The Author's POV

In a remote location of Henolur, four individuals walked through a long, narrow dark tunnel.

It had been about a day since they decided to accomplish their mission, and for that long period of time, they had been stuck going through the unending dark corridors. 

For how long they walked, it seemed as though the number of tunnels was endless. Just when the group thought they were close, they would suddenly find themselves in front of a dead end.

It was then that the group of four realized they had taken things too lightly. Even though 876 had entered the city and managed to get away from their sight, there was no way he would just stay in the city without finding a proper hiding spot.

Di. Dang—

A dull metallic ring rang out. 

"The signal disappeared again."

One of the four individuals spoke up, his voice echoing through the tunnels.

"Odd…"

Another one muttered. Holding onto a small, dimly lit lamp, the features of the individuals became slightly discernible. Long, silver coloured hair, a feminine-looking face, and a fairly skinny body. If not for the adam's apple protruding from his throat, someone could've easily mistaken the man for a woman.

Squinting, the silver-haired male scanned the surroundings. 

"The same thing happened a day ago. He suddenly disappeared for a couple of hours."

Lowering his head and staring at the detector in his hand, the silver-haired male tapped the back of the device.

"…Or could it be that this thing is broken?"

Ever since arriving at Henolur, the group had kept constant watch over the tracking device. Oddly enough, at times, the tracker's signal would suddenly disappear, leaving them wondering whether something had gone wrong with the device.

"The more plausible conclusion is that 876 entered some sort of restricted area that blocks all forms of signals."

Another one of the members said. 

"That's true…" The silver-haired male replied.

Moving the small lamp towards his right, the features of the individual who had just spoken were highlighted due to the light.

He had a tall and muscular stature, his biceps the size of a football. With short hair fashioned into a buzz cut, a large scar traced half of his face. Added with his sharp gaze, he looked extremely intimidating.

With his brows knit, the muscular man thought out loud.

"If he's in an area where the signal is constantly disrupted or shut off, we can assume that the place is extremely well-protected."

He turned to face the silver haired individual. 

"…I suggest we wait for the signal to come back before deciding to ambush him."

"I agree, but we should first get an idea of where he is. Let's assess the situation after we know of the exact location he is hiding in. If we can handle it, we proceed as planned."

"Yes."

The muscular man nodded. 

Di. Ding—

But it was then that the tracker rang again. 

"The signal is back!"

The silver haired male shouted. Lowering his face to get a closer look at the device, his eyes jumped up in delight.

"We're close! We're almost at the location where that little rat is hiding."

Clenching onto the sides of the device, the silver haired individual smirked before picking up his pace.

"Quickly, follow me. We should soon be able to see that little bastard that has caused us so many problems."

Following his words, everyone increased their pace and headed deeper into the tunnel.

***

At the same time, not far from the members of Monolith.

Materializing a couple of meters away from them was Douglas, whose face contained unprecedented solemnity.

Staring at the members of the Monolith not so far from where he was, waving his hand, a transparent shield enveloped the area Douglas was in.

Then, whilst still hidden from the members of Monolith, Douglas threw a small device on the floor.

Tick—

The device didn't look particularly eye-catching, as it seemed rather dull and unassuming. But, the moment Douglas threw the device on the ground, the mana in the air suddenly twisted wildly. If anyone was present to witness the scene, they'd see several small tornadoes appear in the air, where the tip at the bottom funneled towards the device in the middle. 

As time passed, more and more tornadoes formed, all converging towards the device in the middle.

Ci- Clank—

Before long, the device opened up and a small portal started to form. Because of the barrier, Douglas had formed, the residual mana that lingered in the air from the portal's activation did not leak outside. Therefore, the members of Monolith were completely oblivious to what was happening.

Vooom—!

It wasn't long before a large portal appeared in front of Douglas.

Turning his wrist, Douglas looked at the display of his watch.

[01H : 32M : 53S]

Once he finished checking the watch, lowering his hand, he took out a communication device from his dimensional space.

***

"You're done setting up?"

Waylan's voice echoed across the expansive hall.

—Correct. According to what I heard, we shouldn't be too far from the Inferno headquarters. Just in case, I double-checked with the coordinates that Ren sent me, and we shouldn't be too far.

Douglas's voice echoed outside of the communication device in Waylan's hands.

"That's perfect. I'll get everyone ready then."

—Good luck. 

"You too."

Tick- Tock—

Turning off the communication device, Waylan turned to face the hall. The moment he did, he was met with thousands of stares directed solely at him, each belonging to either the dwarven elders or powerful individuals who fought at the frontlines. 

Curiosity filled their eyes as they stared at Waylan who was standing opposite them with a calm smile on his face.

"Alright. I guess it's time we start."

Putting the device away, Waylan raised his hand to get everyone to stop talking.

"Everyone, I would like a moment of your attention, please."

