Chapter 434 - 408: Shadow Raid

Chapter 434: Chapter 408: Shadow Raid

[Thirty meters ahead. Three biological signatures, stationary.]

Three crimson ripples spread across the hive matrix in his mind.

Kael stopped and raised his hand in a "halt" signal.

The team behind him froze. They suppressed their breathing until it was nearly silent, leaving only the roar of a ventilation fan echoing from the depths of the tunnel.

Kael issued a command through the hive matrix.

[Engage.]

From the team, a Ranger carrying a heavy crossbow used a protruding pipe to silently scale the tunnel ceiling like a gecko. At the same time, a burly, heavy-armored Warrior lowered his center of gravity, and along with the agile Xiaolan, they flanked from the left and right—two black Ghosts weaving through the shadows.

Around the corner ahead, three guards stood in a triangular formation, watching the path forward with vigilance.

The moment the rearmost guard opened his mouth to yawn,

an incredibly faint thrum of a bowstring came from overhead.

A pitch-black Crossbow Arrow shot down from the darkness, piercing the rearmost guard’s throat. The immense kinetic energy sent his body flying backward, pinning him to the wall before he could even let out a scream.

Hearing the strange noise, the two guards in front spun around.

In that fleeting opening, the heavy-armored Warrior, who had been lying in wait in the shadows, exploded into action. Like a furious bear, his thick arms wrapped around the neck of the guard on the left from behind, while his other hand cleanly plunged a short blade into the man’s heart and gave it a vicious twist.

The remaining guard captain reacted with extreme speed, his hand already reaching for the Magic signaling device on his hip.

But it was pointless.

Without warning, the shadow behind the guard captain began to churn. A petite figure seeped out of his shadow, pressing silently against his back as if she were a part of the darkness itself.

A cold glint flashed.

A dagger swept across his neck, severing his vocal cords and artery.

"Ghk—"

The guard captain’s eyes went wide. His hand, reaching for the Magic signal, froze in mid-air before falling limply as life drained from him.

The three bodies hit the floor almost simultaneously. The entire process was as smooth as flowing water, without a single wasted sound.

[Threats eliminated.]

Kael stepped around the corner and walked to the guard captain’s corpse, using the tip of his boot to flip open the man’s faceplate.

It was a brutish, fleshy face. The glow of his battle aura around his neck had already dissipated, but a residual energy fluctuation could still be felt.

’These aren’t just farmhand militiamen anymore.’

Kael crouched down, examining the thick calluses on the man’s palms and the standard-issue armor on his body. His gaze hardened.

’This is a formally trained Level 3 professional.’

He stood up, his gaze fixed on the even deeper darkness of the tunnel ahead.

With a sliver of concern about completing the mission, the team pressed forward.

The further down they went, the thicker the smell of sulfur and rot became. The space ahead suddenly opened up, and a wave of heat washed over them, accompanied by the clamor of roaring machinery. Through the slats of a ventilation grate, they could vaguely see countless figures moving about below amidst a web of transport pipes.

That was the workshop’s core processing area.

Kael stopped and signaled for the team to halt.

[Personnel density ahead is too high. A forced entry will trigger an alarm.]

Kael glanced at the team members behind him carrying heavy canisters and quickly adjusted his tactics.

[We’re splitting up.]

[Teams Two and Three, take the remaining ’Corroders’ and disperse along the outer ventilation ducts and support pillars. Plant Sarah’s ’children’ evenly in those locations.]

Four operatives nodded silently, their figures melting into the darkness as they carried the seeds of destruction to infiltrate the corners of the workshop.

[Teams Four and Five, with me. We’ll move back through the tunnels we haven’t checked and clear out the patrols.]

Four people, including Mia, fell in behind Kael.

[Xiaolan.]

Kael turned his gaze to the most petite figure beside him.

[You’re the best at stealth. Get through the processing area and find Thomas, the Priest from the True Origin Sect. We need him to lead us to the core level.]

[Understood.]

Without a word, Xiaolan’s form flickered. She seemed to melt into a pool of flowing shadow, slipping down along the corner of the wall.

As she stepped through a half-open bronze door, a thicker, acrid stench mixed with a foul odor enveloped her.

Behind the door was a massive, hollowed-out space with a ceiling so high it was lost in the gloom. Only a few stone pillars, each as thick as several people’s embrace, stood like giants. Winding grooves had been carved into their surfaces, fitted with large, translucent conduits.

A sickly green luminescence flowed slowly within the conduits, like some kind of living pus, converging as it ran down the pillars and casting flickering, ghostly shadows throughout the entire cavern.

Following the flow of light, Xiaolan’s gaze fell upon the center of the cavern, where a massive crucible stood.

Innumerable metal pipes fanned out from the crucible’s base like a giant spiderweb, running through grooves carved into the floor to connect with dozens of smaller alchemical cauldrons, vats, and distillation apparatuses arranged in a circle.

GLUG.

A string of fine bubbles rose from within the crucible, bursting silently on the surface and releasing wisps of green smoke.

