Chapter 233: Under Attack.

Morgan didn’t respond to the reassurance.

He remained seated on the luxurious sofa, his expression calm on the surface as he listened to the two men.

He trusted Nathan’s ability. Nathan possessed the power to influence weaker opponents and force them to obey his commands, and as long as the target’s mental strength remained below a certain threshold, resisting his influence was incredibly difficult.

Once the connection was established, the victim would carry out the orders given to them without question, making Nathan’s ability particularly useful for operations that required secrecy.

It was precisely because of that ability that Morgan had entrusted him with this task.

Under normal circumstances, Morgan wouldn’t have been worried.

But this wasn’t a normal situation.

This involved an S-Rank Hunter.

An S-Rank Hunter was not someone the Dark Viper Guild could afford to provoke carelessly. It didn’t matter that Kael himself wasn’t the target, they weren’t attacking him directly, after all, they were targeting someone close to him instead.

But that distinction did little to ease Morgan’s uneasiness.

If something went wrong and Kael somehow realized that the attack wasn’t simply a random encounter with a group of thugs, then traced the incident back to the Dark Viper Guild, they would be in serious trouble.

Morgan’s fingers tapped lightly against the armrest as his thoughts grew heavier.

For the first time, he couldn’t help but regret accepting this task from Lady Angela.

The Dark Viper Guild owed her a great deal. That much was undeniable, and under ordinary circumstances, repaying that debt wouldn’t have been something Morgan hesitated over.

But this?

This was different.

Perhaps he’d allowed his personal hatred to cloud his judgment.

His previous encounter with Kael hadn’t ended well, and the humiliation he’d suffered that day still lingered in his mind. Maybe a part of him had been looking for an opportunity to get back at the young man, even if Kael wasn’t the direct target.

Perhaps that was why he’d accepted the task so readily.

Morgan’s fingers stopped tapping.

Damn it.

A sudden commotion came from outside the room.

Morgan’s head snapped toward the door.

"What was that?"

The sound of hurried footsteps approached from the corridor.

Then the door suddenly burst open.

A guard stumbled inside, his face pale with panic.

"Vice Captain, we’re under atta—"

BANG!

The guard’s body suddenly exploded.

Blood and chunks of flesh sprayed across the room, splattering the walls and floor as a thick mist of crimson filled the doorway.

Morgan and his two lackeys froze.

For a brief moment, none of them could even process what had happened.

Their eyes remained fixed on the doorway.

Then someone stepped through.

A young man.

He didn’t look particularly intimidating.

His brown hair was tousled messily, as though he’d just walked out of the middle of a hurricane. His clothes were plain and ordinary, resembling the kind of outfit someone might casually wear around their own home.

Yet the moment Morgan saw him, his legs nearly gave out.

The same was true for the other two men.

Their bodies instinctively reacted before their minds could.

Fear.

Pure, instinctive fear.

Kael stood in the doorway, his green eyes sweeping across the room.

He wasn’t releasing any aura.

He didn’t need to.

There was something in his gaze that made the three men feel as though they were standing before death itself. His eyes were filled with such fierce intensity that Morgan’s heart practically stopped.

His mind screamed.

How? How had he discovered them already?

Morgan had known there was a possibility something could go wrong, but he had never imagined Kael would find them this quickly.

"What do we do now?"

His thoughts raced.

From Kael’s entrance alone, it was obvious that the young man hadn’t come here to talk.

If they made the wrong move, their fate wouldn’t be any different from that guard who had just been turned into a cloud of blood.

Morgan’s throat tightened.

Then Kael’s gaze shifted, landing directly on Nathan.

His voice was calm.

"You’re the one controlling those thugs, right?"

---

A while earlier, back in the alleyway, Kael stood before the three suppressed thugs.

The men remained completely still beneath his overwhelming pressure. Their bodies were tense, but there was something unnatural about the way they reacted.

This wasn’t the stillness of people simply scared into submission.

Kael narrowed his eyes.

"So you’re saying these men are being controlled?"

"Yeah."

Varek’s voice echoed through the connection.

"I’ve been observing their fight with the shadow construct. From the way they move, they aren’t moving like normal people. Their movements are more similar to robots programmed to complete a specific task."

Kael’s gaze remained fixed on the three men.

Varek continued.

"There’s something else. I’ve sensed mental waves coming from them. They’re connected to something far away."

Kael’s expression eased slightly.

"You can sense the mental wave?"

"Yes."

Varek’s voice replied, causing Kael to pause slightly.

"Does that mean you can track it back to the main culprit?" Kael then asked.

"Technically, yes."

Varek’s tone became slightly hesitant.

"But the mental wave is incredibly weak. I don’t have the means to track it back on my own."

Kael frowned.

Then Varek continued.

"Fortunately, I have exactly what we need for the task."

A faint smile appeared on Kael’s face.

"Perfect."

If there was a connection between these men and whoever was controlling them, then they finally had a lead.

Kael didn’t intend to waste it.

"Come to the main world."

The moment his command was given, the space in front of him suddenly cracked.

A violent swirl of spatial energy emerged from the fracture.

BOOM!

A powerful shockwave erupted outward, sweeping through the alley and sending dust, debris, and loose fragments of stone scattering in every direction.

The spatial disturbance continued twisting for several seconds before gradually stabilizing.

A portal formed.

And then a familiar figure stepped through.

Varek.

The moment he emerged from the portal, he immediately bowed toward Kael.

"Varek greets Master."

Kael nodded.

"Alright."

His eyes shifted toward the faint mental connection that Varek had detected.

"Let’s get this done."