Chapter 210: True Knowledge Stone Plate

Chapter 210: Chapter 210: True Knowledge Stone Plate

Seraphina Sinclair clapped softly. The sound was exceptionally clear in the silent outpost, and exceptionally jarring.

"Brilliant," she said, her tone flat and emotionless. "It seems a little pressure brings out your potential, after all."

Victor Warner gasped for breath, forcing a smile that was uglier than a grimace. "Master... we really gave it our all..."

Selene Lawson said nothing, merely watching Seraphina Sinclair with wariness, her fingers stealthily moving toward her waist.

Seraphina acted as if she hadn’t seen the subtle movement. She paced to the window, gazing at the dense fog that was gradually subsiding outside, and at the massive silhouette within it that still made one’s heart pound.

The notification announcing the end of the fourth wave vanished, and a voting page popped up in front of all three of them.

[Current Waves Completed: 4. Reinforcements not found. Exit the instance?]

Seraphina ignored it. She turned, her gaze falling on Selene Lawson. "The True Knowledge Stone Plate... can we use it now?"

Selene Lawson froze, subconsciously tightening her grip on the Copper Coin. "Now? Here? I’m not sure..."

"Use it," Seraphina’s tone left no room for argument. "Something that looks like a door appeared in the fourth wave. Who knows what will happen in the fifth. We need information. Now."

Selene Lawson glanced at the unsettling presence outside the window, then back at the expressionless Seraphina. She knew she had no choice but to comply.

She took a deep breath, pinched the ancient Copper Coin between her fingers, and softly chanted an obscure syllable.

The surface of the Copper Coin suddenly lit up with a faint glow. It then left her fingers, hovered in mid-air, and began to spin rapidly.

A few seconds later, the glow converged, pointed in a certain direction, and formed a line of text: The third floor of the outpost.

"The third floor?" Victor Warner’s eyes widened. "This rundown outpost has a third floor? Didn’t we already check everywhere?"

Seraphina had no time for such nonsense. As soon as she saw the text, she headed briskly up to the second floor.

Leaving Victor Warner and Selene Lawson to exchange a look. After a long moment, they sighed in resignation and helped each other up the stairs.

Upstairs, Seraphina did a full sweep but found no clues.

They had already searched the place once when they were settling Sunflower.

If there was any place they hadn’t checked...

Seraphina paused, her gaze shifting to the window.

’The one place on the entire second floor they hadn’t checked, of course, was outside this window!’

She moved closer to the window. At first, she just poked her head out. It was definitely possible to climb up from here, but the so-called "third floor" was likely just the roof of the second floor.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Seraphina placed a hand on the windowsill, vaulted cleanly out, and landed lightly on the narrow eaves outside the second floor.

When Victor Warner and Selene Lawson rushed to the window, they saw only her crouching silhouette, her head tilted up as she observed something.

"Up here."

Seraphina commanded without turning back, her voice slightly muffled by the howling wind.

Victor Warner and Selene Lawson exchanged a look, each seeing the resignation and a trace of imperceptible fear in the other’s eyes.

But at this point, they could only bite the bullet and follow.

Only after they had also struggled out the window and found their footing on the eaves did they understand what Seraphina was looking at.

Right above their heads, flush against the top of the second-floor exterior wall, was not the sloped roof they had imagined, but a... small platform, almost one with the wall itself.

The platform had no cover, directly facing the churning dense fog and the suffocatingly massive silhouette within it.

And in the center of the platform, a dusty, palm-sized Stone Tablet was embedded.

[The fireplace can burn for a maximum of ten waves. The door appears on the fourth wave and grows stronger with each subsequent wave! The reinforcements are behind the door!]

’This thing is so familiar.’ Seraphina had heard someone mention it during her first instance, and in the second instance, everyone had seen one.

’So this is what’s called a "True Knowledge Stone Plate."’

Seraphina focused her attention on the text. The fireplace only burning for ten waves was within her expectations, and she now understood what the "door" was. But what did "the door grows stronger with each subsequent wave" mean?

And "the reinforcements are behind the door"... ’Behind the door?’

Seraphina crouched down and climbed back into the outpost through the window.

Standing here and looking out, she could see the door at the edge of the fog perfectly.

After the wave ended, all the monsters had disappeared. Only it remained.

’Only it remained!’

A realization struck Seraphina. She suddenly understood the meaning of the hint.

’The reinforcements are behind the door. If they won’t come out on their own, then it must mean someone outside has to open it!’

The logs had been too vague about the "key," but Seraphina had a clearer idea.

’If a door can’t be opened with a key, then you break it down with brute force!’

A flash of determination crossed Seraphina’s eyes.

She spun around to face Victor Warner and Selene Lawson, who had just climbed back inside and were still reeling from the shock.

"Let’s go," her voice was cold. "We’re going on the offensive."

"What?!" Victor Warner cried out, his face a mask of disbelief. "Go on the offensive? Master, that thing outside... we can barely hide from it! If we stay in the outpost and monsters get in, we still have Clear Kill. If we charge out there, how is that any different from suicide?"

Selene Lawson also adjusted her glasses, her eyes behind the lenses filled with anxiety and displeasure. "Master Blacktiger, I don’t understand. The Stone Tablet gave us so little information. How can you be so sure we need to attack now? What if you’re wrong? If we go out there, we’re just walking to our deaths, aren’t we?"

"Waiting is the real suicide mission!" Seraphina’s voice was languid, yet she patiently began to explain. "The fireplace only lasts for ten waves, but the door is constantly getting stronger. Do you really think if we just hold out until the tenth wave, the door will vanish and the reinforcements will just walk out on their own?"

She pointed to the massive, silent silhouette in the ink-black fog. "With every wave we defend against, it gets stronger, and we get weaker! By the time the tenth wave comes, the three of us probably won’t even have the strength to stand, and we’ll just become the final meal for its full awakening!"

"This whole ’hold your ground’ strategy is a sham! From the very beginning, this instance was never designed to be cleared by hunkering down and defending!"

"It’s either everyone agrees to withdraw after a certain wave and gets out unscathed, or we burn through all our fuel and end up as fertilizer for these monsters."

Seraphina looked at the two of them. "Don’t you get it yet? If we keep waiting, there’s only one outcome: death."

Victor Warner and Selene Lawson’s faces turned deathly pale. Seraphina’s words were like a cold chisel, shattering the last shred of false hope in their hearts.

"Then... then what do we do?"

Victor Warner’s voice trembled.

"The only way to survive is to destroy it before it becomes invincible!" Seraphina’s gaze swept over them. "The reinforcements are behind the door. *That* is the only real clue. If we don’t open that door, we’ll be waiting for reinforcements forever."