Obscura cursed under his breath.
'So, every damn floor, we have to fight and then hack?'
Because the location of each elevator is different, it seems that each one can only go up one level.
His jaw tightened as he glanced at the countdown tir displayed on the wall.
02:01:05
His mind raced.
Would they be able to finish the mission within the remaining ti?
There were five floors in total, and they were only just about to reach the second one. They had already wasted over thirty minutes just trying to open that damn first door. If this one took just as long—plus the ti spent fighting—then their ti would be too tight. Too risky.
No. There was no use overthinking it now.
They needed to focus on the task at hand.
Obscura took a deep breath and moved to the elevator panel, pulling out a sleek, compact device from the inside of his coat. It looked like a thin tablet, but the holographic interface lit up the mont his fingers brushed over it.
Eclipse, standing beside him, let out a dramatic groan.
"Oh, co on," she whined, crossing her arms. "Again? This setup is so annoying."
She kicked the ground lightly, looking like an impatient child. "Who even designed this stupid building? So paranoid freak?"
Obscura didn't answer. He was already focused, fingers moving swiftly across the interface, bypassing minor security layers just to reach the core firewall.
The elevator itself was sleek, high-tech—no buttons, only a digital touch screen embedded into the wall. The doors were thick, reinforced steel, making it impossible to break through physically. The only way up was through hacking.
He frowned. Of course.
This was The Erasers' facility, after all. The ones that kept The Archive hidden from the world. It was no surprise that their security systems were top-notch.
As Obscura worked, Eclipse paced back and forth behind him, arms swinging restlessly.
The defeated Runners scattered across the floor remained perfectly still, pretending to be unconscious. None of them dared to move. Not after what she had done to them.
They weren't stupid.
One wrong twitch, and Eclipse might take it as an excuse to knock them out for real this ti.
"Ugh, hurry up," she grumbled, glaring at the elevator panel as if she could intimidate it into opening. "I swear, if we have to do this on every floor, I might actually lose my mind."
Obscura ignored her, eyes narrowing as he hit another security wall.
Damn it.
The Erasers' encryption was a pain. Even with his skills, it was taking far too long to break through.
He exhaled through his nose, trying to keep his frustration in check. Getting agitated wouldn't help.
Still—
"This is ridiculous," he muttered, fingers moving faster over the holographic interface. "These bastards really went all out with their security."
"Yeah, yeah," Eclipse sighed, twirling a knife between her fingers. "Tech problems, blah blah. Look, just tell —how long is this gonna take?"
Obscura didn't answer imdiately. He was busy manipulating the bypass sequence, forcefully injecting false data into the firewall's system logs to make it believe the elevator had already been authorized. It was a tricky thod—one that required absolute precision.
One wrong move, and the entire system would go into lockdown.
Seconds passed.
Then—
A sharp beep sounded from the elevator panel.
Eclipse froze.
She squinted at the panel, then at Obscura. "Hold on. Not falling for it this ti."
The last ti she assud the beep ant success, she had embarrassed herself.
Instead of celebrating, she crossed her arms and raised a brow, waiting.
Finally, after a second, the steel doors slid open with a quiet hiss.
Eclipse's lips twitched.
Without hesitation, she shalessly stepped inside, not even sparing Obscura a glance.
He rolled his eyes and followed.
The elevator ascended smoothly, but neither of them relaxed.
They both knew what was coming.
As soon as the doors slid open again, they were greeted by a new wave of Runners.
But this ti...
Eclipse let out a low whistle, her gaze sweeping over them.
"Oh-ho? Now we're talking."
Unlike the thugs on the ground floor, these n looked professional. Their bodies were solid—well-built and disciplined. These weren't random street gang mbers.
They were trained.
Private security level.
Probably hired muscle for high-class clients.
At least fifty of them stood between Eclipse and the next elevator.
Obscura remained impassive.
Eclipse, however, grinned.
"This might actually be fun."
Without hesitation, she launched herself forward, fists swinging with lethal precision.
Unlike earlier, it didn't feel like she was simply bullying them. These n had actual training—they knew how to block, how to counter.
But still—
She dodged a punch. Then another. Then another.
—they weren't good enough.
As she drove her knee into one man's ribs, she sighed.
"Seriously? You look tough, but you're all just appearances, huh?"
Another opponent lunged at her. She ducked, spun, and slamd her elbow into his jaw.
"Disappointing," she muttered.
A group of three ca at her at once.
Finally. So teamwork.
But it didn't matter.
She flipped over one, kicked the second in the chest, and twisted the third's arm behind his back before shoving him into the others.
Another sigh. "I was expecting more from you guys."
Obscura, anwhile, watched the scene with a completely neutral expression.
Then, he looked at the tir on the wall.
Damn it. They were still losing too much ti.
Without a word, he stepped into the fight, weaving through the chaos with practiced ease.
It didn't take him long to take down several n. He was precise, clean—quick and efficient. Unlike Eclipse's wild and flashy movents, he made every strike count.
Within minutes, only half of the Runners remained.
That was enough.
Obscura stepped back. "I'm hacking the next elevator. Cover ."
Eclipse scoffed. "Obviously."
He moved toward the elevator.
And—of course—the Runners tried to stop him.
Bad move.
Before they could get close—
THWACK!
Eclipse slamd one into the ground, twisting to elbow another in the face.
"Don't touch him," Eclipse warned.
But then, another one tried to approach, and then another.
She took them all down.
She clicked her tongue, glaring at the rest.
"Are you guys stupid?" she snapped. "How many tis do I have to say don't touch him?!"
Yet they kept trying.
Again and again, Runners attempted to rush at Obscura, only to be brutally taken down by Eclipse before they could even reach him.
"You really don't learn, do you?" she grumbled, kicking another one into a wall.
Obscura barely spared them a glance.
He was too focused, fingers moving even faster now.
The firewall here was just as tough—maybe even tougher—but he was getting better at predicting its patterns.
He was almost there.
Just a bit more...
Then—
Beep.
The doors slid open.
At the sa mont, Eclipse threw the last remaining Runner to the ground.
She dusted off her hands. "That's all of them."
Obscura checked the tir.
01:37:45
Great.
They still had a chance to make it.
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