Chapter 594 – The Director’s Residence

The commotion inside the defensive walls surrounding the facility quickly reached the director’s residence.

The violent noise shattered the silence of the mountains in the middle of the night. It would have been stranger if no one had noticed it.

The director’s residence had many guards assigned to it. When the director realized that the research facility was being attacked, he ordered them to apprehend the perpetrators.

“Rebuilding a research facility like this from scratch would take years and an enormous amount of funding. In other words, it would be nearly impossible! Minimize the damage, and catch the culprits! They’ll pay for destroying even part of my facility!”

“But we can’t reduce security here either…”

“You fool! This residence only has value because of the research facility! Now that the monster army’s invasion has ended in complete failure, if the facility is lost as well, my very position becomes meaningless!”

Fuming, the director sent most of his security detail to the research facility.

“Most of the guards have left. Isn’t this our chance?”

Zion, who had been watching the front of the director’s residence, asked Seth.

Seth nodded.

Because he was sharing thoughts with Tauro, Seth’s judgment also reflected Tauro’s intentions, so Zion trusted his response.

“Alright, then. Let’s sneak inside!”

At Seth’s signal, Zion leapt over the wall, and Seth followed.

They crossed the garden, which had been heavily guarded only moments earlier, and approached the mansion.

People had apparently been rushing in and out, because the entrance doors had been left unlocked. The two slipped inside without difficulty.

“Lord Tauro said there may be important documents here, including research records concerning the monsters. Let’s focus on finding those.”

Zion proposed the plan, and Seth nodded.

As they searched the mansion, staff members—mostly servants—hurried back and forth through the corridors under the director’s orders, carrying stacks of documents.

They seemed to be taking everything down to the basement.

“It looks like the basement is our target… Now we just need to find the person in charge here…”

Zion murmured while peering into the corridor from a doorway.

Suddenly, Seth touched her shoulder and pointed toward someone walking down the hall.

The person he indicated was none other than Viscount Ivan, the director of the facility and one of their objectives.

Realizing this at once, Zion stepped openly into the corridor and confronted him.

“Hm? Who’s this child?”

Viscount Ivan asked the guard accompanying him.

“Director, please step back. I don’t recognize her, so she must be an intruder.”

The bodyguard moved between Ivan and Zion. He had memorized the faces of everyone authorized to enter and leave the facility.

“Seth, you go to the basement! I’ll handle these people.”

Zion urged Seth onward. He nodded quickly and headed for the basement.

“Damn it, so they’re after the research data! You—kill this brat quickly, then stop that other masked kid!”

Ivan mistook Seth’s lifelike movements for those of a child wearing a mask. He barked the order at his guard and tried to step back.

“…Director, please stay close to me. I can’t protect you if you move away.”

The bodyguard warned him, sensing that Ivan was preparing to flee.

“Then hurry up and take this brat down. She certainly looks ready to fight!”

As Ivan said, Zion rolled up the sleeves of her usual hooded cloak and raised the Opposing Demon Gauntlets.

“…A boxer, huh? That style has advantages indoors, but in a hallway this wide, it won’t matter much against me.”

The guard drew two unusually curved daggers.

Zion could tell immediately that he was highly skilled.

At first glance he seemed to leave no openings. Even while focusing on Zion, he remained composed enough to watch his surroundings for other enemies.

But Zion had no reason to rush.

The longer the guard remained cautious, the more time Seth had to reach the basement and deal with the research documents, so Zion calmly waited for him to make the first move.

The guard apparently realized the same thing. Clicking his tongue, he decided that delay favored the intruders and lunged forward.

His step-in resembled a boxer throwing a punch, but the weapon rushing toward Zion was one of his curved daggers.

Zion narrowly evaded the attack and countered.

The right Opposing Demon Gauntlet carried the light attribute and enhanced her offensive and defensive power. The left carried the darkness attribute and could randomly inflict powerful abnormal conditions on an opponent.

Using the left gauntlet also caused its wearer mental pain and therefore demanded considerable mental fortitude, but Zion showed no hesitation. Matching her opponent’s movement, she drove out her left fist with an emphasis on speed rather than raw power.

The bodyguard seemed to anticipate the counter and blocked it with the guard on his right elbow.

That wasn’t enough against the Opposing Demon Gauntlets.

Zion’s training as a light-wielding mage in the Dragon’s Den had also strengthened her ability to drive attacks through an opponent’s defenses.

Her left fist struck the elbow guard. The impact transmitted through it and damaged the arm beneath.

“Gah!”

Excruciating pain shot from the man’s right elbow through his body, and he involuntarily dropped the curved dagger in that hand.

Zion stepped in immediately and drove her right fist through the protection of his leather armor.

The shock of the punch penetrated the armor. The bodyguard’s eyes rolled, and he collapsed on the spot.

“To defeat a top-class guard dispatched from the central authorities… You’re no ordinary child. In that case, I’ll have to get serious too…”

Viscount Ivan pulled a small glass vial from his pocket.

Zion tensed, suspecting poison, but Ivan raised the vial and drank its contents on the spot.