Upon entering the second floor, the scene before Morin and the others, as well as the source of the gunfire, instantly became clear.
Here was also a spacious circular corridor, but on a much larger scale than the first floor.
The ceiling was higher, the corridor wider, and there were more emergency magitech lamps on the walls. Although the lighting was still dim, they could at least see the general surrounding environment clearly.
The fierce gunfire was coming from deep within the corridor to everyone’s right.
On the wall near the entrance, Morin unsurprisingly saw the relevant area guidance text.
These Gallic words also quickly refreshed the information on the system map in his mind.
Morin quickly glanced at the system map.
The general structure of the second floor was similar to the upper floor, both being a concentric circular layout and divided into several functional areas.
[← Area D: Monitoring and Command Center, Containment Center, Finished Product Warehouse]
[→ Area E: Extreme Environment Simulation Room, Mental and Psychological Testing Room, Control and Command Center, Level 1 Material Warehouse]
[↑ Area F: Practical Combat Testing Area, Biological Waste Disposal Area]
“Area D… Monitoring and Command Center…”
Morin muttered silently in his heart. The information refreshed in the system’s [Intelligence] tab previously showed that Victor von Heinrich, the traitor, was trapped in the Monitoring and Command Center in Area D.
But right now, the gunfire in Area E obviously attracted more attention.
“Deploy formation! Advance towards the right flank!”
Morin kept low and made a hand gesture to the troops behind him.
The instruction unit soldiers immediately took action, still with Morin and the more durable combat engineers taking the front row.
Providing alternating cover, everyone pressed close to the corridor wall and moved quickly toward Area E where the gunfire was coming from, minimizing their footsteps.
Soon, at the corner of the circular passage ahead, they saw the two engaging parties.
As expected, one of the parties was exactly those Britannian soldiers who had just fled down.
Using some piled-up crates and debris in the passage as cover, they were wretchedly engaging in a fierce firefight with unknown enemies.
And among them were several people wearing dark robes and holding staffs, continuously releasing various magical lights. They were most likely the Highland Mages who had previously lost contact.
“Good heavens, their vitality is quite tenacious…”
Morin looked at these mages with some surprise. He originally thought these mages had all perished down here.
But the question arose again: if they were all fine, why didn’t they evacuate?
The passage leading to the upper level wasn’t impossible to open manually, and even if there were some special circumstances, Morin didn’t believe these Highland Mages wouldn’t have prepared escape spells.
“Could they be under some kind of restriction?”
Thinking of this, as if guided by ghosts and gods, Morin glanced at his spell slots.
Then he found an extra line of small text on the [Spells] interface:
Dimensional Anchor — Under the current environment, long-distance spatial teleportation spells, including [Dimension Door] and [Teleportation Circle], cannot be used.
“F*ck, there’s even field magic involved…”
These thoughts flashed through Morin’s mind in a split second. As a spellcaster, it was perfectly normal for his thinking speed to be faster than ordinary people’s.
At the same time, the instruction unit soldiers recognized the identities of these figures ahead a step later.
“It’s the Britannians! Prepare to fire!”
The instruction unit soldiers immediately raised their weapons, the dark muzzles aiming at the backs of those Britannians.
With a single order from Morin, they could use dense firepower to send these “old acquaintances” back to their maker.
However, just as the instruction unit soldiers appeared in the passage, among that group of Britannians, an officer bearing the rank of major on his shoulders seemed to have noticed them as well.
The commander of the Coldstream Task Force Company, Major Hamilton, whipped his head around, his face full of terror and… a trace of hope?
“Don’t fire! Don’t fire!”
That Major of the Coldstream Guards shouted at the top of his lungs in broken Saxon.
“We are not the enemies! Those things are!”
“Not the enemies?”
The instruction unit soldiers were all stunned for a moment. When did the Saxons and Britannians call a truce?
And Morin’s attention was drawn to another matter at this instant.
By the dim, flickering light of those magitech lamps on the walls, he finally saw clearly the opponents the Britannian soldiers were engaging.
They were not the deformed monsters that often appear in environments like underground research institutes, but seemingly normal humanoid units.
They wore deep blue military uniforms resembling overcoats, wore iconic golden masks on their faces, and wielded elegantly curved sabers or rifles flashing with magical auras.
During combat, their various attacking and dodging movements were unimaginably fast, their figures like ghosts, shuttling at high speed through the hail of bullets.
At the same time, the strength they displayed far exceeded ordinary people. They could even, like in some “miracle dramas” , easily tear an adult soldier apart like a rag doll.
This attire, this fighting style…
Morin’s pupils shrank violently. Weren’t these the “Sentinel” units he had encountered on the Creil battlefield?
“It’s the ‘Sentinel’ unit!”
