Night fell.
Tonight's sky was thick with dark clouds, blocking out even the faintest glimmer of starlight.
Because of this, the docks, already dimly lit, appeared even darker.
The guards who had been patrolling back and forth during the day had withdrawn into the warehouse building, leaving only hidden sentries behind. While the underground organization understood the importance of staying vigilant at night, continuing obvious patrols after dark would only attract unwanted attention and invite unexpected trouble—a completely self-inflicted problem.
And this approach by the underground organization undoubtedly played right into Shulim's hands.
Without overt patrols in the open, hidden sentries alone were not enough to stop her infiltration.
It was completely impossible to notice a shadow gliding along the base of the walls in such pitch-black night. Moreover, the members of the underground organization had never imagined an enemy infiltrating from right under their feet; most of their attention was focused on the streets and open spaces.
“...Five, six... nine... twelve.”
Twelve hidden sentries in total, huh...
Shulim felt a bit troubled.
They were too spread out, making them tricky to deal with. On top of that, these guards shifted rotations frequently; if she made a move, she would have to eliminate them in an extremely short window.
However, Shulim quickly found a solution.
First was the overall layout of the stronghold.
The surface warehouse building used as a cover could be ignored, as members of the underground organization rarely moved around up there.
The underground space beneath the warehouse building, owing to the habits of such underground organizations, was designed to be extremely enclosed, with only a single passage leading to the surface. Although Shulim had discovered two hidden escape routes during her scouting, she estimated that no more than five people in the entire organization knew about them.
Because one of them was located inside the leader's room, while the other...
Was in the deepest room of the Dark Prison, a place everyone in the organization avoided at all costs.
Since the underground space appeared extremely enclosed on the surface, ventilation vents were necessary—and that was the key to Shulim's plan.
She had already confirmed the locations of several ventilation vents leading to the underground space.
Now, it was time for Dragon's Dream Incense to take the stage. After exposure to Dragon's Dream Incense, the effects would not take hold immediately; a person would show no signs of abnormality for half an hour. But once thirty minutes passed, they would instantly fall unconscious, unable to wake for a full day and night no matter what happened outside!
... ...
Inside the warehouse building.
Shulim merged into the shadows, moving to the location of one of the ventilation vents.
Each vent had been disguised beforehand by the underground organization. Moreover, the shaft of each vent was narrow, only about as thick as an adult's arm, making it impossible for enemies to invade through them.
However, such measures were useless against a shadow. The moving shadow slipped into the vent's shaft, and near the middle, a hand reached out, placing a prepared dose of Dragon's Dream Incense right inside.
Pop!
As the stopper was removed, the Dragon's Dream Incense began to vaporize rapidly. The colorless, odorless gas flowed continuously into the underground stronghold along the air currents outside the vent.
“Hmm?”
A sentry lurking in a corner glanced doubtfully toward the vent's hidden location, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
Although they didn't need to worry about enemies invading through here, the vents pertained to the safety of the entire underground stronghold, so the organization naturally wouldn't leave them completely unguarded.
Basically every vent location had a hidden sentry stationed nearby year-round.
“Is it a rat or something?”
To be completely safe, the sentry walked over and inspected it thoroughly, but naturally found nothing at the vent.
The gas emitted by the Dragon's Dream Incense was completely imperceptible, and because the bottle was placed in the middle of the shaft, it couldn't be seen with the naked eye either.
Scratching his head, the sentry figured he was being overly sensitive. Without thinking much more of it, he returned to his post.
And the moment he turned around, a blob of shadow slipped out of the vent and quickly glided toward another location...
In less than ten minutes, Shulim had placed Dragon's Dream Incense at every single vent shaft. The rapidly evaporating potion gas was quickly filling the entire underground stronghold, yet not a single person noticed anything amiss.
“The underground is taken care of. Next is the outside...”
There were still over a dozen sentries outside. Once the Dragon's Dream Incense took effect underground, they would bound to notice something was wrong. If she didn't do something about them, they would inevitably pose a threat to her.
And so, the shadow Shulim had merged into began moving toward the exterior of the warehouse building...
“Hmm?”
A hidden sentry looked around with a strange expression, then lowered his head to inspect the ground carefully. He thought he had heard a sound near his feet just now, but saw nothing that could have caused it.
Already on high alert, the sentry felt thoroughly uneasy after this weird occurrence.
“Tsk, why isn't it time for the shift change yet? Standing out here gives me the creeps... I keep feeling like some terrifying magical beast is watching me from the dark!”
A faint chill running down his spine made the sentry want to turn and run, but the organization's rules were strict, and he didn't dare abandon his post. He could only pray silently that time would hurry up and the next shift would come swap him out soon.
... ...
Underground stronghold, the leader's room.
Silabein paced back and forth in his room, his brow furrowed so deeply it formed a tight knot. As a powerhouse of the underworld, his intuition for danger was sharp to the extreme.
For some reason, ever since the cargo had been assembled and shipped toward Langard, a lingering sense of foreboding had been weighing on his mind.
This sense of crisis grew even stronger after he dealt with Zev. He had originally thought the cargo might encounter major trouble upon entering the city, so he had made extensive preparations for it.
Yet in the end, the cargo entered Langard smoothly and traveled along the canal directly to the docks, encountering not a single obstacle, let alone an accident, along the way!
Even after all the cargo was locked away underground, the anticipated danger still hadn't materialized. Yet Silabein's inner anxiety showed no signs of subsiding; instead, it intensified, reaching a fever pitch as his heart rate unconsciously quickened.
“Someone! Come here!!”
Several subordinates pushed the door open and stepped into the room.
“Chief, what are your orders?”
“How is the situation outside? Anything unusual?”
Seeing Silabein so restless, the subordinates were somewhat bewildered, but still explained:
“Reporting to Chief, everything outside is normal!”
“Normal? How could everything be normal?”
Silabein's brow creased deeply as he pressed,
“When was the last report?! Are you sure everything is truly normal?”
“This...” Confronted with Silabein's aggressive questioning, the subordinate didn't know what he had said wrong, so he could only steel himself and answer, “Chief, the last check... was about ten minutes ago.”
“Ten minutes ago...”
Silabein muttered to himself with his head lowered, seemingly lost in thought. Then, he looked up.
“Go! Confirm it again right this second!”
The subordinates exchanged puzzled glances, unable to understand what was wrong with the Chief, but still bowed and accepted the order.
“Yes, Chief!”
Silabein waved his hand irritably.
“Hurry! Move!”
He then walked over toward his personal seat.
Thud!
A sudden thud came from behind him.
Rate on N.U.