Like a nimble cat, Xiaolan used the shadows to draw closer to the profane workshop.

She passed a row of enormous, translucent cylindrical containers. They were filled with an unknown solution, and under the green glow of the alchemical lamps, she could vaguely make out their contents.

They were limbs.

Countless severed arms, legs, and even still-twitching organs floated in the solution, connected by Rune-etched tubes to a nearby alchemical pool, as if they were supplying something to the vast workshop.

Xiaolan took a deep breath, forcibly suppressed her body’s revulsion, and her eyes grew colder. She quickened her pace, moving through this alchemical zone steeped in sin.

Following her intelligence briefing, she avoided several patrols and arrived at a room in a corner of the cavern.

It appeared to be some kind of records office or temporary break room. Unlike the grease- and blood-stank air outside, it was relatively clean, the air fresher.

Xiaolan hung upside down from a ceiling beam. After confirming there were no traps, she silently flipped down to the floor.

In the corner of the room, a man in a gray robe sat at a simple wooden table. By the faint light, he was anxiously flipping through several sheets of parchment, muttering some kind of prayer under his breath.

Though his face was haggard and his eyes sunken, he still possessed the unique disposition of a clergyman.

"Who’s there?!"

Hearing the faintest stir of air behind him, the man whipped his head around, tightly gripping a sharpened quill—his only weapon.

His pupils contracted violently when he saw Xiaolan standing in the shadows, wearing a beak-like mask.

Xiaolan didn’t attack. She simply raised her hand calmly, revealing a sigil engraved with a special crest—it was the token Velin had given her before she departed.

"Priest Thomas?"

A cool, youthful voice echoed in the room.

Upon seeing the sigil, Thomas’s tense body didn’t go limp as one might expect. Instead, he straightened up, as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He placed the quill steadily on the table. His eyes, which had grown somewhat gloomy from his long-term infiltration, now burned with the rational flame of vengeance.

"By the True Origin..." He let out a long breath, his voice abnormally steady. "The time for reckoning has finally come."

Xiaolan made a hushing gesture at Thomas, then pointed toward the door.

Thomas understood immediately. He didn’t move hastily, but instead lowered his voice and said, "The patrol gap here is only three minutes. I know a blind spot, in the mezzanine between the waste disposal area and the ventilation shafts. It’s completely safe, a good place to rendezvous."

Xiaolan gave the Priest a slightly surprised look, then nodded. She quickly sent a message through the hive network in her mind.

[Kael, target confirmed. Condition is excellent, mind is clear. He’s provided a safe point. We’re heading there now. Syncing coordinates.]

[Received. We’ll meet you there.]

After receiving confirmation, Xiaolan gestured for Thomas to lead the way.

Thomas tightened the robe that had long since lost its original color. Though his body was thin and gaunt, his steps were firm and strong.

Like a guide strolling through his own backyard, he expertly led Xiaolan past two patrols and ducked into a shadow at the edge of the workshop.

The two passed through several abandoned mine shafts and arrived at an extremely well-hidden, low-ceilinged cavern.

Although the area was piled high with slag from the workshop and the smell was acrid, Thomas’s expression remained unchanged. He stood at the cavern’s entrance, vigilantly observing their surroundings. Only after confirming they weren’t followed did he turn to face the darkness within.

Soon, the sound of numerous footsteps approached.

Thomas adjusted his collar, a hint of anticipation in his eyes. He knew that what approached was both death and an alliance.

Several figures emerged from the darkness.

Kael removed his beak mask, revealing a grim face as he strode forward. Mia followed behind, fanning her nose in disgust, but her curious gaze also fell upon the Priest.

"Priest Thomas?" Kael asked, sizing up the man before him.

Though emaciated and with sunken eyes, the man’s spine was ramrod straight. There was no fear in his eyes, only unwavering resolve.

"The very same," Thomas said with a slight bow, performing a standard ecclesiastical salute. His tone was neither humble nor arrogant, and he even wore a relieved smile. "I thank you all for coming. This sinful, filthy place should have been cleansed by holy fire long ago."

"Can you still hold up?" Kael asked.

"My body may be weary, but my spirit has never been so invigorated." Thomas licked his chapped lips, his gaze burning. "As long as I can eradicate the evil here, these old bones of mine can still burn a while longer."

Mia raised an eyebrow and unhooked the waterskin from her hip, handing it to him. "Have a drink, tough guy. Don’t die of thirst before the reckoning."

"Thank you, milady." Thomas took the waterskin, drank a few restrained sips to wet his throat, then stopped, showing no lack of composure.

He wiped his mouth and, without further ado, pulled a crumpled sheet of parchment from his robes, spreading it out on a nearby boulder.

It was a structural map of the workshop that he had drawn with charcoal. The lines and annotations were exceptionally clear, obviously the result of painstaking effort.

"Listen, everyone." Thomas’s finger tapped heavily on the core area of the map, a cold light glinting in his eyes. "The situation is worse than I imagined, but that also makes it the perfect time for us to strike."