Company Commander Kahn, who followed beside Morin, also recognized those golden masks. He subconsciously tightened his grip on his submachine gun, a trace of nervousness in his voice.
“Don’t panic, prepare for anti-magic combat. Flamethrower teams, step up!”
Morin calmly issued orders. After the two flamethrower teams stepped up carrying their fuel tanks and flamethrowers, he firmly locked his gaze back on the battlefield.
Glancing roughly, there were about twenty “Sentinels” currently engaged in a melee with the Britannians.
And Morin also quickly discovered that these “Sentinels” seemed somewhat different from those he encountered on the Creil battlefield before.
Although the “Sentinels” on the Creil battlefield were equally powerful, their fighting style was more like a group of highly trained elite warriors.
They coordinated tacitly with clear tactics, knew how to use cover, knew how to evade damage, and every attack was precise and deadly.
But these “Sentinels” before his eyes…
Their attack method could only be described with one word—frenzied.
These super soldiers had no methodology, no tactics, and not even the slightest sense of self-preservation.
In the combat scenes Morin saw, they would forcibly withstand the dense rain of bullets fired by the Britannian soldiers and charge straight forward bluntly.
Then they would use their bodies to crash open the obstacles in front of the opponent, and then use the sabers in their hands or pure brute force to tear the enemies to pieces.
This fighting style, completely unafraid of death, was simply like a pack of beasts that had lost their reason.
Moreover, the strength they displayed far exceeded those “Sentinel” units in the Battle of Creil.
At least the “Sentinels” Morin encountered back then couldn’t tear Britannian devils apart by hand like “miracle heroes”…
More crucially, the toughness of their bodies seemed to have reached a new level.
Morin saw with his own eyes a “Sentinel” take several Lee-Enfield rifle bullets consecutively to the chest and abdomen. The massive kinetic energy knocked his body backward repeatedly, and blood blossoms bloomed on his deep blue military uniform.
However, he merely swayed his body, and as if nothing had happened, continued roaring and charging forward, his speed and strength not diminishing in the slightest.
Within the few short seconds Morin observed, new red unit cards quickly marked on the system map in his field of vision.
That line of red text also confirmed his guess.
[Gallic Republic Combat Mage Unit – Second Generation “Sentinel” (Out of Control Version)]
F*ck, there’s even an out-of-control version…
Morin instantly understood.
Obviously, scientific research cannot always be smooth sailing, let alone such radical human modification experiments.
So these guys were probably the failed products of the “Sentinel Project.”
A group of monsters possessing tremendous power but no reason, left only with the instinct to kill.
Looking at the bloody battlefield before his eyes, and then at those “Sentinels” rampaging like mad dogs, a thought instantly flashed through Morin’s mind.
“Retreat!”
He issued this order to the soldiers behind him almost without hesitation.
“Everyone retreat! Leave this place!”
Nonsense!
There are Britannians painstakingly “pulling aggro” ahead, attracting all the “Sentinels'” hatred.
If they didn’t quickly take the opportunity to slip away and complete the true mission of this trip, were they supposed to foolishly charge up to join the fun and help them share the damage?
“Sir?”
Kahn and the other soldiers were all stunned. They somewhat didn’t understand why the commander would issue such an order, when clearly he just had the flamethrower teams step up and assumed a posture ready for combat.
In their view, this was exactly a good opportunity to reap the spoils while the two sides fought.
Wait until both sides were mutually wounded, and then wouldn’t it be a perfect plan for them to charge out and clean up the mess?
“Execute the order!”
Morin’s tone brooked no doubt. He didn’t even explain further, directly turning around and taking the lead to run back.
Although the instruction unit soldiers were full of confusion, out of near-blind trust and obedience to Morin, they immediately changed direction and followed their commander to cleanly disengage from the battlefield.
This scene almost made Major James Hamilton, who was struggling to hold on, spit blood on the spot.
He had thought of countless possibilities.
He thought these suddenly appearing Saxons would stand idly by and watch them fight to the death with these monsters.
He also thought these Saxons would take advantage of the fire to rob, giving them a vicious strike from behind to wipe them and these monsters out together.
But he never imagined that this bunch of damn Saxons, after seeing the battlefield situation clearly, wouldn’t even hesitate for a second, turned their heads, and ran!
‘Run!’
“Come back! You bunch of cowards! Bastards!”
Major Hamilton cursed furiously. He even wanted to raise the webley revolver in his hand and fire a few shots at the backs of those Saxons.
But he didn’t do so.
Because beside him, another soldier of the Coldstream Task Force Company was grabbed by a “Sentinel” and, amidst a shrill scream, was hacked to the ground by a saber buffed with [Magic Weapon].
Blood and internal organs splashed all over his face.
The warm, sticky liquid sliding down his cheeks instantly sobered him up from his anger.
