren and Andrew Collins appear.
Lauren landed right in front of Queen Mother, while Andrew Collins appeared just half a meter away from the metal ball.
"This..." At the instant that he appeared, Andrew Collins’ attention seemed to be immediately captured by the metal ball in front of him. "I do not know what this thing is, but I can feel an intense sense of familiarity with it!"
"That thing right in front of you is the one that we are looking for." Alina said behind Alex, with her voice betraying how anxious she is right now.
"Ok... so what should I do now?" It was obvious that Andrew Collins wanted to ask other questions and observe the metal ball more, but the intense aura being let out by Alina right now prompted Andrew Collins to be obedient. "Should I approach this ball more?"
"Just listen to what I will say, and do your best to follow it." Alina snapped in reply, making both Alex and Andrew Collins flinch. "As long as you do this right, we can get back to our lives both satisfied. So, don’t mess this up, or you will be the one that will pay for it..."
"Ok... yes, I, um, understand." In the end, this was all that Andrew Collins could say under Alina’s intense glare, making Alex feel pity for him.