BXBX NOVEL Chapter 538 Upgraded Systems
"Crap." Lee Seng's vision began to blur. "David."
"Wh-what?" David looked at Lee Seng. He grabbed Lee Seng as he almost fell over. "What's wrong with you? You were okay a second ago."
"So-something's wrong w-with me… Argh!" Lee Seng clutched his head.
Lee Seng's entire body went limp, falling into David's arm.
"Dammit!" David cursed under his breath as the rubble exploded. "You leave me at the most pivotal moment! Stay here!" David set Lee Seng down behind him and turned to face the growing number of Thieves. "You owe me a big one, Foxy!" His bone armor morphed as a helmet grew on his head.
"Get them!" A thief shouted. David's arms turned into swords in an instant as he sprinted to meet the enemy. David slashed across the chest of one and impaled the other. The thieves swung their weapons, connecting with David's bone armor. Their weapons bounced off as their non-magical attacks did nothing to him.
"Fire!" The thief shouted. Fireballs and Earth flew out at David. David lifted his free arm and formed a shield. The fireball and rocks slammed against the bone shield, slowly cracking away with each rock.
"It isn't gonna hold!" David grunted. "Where did you go?!?"
[…]
[…]
[…]
[Project XI Artificial Intelligence Support is being upgraded. User induced sleep has successfully occurred. Upgrade starts now.]
Lee Seng gasped awake as fire and rock flew over him.
'How long was I out?' Lee Seng wondered.
[According to my estimate, you were out for four minutes.]
'Huh, you work again?' Lee Seng asked.
[Due to a strange interaction with Lisa, your XIAI system bugged out and had to be reseted and updated.]
'How's that possible?' Lee Seng asked as a thief flew over him. He sat up and looked over. David was sweating as he was struggling to keep up with the amount of thieves pouring I.
[I've been designed to always change with you.]
"We're gonna have to pause this conversation." Lee Seng told the AI. Lee Seng lifted his left hand and pressed his hand downwards. He watched as all of the thieves began to drop to the ground as David was plucked out from the group with Lee Seng's free hand.
"Oh my god. What the fuck?" David gasped. He looked over at Lee Seng and noticed his teammate was finally awake. "Why did you fall asleep? I could've died!" Lee Seng let David go and looked around. Bone spikes, shards and dust was everywhere.
"I see you took care of them." Lee Seng nodded.
"That doesn't answer my question." David wiped his sweat as he stepped in front of Lee Seng. He lifted his arm up and pointed at the hole. "You caved that in but they came through. I think that way should be safer to go through."
"Did you have time to ask for directions?" Lee Seng asked. A couple of thieves let out a groan, drawing Lee Seng's attention.
"No. I was trying to protect you." David replied. "Do you know how close they were to getting you?" He turned around and pointed at the nearest body. "That close!"
"Alright, thank you for protecting me while I was passed out." Lee Seng nodded half-heartedly. He moved over to the remaining thieves and pointed at one of the thieves and lifted him up in the air. The thief began to scream with his mouth shut. "Shhh. We just got a couple of questions and you can be on your merry way. Where are you keeping the Hell horses?"
The thief's wild eyes looked around for awhile, unsure of what he should do. He was completely under control of the enemy. Lee Seng released pressure on his mouth and instantly got what he assumed would happen.
"Fuck you! I'd rather die than tell you!" The thief shouted. Lee Seng sighed and took a step up.
"Y'know you're messing with the wrong person, right?" Lee Seng's mask shifted into a liquid, hardening into a small diamond-shaped jewel on his forehead. His red and blue eyes menacingly looked straight into the thief's scared eyes. He moved straight up to the thief, pulling him close and leaning into his ear and whispered, "You'll tell me everything I need to know, alright?"
A red and blue energy flew out of Lee Seng's mouth and into the man's ear. Lee Seng pulled away and took a step back. The thief's eyes glossed over for a moment and the next thing Lee Seng knew, the red and blue colors were swirling around his irises.
