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.

the situation on your side? What exactly

had naturally heard a large explosion that seemed to have come

role, which was to find

under attack?" The elder

moment of

The location of our base has been compromised. We're currently under siege by those

those words, the

made it impossible for

the elder as he turned his

—Unless what?

voice in the elder's ear

moment before replying with a

the one that exposed our

—…That's impossible.

voice spoke after a brief moment of

full well just how much Karl hates the dwarves. His hatred runs even more deeply than some of us present in the council. How can it be him? Furthermore, he is also responsible

"…You might be right."

soon realized the validity of the words presented to

dwarves with

rejected and scorned due to the various ideas he had proposed in the past. Each dwelling in the neurological field and memory extraction area. Something that was considered taboo to the dwarves. As such he was

he would've long died by

saw in Karl when he signed the mana contract

He was there.

witnessed

he also took down two beacons was a testament to his

for him to have been faking it for

massaged his forehead as he tried to think of other

who could it

while he was decoding the beacons? Since the dampening system was turned off in that

it can't be that either. No one except Karl ever entered that room.' The elder

already have an

you mean by that? Why

surprise,

because I just got a live feed of what

paused for a moment. The elder could feel a tone

asked for us to

elder's brows knit at

related to

—Yes.

the elder's ears

were the ones that led the attackers towards our location. Moments after they appeared, we were

I don't think

elder's face sank

the elder

that those incompetent bastards

—…BANG!

loud explosion rang in

"What is going on?"

instantly became

currently under attack. The dwarves have

sentence could finish, the signal cut off, and the elder

he trying to say that someone has infiltrated the

calming down, the elder tried to make out the last words that the voice in his ear was trying to say. But, before he could even

WIIIIIING—

hesitating, the elder raised

Clang—

rang out. What followed after was a circular, pressurised wind that expanded from the point of contact

"Khhh…who!?"

steps back, the elder stabilized his

getting a closer look at who had attacked him,

"Human…"

narrowed

"Guess that didn't work."

Duergan elder, Waylan raised his broadsword and once again slashed down. Not

sword, a thin coating of mana enveloped the body of the blade. What followed after was

WIIIIIING—

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

transparent shield materialised

BANG—

around its

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

the handle of the hammer, the elder