The exact moment his words faded, everyone simultaneously stopped talking.

'Oh wow, they are a lot more obedient than I had expected.' 

Mused Waylan as he looked at everyone in the hall.

Taking out a similar device to what Douglas had taken moments before, Waylan started speaking, "As you all already know, I have mentioned a way to end the war. Most of you here are probably confused by my words. After all, how can a human they have never seen before suddenly say such an absurd thing, especially when many of you couldn't find a single way…"

As Waylan spoke, no one interrupted him. There were some that did try to complain, but they were promptly stopped by one of their elders.

Staring at the scene in amusement, Waylan put the device in his hand down. He then pointed in its direction. 

"As most of you already know, this over here is a teleportation device."

Lowering his body and activating it, the mana in the air slowly started to converge towards the box. Multiple different colored tornados swirled around the teleportation device.

Slowly, a portal started materializing in the middle of the hall.

While the portal was forming, looking at all of the individuals in the hall, Waylan mysteriously smiled.

"You want to know how to stop the war? If you want to know, all you have to do is step into this portal."

Pausing, Waylan saw worried looks flash by the faces of some of those present.

With a calm smile, he decided to assuage their fears.

"If you're worried that I will send you to some unknown location to trap you, fret not. If you check the contract that I signed, one of the terms there states, 'If I, in any way, try to scheme or work against the dwarves' benefit, I will die.'"

Patting his chest, his smile widened.

"As you all can see, I'm alive and well. There is no need to worry about me doing anything sketchy against you guys—Oh! The portal is ready."

Mid-speech, Waylan suddenly noticed that the portal was now ready. 

Glancing at the watch on his wrist and taking a step to the side, Waylan pointed at the portal and said in an amused tone.

"I think I've said enough. Who wants to go first?"

[00 : 55M : 21S]

***

'They should have already started…' 

Going out of my room, with the mask on my face and Angelica stuck in-between my teeth, as much as she hated it, I walked towards the room that the guard had shown me a few days ago.

"Master Karl, are ye going somewhere?"

But of course, the moment I took a step out of the room, the same guard came to greet me with a smile on his face.

"Taking a small break, are ye, Master Karl?"

"You can say so."

At the guard's questions, I gave an indifferent response and continued to head towards the artifact testing zone.

Already used to my dismissive attitude, the guard walked up next to me and rubbed his small blue hands togheter. 

"If I may ask, where are you going?"

Staring at him from the corner of my eyes, I pretended to be irritated.

"Can you just shut up? I'm trying to have a break. Your constant yapping is getting on my nerves."

"I apologize."

At my harsh words, lowering his head, the guard apologized.

"Hmph."

Snorting, I turned my head and ignored the guard. 

"Know your place."

*

Walking through a series of corridors and stairs while maintaining a steady, unhurried pace, I finally arrived at the artifact testing grounds.

"Artifact testing ground?"

The guard muttered as he stared at the room in front of him. He had followed me quietly up until now.

Clank—!

Ignoring the guard and placing the palm of my hand on the side of the door, a blue glow enveloped it and the door soon opened.

Before entering the room, halting my steps right at the edge of the room, I looked towards the guard and said with an annoyed look on my face.

"Stay out here, and don't follow me."

"Huh?"

The guard looked at me in surprise.

Raising my brow, my tone became harsher than before.

"Did you not hear me? I said, stay out of the room and guard me from there. Don't tell me you can't do this much."

"I can, but I—"

"Don't care."

Before the guard could even voice out his complaints, I entered the room and closed the door behind me.

Clank—

Once the door behind me closed, looking left and right, I walked ahead, pretending to look at the place.

BANG—! BANG—!

Just like the first time I came here, duergars could be seen testing all sorts of artifacts on the machinery present before them.

Because everyone was so focused on what they were doing, no one noticed my presence.

That was exactly what I wanted.

Walking around the place, I carefully scanned the room and took note of each and every piece of surveillance equipment installed in the room. 

It didn't take long for me to spot all of the surveillance equipment that was installed in the room. 

'There's a total of two camera-like devices installed in the room, diagonal to each other… That's manageable.'

Once I spotted all of the devices, checking my watch, I walked towards one end of the room.

Tick—

Stopping right below one of the surveillance cameras, I put my hand in my mouth, removed a small tooth, and dropped it on the ground.

Right after that, tapping on my bracelet, I took out a balled-up piece of paper and threw it on the ground, right next to the tooth.

"What is this crap doing here? I thought I had thrown it away."

Kicking the paper lightly, I pretended to look around the place with a bored face.

It wasn't long before I stopped right under the second surveillance system camera.

"I probably shouldn't have come here. What a waste of time."

I muttered whilst leaning on the wall.

As I leaned on the wall, I checked my watch.

'Five more minutes…'

[00H : 05M : 46S]