THE STRONGEST NEXULYTE

In one of the bases of the Owen Tower located in the dreamscape, a fortress built around an enormous mirror gate and had hundreds of Nexulytes patrolling around it at all times.

In the control room of this base, a group of people in black protective body suits could be seen. Some were operating the systems in the control room while others stood at the back and watched.

Among the people standing at the back and observing quietly was Elora, clad in a similar body suit that wrapped around her body tightly.

Her long hair was firmly tied up behind her in a ponytail and had dirt on it, stains of dried blood could be found on her body suit as she stood at the back with narrowed eyes.

After leaving the Tower in the real world, Elora had come to the dreamscape for a special mission that was to be carried out by a team of Domain Lords.

One had to know that Domain Lords were a fearful existence that could destroy an entire neighborhood with a single punch, to require a team of them for a single mission should tell how dangerous and important the mission was.

Elora just happened to be one of those Domain Lords and had been out for days now, only returning to the base today.

They had been separated into groups of ten Domain Lords in each team, Elora and her team had just returned after days of facing near death situations in the dreamscape but she realized that a team was still out there.

It wasn\'t rare for an entire team to go missing in the dreamscape considering the amounts of horrors in it. But this was a team of Domain Lords, as long as they didn\'t barge into a forbidden zone or encounter a guardian they should be at least able to run.

That wasn\'t all the reason why Elora was trying to reach out to them so badly, it was because she knew someone from the missing team. Someone who had been like an elder brother to her for years was a part of the missing team.

"Still no connection yet?" Elora asked, her tone impatient.

The person sitting in front of the system was sweating seriously under the invisible pressure from Elora.

"N-no, nothing yet" He replied forcefully.

Suddenly, the screen in front of him released a static noise as a signal was picked up.

"It\'s on! I\'ve gained a connection to them!" The man hurriedly said in high spirit.

Elora was barely able to stop herself from snatching the control seat from him, she went to his side and stared intently at the system.

"Hello? Can you hear me? Reply if you can hear me. Hello?"

The man in front of the system said repeatedly into his headphone mic but only a static sound came from the other side. It took over ten seconds before a dull voice was heard after the signal stabilized a little bit.

"I…can…hear you" A voice filled with grief and fatigue came from the other side.

Elora\'s eyes flashed with a glint and a worried expression formed on her face, she wasn\'t able to stop herself anymore and snatched the headphone from the man in front of her.

" Hello, this is Elora speaking," she said hastily.

" Miss Elora? I…we…" the voice from the other side sounded surprised for a moment before starting to stutter.

The expression on Elora\'s face collapsed further upon hearing the other party stutter, she gritted her teeth before asking.

"What is your status?"

"We…I am trapped in the land carrier, location unidentified" The other party responded in a low tone.

"What about your teammates?" Elora asked as a dreadful feeling rose in her heart.

There was silence from the other side for a couple of seconds before the voice replied heavily.

"Dead"

Elora staggered, her heart emotions plummeting instantly but she still forced herself to maintain her steeze.

"Your captain?"

"Dead"

"What about Sam?"

"...Dead too"

Elora stopped talking for a while as she breathed heavily, trying to call herself down. After a whole minute, she spoke up.

"Understood, retreat to base as soon as possible" she ordered and was about to return the headphone when the other party suddenly said what shocked her.

"Negative" The voice from the other side said with all seriousness.

Elora paused, wondering if he had misheard her and decided to repeat the order.

"I said retreat to base"

"Negative ma\'am, I can\'t do that" The voice from the other side responded which meant that he did not mishear her the first time.

Elora\'s eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean negative!" She said through gritted teeth.

"It was all my fault. I\'m the controller of the land carrier, I wasn\'t fast enough. I wasn\'t good enough, I caused my teammates death!" A voice filled with guilt and self blame came from the other side.

Elora\'s eyes reddened and she tightened her fist so much that her knuckles popped.

"It doesn\'t matter, return at once" She said once more.

"I can\'t, I won\'t be able to live with myself. Sam treated me like a brother, the team was kind to me even though I wasn\'t useful in battle; I\'m going to avenge them!" The voice said with so much anger that Elora could feel it from his words.

" Listen to me. Your whole team didn\'t survive it, what makes you think you can avenge them alone?" Unable to hold back anymore, Elora yelled into the mic.

" I\'m sorry ma\'am. Even if I can\'t even them, I would like to go join them" the other side responded before cutting off the connection.

" Hello? Hello? Shit!"

BAM!!

Elora cursed and punched the table in front of her after realizing that the connection was cut off.

Everyone else in the control room stared at her with startled eyes, seeing the usual calm and composed Young miss act so aggressively made them not even dare to breathe.

Dropping the headphone on the system desk, Elora walked out quietly as if nothing had happened.

Immediately after she came out of the control room, she saw a young woman in a similar black body suit walking towards her with a smile on her face.

"Your request for a one week leave has been approved but you must return after a week, so I don\'t get blamed for your absence" the lady reported with a sweet smile, unaware of what was going on in Elora\'s head or what had transpired in the control room.

"Alright" Elora said shortly before walking away.

Looking at Elora\'s back, the lady scratched her cheeks in confusion.

"What did I say wrong?" She muttered to herself.

….

Finding her way through the base, Elora arrived at her room which wasn\'t less furnished than a six stars hotel room.

She went straight to the shower and just stood under the fall of cold water that washed over her skin and hair, colored liquid flowed down her skin; the bloodstains she had accumulated over the days.

A sigh suddenly escaped her lips as the face of a person appeared in her mind.

"You should be done with your training in a few days, wonder if you would be excited to see me" she muttered to herself as a sad smile formed on her lips.

The water from the shower perfectly camouflaged the tears streaming down her eyes.