The Author's POV

330 Inferno 1

Inside of a dark room, a loud slap echoed.

-Smack!

"Oy, wake up."

With a bald head, a white beard that was so long it felt like it hadn't been cut in months,and bluish-purple skin, a creature resembling a dwarf spoke in a hoarse tone.

"If yer don't wake up within a minute's time, I'll make you feel something worse than the previous smack."

A vicious aura revolved around the blue-colored dwarf as he looked in front of him. A frail old dwarf sat there.

Bald head, braided hair, and wrinkling face;the dwarf was none other than Jomnuk.

The only dwarf that knew the access code of the security system. At the moment, he had both eyes closed shut and his hands were strapped on top of a large metallic chair. He wore a one-piece grey clothing and all of his beard hair was unbraided.

Since artifacts were hard to identify, they decided to strip Jomnuk of everything.

Although his mana was sealed because of the poison, it was still best to remove all of the items that he was wearing.

-Smack!

The blue dwarf once again smacked Jomnuk in the head.

"Yer finally coming to your senses?"

This time, the blue dwarf finally managed to get a reaction. Jomnuk's eyes twitched slightly.

It wasn't long before he finally opened his eyes.

Upon opening his eyes and staring at the blue dwarf in front of him, a frightened and bewildered look appeared on Jomnuk's face.

"Huh? Where am I? What is going on?"

Moving his body, Jomnuk found that he was bound to the chair he seated.

"What the-?!'

"Haha, you finally came to your senses."

Taking pleasure in Jomnuk's struggle, The blue dwarf flashed a sadistic smile.

Hearing the blue dwarf's words, Jomnuk finally came to his senses. He looked at the duergar and asked in a worried tone, "W-Who are you?"

"Hehe, let me introduce myself..."

Plack! Plack!

Tapping onto something, the dark room was instantly lit up by bright white lights.

Once the lights turned on, Jomnuk was finally able to see his surroundings.

But upon witnessing what was inside of the room, a look of horror flashed in his eyes.

Because the whole room was one massive device connected to a helmet.

"Y-you're insane!"

Bam-!

Smacking onto the metal armrest of the chair,the blue dwarf leaned closer.

"My name is Karl Kullam and as you can probably tell, I am a Duergar."

Walking towards the back of the room and taking the helmet, Karl flashed an evil smile.

"Although I'm not exactly famous among you dwarves, amongst us Duergars, I'm extremely well known."

Walking back towards Jomnuk, he dangled the helmet in his face.

"If you want to die peacefully, tell us how we can access the main defensive systems. If you refuse to do so..."

-Spurt.

of blood sprayed all over the room as Karl stabbed Jomnuk

"Huh?"

been a pained and desperate scream,

ran

of Karl, Jomnuk took

up and staring at Karl, he muttered in a voice

Pui-!

his head, Jomnuk spat towards the right

"Oh?"

his head and shrugged

you still got some grit in

Karl lifted his head up and stared at him in the

right hand

want you to say that again while looking at your face. Where are your tough words from before? Lost

"..."

Karl,

helmet-like device in his hand. Raising his hand and

my own creation, and what it does is

Clank-!

helmet

will help me extract the memories in your head. Although it is still in the development stages, I should be able to extract some information regarding the defensive barrier

spoke, Karl couldn't contain his

the ability to

since he heard that Jomnuk had been

was because he knew that they would task him with the job of extracting his

of looking through the memories of one of the greatest dwarven engineers

nor for the information to disable the

could no longer contain his excitement and pressed on

-Ding!

the top

wait to extract

about be done by

"Huh?"

head, to Karl's shock and

Your mana was

Jomnuk's direction, Karl took a step

were supposed to have captured, started

last at least a

Something was terribly wrong.

Jomnuk broke free from his restraints and took off the helmet from his head. Then, without wasting any time, he explosively shot towards Karl's direction. His speed was unbefitting that of a dwarf as he reappeared right in front

"Khh.."

in the air. No matter how much he struggled, Jomnuk's grip was far too strong. It wasn't long before Karl's already blue face turned

Karl struggled. To retaliate, to beg. But, Jomnuk's grip was far too strong. He couldn't speak at

turned white and

away from

I've got to

a fluid motion, Jomnuk's face ripped apart. Underneath, was a youth with black hair

none other than Ren, who was considerably shorter than his

to disguise himself as Jomnuk he took a potion that decreased

"Huuu..."

Ren didn't waste time.Taking out

put the mask on Karl's face. What followed after was a subtle blue glow that

"Done."

while, Ren retracted his hand from Karl's

his mana quite yet. He

Clank-!

on his face and turned to face the

standing not so far from

of the room with her finger pressed on a small device that

"You done?"

"Yes."

back as she took her finger away from the small device in the

tsk tsk. Being so cold all the time, who knows if that's the secret to your skin. Getting a little warmer might not hurt, you know. I know I annoyed you, but still!' Ren cursed internally. Still, he had to give credit

"Good," He smiled.

paid close attention, the moment Ren smiled, one could see

that Karl was

would strip him of everything he had, he knew that he couldn't have Angelica turn into