The hidden doors slowly slid apart, revealing a platform like an elevator. The group stepped inside and turned to face the doors.
If Professor Arkansas followed them now, they would certainly spot him. But he had come too far to worry about that. Steeling himself, he took out a small glass bottle and tossed it forward.
Crack! The bottle shattered, spilling a colorless liquid that swiftly vaporized into a cloud with a cloyingly sweet smell. It rolled toward the ten guards.
The base guards froze. They had only seen a hand appear out of nowhere, and before they could make sense of it, the fumes engulfed them. Coughing violently, they collapsed one after another.
Professor Arkansas breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Beneath his Invisibility Cloak, he already had a respirator strapped over his mouth. He hurried through the doorway and picked up the token.
At the same time, the platform beneath his feet began to hum and vibrate. Magic Runes appeared around him, then a flash of white light made him squeeze his eyes shut. When he opened them again, he had left the underground base and arrived inside a vast, abandoned factory.
There were still plenty of guards in the factory—more than twenty, scattered around the perimeter on watch.
As soon as Professor Arkansas emerged, the cloud of fumes and the fallen guards who came out with him caught the others' attention. Someone shouted, and several guards sprinted over.
Professor Arkansas pressed himself into a nearby corner and inched toward an exit a few meters away.
Night had fallen, and the abandoned factory was cluttered and far less brightly lit than the underground base. That made his slow movements difficult to detect.
Besides, everyone's attention was on the fumes and the ten unconscious guards. Professor Arkansas seized his