The Author's POV

BANG— BANG—

A loud metallic sound rang as an energy blast shot towards a large metal door.

The sound rang in the air for a brief moment before it disappeared completely. What followed after was the cacophonous sound of several alarms ringing, completely drowning out the banging sounds that ensued after repetitive attacks towards the metallic door.

"Step to the side."

Seeing that the attacks were not working, a duergar stepped up. 

Holding onto a large metallic barrel in-between his armpits, the duergar channeled his mana towards it. Soon, spherical orbs of mana agglomerated towards the center of the barrel, forming a concentrated ball of energy.

The threatening energy expanded in the hall as it steadily increased in size.

Before long, once the ball reached a certain size, the duergar firmly planted both of his feet on the ground and discharged the energy.

BOOOM—!

What followed after was a terrifying blast that shot towards the massive metal door. A colorful trail of mana traced behind the attack.

Once the attack connected with the door, a thunderous sound rang out, and smoke diffused in the air.

"Did it work?"

The duergar who shot the attack wondered out loud as he tried to see through the large cloud of smoke.

"It's no use. The door is designed to withstand the impacts of <SS> ranked individuals. All you're doing is wasting mana."

Before the duergar could get a proper look, a cold and apathetic voice spoke from behind.

Turning to the direction where the voice came from, the duergar's face paled considerably.

"L-Lord!"

"Stay put."

Scanning the metal door, the mood of the duergar elder sank.

"Damn it."

Placing his palm on the door, the elder circulated the mana inside of his body towards the palm of his hand and closed his eyes. He was trying to gauge what was going on inside the room. 

While the elder was busy, the duergars behind him stood silently with their backs straight, not daring to mouth a single word.

After a while, opening his eyes, the elder's face relaxed a little.

"He's still alive…"

After having scanned the internal structure of the room, although he wasn't able to tell what exactly was going on inside, he could tell that there were two people alive.

Out of the two, one was a demon and the other was Karl.

Recognizing Karl's mana signature, the elder was able to tell that he was still alive. At this revelation, he felt a lot more relaxed. As long as he was alive, all was good. 

"Hm?" 

However, apart from those two energies, he felt no other energy.  This meant only one thing.

Every single researcher inside had been killed.

'Why did a demon betray us?'

The elder wondered as his brows tightly knit in consternation.

For the perpetrator to be a demon, no wonder the Duergars assigned to Karl had failed to protect him. Nobody would have seen it coming.

—How is the situation going on your side?

It was then that a voice suddenly entered the elder's ears.

Completely unfazed by the voice, the elder tapped on his ear and responded in a calm tone, "Karl is still alive. However, he is currently being held hostage inside of the room with a demon."

—A demon?

The voice sounded a bit surprised. It quickly followed up with a question.

—So you're saying that the one responsible for this is a demon?

"That is correct."

The elder darkly replied.

"How is the situation on your side? What exactly is going on?"

Before arriving at the artifact testing room, the elder had naturally heard a large explosion that seemed to have come from outside the base.

Although the elder was curious, he still chose to pursue his role, which was to find out what was going on with the artifact room.

"Are we under attack?" The elder questioned.

After a brief moment of silence, the voice responded. 

—…Yes. The location of our base has been compromised. We're currently under siege by those bastards. We've called for reinforcements, and have set up the defensive system.

At those words, the elder's face sank completely.

"Our location has been breached? That's impossible! Our dampening system has made it impossible for those bastards to find the coordinates of our base! Unless…"

A sudden thought struck the elder as he turned his attention back towards the Rhimestone door.

—Unless what?

The voice in the elder's ear asked.

Frowning, the elder thought for a moment before replying with a deep breath.

"…Unless the one that exposed our location is Karl."

—…That's impossible.

The voice spoke after a brief moment of silence.

—You know full well just how much Karl hates the dwarves. His hatred runs even more deeply than some of us present in the council. How can it be him? Furthermore, he is also responsible for taking down two beacons. It can't be possible.

"…You might be right."

Pondering over the matter, the elder soon realized the validity of the words presented to him.

