[The door opened, and contrary to what Zeus had expected, there were two more corridors with metallic walls and lighting systems.
One to the right and the other to the left.
The twenty daggers detached from the spinning disc, then lined up behind one another and launched into the two corridors—ten daggers in each.
Gradually, at every turn, one of the daggers stopped at a specific tilt angle so that the reflection of light transferred from one dagger to another.
Using the helmet's AI, Zeus zoomed in and clarified the images reflected on the daggers.
He learned that the right corridor led to a large storage room after three turns.
The second corridor led to a vast hall with a giant open side leading to a desert valley.
Zeus saw several individuals boarding a stealth jet preparing for takeoff.
He recalled the ten daggers that had gone down the right corridor.
Then he pulled out ten discs from a small case with compressed space for such discs.
Each disc was an explosive bomb with a five-meter radius blast range.
Each disc had a small ring attached, which the ten daggers carried—twenty discs in total—and they flew swiftly into the second corridor.
Meanwhile, the ten previous daggers in the second corridor returned to Zeus.
....
Five minutes earlier:
A man in his forties with a longish face, average build, and short white hair.
Two personal bodyguards wearing gene-combat suits.
An old man in his seventies with a mechanical leg.
And a woman Zeus recognized... the one who escaped during the kidnapped children incident.
Along with a suspicious figure—a thin man with a covered head and his hands tied behind his back.
This group was boarding the jet when suddenly the man in his forties and the guards stopped and looked toward the back entrance.
Indeed, in the next moment, ten daggers swiftly launched and spread out, performing a backward circular flip to throw the explosive discs at the jet.
Explosions rang out in close succession, and the jet turned to pieces after being blown apart.
Only one guard survived, escaping at high speed while pushing the restrained prisoner with him.
The man in his forties was also still alive but had consumed some of his energy and was thrown out of the facility through the wide corridor into the desert valley.
Ten more daggers launched, throwing bombs somewhat randomly.
The smoke filling the area prevented Zeus from understanding the current situation, and honestly, the visibility via dagger reflections was quite poor.
....
"Should I inspect the place... I must send a signal to base first."
Zeus did so, and the AI warned him that someone was entering through the corridors and heading toward his location.
"Damn."
Zeus gripped a dagger in each hand and prepared for combat.
Suddenly, Zeus saw a man in a white combat suit sticking to the wall in front of him, then rushing toward him at great speed.
Zeus activated the kinetic energy rune for burst movement to jump upward.
As the enemy raised his long blade to cut Zeus midair... Zeus activated two more bursts—one to ascend further and another to dive downward after planting his foot on the ceiling.
At the same time, as Zeus descended on his enemy from above, about fifteen daggers rushed toward the enemy to close off his escape routes.
The enemy chose to dodge Zeus's strike and dashed backward, receiving hits from three daggers, which were deflected by a protective energy field of blue light.
Naturally, deflecting attacks consumes a specific amount of gene energy from the body equal to the attack's strength.
Both paused momentarily, exchanging sharp glances.
Then the white assassin dashed toward Zeus, and at the same moment, Zeus moved backward and launched all twenty of his daggers at the enemy.
With agile movements, the assassin dodged most daggers, receiving only light damage from two.
Seeing Zeus apparently unarmed, he clapped his hands together, generating a wave of energy.
It was created using his suit's features—stealth capability, energy field, and basic armor.
After pushing the assassin back roughly ten meters and launching the daggers again, Zeus was shocked to see his enemy vanish—his helmet displayed an alert indicating the attacker was behind him.
Zeus took a stab from the sword, watching his energy drop from 80% to 30%... a terrifying drop.
At the same time, Zeus activated the disc on his back at full power, sending it flying to attack the enemy.
The white assassin didn't expect that either and took a direct hit. Zeus didn't know how much damage it dealt,
But the assassin's retreat to gain distance made Zeus realize his opponent's energy was almost depleted.
Zeus reattached the disc to his back for rear protection and launched the nearly-depleted daggers again.
The assassin escaped swiftly, exceeding the daggers' speed, and Zeus gave chase.
He stopped when the assassin exited the wide opening of the base and vanished into the desert valley hidden between the mountains.
Zeus recalled his daggers to the spinning disc and began inspecting his surroundings.
He realized one person was missing—the man in his forties—whom Zeus guessed to be the base's commander.
As he checked the bodies, he saw that the prisoner was still alive despite his injuries.
Zeus lifted the prisoner's hood but didn't recognize the man… though the other seemed to recognize Zeus.
He let out a light laugh and spoke in surprise:
"You're still alive... You should've been dead from that injury."
"What injury are you talking about?"
The man looked at Zeus's right side abdomen, and Zeus realized this person knew something about the incident that caused his memory loss.
"Who gave me that wound?"
The man smiled without answering but said something else:
"Just like your father and grandfather... your cursed family is lucky... But this isn't the end... they'll send someone else after you."
"Why?..."
The man chuckled a bit, then began coughing. As Zeus decided to carry him to the temporary medical camps deployed about 40 km away… a helmet system alert informed Zeus that the man's vitals had flatlined.
At that moment, Zeus heard footsteps from the corridor behind and saw several helicopters approaching from outside.]