While Jessie successfully drew all of Oren's attention—and that of the observers outside—Bella (B) was curled up in the darkest corner of the stone chamber.
Her wolf ears tracked the frequencies in Oren's voice, while her fingers moved rapidly along the inner edge of the stone bed.
Earlier, when Rosa had taken down the four guards, Bella had quietly pocketed several fractured shards of the central control crystal, along with a few lengths of magitech-conductive wire.
[Bella's Covert Task: Establishing Contact]
To a top-tier technical operative, magic and science were simply different languages of signal.
Using a handful of paperclips scavenged from Oren's documents—and tuning them to the residual resonance in the crystal shards—Bella assembled an extremely crude device.
A makeshift relay, capable of amplifying biological signals.
"Leader, position confirmed," Bella whispered through low-frequency vibrational speech—the operatives' covert internal communication method.
"The ventilation shaft aligns directly with the governor's bell tower. That's the highest point in Blackstone Territory."
"How long can the signal hold?" Rosa murmured back from across the room.
"Three seconds. I'll transmit three bursts of our special-ops emergency code:
S.O.S–R.B.J–000.
If there are any other living counterparts in this world, their senses will detect a frequency that doesn't belong here."
Rosa looked toward the pitch-black mountain range beyond the window, her gaze unreadable.
This wasn't just a search for teammates.
It was a test—to determine whether this "transfer" was an accident…
or part of a larger, organized incursion across worlds.
"Oren," Jessie's clear voice cut cleanly through the scientist's manic rambling,
"Since we'll be working together long-term, could you help us remove these heavy restraints? They interfere with my mana flow. You know… experimental data needs to be precise."
Oren hesitated as he looked into Jessie's eyes—eyes filled with trust and dependence—then laughed with arrogant confidence.
"Of course. You can't escape from here anyway."
He took out the key.
The instant the lock clicked open, Bella pressed the transmitter against the magitech conduit embedded in the stone wall.
The signal released.
The air rippled with an invisible wave.
[Fifty Kilometers from Blackstone Territory · A Remote Monastery]
In a secluded monastery, a woman dressed in a rough apothecary's robe paused mid-suture.
Her hands were perfectly steady, even as she treated half-beast patients rescued from the mines, their bodies covered in wounds. Her own beast traits were subtle—nearly transparent ice-blue pupils, and fingertips unusually sensitive to bioelectric currents.
Codename: L (Lynn)
Medical Officer.
When the pulse passed through her ears, Lynn froze.
It was a frequency only special forces personnel would recognize.
"S.O.S… R, B, J…"
She whispered the code. Her ice-blue pupils contracted sharply.
Her team.
She had believed she was the only survivor.
Lynn set down her surgical blade and spoke calmly to the half-beast assistant beside her.
"Finish dressing the remaining wounds the way I taught you. I need to leave—now."
[Blackstone Territory · Governor's Manor, Stone Chamber]
The moment her restraints fell away, Jessie felt blood flow freely again.
She gently rubbed her wrists and offered Oren a smile—soft enough to be lethal.
"Thank you, Oren. So… which experiment do we start with?"
Oren sensed no danger at all.
He turned toward the control console, eagerly rearranging crystal arrays.
"We'll begin with energy overflow under extreme conditions. You'll need to enter the glass chamber filled with conductive fluid. I'll gradually increase pressure—"
R (Rosa) rose slowly behind him.
Her panther-like shadow stretched across the wall.
She exchanged a glance with B (Bella) in the corner.
The signal had gone out—but it also meant their position might now be exposed to Sheriff Atos.
Time was running out.
"Before that," Rosa said coldly, each step making the floor tremble,
"I need you to do one thing for us first."
"What is it?" Oren turned, confused.
"Tell us where Atos's private escape tunnel is."
Oren stared—then burst out laughing.
"You're joking, right? You're my property, and you think—"
His laughter cut off.
Because J (Jessie) had already pressed her fingers against his carotid artery, while R (Rosa)'s black claws hovered less than a centimeter from his eye.
"Oren," Jessie whispered at his ear, her tone intimate, terrifying,
"your compatibility assessment was accurate. Our bond with these bodies is so precise that we can dismantle every bone in your body—without killing you.
Would you like to test that?"
At that moment, the governor's bell began to ring violently above them.
"Alarm?" Bella frowned, ears twitching.
"No—this isn't for us. Someone's breaking in from the outside!"
"Is it L?" Jessie asked.
"No. Heartbeat patterns don't match," Bella's expression darkened.
"It's the sheriff's force. They found out Oren removed our restraints.
Atos is coming to reclaim the merchandise."
"Grab the idiot. We're moving!" Rosa hoisted the limp Oren like a sack.
They burst from the laboratory—straight into an elite guard unit.
This time, there was no restraint.
R (Rosa) charged first, moving so fast she left afterimages. Panther-grade explosive force combined with close-quarters combat—every strike landed on armor stress points. The entire line collapsed like falling dominoes.
J (Jessie) seized two short blades. Foxkin agility turned her into a red blur in the narrow corridors, her strikes precisely slicing tendons and wrists.
B (Bella) covered the rear, mixing magitech reagents into crude chemical explosives. Each throw detonated in blinding flashes and choking smoke, sealing off pursuit.
As they reached the manor's rear wall—
An arrow with blue fletching slammed into the pursuing commander's shield.
The tip exploded, releasing a powerful anesthetic gas.
A figure appeared atop the wall.
"Leader. You're five minutes late."
The voice was familiar—cool, steady, unmistakably that of a medic.
L (Lynn) crouched on the wall, holding a customized mechanical composite crossbow. Behind her lenses, ice-blue eyes swept over the team.
"R—left shoulder muscle strain.
B—mana overload.
J—pheromone secretion abnormal."
She paused.
"Looks like you've been busy."
"Lynn!" Jessie exclaimed.
Rosa smiled for the first time since entering the manor.
She tossed Oren toward Lynn.
"Hostage secured. Intel, tech, infiltration, medical—full team assembled."
She straightened, eyes hard.
"Now—
we take control of this territory as our temporary base."