"Oh? Hahaha! You scared me there... So it's just the president of this company."

The leader felt glad seeing this lady blocking their path. If it was someone that was on their dangerous list, then he might order a retreat with his men.

"Just me?"

The beautiful president chuckled upon hearing the man's words.

"Well, I know why you guys are here. So I won't waste any more words with you... Come!"

"Arrogant!"

They wasted no time as the five peak Adepts approach the lady from different angles. The leader himself didn't act to ensure that he had a wider view on the fight that was about to happen, he just cast a simple stealth spell on himself as he believes that there would be a hidden ambush against their team.

The six of them acted that they don't know about it and played along with the president.

'It's impossible that you'll face us alone...'

'Now, where are your reinforcements?' The leader looked around the floor, the ceiling, tables, cabinets, and walls as he heightened his senses to detect any abnormalities in their surroundings.

The six of them were trained as assassins so their fighting method was vastly different from normal magicians.

They like to use single-burst magic to defeat their enemy and often use unconventional methods to kill their targets.

As the five neared the lady president, they realized that no reinforcements were coming to interrupt them.

'If that's the case... We'll take your life now!'

They were holding blades and daggers imbued by powerful magic. Once they activated the magic spell that was infused, as long as they did not let go of their weapons, it will continuously suck their Mana to empower it. In return, it will become the most destructive weapon and could easily slice the Mana Shell of even an Adept Mage.

But they never expected how rich the president was.

The lady threw 5 orbs at them and because of how close it was, they didn't have time to think whether it's better to dodge or take it head-on.

They could only act in instinct as they used their weapons to parry the attack.

"This..."

They soon realized that they were hit by a single-use Mana Artifact.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The clank of chains was heard as the orb she threw summoned binding chains that were trying to entrap the five enemies.

"Domain Mana Shell! Guh!"

They tried to fight against the activation of the artifact but they were having trouble. The leader frowned a bit but he didn't panic. He never doubted the abilities of his subordinates.

"Despair Chains, huh."

'They will not be defeated easily. If this is only what you've got, then you'll really die here.'

The leader then sends a secret communication to his team telling them to hold the lady president for now while he'll sneak to the top floor and take the cores with him.

The leader used his superb movement speed as he passed the president without being noticed. Or even if he was noticed, he believes that there's nothing that she could do.

As soon as this happened, the five magicians struggled to open a vial of potion and drink them. As they consumed the potion, they gritted their teeth as they felt an immense power coursing through their veins.

"Berserk Potions... You guys are being desperate." The lady said as she took out another set of orbs and thrown it to the five.

'Another Despair Chains!'

'Just how rich was this lady!'

"Haha! This binding chains won't last!"

"Once this chain loses all its power. I'll dismember you!"

"Well, try it... if you can."

As soon as she said this, she opened the bag she was holding showing a handful of orbs. They all look like a single-use Mana Artifact.

"W-what!"

The five were surprised seeing such a large number of expensive mana artifacts. It seems like the lady in front of them was only adamant about letting them stay here. They suddenly a grim idea.

'Crap! Maybe her task is just to hold us down.'

'She's definitely waiting for a powerful backup!

'We have to get away from here.'

'Mhm... The leader should be able to take those cores away.'

They soon decided to take a bit of time of this lady and after they confirmed that the leader had taken away the cores, they will quickly leave the building. For that, they had to create an escape router.

While being bound by the chains, they can still move a little. As for casting mana spell, it was close to impossible. They can't properly connect to their mana reserves due to the interruption by the chains. But because they had a chance of consuming the berserk potion a while ago, they could fight back and consumes a lot of power coming from the Despair Chains.

'The lady must be fully concentrated to us... Hurry up leader!'

The leader arrived at the top floor and saw a room walled with thick glass. Inside was a table and a briefcase on top of it.

"Ho~ You even readied it for us."

The leader said but he frowned a little since the cores were pitiful in amount. There were only 10 of them. The security company should have more than a hundred of these cores.

He approached the thick wall glass and took a stance to make a punch. His fist glowed as he strikes the glass.

Contrary to his expectation, instead of hearing shattered glasses, he felt pain punching through the glass.

"How was this thing made?!"

There was not even a dent at the glass.

He didn't underestimate the wall blocking him as he used more than 50% of his strength in that simple punch. He tried to take another stance to punch and put all his strength this time but to his horror. He could no longer move.

***

The 12th Phantom Squad tasked to assassinate the City Mayor failed terribly. From their 44 members, only 9 were left and they were now escaping the pursuit of the Lucent Force assigned by Aaron to protect the City Mayor.

"This is so infuriating!"

"We couldn't even have a proper glance at the City Mayor..."

Although they were called a suicide squad. They couldn't die pointlessly. They had to at least die in order to give an opportunity to other members and kill the City Mayor. They were ready to use powerful explosives hidden within their body but they couldn't even find the City Mayor.

The one that they killed within the Municipal Hall a while ago was just the Mayor's double. As they revealed their location, they were easily surrounded and had to fight to the death with the guards and police officers.

It was still fine at that time. They have magic enhanced rifles that were made like powerful turrets capable of killing unprepared Battle Mages. If ever they encountered an Adept, they would just have to increase their firing intensity since those Adepts would still have a hard time taking the bullets if they were shot multiple times.

Unfortunately, Five members of the Lucent Force that was supposedly tasked to take on the Hallowed Eye's wielder arrived at the scene. It caught them unawares and several of them died pointlessly.

They can only scatter and rendezvous after some time and strike again after gathering their forces. At least, that was their plan until most of them were hunted by the Lucent Force.

During their escape, they were destroying buildings and such in order to harm civilians if there are still some of them that are remaining outside. This would at least stop some of their pursuers and giving them a breather. Luckily, after fleeing for a while, they noticed that no one was following them anymore as they met at their rendezvous point. It was Wallace's neighborhood.

"Tsk! There were 19 of us when we scattered. Now, we're only 9!"

"Should we retreat?"

One of them asked but everyone already has this on their mind.

The highest-ranking officer that survived with them take on the role of the leader and answered.

"Yes, after our last objective." He said as he looked in a certain direction.

The others looked in the same direction and saw a simple but scary house not too far from them.

"The previous groups sent by sir Avarice died in this house... In order to avenge them... We'll flatten this land to warn them not to mess with us!"

"Oooh!!"

They shouted loudly as they agreed with their current leader's words.

Soon, they took out many powerful artifacts and explosives as they planned to make a mini-missile to destroy the whole place. They didn't dare to enter the gate as they knew that it will be the cause of their death. They were aware of how dangerous that place is.

Soon, when they were satisfied at the improvised explosive they made and distanced themselves for around 500 meters away from the house. Their leader, which was the strongest among their small group, took the task of sending the explosive to their target.

Boom! Wallace's house took the brunt of the assault.