Sorcerer… Cyborg???

Chapter 247: Distress Call(2)

[Let's head back to the maintenance shaft, if you activate and drop it down, it should stir the guards into confusion and give us a window to find the control center. Take the guard's body with you, if they see him lying here without his warning device, it'll be far too obvious.] Silane explained, and Kothar started to drag the guard's body, holding him underneath his arms, the armor clanking as the guard's body shifted and moved.

[You don't think they'll see this pool of blood and be just as wary as if they saw their comrade's body?] Kothar asked, pushing against the panel that would open the maintenance tunnel with his shoulder.

There was a click, and the wall swung open, and Kothar pulled the guard inside the wall with him.

[I don't think their technology has the right to focus to determine whose blood it is. To them, it could just as likely be the blood of an invader from Eclat. After all, they bleed red, just as you do.] Silane explained, as Kothar dragged the body through the horizontal tunnel and over to the side of the vertical shaft.

Kothar heaved the guard';s body over the side of the vertical shaft, watching as it fell, limbs flailing about, quickly disappearing from sight within the dim light. 

[And what if they come through here?] Kothar said as he held the cylinder in his hands,thumb ready to press down the button and activate the alarm. 

[Come now, Kothar, I'm beginning to think that you're gaining some sense of caution again. You saw the size of that guard, you think they're going to be crawling into here and pose any threat to you. I don't think that anyone other than the maintenance staff of this ship have access to these tunnels, and besides, if it comes to it, you can fight them off in here.] Silane teased Kothar a little, making fun of his recent recklessness.

[Alright.] Kothar said simply, pressing his thumb down and tossing the device down after the guard.

As soon as he pressed the button down, Kothar felt his belt vibrate as the electromagnetic field around the device was activated.

[Now we wait.] Silane said, and Kothar walked back over to the door that led out into the main corridor, one ear against the wall as he listened for the guards.

"The signal is coming from below! Follow me men!" Kothar heard a gruff voice, as well as the heavy stomps from the armored guards.

"Sir! It looks like someone was wounded here, perhaps Evuxa wounded the enemy here, and then pursued them down below." Another voice called out, and there were many echoing grumbles in response.

"Alright men! This is serious, we've got traces of combat, and Evuxa has sounded his alarm, let's get down there as fast as we can." The first voice said gruffly, and then Kothar listened as their booted feet thudded past.

Kothar waited a few more minutes, making sure any stragglers would have passed by. But there were no more sounds coming from the corridor, and so Kothar pressed down the panel again and stepped back out into the corridor.

[Head back towards where the guard was, and keep going.] Silane instructed him, and Kothar, now sure that there would be no guards ahead, ran freely forward.

The corridor stretched on for a few hundred meters, before ending in an intersection, but even so, the way forward was clear, one of the corridors sloped upwards, and Kothar ran towards it.

Kothar continued running through the corridors, which were progressively getting shorter, running up those that sloped upward.

[Alright, Kothar. It'll be just up ahead.] Silane said, as Kothar came to a wide corridor, this one so wide that he could have mistaken it for a grand hall.

Unlike the other corridors around it, this one was dimly lit, and lacked the fine designs decorating the ceilings and corners of the walls. 

Kothar slowed his pace, even if the guards had run toward the distress signal, there were sure to be guards posted at the control center of the entire ship.

Taking small steps forward, Kothar squinted his eyes, channeling his mana to his Mana Sensing Lens, and spotted the guards, two silhouettes, empty of mana, standing with staffs in hand to either side of an enormous door.

Kothar took a deep breath, these guards looked just as intimidating as the one he had taken out earlier, but they should be just as susceptible to his Lightning element spells.

Kothar summoned two Ball Lightning spells, one in each hand, the corridor coming ablaze with a brilliant blue glow.

"You seeing that?" Silane translated, as the guards stepped forward, even as Kothar send both balls of lightning spinning toward them, aiming for both of their heads.

The lightning was bright enough that they failed to see Kothar, raising their staffs to intercept the balls of glowing blue light.

But Kothar controlled the two balls of lightning expertly, curving them around the raised staffs, a faint crackle sounding out as the balls of lightning melded into both of their heads, and they both fell to the ground, their muscles twitching and spasming.

Kothar had his blade ready as the spells slammed into the two guards, the humming Skysteel  blade darting out and slicing both of their necks, killing them as quickly as he had dispatched the guards earlier.

Their bodies slumped down, at either side of the gray door, covered in inscriptions, but without the same reinforcement that Kothar ahd seen for the doors protecting the heart of the ship. It seems that the invaders didn't feel the need to guard the control center in the same way.

Kothar pushed the door open, straining a little with the weight of the door, the door swinging open smoothly. 

He found himself within a large room, the walls thick with spinning cubes that formed an image of the skies outside the enormous ship. 

And at one side of the room, slumped against the bottom of a wall, was a familiar face.