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

the artifact testing room, the elder had naturally heard a large

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

attack?" The

brief moment of silence, the

by those bastards. We've called for reinforcements,

the elder's

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

struck the elder as he turned his

—Unless what?

the elder's ear

a moment before

exposed our

—…That's impossible.

a brief moment

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?

"…You might be right."

the matter, the elder soon realized the validity of the words presented to

Karl's background, and the fact that he hated dwarves with a passion, the probability of him being the culprit

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 treated as

for them, he would've long died by

the deep seethed hatred he saw in Karl when he

He was there.

had witnessed the

fact that he also took down two beacons was a testament to his possible innocence… That was, of course, unless he was faking it the

been faking it for so long...the elder

door, the elder massaged his forehead as he tried to think of other

who could

beacons? Since the dampening system was turned off in that

that room.' The elder shook his head in confusion. He couldn't make heads or tails

we already have an

by that? Why

surprise, the elder hurriedly

because I just got a live feed of what happened prior to

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

asked for us to let

brows knit at those

related

—Yes.

in the elder's

the ones that led the attackers towards our location. Moments after they

don't

face

his fists, the elder trembled with

think that those incompetent bastards

—…BANG!

rang

"What is going on?"

elder instantly

attack.

the sentence could finish, the signal cut off, and the elder was left panicked, wondering what had just

that

long, calming down, the elder tried to make out the last words that the voice in his ear was

WIIIIIING—

elder raised his

Clang—

What followed after was a circular, pressurised wind that expanded from the point

"Khhh…who!?"

back, the elder stabilized his

getting a closer look at who had attacked

"Human…"

eyes narrowed into thin

"Guess that didn't work."

broadsword and once again slashed down. Not wasting a

coating of mana enveloped the body of the blade. What followed

WIIIIIING—

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

mana towards the bracer, a thin transparent shield materialised in front of

BANG—

right as the shield formed. Connecting with the shield, ripples formed around its surface as it completely absorbed the energy of

the attack, raising his head, the elder did not waste any time. Extending

handle of the hammer, the