The Echoing Depths III

Kai ran up to Luka who was being blocked by several guards, the man was sweating and looked so panicked. He shouted Noah's name repeatedly, begging the guards to let him inside.

The man was wearing a lab coat and had different sandals on his feet, he gripped the officer's uniform so tightly that all his fingers turned white.

"Luka!" Kai tugged on Luka's hand, he ended up pulling it a little roughly.

Luka turned his head and his eyes met Kai's. The man gripped Kai's shirt tightly now, "Kai, Kai, Noah is inside..." He screeched, his voice trembling.

"Hey, calm yourself down Luka.." Kai held Luka's shoulder who was trying to take a deep breath, his response make Kai surprised. The situation was so messy, the man was so panicked.

The civilians who saw the fuss were confused, they know who Luka was. The man as one of the two healers in the country was well known, not to mention he was also a friend of Noah Miles. Kai took off the jacket he was wearing and put it over Luka's head, trying to hide the man's face from the eyes who saw them now.

"Kai!" Knox called out to him, the man appeared from behind the tent set up by the security guards. Kai could also see several high-ranking cars that had just arrived and stopped near the tent.

Seeing how many corpses were spewing out from inside the Dungeon and how the failure rate of disabling this Dungeon was so big, the higher-ups were involved now.

Kai brought in Luka who was a little calmer, his breathing was more stable than before. Kai pulled Luka's arm slowly, both of them walked towards the tent where Knox was.

"What the hell?! Why are you summoning an Esper as well as a Guide from another region to help Noah Miles?" Violet Clark, a tall, slender woman with long flowing blonde hair who had her arms folded across her chest, looked at Ryan Ainsworth with a displeased face. She was a Guild President from the Jan Sose region.

"The Esper and Guide from our region are on a mission to the Wamington. We are short of people to help, so we are contacting the Chief Esper and Guides to send one or two each from each region." Ryan Ainsworth replied, sitting on the plastic chair provided by the officer.

When Kai and Luka get in and everyone turned their eyes to them, the two of them were the center of attention for a while but then some of the higher-ups went back to their conversations. Kai pulled out one of the chairs and asked Luka to sit there.

"The five people who died, which region are they from?"

Kai glanced at the other female voice in the room, Eleanor Taylor standing in the corner, smoking her cigarette deeply. She was the only woman who was only 35 years old but already served as the Guild President of Jan Napa region. Her brunette hair was cut short and her body was slightly plump.

"Two Esper from Jan Napa, one Esper and one Guide from Jan Sose."

"Then another one from my region?" The young man who had just go to the tent with a serious face is Enzo Bassford, he was the Guild President of the Short Beach region. Everyone in the room became a little tense, Eleanor put out her cigarette and clucked as she saw Enzo come in to the tent.

"I have done the request according to the procedure that must be followed. I did not ask for help illegally." Ryan Ainsworth massaged his own forehead. He knew he was in trouble now.

Kai knew who they were but he personally had never met them in person. Of the towns in this state, each had a guild for both the Esper and the Guide, of all the guilds usually one of them was chosen to be the head of the region's guild. These people were influential to each other in their own region.

For Enzo Bassford, Kai heard his nickname was Enzo Bastard. He behaved like a bastard even though he was much younger than the others. That's right, he is only twenty-eight years old. He had been the guild president since he was twenty-three years old. He was an Esper with Psionic Intuition, that's why people called him a genius.

Enzo opened his floating screen, "You asked for help without looking into the details of how this dungeon works? This dungeon appeared in three places, Thailand, Singapore and Carforna, thirty years ago."

The people in the room fell silent, their faces now looking much more tense.

Enzo Bassford who was staring at his screen then looked around, he chuckled and shook his head softly, "Aren't you all is the guild president in your respective regions? You never received this information? The Echoing Depths had appeared in Carforna thirty years ago, just like now, no one had ever been able to control it. At that time, one of the Esper was trapped in it and his whereabouts are unknown. Our country still commemorates the appearance of this Dungeon every year."

"Hey, Ainsworth. Did you check first which dungeon is open this time?" Eleanor asked, she glanced at Ryan who was closing his eyes.

"Yeah, I've checked it."

"Wow...But you still sent Noah there?" The question was heard from behind, everyone now turned their eyes to Kai who was silent, he was surprised and looked around, it wasn't him who just talking.

"Mr. Ainsworth, did you send Noah there on purpose?" The voice came from next to Kai, Luka who had been looking down now raised his head, his eyes looking red.

"Mr. Beckett, I'm sending Noah because that's his job as a Combat Esper. I sent one Esper to collect the Dungeon's information and one assigned to research the Dungeon as usual." Ryan Ainsworth answered Luka's question with a voice so calm, the two's eyes met.

"But you know that the Dungeon's warning is not to send an Esper or Guide who has trauma or mental health."

Now all eyes were on Ryan Ainsworth who was still staring at Luka with an angry gaze.

"What?" Kai was the first to ask the question, he turned to Luka.

"Hey, we're not going to talk about this here." Ryan said, he now stood up from his seat, walking over to Luka who was still sitting in his place. Everyone stared as the man with a well-built body walked up to Luka, he had an angry face that looked scary.

Enzo grabbed the old man's shoulder before he approached Luka, the atmosphere in the room was already so tense. Knox massaged his forehead, he glanced at Kai who now looked a little panicked after hearing what Luka had said.

Knox opened his floating screen, "The Echoing Depths shuts itself down after an hour, it was only fifteen minutes after they went inside and the Dungeon spit out five people in death condition. I think we should put things like this on hold, our prioritized is saving them." He said, trying to divert everyone's focus. As time went on, arguing would not save the two people left in the dungeon. They were just wasting time.

"The dungeon has closed access." Eleanor spoke up, making them now pay attention to her. "If this is the same dungeon that appeared thirty years ago, it's closing off entry and spewing out only death officers. We can't go inside."

Kai who heard that immediately pressed the communication device in his ear, trying to contact Noah, there was no response. "I can't reach Noah."

That one sentence made Luka turn to Kai with such a scary face, Kai could see the panic and fear in the man's eyes. "Do something, try to call him back." The man said in a trembling voice, the hand holding Kai's arm was also trembling.

Kai opened his floating screen, trying to check on Noah's condition. There was no change, he was still fine. But he couldn't contact the man at all.

"It seems that the dungeon is also capable of blocking outside signals." Violet said, as she too was opening her floating screen, trying to find information.

"Then the one left behind is an Esper from my region?" Enzo asked Knox who nodded.

"That's right, Abigail Davis is there."

Kai stared fixedly at his screen, unable to think clearly. The incident of the dungeon closing itself thirty years ago and causing one unnamed Esper to disappear had been studied when he was still in the training center. The possibility of the dungeon being handle was so small, after its appearance thirty years ago, one year ago the dungeon reappeared in two different countries.

Just like in the past, no one could handle it and only made Esper and Guide die in the line of duty.

Kai's heart beat faster, fear creeping into him now. He remembered how his father as well as Knox's father died in the line of duty. He didn't want to lose anyone again.

He pressed the caller button again from his ear, trying to contact Noah. While the others were discussing how to get in and retrieve the two surviving Esper, Kai's floating screen showed red.

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

NOAH MILES NEED GUIDING!

OXYGEN 70% HEART-RATE DANGER!

BODY TEMPERATURE HIGH!