My Cuckhold System-Chapter 182: Containment Breach

Jax tilted his head slightly.

"...Looks like some kind of AI projection."

West’s eyes narrowed.

"...Or a warning."

The figure flickered again further down the hallway.

"...turn back..."

"...system failure..."

"...containment breach..."

Then it vanished again.

"You think it’s legit?" Derek swallowed.

"Maybe," West stated with an unbothered tone while everyone stared at him as he kept walking.

"There is probably something down there they don’t want us finding but it doesn’t matter. We’re here for the ruins."

That logic made sense to them but didn’t help to settle the unease. Nonetheless, the group advanced deeper.

The structure grew more unstable the further they went as the walls gave way to collapsed sections, revealing deeper levels of the facility.

Eventually, they reached the lowest level and found that the ground ahead had completely caved in.

There was a massive dark hole that looked endless.

"...That’s it," Eric said quietly while West stepped closer and looked down.

And just like every ruin, the deeper you looked... the more reality itself seemed to distort.

"...Alright," West stated. "Its time to head in."

And without wasting another second, he stepped forward and jumped.

—

One after the other they landed in an entirely different location.

Just like every ruin, the sky above wasn’t a sky... instead, it was a swirling, greenish haze filled with flickering lightning.

The ground was uneven with rocky terrain and strange metallic structures that looked like they had been fused into the environment.

Veins of glowing energy ran through the ground like roots and scattered across the area were remnants of the same research facility... but warped, twisted and corrupted.

"...So this is what was down there..." Nina whispered.

West nodded.

"Stay in formation."

Just as they began advancing, a hissing sound echoed from the shadows...

In the next instant, serpentine creatures with long smooth bodies covered in dark scales, slithered at unnatural speeds towards them. Their heads were narrow and their eyes emitted a green glow. They looked even more creepy with the curved segmented tails that protruded from behind them ending in sharp, venomous stingers.

"...Contact!" Jax called.

Jax moved fast and aggressively with frost spreading along the blade of his ice katana as he dashed forward—

SHHHK!

With a single swing, he cleanly split a creature in half, freezing its body mid-motion before shattering.

"Too easy," he grinned.

"Never underestimate the enemies," West warned while moving at quick pace as the massive dark sword appeared in his grasp.

He swung swiftly multiple times, severing venomous tails thrusting towards Jax from the side. He then proceeded to stab one of the serpentine creatures right in the throat just as it opened its mouth to shoot venomous breath.

Nina raised her brush and flicked, forming a shield.

She didn’t stop there, she kept drawing in mid air, creating spiked barriers that impaled incoming creatures.

The others joined in using their bloodline abilities to attack the creatures from a short distance while the transformation awakeners, proceeded to change forms.

Sounds of blasts and bodies being ripped apart rang out across the battlefield and within minutes, the first wave was wiped.

However, it didn’t stop there... more of the same creatures came from every direction.

The group pushed forward nonetheless, clearing everything that stepped in their path.

"This is too easy..." one of the teammates named Jared laughed excitedly while charging forward to take on more of the creatures.

"Stay in formation!" West yelled at him but he ignored.

"Come on, I could take these things on in my sleep," he stated confidently before punching the skull of another serpentine creature and causing it to slam onto a metallic wall.

After clearing the second wave, West stared at Jared with a warning look before they advanced further.

They kept going and clearing more waves until... one of the teammates made a mistake.

The same stubborn one from earlier broke formation once more, charging too far ahead.

"Get back!" West snapped upon noticing one of the creatures staging a pincer attack.

However, it was too late... the creature lunged from his blindspot, striking Jared with its tail.

STAB!

The stinger pierced his side casing him to scream in agony.

Almost immediately, Jared fell to the ground and his body began swelling.

His skin turned purple and veins started to bulge violently.

"...What the hell?!" someone shouted.

He dropped to his knees, screaming in agony.

"I—IT BURNS—!"

His body expanded unnaturally... like it was about to burst.