"Can you tell me where you're keeping the Hell horses?" Lee Seng asked.
"We're keeping them… We're keeping them… in… in the Hole." The thief replied. Thieves began to scream as Lee Seng immediately shushed them with more pressure.
"What's the hole?" Lee Seng asked. "Where is it?"
"Follow the path behind you to the third hall… Follow it… It should lead you to the top of the fortress… Th-the… It's…" The thief's head began to bop. It looked like he was fighting it.
"Where is the hole?" Lee Seng repeated his question. He was starting to get worried his two levels in Charm wasn't going to do much against the thief.
"Near… 51st and North…" The thief shook his head and the red and blue color fizzled out. The thief's face hardened as he realized what just happened. "You! You betwitched me!"
"51st and North?" David repeated the information.
"Yup." Lee Seng nodded. "Thanks for your cooperation, sir. May you find rest in the afterlife." Lee Seng squeezed his left hand and turned.
[Registering souls taken before reset.]
[1 Psuedo Demon. Soul Value: 45 base. Updated: 90.]
[And 8 Thieves… Total: 250/10,000 souls.]
"Come on. Let's go." Lee Seng motioned.
"How do you know if what he was saying was right?" David asked. "What if it's wrong?"
"I thought you'd be 'punch first, ask questions later,' but I guess I'm wrong." Lee Seng shrugged. David frowned and looked at Lee Seng as they passed the first hallway.
"Come on! I was only like that because Lisa was in danger."
"You would've left me to die, right?" Lee Seng bluntly spoke. David sighed and looked away from Lee Seng as they passed the second hallway.
"Look, I was wrong about you, alright. I thought your light would be triggering to Lisa so I tried damn hard to make sure you didn't trigger it, but…"
"It triggered without my Light." Lee Seng finished the sentence. They turned right at the third hallway and followed the path. Lee Seng released occasional vibration blips to check for enemies and any deviating pathways.
David didn't say much. Lee Seng occasionally glanced at him, wondering what the scrawny Bones teen was thinking, but didn't really gather much from his body language and face. Lee Seng would throw a hand up, once in a while and motion to David that there were people about.
Lee Seng thought they would have to get into another useless scrap, but David surprised him. David knew how to play it smart and stealthy. They moved past the groups, staying out of vision and sight.
The two eventually made it to the end where a hatch was. David immediately went for the hatch and grabbed it, opening it quietly. He took a peek to see if everything was alright and motioned for Lee Seng to come up.
"Do you know how she… Turned to that?" David asked, quietly. Lee Seng climbed out of the hatch and slowly set the hatch door down.
"Lisa?" Lee Seng asked. David simply nodded as the two looked around for any signs of 'where they were.' "You passed out so I had to save you and kept her suspended in my gravity bubble. I put her with you and went to deal with my cosmic orb. The announcer guy showed up with screech powers and turned himself into a pseudo-demon."
"A pseudo-demon?!?" David said a bit too loud. Lee Seng stuck his finger next to his mouth to shush him. "A demon? A demon triggered it?"
"Yeah. It had a bloodthirsty aura radiating off of it and everything." Lee Seng nodded. David's face grew dark.
"Did you hear the report?" A thief quietly spoke. The crunching of gravel caught Lee Seng's attention, turning his head slowly in the direction of the thives.
"That the intruders got in, ruined the Arena match and got that girl out?" The other thief replied.
"And now they're out. I think they're heading to the location of the Hell horses."
"Did we get our orders from HQ?"
"Nothing. They haven't said to go to it. I have a feeling they might bring out the big guns." Thief 1 mentioned. Lee Seng grabbed David and motioned to the right.
"People." Lee Seng whispered before lifting his hand up. "Now's a good time to try this…" He imagined the dark and colorful door opening up. "Get us out of here and into something less revealing."