Curse the Mainframe! 288 Is There Such A Thing As Too Loyal?

"Stop!" Elysia called out, her smile that was usually on her face gone.

To Dominique, it felt a little strange since he treated her smile as an integral part of her. Just like the boss' smile was part of him.

Elysia was annoyed. She'd just left for ten minutes to procure more water since they ran out! Ten minutes!

How was there fighting already!?

Wasn't this Alec's right hand man, Dominique? He was in charge of the Spectres while Alec was gone.

What was he doing here, and not back in the sect?

And why was he fighting with Sekai?

Then, her eyes skimmed over to Alec, whom she noted with relief looked the same as before. While he wasn't better off, he wasn't worse off either.

Wait. What was it that Rosabel told her again?

Dominique and Alec seemed to be – er, in a special kind of relationship? Was that why he was so angry?

He probably thought that Sekai was a stranger that was randomly dragging Alec's body to an unknown array.

Dominique got in one last punch that sent Sekai flying into the distance, turning his glacial expression onto Elysia.

He scanned her up and down, and while she did look a little worse for wear, she didn't look like she was in distress either.

"What's going on?" he asked coldly.

Just wait for it. If her answer didn't satisfy him, he would punch her whether or not the boss didn't like it.

He'd even take the boss' punishment rather than allow him to be wilfully harmed in the future.

Elysia just put her hands on her hips and glanced at him with a frown.

It had all the effectiveness of an angry kitten in Dominique's mind.

It just made Dominique's expression cool even further, but she didn't quail under his gaze.

While he didn't think that she would do anything to the boss because she was a Spectre, that didn't discount the fact that they were placing him on an unknown array.

"Do you even know what that array does?" he glared at her.

Elysia shook her head. "I don't."

Dominique's anger mounted. Dominique snarled. "You were going to put boss on something that has unknown effects? Are you lacking in the mental department or are you just daft?"

Dominique intercepted the fist that came from behind him, throwing Sekai into the wall again. The place shook, and dust came down from the ceiling.

Elysia let out an explosive sigh. "It's not like we want to do that either, but there's no other choice. We haven't been able to find anything else in this place that might have caused Alec to pass out like this. If he's left in this stage, it'll be dangerous before long."

Dominique digested her words.

Elysia looked at Dominique with a rare serious expression. "You don't know, but Alec has been burning up, and his fever isn't light. When we put a cloth cooled with water on his head the water all dries up before long."

The corner of Dominique's mouth pulled into a frown. "How long has it been?" he asked seriously, pressing down his displeasure. Now was not the time for his dissatisfied feelings to act up.

While he didn't like how Elysia was the one who addressed the boss as 'Alec', as long as the boss allowed it, he didn't see how he could refute her address. Though, that didn't mean he had to like it.

The more important thing right now was the boss' situation.

The boss was in the intermediate stage, and he should be immune to the basic colds and illnesses that plagued civilians already.

He may or not agree with them placing the boss on the array, but one thing was for certain. They were far from the sect, and they likely wouldn't be able to find a healer out here in the middle of nowhere.

For the first time, Dominique was plagued with a sense of helplessness.

Elysia frowned as well, echoing Dominique's frown. "It's been more than a day already!" That's why the two of the were so anxious. Surely, Dominique could see it as well?

As little contact she had with this man, she knew that he cared a great deal about Alec. It almost bordered on worshipful.

Dominique shut his eyes. He should have held back his advancement. He should have known that suddenly feeling like passing out was going to cost him a lot of time!

He ground his teeth in hatred.

He kicked backwards, causing Sekai to fly back into the wall again with a muffled curse. "Who's this idiot?" he asked instead to keep his mind off it.

"That's Sekai. He's our friend."

Dominique's brows furrowed, displeased. More people!?

He reluctantly stopped whacking the idiot who didn't seem to know when to give up, nor know how outclassed he was. The only reason why he wasn't dead was because Dominique had held back in the first place.

"What have you done already?" Dominique asked, moving forward to check on the boss.

He placed a hand on the boss' forehead and frowned even harder. It truly was as hot as that little girl described. What was happening to the boss' body?

Elysia outlined the things they'd tried to bring down his fever, but it hadn't broken. "He hasn't even woken up since the first time he fell unconscious."

Dominique fell deep into thought, his expression unreadable.

Sekai finally managed to pick himself up and reluctantly licked his wounds as he glared at Dominique.

He could infer that this man was Alec's subordinate. Could he say, as expected from boss and subordinate?!

Both of them got on his nerves!

…Wait. Elysia was Alec's subordinate as well!

All three of them got on his nerves!

How annoying!

-Author only posts on w.e.b.n.o.v.e.l.-

While the three Main Characters were worrying over Alec, the two Systems were in a completely different situation.

Alec and Ye Sha stared at each other with confusion.

They were inside of Alec's mindscape, and the ringing that had been plaguing their ears previously was no longer heard at all, other than a very faint and distant sound.

"Do you have any idea at all what's happening to us?" Alec asked.

Ye Sha shook his head as his fingers flew over various keyboards.

The sounds of the keyboards tapping came constantly and quickly. His fingertips barely touched they keys at all before the next one was being pressed already.

Ye Sha had been checking for over a day, but he still wasn't able to get a hold of any solid information.

But a thought occurred to him. "I think this might not be because of you, but rather to do with me."

Alec raised a brow. "What do you mean?"

"Theoretically speaking, you should not have passed out before you even got a chance to see anything. That just doesn't make sense. Whether or not this is a treasure or a misfortune, you should still have had an encounter before anything happened."

Alec nodded. That would be the standard plot route indeed, but this time, he passed out before anything happened. Ye Sha was right.

He started to form a few theories of his own.

"Do you think that it's because the two of us are sharing a consciousness that caused a conflict in whatever was happening in this place?"

"It's possible," Ye Sha confirmed. "There should be a way for you to regain consciousness, but it's probably something external."

Alec nodded calmly. While Ye Sha was working, he was making his own calculations as well. Even though he didn't work as quickly as Ye Sha did with data, that didn't mean he was helpless.

While he hoped that Elysia and Sekai would quickly find the external source that would allow them to wake up, he was also trying to find a solution from the inside.

Suddenly, his brows creased when Ye Sha swore. "Ah, damn! Dominique is here. He's touching your forehead."

The two Systems looked at each other speechlessly.

…Well, there went all hopes that they would wake up due to external factors.

Alec could just tell right now. With how much Dominique seemed to protect him, it would be a miracle for Elysia and Sekai to be able to move him to do something that seemed dangerous.

Chapter end

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