"...He’s going to explode—!" Nina gasped while Jax swung his katana, decapitating the creature that had stung him.

West sighed before reaching into his inventory and pulling out a plastic bottle with glowing red transparent liquid.

He knelt and grabbed the guy by the collar.

"Drink."

The guy barely had the strength to respond so West forced it to his lips.

"Drink."

He started to swallow when West forcefully poured it into his mouth.

His body convulsed violently in response as he dropped to the ground and began puking...

PUKE!

A thick, dark substance spilled from his mouth as the swelling began to recede.

The purple on his skin faded and his breathing started to stabilize as the stab wound at his side closed up.

"...What... was that...?" he whispered weakly while West stood over him with a calm unbothered gaze.

"That was you getting lucky."

Jared looked up at him with a grateful expression.

"...Thank you..."

"You owe me," West’s gaze hardened slightly.

"And... if you ignore my orders again...I’ll leave you to die next time."

West stated without a shred of emotion on his face.

"...I understand," Jared said quickly.

The rest of the group was stunned after witnessing how he saved Jared.

"...He had something like that...?"

"That was insane..."

"A healing item like that...?"

Their perception of West changed once again seeing as he wasn’t just strong... he was also reliable.

And from that moment... no one questioned him again.

They continued forward and got into more battles with creatures.

Jax moved like a force of nature using his ice abilities to freeze entire groups before cutting them down.

Nina was no less terrifying with her brush bringing creations into reality with increasing the speed at which they cleared the enemies.

West on the other hand, continued to control the flow and direction of the group while also destroying everything in their path without even needing to let out his summons.

The seven others began to wonder why these three were this powerful.

"...Who are these people...?"

"They’re our age..."

"...There’s no way they’ve been awakened for less than a year..."

They struggled to wrap their head around it, not knowing that all three of them possessed three branches unlike regular awakeners.

—

Time passed as they cleared the ruins and soon the environment began to change as the energy in the air grew more intense.

"...We’re close to the final section," West stated.

As they stepped through the threshold of the final section, the atmosphere changed instantly.

The terrain opened into a massive cavern with its ceiling stretching so high it disappeared into darkness.

Strange metallic structures similar to the ones they had seen earlier, were fused into the environment, twisted into unnatural shapes as if something had forcibly merged technology with the ruin itself.

Crystallized formations jutted from the ground like spiky teeth and in the center, something massive lay writhing...

It was a gigantic serpentine beast, easily over sixty feet long with dark emerald hue scales and a massive scorpion-like tail that lashed wildly, smashing into the surrounding terrain. Its body coiled tightly as it thrashed violently in place...

However, its size or monstrousity wasn’t really the thing that shocked them... itwas what stood before it.

A tall humanoid figure with a strange body that looked partly artificial and smooth. Its face was smooth and expressionless, almost like a mask, with two glowing slits for eyes...

It arms were buried deep inside the boss creature’s body... ripping it apart.

SPLRRT!

It violently tore through flesh and bone, pulling the massive creature open from the inside as blood sprayed across the cavern floor.

The group froze.

"...What the hell...?" Derek whispered.

The humanoid tilted its head slightly before speaking in a cold mechanical tone.

"Target... neutralised..."

It paused before adding.

"Now assimilating biological components."

Before anyone could even react... the impossible happened.

The massive serpent’s body began to convulse as its flesh moved toward the humanoid being like it was being absorbed.

The creature’s body began to dissolve into strands of thick, fleshy tendrils that wrapped around the humanoid’s form.

"...No way..." Nina whispered.

The tendrils tightened, merged and fused while the strange humanoid being’s body expanded.

Its frame grew larger and its muscles bulged unnaturally as scales formed across its skin. A long, segmented tail erupted from its lower back, ending in a deadly stinger that gleamed with venom.

Its arms thickened forming claws and its face transformed slightly, now partially resembling the beast it had consumed.

West’s eyes narrowed.

"...I don’t think that thing is supposed to be here."