The first explosions were bad enough. The group couldn’t see or hear anything as they were covered in a wave of fire that didn’t seem to end.

But after the agents’ corpses exploded, dozens of other energy containers began exploding along with them.

Explosions rang out one after the other, one bigger than the last.

They were just a small fraction of the thousand within the facility, but a single container already contained enough energy to melt them all.

However, despite the inferno being more than enough to kill the group ten times over, none of them were hurt.

Denmac’s warning had given them enough time to put up the needed barriers.

They had to wait for almost a minute for the inferno to end though, which seemed like an eternity as they were hunkered beneath their barriers, unsure if the heat would finally break their defenses any second now.

“Thank you for warning us, Denmac. If it wasn’t for you, we’d all be dead.” James bowed when the blaze was finally over.

“I sure am happy that we brought a diviner along with us.” Helios laughed, but as he looked around, his laugh was cut short. They were alive, but that didn’t mean much. “This isn’t good news, is it?”

“No.” Lunaris answered as she gave everyone an ocular patdown, making sure nobody was hurt. “Even though we’re all intact, the explosions had a secondary purpose. If they failed to kill us, they were still big enough to warn the rest of the city of our presence. Even with ten spells like Bacchus’s trying to block that from leaking out, it would be impossible.” Lunaris punched the nearest wall in frustration.

“Their security seemed shitty at first.” Helios shook his head. “I guess it’s because they don’t mind sacrificing some energy and lives to make sure they stop any intruders.”

“My god, we’re as good as dead if they find us.” Emilia shouted. “We need to get out of the city, now!”

“It’s too late.” Lunaris replied in a grim tone. “They’re probably about to surround us. The explosion was way too big, and we were turtled up beneath our barriers for way too long.”

Everybody hurriedly began buffing themselves up and preparing for the worst. Only James was standing still with his eyes closed.

“Damn.” Denmac cursed. “We haven’t accomplished even one of our objectives yet, and we’re already knee deep in shit. The explosions only took out a small fraction of the energy containers! So not only does Garantep still live, but we haven’t even gotten rid of the energy reserves.”

“As noble as it is for you to think of the mission, that doesn’t matter right now since we’re about to die!” Emilia cried out.

The three dwarfs put their hands on Emilia, trying to soother her with their mana. She immediately looked a lot calmer, but she was still worried. Even though they were much more composed, Lunaris and Helios clicked on the Belts of Soothing James had given them. They really were in trouble this time.

“Thanks guys.” Emilia whispered to the dwarves with her head down.

“Wait, did they plan this? Is the main defensive measure of the facility to just have some agents blow themselves up?” Helios asked as he looked around at the scorched brick and the giant crater around them.

“Anybody powerful and brave enough to actually try to infiltrate the facility is not someone they can understimate.” Lunaris sighed. “This must’ve been their contingency plan. If they can’t deal with the intruders with their sheer power alone, then they detonate. They must’ve sensed James’s power, so they knew there was no point in fighting him. And if the detonation of dozens of containers doesn’t kill the intruders, then the explosions would be enough to warn the whole city, and then surely that would be the end of them. I must admit, it’s a pretty good system for a bunch of single-minded murderers.” Lunaris spat out in frustration.

“What do we do now?” Denmac asked. “We’re about to be surrounded by hundreds of agents.”

“There’s only one thing we can do.” Helios answered with his sword and shield in hand. “Fight.”

Everybody nodded. Even Emilia was a lot calmer. Her initial shock having worn off, she was ready to contribute to the team. She knew she had to keep her mind calm and focused. Every one of them needed to give their all and work as a team, or they would all perish.

James was the only one that didn’t nod. He hadn’t moved a single inch, even as everyone else was scrambling to buff each other up as much as possible.

As everybody was looking at him, he finally opened his eyes.

“Everybody stealth up and hide. I’ll take care of this.”

They all looked like him, stupefied, unable to even react.

“What do you mean, everybody?” Lunaris exploded. “Are you nuts? There’s going to be hundreds of them out there!”

James didn’t answer, he just looked at her. He knew Lunaris and Helios loved him way too much to let him face the enemies alone, but he had a plan.

Lunaris was about to berate him back into sanity. They had planned several strategies on how to fight as a team, he’d be rendering many of their efforts and plans useless by fighting all by himself!

But as soon as he looked at her, all her words eluded her. She realized right away she couldn’t change his mind.

“Please don’t die, promise me. That’s all I ask.” She pleaded as she turned around.

James smiled. “I promise. I wouldn’t leave you guys all alone in this god forsaken place.”

Lunaris wiped her eyes, trying to hide her tears. This reckless idiot was putting himself in danger again, but she knew she had to listen to him. He was the only one that could really get them out of this predicament. Deep down, she knew he was right. Despite all their strategizing, he was the only one that could really make a difference.

“Are you sure you don’t need help, brother?” Helios put his hand on his shoulder.

James shook his head. “No, this will only work if I’m all alone.”

While Lunaris and Helios loved their crazy little brother too much to argue, the rest of the group was a lot more restless.

“Hey, I’ve seen how strong you are, and I don’t know what you have planned, but we need to fight together on this one.” Emilia told James. “No man can defeat hundreds of agents all by himself, I don’t care who you are.”

The dwarves and Denmac nodded. They all knew how powerful James was, but this was lunacy.

“I’m sorry for making you worry.” James told everyone, even though he was looking especially towards Lunaris and Helios. “I understand how dangerous this situation is. And that’s exactly why I need you to hide. Our plan failed spectacularly before it could even really start. So now I need to fix that.”

They all understood that whether they survived or not, it all depended on him. Still, it felt wrong to let one man take on so many agents.

“But they don’t know how many of us there are.” James continued. “The explosions only told them that there is an intruder. For all they know, it could be one or it could be a million. So while they’re distracted with me, you can all stealth up and stand completely still, they won’t find you while I’m keeping them busy.”

“Still, I don’t see how you could possibly win this. Even if you kill them in one shot, there’ll be hundreds attacking you at the same time.” Eruditus said.

“I hope you’re not too confident because of that new body of yours.” Bacchus added. “You’re far from indestructible.”

“Guys, he obviously knows what he’s doing. Let’s let him do what he wants.” Ruppus intervened.

“Thank you, Ruppus. And I’m really sorry for making you worry, everyone.” James continued. “But trust me, I’ll keep you all safe, and I’ll deal with all the agents. All you need to do is to cast your barriers on me.”

Nobody protested anymore. The agents would be here any second now.

As per his request, every single person cast one of their personal barrier skills onto James.

“Now hurry, stealth up and find a good spot to hide. Just make sure it’s away from all these containers.” James said as he looked at all the energy around him.

The group did as they were told, and in mere seconds they were gone. Even James could barely detect their presence now.

With several different barriers protecting him, James was more protected than he had ever been before. But he knew that even that wouldn’t do much against so many agents. So he sacrificed his health and cast a Chaos Barrier onto himself.

All he had to do now was to wait. It wouldn’t be long before he’d be attacked by hundreds of murderers.

And yet he was smiling. He didn’t even consider the possibility of losing. As a way to distract himself from the bad thoughts, he imagined what he would gain by winning. The rewards were enough to keep all the worries away.

Just the sheer XP from killing hundreds of agents almost made this fight worth it. It would’ve been a million times better if they could’ve finished this mission the stealthy way, but he was trying to be optimistic now that the plan had failed so quickly.

James felt dark presences all around him as he was standing outside the rubble of the underground facility. The explosion had been so enormous that it left a huge crater which revealed the facility to the outside world.

The killing intent alone was suffocating. Finally, the agents were here.