The Author's POV

'”BOOOOOM!

"'”'”!"

The whole building shook, and all the furniture in the room fell onto the ground. Stumbling back a couple of steps, my eyes opened wide. 'What in the world just happened?' Without wasting time, dashing out of the room, I ran towards the entrance of the dorms.

Because the area had been sealed by Matthew and his two companions, there was no one in my area. It took a while for me to spot some people.

"What's going on?!"

"What happened?"

Turning right and walking into a corridor, startled guards appeared everywhere as they wondered about what had just happened. The confusion only grew deeper as more and more people came out

'Is the Monolith under seige?'

I wondered as I recalled the explosion that had just rung not long ago.

The force coming from the explosion was so strong that I knew that a big enemy had attacked the whole building.

The real question was, who attacked the Monolith? Was it perhaps the Union? Or was this due to some internal disputes inside of the Monolith?

Quite frankly, I wasn't sure.

There was a chance this was the work of the Union.

'If I don't remember incorrectly, they have an artifact that allows them to travel to the main headquarters of the Monolith'

This was something that I knew they had since it did not only teleport to the Monolith, but to other places as well. In the novel, they actually never used it to travel to the Monolith, but I knew all too well just how much the story had deviated from the original one.

The chances of this being the Union were not low.

'”BOOOOOM!

Disrupting me out of my thoughts, the building once again shook. This time, the explosion was even louder than before as the tremors intensified. Holding onto the side of the wall, I tried not to fall.

'”WHIIIIIII! '”WHIIIIIII!

[This is an emergency message, we're currently under attack. I repeat we're currently under attack. All personnel and members please make your way to the first level to aid the defense unit. I repeat, all personell...]

The blaring sound of the sirens rang out, and a warning echoed from the speakers around the building. Immediately after, almost everyone around me rushed towards the exit of the second level.

"Quick!"

"Everyone onto the first level!"

With almost everyone here being a guard, upon receiving the orders, everyone rushed towards the first level just like the alarm had told them to. Because of the chaos, no one particularly noticed me, as they all rushed downstairs.

"Might as well take advantage of the situation."

Lowering the cap on my head and putting my mask away, I decided to follow them downstairs.

Though I had the mask available to me, now that the whole place was in chaos, I could take advantage of it and escape through them.

This was for the best. With this, my mana which was quite low could be conserved. The mask did consume a lot of mana after all. Furthermore, amongst the chaos, the probability of someone actively looking for me through the cameras was low. They had probably forgotten about me by now.

'Perfect'

Joining the crowd and hiding my presence amongst the masses, I quickly headed for the first level.

Freedom had never been this close.

***

At the same time.

elderly-looking people levitated in the air as they coldly looked down below them. Their majestic mana

sunken cheeks and red-blood eyes. Their bright red eyes swept the entire forest until finally, they paused on Monica, Tasos, and Amon who were all wearing skin masks to

elders spotted them. Had it been someone else and not them,

"Hmph!"

killing intent

me," Monica muttered in

men were lower than hers, a seriousness that was difficult to

Devlon brothers. You should be able to handle them, right

appeared in the sky. Just his expression

leisurely as he nodded his head with a faint smile on his face. Staring at the sky, he

want us to help you, or can you take

think I am? I can at least

do know that the three of them combined have a strength equivalent to rank." Amon

finish them quickly, I

for him, Monica did not fall

shoulders before giving her the green light. "Alright, do whatever

deal with the small fries for

eyes closed and holding her sword vertically, Monica's brow twitched. Opening

up? I'm

we're sorry. Do your

back and looking at the enormous infra-structure in the

the spies amongst the higher-ups, the Union had set up an intricate trap designed to lure the higher-ups away

a fruitless effort as the real Monica was with them. Unless an external factor that they did not account for meddled their plans, their plans of dealing a

for death." Surprised by Monica's power, one of the elders levitating in

stupid enough to actually attack our main base?"

elder and the youngest brother spoke up. "I can't seem to be able to make

to each other glanced at each other before taking a better

they had a fatal flaw, and it was that they could

be using an artifact to mask their

"True."

three elders were talking amongst themselves, Monica's gaze indifferently swept over them before

talk

elders,

explosively from the veins within her body. Finally, it

color. Her feet which were touching the ground slowly lifted up as Monica's body raised into the air. Raising her hand slightly, Monica clenched it into a

around her body abruptly soared. An instant later, the glow disappeared and an orange-colored armor materialized, covering her exquisite pretty body. Once the armor

and childish, right now she looked like a war

below, Amon showed a surprised

I now see why those bastards put so

childish character, he had to admit, she was

over psyons reached such levels of fine control that they could summon tangible mana

case, an

the strongest individuals could use it. For Monica, who was only 28 years old to be able to

"T-that's mana-conglomeration."

Monica in the distance, the expression of the elders standing not so far from her turned extremely ugly. Their previous arrogant faces had

what was happening, suddenly opening her eyes, a bright shine enveloped the area as Monica's

"Haaa!"

her body rushed out, reaching all the way towards the tip of her sword where it converged together before

WHIIIIING!

"Get into formation!"

at the incoming attack, the three black-robed

into a triangular

mana signatures that were all dark green in color surged out from the bodies of the three of