Fury flared in Silabein’s chest, and he spun around, barking, “Didn’t you hear me tell you to hurry up? What the hell are you dawdling—”
Before he could finish the sentence, the words caught in his throat, his eyes going wide with shock.
Watching his subordinate crash rigidly to the floor, a chill shot straight up Silabein’s spine to the crown of his head.
The other two subordinates were just as bewildered by the sudden turn of events, staring in panic at their fallen comrade’s body.
“C-Chief, he—”
Before he could finish speaking, this subordinate's eyes rolled shut, and he too slumped rigidly to the ground.
Thud!
With the second heavy thud, the entire room fell so deathly silent you could have heard a pin drop.
Thud!
The third person also abruptly collapsed, unable to utter even a single word.
“...”
Silabein stared at the scene. Two seconds later, his gaze turned icy and ruthless. Without a moment’s hesitation, he drew the dagger at his waist and drove it viciously into his own thigh.
“Aaargh—!”
...
Thud! Thud! Thud...
Identical sounds of bodies hitting the floor echoed continuously throughout the underground. Because the Dragon's Dream Incense took time to spread across the entire subterranean complex, everyone succumbed at different moments. As a result, some people were still able to move even as they watched others collapse around them.
However, their response was based on a fatal misjudgment. Seeing such large-scale incapacitation without any warnings or alarms from outside, they instinctively assumed they were under a massive coordinated assault and that their outer perimeter had already been completely wiped out. Because of this, none of them considered running outside to fall into a supposed trap; instead, they converged toward the center of the stronghold, hoping to regroup around their Chief to mount a defense.
While chaos erupted underground, the hidden sentries outside also sensed that something was amiss.
“What’s going on...? Why does the air smell like blood?”
The hidden sentries stirred uneasily. They could faintly feel that something had gone terribly wrong!
Meanwhile, inside the warehouse building, Shulim had already dealt with the last hidden sentry inside. The sentries inside the building were among the first to be affected, making them the first to collapse. Shulim had eliminated them without breaking a sweat, never making a sound the entire time.
Even so, the smell of blood and the creeping abnormality still tipped off those outside who had spent years living on the edge of a blade.
“Something’s wrong!”
One of the hidden sentries voluntarily jumped out of his post. Under normal circumstances, such an action would be met with severe punishment, but right now, he couldn't care less about the rules.
“Stop hiding and get out here! Something happened inside! It’s too quiet!”
Hearing his shout, the other sentries didn’t sit back to watch him get disciplined later; instead, every single one of them leapt from their hiding spots.
“You felt it too?”
“Yeah, the smell of blood. I caught it!”
“Same, I smell it too!”
“Enough talk! Let’s head in and check it out immediately!”
The man who had spoken first proposed, immediately sprinting toward the warehouse building. The others followed close behind. In the pitch-black night, twelve figures scattered across the area converged rapidly on the building.
Just as the lead man was about to reach the warehouse building, he suddenly ground to a halt. His whole body tensed, and his hand dropped to the weapon at his waist.
The other eleven stopped almost simultaneously, their gazes locking onto the exact same spot.
Clang!
“Who are you?!”
Drawing his longsword, the man pointed the tip toward the figure lurking in the shadows ahead, barking sharply.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh...
The rushing sound of wind kicked up behind him as all the sentries gathered in an instant, drawing their weapons one after another.
“This bastard... That's right, the scent of blood is coming from them!”
Sensing the bloody aura radiating from the intruder, the sentries' tension reached its absolute peak.
“Damn it, an intruder...?”
“Where did they come from?!”
“Could they have slipped in among the slaves?”
“What the hell is happening underground? Did no one notice this going on?!”
“...”
While the sentries were still guessing what had transpired inside, the figure in the shadows spoke.
“You're certainly sharp... But this actually makes things much easier. I won’t have to hunt you down one by one.”
Scrape... scrape... scrape...
The sound of a sword tip scraping against the ground grew nearer as the figure slowly approached.
When the figure drew close enough, the sentries were finally able to discern their general appearance.
“What?!”
“A kid?!”
The sentries were stunned, their jaws dropping in disbelief.
“Damn it, you little brat!”
Following the initial shock came raging fury.
Shulim showed no reaction to their anger.
Holding the mithril sword in her right hand with a wand strapped to her back, she calmly regarded the crowd before her.
“Time’s almost up.”
“Huh? What’s almost—”
Thud!
A dull thud sounded from within the crowd, and in an instant, all noise vanished. Those still standing stared in utter disbelief at their comrade, who had collapsed stiff as a board.
“Did... did you do this?!”
“Yes.”
Shulim gave a slight nod.
“Your time is almost up too.”
“What?! You little bas—”
Thud!
Before the man could finish cursing, he too collapsed rigidly to the ground.
“...”
The crowd fell dead silent once more.
“...Kill her!”
“Kill!”
The remaining sentries instantly lunged at Shulim.
Shulim reached behind her with her left hand and gripped the wand.
“Reinforce.”
“Swiftness.”
“Fortify.”
“Battle Cry!”
Watching the lights continuously flash across Shulim’s body, the sentries felt an ominous foreboding.
“Stop her! Reinforce!”
“Fireball!”
“Wind Blade!”
In an instant, a barrage of spells and concealed weapons flew toward Shulim.
Shulim shifted her footing rapidly, dodging all the incoming attacks while casting her buffing spells without the slightest pause.
Thud!
Yet another person collapsed rigidly. Because he had been sprinting beforehand, his body slid forward across the ground face-first for quite a distance after falling.
This sight chilled the others to the bone. They could tell that every single one of them had been poisoned, and the toxin was taking effect rapidly!
They had no doubt that once everyone succumbed to the poison, they would have zero chance of seeing tomorrow’s sun. Their only glimmer of hope was to kill this person immediately.
However, the intruder before them was far too nimble. Forget landing an attack—they couldn't even keep up!
“Damn it! You Non-Elemental magic users, where's your Reinforce?! Hurry up and grab her!”
“We already used it! Damn it, why is she so fast—?!”
Thud!
Yet another figure went down.
“...”
The remaining sentries stopped talking, their eyes turning more vicious than ever as spells and a flurry of hidden weapons flew recklessly toward Shulim’s vitals.
Thud!
“Wind Barrier!”
The excessive concealed weapons were directly blocked by the barrier that suddenly materialized, while the remaining spells were easily evaded.
Thud!
“—It’s Swiftness! This kid is a dual-affinity mage! Stop chasing, we can’t catch up! Everyone switch to ranged attacks! Use area-of-effect spells!”
Thud!
The sentries gave up the chase. All the mages halted and began chanting incantations for long-range, area-of-effect spells.
“Grip of the Earth!”
The ground surged, coalescing into a colossal hand of rock that blocked all the area-of-effect attacks.
“What—?! Is this... triple-affinity?!”
Thud!
“Not good!”
The massive hand crashed down upon them.
Boom!
After a tremendous tremor, the ground was left in complete ruin...
Rate on N.U.
