Chapter 421: No Choice

She grabbed one monster by the ankle, then another, and then another.

With the creatures incapacitated but still alive, Kaela began dragging them toward the exit while the facility continued falling apart around her. She moved through the collapsing corridors without slowing down, pulling the unconscious monsters behind her as though their enormous bodies weighed little more than sacks of clothes.

Metal beams collapsed from the ceiling, walls cracked under the strain, and containment chambers shattered as their reinforced glass exploded across the corridors.

Smoke filled the facility, turning the air thick and difficult to breathe.

Kaela ignored it all.

She kept moving.

There was no point worrying about the building anymore.

The place was already doomed, and the only thing that mattered was getting some of the monsters out before the entire underground complex came down on top of them.

Within a minute, dozens of unconscious monsters had been dragged out from beneath the rubble and piled up.

Kaela stepped outside and found something unexpected.

A lorry was waiting.

Standing beside it was Greg.

He looked at the ruined facility, then at Kaela, then back at the facility.

His expression was exhausted before he even said anything.

"You always have to cause a mess, don’t you?"

Kaela smiled.

"And you’re always going to clean them up."

She walked toward the lorry and casually glanced back at the destruction behind her.

"That’s if you want our cooperation."

Greg’s expression tightened.

He knew exactly what she meant.

He had no choice.

Kaela and the others knew about his secret facility.

If that information reached the likes of his father, Greg would have far more problems than a destroyed laboratory. The facility contained illegal research, experimental creatures, and information that could cause serious trouble if it ever became public.

More importantly, he needed the Enforcers.

The Blessed were still a threat, and whatever they were planning, Greg knew that conventional forces wouldn’t be enough to stop them. The situation had already gone far beyond something that could be handled by your average Titled.

No matter how influential or affluent he was, power still had limits.

Money couldn’t replace overwhelming strength.

Connections couldn’t stop an A Rank, and Greg knew exactly where he could find some of the strongest Titled in the country.

Ethan Crowe.

And the people around him.

If Greg wanted their cooperation, he had to tolerate their methods, including Kaela’s tendency to turn every problem into a disaster zone. Kaela walked over to the first unconscious monster and grabbed it by the leg.

She threw it into the back of the lorry.

THUD!

Greg watched as the enormous creature landed like it weighed nothing.

Kaela grabbed another.

Then another.

Giant unconscious monsters were being thrown into the vehicle one after another. Their limbs were mangled, their bodies were battered, and several had deep wounds and crushed bones.

Yet every one of them was still alive.

Greg stared at the growing pile.

"You do realise those things are going to destroy the truck if they wake up, right?"

"They won’t."

Kaela threw another ogre inside.

"And if they do, I’ll handle it."

Greg sighed.

"Do I even want to know what you need them for?"

Kaela smiled.

"A training exercise."

Greg stared at her.

It was clearly a lie, but Kaela didn’t care whether he believed it or not. She climbed into the side of the lorry and pointed towards the driver.

"Take them over to our base."

Greg nodded.

The driver started the engine.

Kaela stepped back as the lorry began pulling away.

She watched the vehicle disappear down the road before looking back at the ruined facility.

Elias was gone.

The laboratory was destroyed.

And yet Kaela had gotten exactly what she needed.

She smiled.

"One problem solved."

Things had somehow worked out for her, as they often did.

Though not without cost, her head was aching after constantly using foresight, while her body felt heavy and drained.

’I guess I’m not entirely immortal yet.’

Her healing factor had its limits, slowing down when overused, and she was hoping to never truly reach them.

She then thought about her counterpart in this insane two-pronged solution.

’I wonder how Ethan’s side of things is going.’

For once, she hoped he wasn’t making an even bigger mess than she had, for Mark’s sake.

But knowing Ethan, Kaela wasn’t particularly optimistic.

-

Ethan had been walking for what felt like hours.

The realm inside Mark’s mind was unlike anything he had ever experienced.

The entire landscape was saturated with dense green mana. It hung in the air like fog, thick enough that Ethan could almost feel it pressing against his skin. The ground beneath his feet shifted between twisted rock and something that looked disturbingly similar to flesh, while enormous shapes moved in the distance before disappearing into the darkness.

Nothing about this place obeyed normal rules.

The sky had no sun.

There was no true horizon.

The landscape seemed to stretch forever, yet Ethan could feel something drawing him toward the centre.

Toward Mark.

He followed that sensation.

The deeper he went, the heavier the mana became.

Every step felt like he was walking farther into the body of some enormous creature.

And eventually, Ethan found him.

Mark was somewhere in the centre of the realm.

Ethan could sense him.

He could feel the connection between their souls pulling him forward.

But Mark wasn’t alone.

Something stood between them.

Ethan stopped.

A massive creature emerged from the green haze.

Its body was so enormous that it resembled a moving mountain.

Its four legs were thick enough to crush buildings, and layers of dark, armoured flesh covered its body. Huge plates overlapped across its back, each one pulsing with dense mana as though something beneath the creature’s skin was constantly moving.

Jagged horns curved from its skull.

Its mouth was large enough to swallow a truck whole.

Two enormous eyes burned with a deep orange light, illuminating the surrounding darkness.

Every breath it released caused the air to tremble.

Ethan stared at it.

He recognised the creature immediately from the description of his friends.

It was the A Rank monster Mark had consumed in that Gate.

Somehow, Mark’s mind had given the monster a body, and now it was guarding him.

Ethan slowly rolled his shoulders.

The creature lowered its enormous head.

A deep growl rolled across the landscape, trembling the ground beneath his feet.

Ethan smiled.

’I guess we get to see if I’m as strong as Mark after all.’