The soldiers around him, and those Highland Mages they had managed to find from the first floor with great difficulty, were continuously falling under the attacks of these tireless, pain-ignoring monsters.
The scene was exceptionally bloody.
From time to time, various severed limbs, mixed with shredded military uniforms and equipment, flew up under the dim lights and then landed heavily on the ground.
In the air, the heavy smell of blood and gunpowder smoke mixed together, forming a nauseating odor.
However, the appearance of Morin’s large group of people obviously couldn’t go unnoticed by the “Sentinels.”
So soon, two “Sentinels” accelerated and charged toward them.
Noticing the enemies behind him, Morin clicked his tongue, then turned around and swept a burst at the enemies behind him.
And the reaction of these “Sentinels” was extremely fast. The moment he fired, they rolled on the ground, causing only two bullets from the burst to hit.
Morin’s firing was like a signal. Without needing him to issue additional orders, the combat engineers and flamethrower teams beside him also stopped their steps, tacitly standing their ground and attacking backwards.
When the lines of fire increased to over a dozen, these two pursuing “Sentinels” obviously couldn’t continue dodging relying on movement techniques.
So they also consecutively raised [Shield].
Seeing this scene, Morin also realized that these out-of-control “Sentinels” were a bit reckless, but hadn’t completely lost their combat logic.
But fortunately, the instruction unit didn’t only have submachine guns.
Two dragons of fire lit up in the dim passage, instantly covering the positions of the two “Sentinels.” When the pillars of flame disappeared, two burning men appeared in the passage.
However, Morin didn’t have the flamethrower teams continue attacking. After all, this was an underground space, not the surface.
Even with ventilation devices running, the surrounding oxygen was limited.
And not long after those two fire dragons were spewed out, Morin noticed signs of the radiant crystal fuel burning incompletely.
After finishing off these two burning men together with the combat engineers and knocking them to the ground, Morin led the others and ran towards Area D without looking back.
His goal was very clear.
Since there were these out-of-control “Sentinels” in Area E having a “friendly exchange” with the Britannians, that exactly gave them a perfect time window.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, go to the Monitoring and Command Center in Area D first, find Victor von Heinrich, this key figure, and control him.
This was the core task of this operation.
As for whether those Britannians lived or died… he could only wish them good luck.
The corridor leading to Area D was very quiet, forming a sharp contrast with the deafening gunfire over in Area E.
The team progressed unimpeded and soon arrived at the location of the “Monitoring and Command Center.”
As Morin expected, the main doors here were also airtight quarantine doors, currently tightly shut.
“Master Haber.”
Morin stopped his steps and looked at the mage beside him.
Master Haber nodded. He walked to the door, reached out his palm, and placed it at a certain distance from the metal door panel.
Immediately following, a ring of faint blue magical aura diffused from his palm, sweeping over the entire door like a water ripple.
A moment later, he opened his eyes and shook his head at Morin.
“Still didn’t detect any traces of magical traps…”
He took two steps back and carefully examined this door.
“Although this isn’t that kind of heaviest airtight quarantine door, the hinges and lock cylinder are deeply buried in the wall. Judging by this thickness, it’s obviously not something that can be opened relying purely on human strength.”
“Try knocking.” Morin said.
A soldier immediately stepped forward and knocked forcefully on the door with his rifle butt.
“Thump! Thump! Thump!”
The muffled knocking sounds echoed in the empty corridor, but there was no response from inside the door.
Knocked several times consecutively, it remained deathly silent.
“Sir, are you sure the target person is inside here?”
Morin explained casually: “Besides here, the other areas on this second underground level don’t look like places where one can stay continuously…”
“It seems the person inside doesn’t intend to open the door for us.” Company Commander Kahn curled his lips.
“Then we’ll open it for him.”
Morin had the other soldiers deploy and guard both sides of the corridor, then waved to the combat engineer detachment behind him.
“Prepare explosives, blow this door open for me!”
“Yes! Sir!”
Several professional engineers immediately stepped forward. They took out explosives for demolition from their backpacks and skillfully began to set them up at the lock cylinder and hinge positions of the door.
While the engineers were busy, Morin’s gaze fell on an observation device resembling a periscope above the door.
This device was obviously for the people inside to observe the situation outside.
Morin walked below the device, looked up, waved his hand at that dark lens, and even showed an amiable smile on his face.
Then he pointed his finger at the explosives being set up next to it, and made an “explosion” hand gesture.
The meaning was very clear: either you open the door yourself, or we open it for you.
With the help of the system, Morin knew very well that Victor von Heinrich was trapped here.
And judging from the current situation on the second underground level, this Necromancy School mage should have been forced to hide inside here.
So he definitely had been observing the situation outside all along, and couldn’t possibly not have noticed the commotion from Morin and his men.
