System Mission: Seduce the Final Boss [BL] Chapter 49: Found it... but I’m fucked now

’Uff... how many stairs are left... this is fucking insane.’

Each step downward seed steeper than the last, as if gravity itself had decided to lean in harder the deeper they went. His legs burned in that dull, spreading way that told him this wasn’t just exertion, it was overexertion.

When they had first passed through the door, things hadn’t looked so bad. A narrow hallway stretched ahead, clean and almost sterile, with four identical doors lining the sides.

It had felt like any other underground facility at that point, controlled, intentional, maybe even organized. But that illusion had shattered the mont the hallway ended and the staircase began.

It wasn’t just long, but basically endless.

There were no breaks, either.

’I can not believe this woman, of any other person, for that matter, it going through these stairs every day! Like oh my god!’

The walls also grew rougher the further they went, the air heavier, tinged with sothing tallic that clung faintly to the back of his throat.

Blake wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his sleeve.

The woman ahead of him didn’t slow down, didn’t even look back. If anything, she seed more agitated with each passing second, her wrist lifting repeatedly as she checked her smartwatch.

She wasn’t calm. Not even close.

’Anyway, will I even be able to get out of here...? This many stairs, I’m exhausted just getting down. If I have to run back up, I don’t think I’ll actually survive.’

They were so deep in he felt that the air felt missing.

And whatever waited at the bottom, whatever she was so desperate to reach, it wasn’t sothing ordinary, he knew that.

The staircase finally ended so abruptly it almost threw him off balance. One mont there were steps beneath his feet, the next there was flat ground, wide and open in a way that felt almost jarring after the claustrophobic descent.

Blake slowed, instinctively straightening as he tried to take in his surroundings.

It was rather spacious.

Far more than he had expected.

The underground level stretched out into a broad corridor, the ceiling high enough that it didn’t press down on him the way the stairwell had. The walls were smoother here again, reinforced. This wasn’t so crude tunnel system, it was constructed and designed.

And yet, sothing about it still felt off.

The woman didn’t hesitate. She moved quickly down the corridor, until she reached one of the doors and pushed it open without a second thought.

Blake followed on instinct, closing the distance in a few long strides, but just as he reached the threshold, she turned.

"Stay outside."

Her eyes flicked toward him only briefly, but the ssage was clear enough without needing repetition.

"For obvious reasons," she added, already halfway inside. "Don’t let anyone in."

The door shut before he could respond.

Blake stood there for a mont, staring at the now-closed door, his breathing still uneven as he processed it.

Then he exhaled slowly, running a hand through his damp hair.

’Yeah... figures.’

He didn’t complain, of course, this all played in his favor anyway.

That room was probably her private space, so kind of studio, lab, or office. Whatever she was doing in there, she didn’t want him seeing it.

And honestly, that worked perfectly for him, because now he was finally alone.

Blake’s gaze drifted down the corridor, his eyes narrowing slightly as he took in the emptiness. There were no guards.

The lighting was the first thing that really caught his attention.

It wasn’t normal, it was a greenish hue bled through the corridor.

’Mh, the source must be quite far, too... because from here there’s nothing to see.’

It wasn’t bright enough to fully illuminate the space either. Shadows lingered where they shouldn’t, clinging to corners, pooling faintly along the edges of the walls.

Blake frowned.

’It is so weird it gives the creeps.’

He sighed heavily, but didn’t dwell on it much.

There were more important things to focus on, for example, the black stone.

His posture shifted, tension tightening through his shoulders as he stepped away from the door. His movents beca quieter to avoid being caught, although he had his skill still on.

Well, if there was ever a mont to search, this was it, do he wasn’t about to waste it.

He moved down the corridor slowly, pausing at the first door he passed. A quick glance around confird he was still alone before he leaned slightly, pressing his eye to the keyhole.

Inside, a room, of course. It looked normal, at least at first glance.

But the people, they weren’t as normal.

Blake’s brow furrowed as he watched them. There were three of them inside, all clustered close together, their heads tilted toward one another as they whispered. Their movents were sharp and jittery.

He couldn’t hear the words, only fragnts of hushed sound, but there was sothing wrong in the way they spoke.

’I an, they’re probably just anxious about the intruder...’

Still, it didn’t sit right.

He pulled back.

’...Yeah, no.’

Whatever they were doing, it wasn’t his problem.

The next door was similar.

Another room, another group of people, another set of whispers that made his skin prickle for reasons he couldn’t quite explain. He lingered for a second longer this ti, trying to catch even a single clear word, but it was useless.

Nothing.

Just that sa uneasy murmur.

Blake exhaled softly and kept moving.

