The retreat to the Undercroft was not a flight; it was a fighting withdrawal. Alvian acted as the rearguard, a one-man wall of ice and void that punished any Syndicate force foolish enough to pursue.
The campus was a nightmare. The beautiful floating islands were connected by light-bridges, and these bridges had become choke points of slaughter.
Alvian stood on the bridge connecting the Vanguard District to the Central Library. Behind him, Valeria was ushering hundreds of students into the heavy blast doors of the lower levels. In front of him, a squad of Syndicate Elites—Level 40 Assassins—were rushing across the bridge.
"Smoke Screen!" one of the assassins shouted, throwing a canister.
Thick, black smoke filled the bridge, blinding normal vision.
"Blindness?" Alvian scoffed. "Inefficient."
He didn’t need eyes. He had the [Tablet of the Earth Core] fused into his body. He could feel the vibrations of their footsteps on the bridge.
"System. Calculate trajectory."
[Tracking 8 Targets.]
Alvian didn’t use a spell. He used [Voidpiercer].
"[World Step]."
He vanished from his position and appeared in the middle of the smoke. He didn’t slash wildly. He moved with surgical precision.
"Stab. Slash. Sever."
He appeared behind the first assassin. The dagger sank into the base of the skull. Instant kill.
[-12,000! Critical!]
He pivoted, dodging a poisoned blade by a millimeter, and drove his knee into the second assassin’s gut. With 220 Physique, the impact shattered the assassin’s ribs and ruptured organs. As the man doubled over, Alvian decapitated him with the Lance in his other hand.
"Two."
The remaining six assassins panicked. They couldn’t see him, but their comrades were dying.
"Area attack! Now!" the leader screamed.
They unleashed a barrage of shadow needles, covering every inch of the bridge.
Alvian activated [Runic Aegis +2]. The purple runes spun around him, deflecting the needles with a chorus of metallic pings.
"Reflect."
The runes pulsed. They didn’t just block; they absorbed the kinetic energy and fired it back.
"BOOM!"
The reflected force blasted the assassins off the bridge. They fell screaming into the cloudy abyss below the floating island.
[You have slain Syndicate Assassin (Elite) x6!]
[Level Up!]
[Level 42.]
Alvian cleaned his blade. He turned and walked into the Library entrance where Seraphina was waiting.
"Show off," Seraphina muttered, though she looked relieved. "I’ve secured the archives. But we have a problem."
"What?"
"The Syndicate isn’t just attacking from the sky," Seraphina pulled up a holographic map. "They have a teleportation anchor inside the Faculty Building. They’re bypassing our outer defenses."
"Voice Three," Alvian realized. "The Professor. He would know the coordinate codes."
"If we don’t destroy that anchor, they’ll flank us," Seraphina warned. "But the Faculty Building is crawling with corrupted teachers. Level 45s."
"Then we purge them," Alvian said. "Where is the anchor?"
"The Dean’s Office," Seraphina pointed. "Top floor."
"Valeria, hold the Undercroft entrance," Alvian commanded over the comms. "Seraphina and I are going hunting."
They sprinted toward the Faculty Building. The structure was a gothic spire of dark stone, now wreathed in green fel-fire.
They burst through the front doors. The lobby was filled with Faculty Golems—massive constructs of brass and magic—that had been hacked. Their eyes glowed red.
"Intruders Detected. Exterminate."
"I’ll handle the Golems," Seraphina said, her daggers flashing. "You get to the top."
"Don’t die," Alvian said.
"You neither."
Alvian didn’t take the stairs. He looked at the ceiling.
"System. Maximize [Terra-Form]. Density Increase."
He crouched. The floor cracked.
"JUMP!"
He launched himself upward. He smashed through the ceiling of the first floor. Then the second. Then the third. He was a human cannonball, punching through floors of stone and wood, ignoring the debris bouncing off his [Vestments].
He crashed onto the floor of the Dean’s Office on the 10th level. Dust and splinters rained down around him.
The room was occupied. Standing over a glowing, portable teleportation gate was an elderly man in a high-collared robe. Voice Three.
[Boss Detected: Syndicate Lieutenant - The Professor]
[Level: 45]
[Class: Void Arcanist]
"You..." The Professor turned, his eyes wide behind his spectacles. "You brute! You ruined the floor!"
"I’m about to ruin your face," Alvian said, stepping out of the rubble.
"You think you can stop the Great Work?" The Professor sneered. He raised a wand made of twisted bone. "[Void Singularity]!"
A black hole the size of a basketball appeared in the center of the room. It began to suck in everything—books, furniture, the air itself.
Alvian felt the pull. It was strong. But he had the [Void Anchor] ability from his armor.
"I am the Void," Alvian stated, standing firm against the gravitational pull. "You’re just a tourist."
He equipped the [Lance of the Void Winter].
"System. [Klaus’s Upgrade]. Activate."
[Ding! Blessing Active.]
The Professor’s eyes bulged. "How are you not moving? That is a localized event horizon!"
"Because I’m heavier than your ambition," Alvian quipped.
He didn’t throw the lance. He charged. He fought against the singularity’s pull, his boots grinding on the floor, and thrust the spear directly at the teleportation gate behind the Professor.
"NO!" The Professor screamed, trying to intercept him with a shield.
"[Glacial Void Pierce]: Structural Breaker."
The beam of black ice shot out. It bypassed the Professor’s shield (thanks to [Reality Sever]) and slammed into the teleportation gate.
"CRASH!"
The gate exploded. The spatial coordinates destabilized. The portal collapsed in on itself, creating a shockwave that blew the windows out of the tower.
[Objective Complete: Teleportation Anchor Destroyed.]
The Professor was thrown back, his robes tattered. He looked at the ruined gate, then at Alvian with pure hatred.
"You... you ignorant child! Do you know what you’ve done? The reinforcements...!"
"Are cancelled," Alvian finished.
He walked toward the Professor. The old man scrambled back, casting desperate bolts of shadow magic. Alvian didn’t even dodge. He swatted them aside with his gauntlet.
"Wait! I have knowledge! I can teach you—"
"I had a teacher," Alvian said, his voice dropping to a whisper as he remembered Rogge burning like a sun. "He was better than you."
"SQUELCH."
Alvian drove the lance through the Professor’s chest.
[You have slain Syndicate Lieutenant - The Professor!]
[Experience Gained: 400,000!]
Alvian looted the body. He found a [Data Crystal: Syndicate Network] and a [Ring of the Void Scholar].
He looked out the broken window. The flow of enemies from the Faculty Building had stopped. But in the sky, the main rift was pulsing. Something huge was trying to push through.
"Round two is over," Alvian muttered. "Here comes the main event."