When the combat engineers finished setting up, Morin was ready to signal everyone to retreat to a safe distance and detonate the explosives.
However, just at this moment.
“Creak—”
This airtight quarantine door before their eyes suddenly emitted a piercing metallic friction sound and was slowly opened from the inside.
The instant the door opened, all the instruction unit soldiers in the corridor subconsciously raised their weapons.
Dozens of dark muzzles aimed in unison at that gradually widening door crack.
The air seemed to freeze at this moment, the tense atmosphere on the verge of breaking out.
Behind the door crack was a pitch-black silhouette.
As the door was completely pushed open, an old, hunched figure wearing a deep blue mage robe appeared before everyone.
He looked extremely old, the wrinkles on his face stacked together like a dried riverbed.
His sparse white hair was messy, like it hadn’t been groomed for a long time.
He leaned on a staff made of some unknown bone. At the top of the staff, a gemstone emitting a faint green light was inlaid.
The dim yellow light around reflected on his face, making his already aged face look even more eerie and terrifying.
“If you don’t want to be killed by those ‘out-of-control products’ outside, come in quickly…”
The old figure spoke, using the Saxon language. His voice was hoarse and low, like two pieces of sandpaper rubbing against each other.
“Who kills who is still unknown…” Kahn muttered softly.
“Tsk… Don’t think that just because you killed two of the most failed products, you have nothing to fear. If those Britannians hadn’t become the ‘prey’ and attracted the attention of the vast majority of the ‘out-of-control products,’ your small number of people would have become corpses long ago.”
He glanced at the fully armed Morin and the others, as well as those explosives already set up by the door. No emotional fluctuations could be seen in those cloudy eyes.
Seeing this suddenly appearing old man, Master Haber and those Section III intelligence personnel were somewhat hesitant.
They subconsciously cast inquiring glances at Morin.
Because the appearance of this person before their eyes was somewhat too old, and still somewhat different from the photos left by Section III.
So none of them could confirm if this was Victor von Heinrich.
And even if this was the target person, could his words be trusted?
However, Morin behaved exceptionally calmly.
Because the instant this old man appeared, the system map in his mind had already given the clearest answer.
On the room icon representing the Monitoring Center, a new yellow unit card also appeared.
[Victor von Heinrich – Tier-5 Necromancy School Mage, General Director of the “Sentinel Project”]
At the same time, it could also be seen from the system map that inside the door, in this massive Monitoring Center, besides this mage, there were no other signs of life.
The target was found, and it was much easier than imagined.
Morin nodded at Master Haber and the others, signaling them to be at ease.
He didn’t plan to go in, but prepared to take advantage of the chaos to directly take this target person away first.
However, just as he was about to put it into action, a slight sound like a tripped breaker came from above. Immediately after, the already very dim magitech lamps in the passage all extinguished, plunging this underground world into complete darkness.
The problem Morin and Master Haber worried about most happened—the Magitech Core on the first floor, which hadn’t been maintained for a long time, finally went on strike.
The instruction unit soldiers reacted very quickly. After the surroundings plunged into darkness, they immediately half-knelt on the ground and then turned on their flashlights to shine toward the passages on both sides.
At the same time, the gunfire and sounds of battle in the distance began to grow softer and softer; evidently, it had entered its final stages.
“Those Britannians are finished… I suggest you come in first. Please believe me, in this environment, you cannot be the opponents of those ‘out-of-control products’ who have permanent [Dark Vision].”
Time seemed to freeze at this moment. Morin just stared at the eyes of this old mage before him by the light of the flashlight.
Ultimately, he put away the double-barreled shotgun in his hands and took the first step, walking into that open door.
“Everyone, come in!”
He ordered the soldiers behind him.
Since the other party had repeatedly “invited,” he naturally wouldn’t be polite either.
And the suddenly dark environment indeed made Morin worry it would affect the combat power of the instruction unit soldiers.
Dozens of heavily armed soldiers immediately poured into this long corridor behind the door like a tide, running toward the Monitoring Center in the deepest part.
And Morin and Heinrich walked in last and closed the main door again.
“Master Heinrich… If those ‘out-of-control products’ you spoke of are that powerful, are you sure this door can stop them?” Morin forcefully turned the mechanism to lock it, then looked somewhat uncertainly at Heinrich, who was patiently waiting for him beside him.
“Hmph, sure enough, a brute who only knows how to use brute force, not understanding what ‘underlying logic’ is…”
Heinrich didn’t directly answer Morin’s question, his words revealing a disdain of crushing intellect and knowledge.
After confirming the main door was closed properly, he used the staff in his hand to light up a floating orb of light, then walked deeper inside without looking back, clearly not intending to explain to Morin.
“Hey! You old geezer… Who are you calling a brute?”