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 exactly is going

heard a large explosion that seemed

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

we under attack?" The

brief moment of silence,

by those bastards. We've called for reinforcements, and have set up the defensive

those words, the elder's

has been breached? That's impossible! Our dampening system has made it impossible for those bastards to find

as he turned his attention back towards the

—Unless what?

in the

moment before replying

one that exposed our location

—…That's impossible.

spoke after a

even more deeply than some of us present in the council. How can it be him?

"…You might be right."

matter, the elder soon realized the validity of

and the fact that he hated dwarves with a passion, the probability of

dwarves had rejected and scorned due to the various ideas he had proposed in the past. Each dwelling in the neurological field and memory extraction

them, he would've long died

hatred he saw in Karl when he signed the mana contract

He was there.

witnessed

a testament to his possible innocence… That was, of course, unless he was faking

him to have been faking it for so long...the elder

door, the elder massaged his forehead as he tried

who could it

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

either. No one except Karl ever entered that room.' The elder shook his head in

we already have

mean by that? Why are you

in surprise, the

got a live feed of what

moment. The elder could feel a tone of malice emerge from

bastards that asked for us to let them enter

elder's brows knit

related

—Yes.

voice in the elder's ears

attackers towards our location.

I don't

elder's face

fists, the elder trembled with

incompetent bastards would scheme against

—…BANG!

loud explosion rang in the

"What is going on?"

instantly

attack. The

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

say that someone

the elder tried to make out the last words that the voice in his ear was trying to say.

WIIIIIING—

hesitating, the elder raised

Clang—

after was a circular, pressurised wind that expanded from the

"Khhh…who!?"

several steps back, the elder stabilized his body and lifted

his head and getting a closer look at who had attacked him, the elder immediately identified

"Human…"

eyes narrowed

"Guess that didn't work."

his broadsword and once

mana enveloped the body of the blade. What followed after was a terrifying attack

WIIIIIING—

attack, the elder did not panic in the

mana towards the bracer, a thin transparent shield materialised in

BANG—

shield formed. Connecting with the shield, ripples formed around its surface as it completely

raising his head, the elder did not waste any time. Extending his hand towards the right, a large hammer appeared

handle of the hammer, the