"It is an enticing idea," Soren considered aloud, "But it is risky. Let's keep that option in mind and see how the situation develops. For now, let's focus on getting in undetected."
They all nodded and took a deep breath before gracefully dropping down to the forest floor. In a single file line with Emory leading, they crouched as they crept across the open field towards the barrier. When they arrived at the force field, Emory covered her hands and arms in Arcane magik as she stood right next to it. She made knife hands and smoothly pierced through the field, wrapping her fingers around it like it was a type of fabric. With a slight grunt, she pulled the force field apart which caused a slight crackling sound. She ripped a hole in the barrier as wide as her arms could, but it pushed back against her to try and close up.
Quickly, the four others hopped through the gap like little bunnies. Once they all made it through, Emory gripped the sides tight and yanked herself in before she released her grip. With a snapping sound, the hole in the force field closed tightly and sealed completely as if no one had ripped into it in the first place. Now that they were all inside the barrier, they snuck up to an auxiliary door with Sothe leading the group this time. The door handle had a small keypad just above it which he put his hand on. For a moment, little arcs of electricity danced across the back of his hand until a pop sound came from the keypad. With his other hand, he turned the handle and cracked the door a little to see inside.
Faint red lights overhead didn't allow for much of a view, but it didn't matter when they all switched to Arcane Sight. Once the coast was clear, they all linked hands, crept through the door, and silently closed it behind them. Now that they were inside the complex, they took a minute to study their surroundings. They were in a long hallway made of reflective metal which allowed the lights to illuminate the area better. Still, the ten-foot-wide walkway and fifteen-foot ceilings left a lot of darkness the lights couldn't brighten. Emory imagined that since the Apleem preferred low light, this was to their advantage.
Soon, they proceeded down the hall towards the center of the complex. When they got to the door, though, it opened suddenly, allowing a Uthid in full armor to almost walk into the group. However, the scorpion man didn't seem to notice their presence and walked past them without issue. This was because Ilyana's gift was invisibility which Emory didn't notice as Arcane Sight allowed them to still see each other. Not wanting to chance another encounter, the group slipped through the door and continued into another corridor. Even though it seemed to be a labyrinth walking through the halls, Sothe seemed to know the correct path and led the group silently through the complex. As they traveled, they came across more Uthid and Mantoan, each one in full armor, but luckily no Laxtros.
After an hour of walking through one hallway to the next, they finally reached a door that looked much different than the rest. All of the doors up to this point had been black with a simple button switch to the side that would cause it to retract into the ground for a few moments. On the other hand, this door was red and had a normal handle with a keypad just like the door they had used to enter the facility. Furthermore, unlike the other doors between corridors, there was no window on this door to see into the next room. Even the doors they hadn't entered had a small window. Sothe reached up and put his hand on the keypad like he had before. Just like last time, a short pop sound was heard before he opened the door to a room unlike anything they could have imagined.
The tubes of green liquid all came up from the ground and connected to a small moat of sorts that surrounded a large chamber in the center of the room. The chamber itself looked like liquid metal as it swirled and moved but always retained a cube shape that was roughly fifty feet in each direction. On the ground before the moat, there were four panels, one in line with each corner of the cube. After they had been in the room for a couple minutes, the panels slid to the side, and four black pillars rose from the floor. In an instant, the tubes sealed up where they connected to the moat. What was in the moat quickly drained before being pumped into the chamber through the floor. Then black bolts of electricity shot out from the tops of the pillars at the chamber and arced across its surface. Suddenly, the green liquid began to separate and take shape.
Over the next minute, the electricity intensified as the liquid continued to divide in half, shape into a ball, and split in half again, completing each cycle every half second. As it finished, the balls began rapidly changing shape into a humanoid form before they began to grow. In a couple minutes, the balls had reformed to look like a horde of Mantoan though they still stood motionless inside the chamber. Finally, another shock of power came from the pillars again except these bolts were bluish white. The group looked in horror as five hundred Mantoan in the chamber opened their eyes. No one had any time to react as the enemy soldiers passed through the chamber walls like water and headed out through a door on the far side of the room. Emory and the Elandrian sighed deeply as the troops exited away from them.
The group stayed against the wall and studied the room over the next fifteen minutes to learn the cycles of the production process. During that time, two more batches of Mantoan had been created with the cycle taking about ten minutes altogether. As they decided what to do, Soren set up a telepathic link between them all.
Soren began, "We've watched the rotation a few times. If we're going to use seals, they're meant to be placed on top of the pillars while they're in the ground. But if we're going to destroy something, our intel said we should destroy the chamber."
"I still think we should attempt a more permanent approach and destroy the chamber," Emory emphasized, "It doesn't look like it's too strong, so I should be able to get rid of it fairly quickly. Then, we can blast out through the ceiling and retreat."
"Don't forget that we'll have to be outside of the force field to teleport away. So even if you blow a hole through the ceiling, we'll still have to rip another hole in the barrier," Sothe reminded her.
"But we haven't seen any Laxtros yet," Titania countered, "If we don't have to engage with them, it seems like the better plan is to destroy the whole operation."
Ilyana nodded, "We'll have to move fast, but I agree. Let's shut down the third Facility."
"We seem to be leaning towards destroying the chamber," Soren remarked as he looked at the nodding heads of the four others, "Then my only suggestion is that the four of us cut a hole through the side instead of the ceiling while Emory gets rid of the chamber. We'll exit that way for a straight shot to the barrier. I'll make the hole in the force field to speed up the process. When the next cycle finishes, we'll make our move."
They waited nervously until the next horde of Mantoan were created in the chamber to strike. As soon as the last one exited the room, Emory split off from the group and pointed her palms towards the chamber. In a few seconds, the room was as bright as outside because Emory had filled it with thousands of Arcane magik orbs. Her body glowed as she poured more magik into the creation of more orbs. At the same time, the four Elandrian covered their arms in magik, readying to cut through the wall. She turned to the group who nodded at the ready for her to strike. With a jolting push of her arms, the balls sped through the air and slammed into the chamber.
An explosion, like a bomb went off, shook the walls of the entire facility, but the concussive force in the room pushed the group tightly against the sides. Smoke and debris filled the air quickly until the four Elandrian cut a hole in the wall which caused the air to clean up rapidly. As the air cleared, they all looked at where the chamber had been. In its place was a small layer of glittery dust, and the floor underneath was nothing more than a pile of small rubble that cut into the ground beneath the complex. Alarms began blaring throughout the facility as the five rushed outside.
Soren dashed to the front of the group and slid next to the barrier. Quickly infusing magik into his hands, he pried open the barrier though he struggled more than Emory did. Explosions continued to go off around the facility while the group rushed forward and past the barrier. When Emory had gotten through, she turned back around before her eyes widened. With a quick pull, she yanked Soren through and onto the ground just before a black ball whizzed past them as the barrier closed. Magik wrapped around Emory and sprouted out her back as she glared at the creature on the other side of the force field.
Soren coughed, "We're in a hurry, Emory, but there's no reason to be so rough." Then he leaned up and saw why she had done that to him. The Elandrian rose from their crouched position and shakily stood behind Emory except Soren who boldly stood next to her.