World's Best Protagonist [BL]

[3rd Person’s POV]

At the time Noir just left the underground bunker, someone arrived.

The man is known as the Plunderer. Wearing a dark cloak over his head and a black mask covering his lower face, his emerald eyes gleamed as they scoured the place. His gaze was dead and cold.

He stepped out from the shadows and roamed the place. Above him, he could hear noises, indicating there were still people in the mansion, yet no hesitation was seen in his eyes. After reaching the gated laboratory and the dead body of Norman, he glanced over the rows and columns of human subjects.

A few regained consciousness, which means their forced awakening might have been successful, but the Plunderer just turned and walked away.

He walked back to the seven doors and burned down everything inside. Then, without wasting another second, dark balls of energy formed behind him and shot everywhere. Everything it touched exploded, like a bomb.

The tunnel’s ceiling shook, the walls cracked, and the ground quaked. Objects from the gated laboratory fell and with all the chemicals inside, it only ignited the explosion more. The tubes shattered, spilling their contents onto the floor, and scattering countless lifeless bodies that began sinking into the flames.

Amidst all of these, the Plunderer casually walked out of the tunnel and watched the entire mansion sink below. Once everything was destroyed and dead, he disappeared.

By the time Noir arrived with the NSA, the air was thick with smoke and death. The transport aircraft hovered over what had once been a grand mansion, now nothing more than a field of twisted metal and burning wreckage.

The Seekers wasted no time and began searching the area, rescue teams were deployed, and emergency responders rushed to find survivors.

Noir jumped out of the landing aircraft, activating his Sensory Field. Bodies are littered, and buried everywhere. Their faces were obstructed, and some were destroyed and burnt. He cursed under his breath.

He couldn’t tell which and where Jade was. Therefore, he did not wait and ran to the pile of debris.

"Sir Noir, please be careful!"

One of the Seekers shouted, but Noir rushed into the small hole he found, leading to the tunnel. However, he only got a few feet deeper when the path was blocked already.

"Damn it! The newbie was left inside, Commander! The Captain will kill us if he dies!" Noir exclaimed, panicking.

Commander Lan looked at him with furrowed brows. "Vanderheinz will? Is the newbie his lover?"

"Yes!" Noir exclaimed, shamelessly lying to get the commander to rescue the newbie as their priority.

Commander Lan’s face scrunched. He couldn’t imagine the said captain having a lover, someone he was willing to kill for. Looking at Noir’s fearful eyes, he sighed and turned to the Seekers, ordering them to put great effort into finding Jade Dela Torre.

"What can you see?" Commander Lan asked after giving the order.

Noir cleared his throat. "Bodies everywhere, particularly in that part."

"Can you tell if they’re still alive?"

Noir closed his eyes. Then, after a while, he shook his head. "It’s hard to tell since they’re beneath the ground."

Commander Lan let out a frustrated sigh. "At this level of destruction, it’d be a miracle if someone was still alive."

"Don’t say that, commander. What if it becomes true? How are you going to handle the captain’s broken heart and grieving soul?!"

"Shut up."

Commander Lan walked away, shaking his head. He joined the search and investigation team to find out who caused such massive destruction. Noir, on the other hand, roamed around, searching for Jade using his ability.

However, despite his efforts, he failed to spot the newbie. He wiped the cold beads of sweat that formed on his forehead as he wondered if the guy was dead already.

Several hours later, the rain fell, the sky darkened, and so were the faces of all the people in there. The rescue team confirmed one by one. There were no living subjects who survived. Every single human inside the mansion and the bunker was dead.

Noir’s jaw clenched, but a flicker of relief showed in his eyes. Despite some faces being unrecognizable, he could tell none of them belonged to Jade.

Then, where the hell is he?!

Noir was yanking his hair in distress when Commander Lan approached him with quickened steps and a darkened face.

"Did you find him, commander?" Noir asked hopefully.

Commander Lan grimly nodded. "Team Juliet-04 was annihilated. The Aetherlock spheres guarding the Infernal Vortex were destroyed. The vortex grew larger and reinforcements to handle its effect were sent. Footage was recovered and it showed the culprit, carrying the unconscious Jade Dela Torre with them. They entered the vortex."

Noir was astonished. He did not even know another vortex appeared and their team was deployed. Why did his captain say nothing to them? He felt betrayed, but he nodded at the commander and said, "I’ll join the sentry."

"Go ahead," Commander Lan answered.

With that, Noir left. He arrived at the amusement park. Infernal Vortexes seldom appear, but even if they do, Noir could tell it was the largest he had seen. It was probably due to the destruction of the Aetherlock spheres.

Another team was already there, installing the spheres again. If his team entered, then they would be able to see Jade.

With that in mind, Noir decided to stay outside and help guard the area. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

- - - - -

Inside the Infernal Vortex...

Alpha Teams 02 and 03 have already annihilated most of the fire beasts. When an earthquake happened, they prepared for the boss monster to appear.

And as just they expected, a towering volcanic beast with a body of smooth, obsidian-like rock, shaped into powerful, muscular contours. Its molten veins glowed with fiery intensity, pulsing like magma beneath a hardened crust.

The monster’s face was sculpted with deep, menacing grooves, eyes burning like a ball of fire. Massive hands resembling gauntlets of cooled lava, cracked open at the seams, revealing searing heat within, and ready to unleash devastation with every strike.

Everyone gulped. There was no turning back. While Team Echo-01 was hoarding everything they could get in the remains of the fire beasts, Team Alpha 02 and 03 engaged in battle.

When the boss monster gradually weakened and was defeated, Claude and Kenneth exchanged looks.

"Let’s deal a blow at the same time," Kenneth suggested.

Claude just nodded. They both prepared to deal the last final damage when the monster stepped back as if sensing their murderous auras. However, it continued stepping back, until it reached the rim of the kiln.

All of a sudden, it jumped outside and with huge steps and a massive body, it ran north, opposite to its lair.

All of them were dumbstruck.

"Is it escaping?!" Iron asked in astonishment. They never heard of a monster with human intelligence.

However, Allen’s pale face came forward. He floated in the air, thus from a distance, he could see a few human figures running toward the kiln, toward the boss monster.

"Captain! It’s Jade!" he shouted, then flew ahead.

"What?!"

Claude’s flabbergasted voice rang in the air, but his team soon followed Allen, wondering how Jade ended up inside the vortex.