He began to skip the rooms where he could hear voices before even checking. There was no point wasting ti on them.

The stone wasn’t going to be in a room full of people, right? At least he hoped for that to not be the case.

’Logically speaking, it should be sowhere else, a little bit more hidden and important.’

Besides, instinctively, he found himself drifting toward the source of that strange green light.

The further he went, the stronger it beca.

Not brighter, exactly, but definitely more visible and invasive. It seeped into the edges of his vision, tinting everything in that unnatural hue.

The corridor grew quieter too.

Blake slowed his pace, his senses sharpening as a faint tension crept up his spine. Sothing about this area, then, he froze.

A sudden burst of light erupted from one of the doors ahead.

Not the dull green glow that had filled the corridor.

This was different.

Bright, almost blinding.

It spilled through the cracks around the door, cutting through the dimness like a blade.

Blake’s heart started beating fast.

His gut twisted in that imdiate, it just told him.

There.

That’s it.

He didn’t hesitate.

His exhaustion vanished beneath a surge of adrenaline as he broke into a quick run, closing the distance in seconds. He dropped down slightly, pressing his eye to the keyhole, squinting against the overwhelming brightness pouring through.

He couldn’t see much.

Just light.

Pure, intense light that swallowed everything else.

Besides, there were no movents, no shadows and, most importantly, no voices.

"...No one’s in there?"

He muttered it, but even he didn’t sound convinced.

The door didn’t budge when he tried the handle.

It was locked, and of course it was, he had expected it.

Blake glanced down the corridor, his jaw tightening.

No ti.

If this was it, he couldn’t hold still or run away.

He stepped back, planting his foot firmly against the ground as he drew in a breath.

"Alright... fuck it."

Then he kicked.

The impact echoed sharply through the corridor as the door splintered inward, the lock giving way with a satisfying crack. The force sent it swinging open, slamming against the inside wall.

For a split second, it felt surreal.

Like sothing straight out of a movie.

The dramatic entrance. The perfect timing.

And then, reality hit as he stepped inside.

The light swallowed him imdiately, forcing his eyes to adjust as he raised a hand instinctively to shield them. It took a second, maybe two, before the shapes within the room began to form.

And then he saw it.

There.

At the center.

Resting on a simple platform.

"The stone!"

Even bathed in that blinding white glow, there was no mistaking it. The shape was the sa. The presence also unmistakable.

It looked almost white under the intensity of the light, but sothing about it still felt wrong.

Around it there was glass. Thick, transparent, sealed tightly around the stone as if it were sothing dangerous.

Blake stepped closer slowly, his heartbeat loud in his ears.

"That’s it..."

His voice was barely a whisper now.

"Spoon," he muttered under his breath. "Take Ennora’s ring out."

[ Yes, Dear Host. ]

He stared at it for a second, then back at the stone.

"Thank goodness, I’m not crazy."

He really wasn’t, because it actually matched.

The shape, the size, everything!

His grip tightened slightly as he stepped closer, but then...

Crack.

Blake froze.

The sound was sharp and sudden. Blake noticed that a thin fracture spread across the surface of the glass conserving the stone, spiderwebbing outward from the exact point closest to the ring.

For a split second, nothing else happened.

Then it shattered.

The fragnts didn’t fall, they dissolved, fading into nothing before they even had the chance to hit the platform.

Blake stumbled back instinctively, his grip tightening around the ring as his pulse spiked.

"What the—"

The stone moved directly towards him.

Like it had been waiting.

A streak of black cut through the blinding white light, crossing the distance between them in less than a heartbeat. Blake barely had ti to react before it slamd into the distorted ring in his hand.

The mont it did, a sharp pulse shot through his arm, up his shoulder, and straight into his chest. His breath caught violently as his entire body locked for a split second, his vision flickering as sothing, sothing heavy, settled into place.

Blake staggered back, nearly losing his footing as he tried to process what had just happened. His heart was racing now, pounding hard enough that he could feel it in his throat.

"What the hell was that...?"

He stared at the ring, half-expecting it to explode or burn or do anything that would make sense of what he had just seen, but it didn’t.

’Nice, nice! Fuck, finally! This was so random, in a way. I’m ready to go—’

A sharp sound cut through the air behind him.

Clearly sounded like rushed footsteps.

Blake’s head snapped toward the door just as a figure appeared in the fra.

A guard.

His gaze dropped, locking onto Blake.

And more specifically, to what he was holding.

"That’s..."

For a split second, neither of them moved.

Then the guard’s posture changed, his hand moving toward his gun as his voice cut through the space.

"—!"

Blake didn’t wait to hear the rest.