The Author's POV

348 Planting the seeds of chaos [2]

BANG— BANG—

A loud metallic sound rang as an energy blast shot towards a large metal door.

The sound rang in the air for a brief moment before it disappeared completely. What followed after was the cacophonous sound of several alarms ringing, completely drowning out the banging sounds that ensued after repetitive attacks towards the metallic door.

"Step to the side."

Seeing that the attacks were not working, a duergar stepped up.

Holding onto a large metallic barrel in-between his armpits, the duergar channeled his mana towards it. Soon, spherical orbs of mana agglomerated towards the center of the barrel, forming a concentrated ball of energy.

The threatening energy expanded in the hall as it steadily increased in size.

Before long, once the ball reached a certain size, the duergar firmly planted both of his feet on the ground and discharged the energy.

BOOOM—!

What followed after was a terrifying blast that shot towards the massive metal door. A colorful trail of mana traced behind the attack.

Once the attack connected with the door, a thunderous sound rang out, and smoke diffused in the air.

"Did it work?"

The duergar who shot the attack wondered out loud as he tried to see through the large cloud of smoke.

"It's no use. The door is designed to withstand the impacts of ranked individuals. All you're doing is wasting mana."

Before the duergar could get a proper look, a cold and apathetic voice spoke from behind.

Turning to the direction where the voice came from, the duergar's face paled considerably.

"L-Lord!"

"Stay put."

Scanning the metal door, the mood of the duergar elder sank.

"Damn it."

Placing his palm on the door, the elder circulated the mana inside of his body towards the palm of his hand and closed his eyes. He was trying to gauge what was going on inside the room.

While the elder was busy, the duergars behind him stood silently with their backs straight, not daring to mouth a single word.

After a while, opening his eyes, the elder's face relaxed a little.

"He's still alive…"

After having scanned the internal structure of the room, although he wasn't able to tell what exactly was going on inside, he could tell that there were two people alive.

Out of the two, one was a demon and the other was Karl.

Recognizing Karl's mana signature, the elder was able to tell that he was still alive. At this revelation, he felt a lot more relaxed. As long as he was alive, all was good.

"Hm?"

However, apart from those two energies, he felt no other energy. This meant only one thing.

Every single researcher inside had been killed.

'Why did a demon betray us?'

The elder wondered as his brows tightly knit in consternation.

For the perpetrator to be a demon, no wonder the Duergars assigned to Karl had failed to protect him. Nobody would have seen it coming.

—How is the situation going on your side?

It was then that a voice suddenly entered the elder's ears.

Completely unfazed by the voice, the elder tapped on his ear and responded in a calm tone, "Karl is still alive. However, he is currently being held hostage inside of the room with a demon."

—A demon?

The voice sounded a bit surprised. It quickly followed up with a question.

—So you're saying that the one responsible for this is a demon?

"That is correct."

The elder darkly replied.

your side? What

had naturally heard a large explosion that seemed

elder was curious, he still chose to pursue his role, which was to find out what was going

attack?"

brief moment of silence, the voice

location of our base has been compromised. We're currently under siege by those bastards. We've called for reinforcements, and

the elder's face sank

system has made it impossible for those bastards to find the coordinates of our

thought struck the elder as he turned his attention back

—Unless what?

voice in the

the elder thought for a moment before replying

that exposed our

—…That's impossible.

spoke after a brief moment

Karl hates the dwarves. His hatred runs even more deeply than some of us present in

"…You might be right."

the elder soon realized

Karl's background, and the fact that he hated dwarves with

in the past. Each dwelling in the neurological field and memory extraction area. Something that was considered taboo to the dwarves. As

not for them, he would've long died

vividly remember the deep seethed hatred he saw in Karl when he

He was there.

had witnessed

a testament to his possible innocence…

to have been faking it for so long...the elder didn't want to believe

massaged his forehead

who could

a spy entered Karl's room while he was decoding the beacons? Since the dampening system was turned off in

one except Karl ever entered that room.' The elder shook his head in confusion. He couldn't make

already have

you mean by that? Why are you

his head in surprise, the elder

only telling you now because I just got a live feed of what

voice paused for a moment. The elder could feel

those human bastards that asked for us to let

brows knit

related

—Yes.

voice in the

that led the attackers towards our location. Moments after

don't think

elder's face sank once

his fists, the elder trembled with uncontrollable

incompetent bastards would scheme against

—…BANG!

a loud explosion rang in

"What is going on?"

elder instantly

currently under attack. The dwarves have

could finish, the signal cut off, and the elder was left

that someone has infiltrated the

the last words that the voice in his ear was

WIIIIIING—

the elder raised

Clang—

clashing sound rang out. What followed after was a circular, pressurised wind that expanded from the

"Khhh…who!?"

stabilized his

head and getting a closer look at who had

"Human…"

eyes narrowed

"Guess that didn't work."

elder, Waylan raised his broadsword and once again

the blade. What followed after was a terrifying attack that shot out from

WIIIIIING—

the elder did not panic in the slightest. Raising his hand, a thin

the bracer, a thin transparent shield materialised in front

BANG—

Connecting with the shield, ripples formed around its

time. Extending his hand towards the right, a large hammer appeared in his

on the handle of the hammer, the elder