Chapter 85 Echoes Across the Network

The holographic image of Elara flickered to life within the Volta guardian's control room, her face etched with a mixture of exhaustion and grim determination. A collective gasp rippled through the tense gathering of Volta's leadership council. For weeks, they had received only sporadic, coded messages from the scouting party, leaving them to stew in a pot of uncertainty. "Council members," Elara began, her voice echoing across the vast chamber, "we have returned from our mission to the Luminant city. We come bearing news, both troubling and hopeful." A tense silence descended upon the room as Elara launched into a detailed account of their harrowing encounter with the corrupted guardian and their daring retrieval of data. The council members, their faces grim, absorbed the information with rapt attention. Cyrus, his voice projected through Elara's communicator, then took over, detailing the unsettling revelation – the corruption was not a natural anomaly, but a deliberate act of ma