Given Karl's background, and the fact that he hated dwarves with a passion, the probability of him being the culprit was low.

Karl was someone that the dwarves had rejected and scorned due to the various ideas he had proposed in the past. Each dwelling in the neurological field and memory extraction area. Something that was considered taboo to the dwarves. As such he was treated as an outcast that was left out to rot.

If not for them, he would've long died by now. 

The elder could vividly remember the deep seethed hatred he saw in Karl when he signed the mana contract with the demon. 

He was there.

He had witnessed the whole thing. 

The fact that he also took down two beacons was a testament to his possible innocence… That was, of course, unless he was faking it the whole time.

But for him to have been faking it for so long...the elder didn't want to believe it. 

Giving a skeptical look to the door, the elder massaged his forehead as he tried to think of other possibilities.

"Just who could it be?"

'Could it be a spy entered Karl's room while he was decoding the beacons? Since the dampening system was turned off in that specific area, it could've happened.'

'But it can't be that either. No one except Karl ever entered that room.' The elder shook his head in confusion. He couldn't make heads or tails of the situation.

—Actually, we already have an idea.

"What do you mean by that? Why are you telling me this now?"

Raising his head in surprise, the elder hurriedly asked.

—I'm only telling you now because I just got a live feed of what happened prior to the attack.

The voice paused for a moment. The elder could feel a tone of malice emerge from it.

—Remember those human bastards that asked for us to let them enter Henolur?

The elder's brows knit at those words.

"Yes...Is it related to them?"

—Yes. 

The voice in the elder's ears deepened.

—They were the ones that led the attackers towards our location. Moments after they appeared, we were suddenly attacked. Coincidence?

"No, I don't think so."

The elder's face sank once more.

Clenching his fists, the elder trembled with uncontrollable rage.

"To think that those incompetent bastards would scheme against u—"

—…BANG!

Suddenly, a loud explosion rang in the elder's ear.

"What is going on?"

The elder instantly became alarmed.

—Shit, I'm currently under attack. The dwarves have inf—Bzzzz

Before the sentence could finish, the signal cut off, and the elder was left panicked, wondering what had just happened.

'Was he trying to say that someone has infiltrated the place?'

The panic did not last for long, calming down, the elder tried to make out the last words that the voice in his ear was trying to say. But, before he could even think properly, the hair at the back of his neck rose.

WIIIIIING—

Without hesitating, the elder raised his hand.

Clang—

A loud clashing sound rang out. What followed after was a circular, pressurised wind that expanded from the point of contact between the two forces.

"Khhh…who!?"

Taking several steps back, the elder stabilized his body and lifted his head up.

Upon lifting his head and getting a closer look at who had attacked him, the elder immediately identified the perpetrator of the attack.

"Human…"

His eyes narrowed into thin slits.

"Guess that didn't work."

Standing opposite the Duergan elder, Waylan raised his broadsword and once again slashed down. Not wasting a single second. 

As he swung the sword, a thin coating of mana enveloped the body of the blade. What followed after was a terrifying attack that shot out from the broadsword, headed straight for the elder.

WIIIIIING—

Staring at the incoming attack, the elder did not panic in the slightest. Raising his hand, a thin arm bracer appeared on his forearm.

Channeling his mana towards the bracer, a thin transparent shield materialised in front of the duergan elder.

BANG—

Waylan's attack arrived right as the shield formed. Connecting with the shield, ripples formed around its surface as it completely absorbed the energy of Waylan's attack. Before long, the attack completely dispersed. 

After absorbing the attack, raising his head, the elder did not waste any time. Extending his hand towards the right, a large hammer appeared in his hand. 

Gripping on the handle of the hammer, the elder glared at Waylan. 

"Huaaa!"

Crying out, the elder raised the hammer in the air and swung downwards with all his might.

BANG—!

The moment the hammer smashed against the ground, it tore apart and an invisible attack shot towards Waylan who responded in kind.

Once again raising his broadsword, letting out a long breath, the mana in the air thickened up considerably and rushed towards his broadsword. It became apparent to everyone in the room that whatever attack Waylan was about to use was going to be extremely powerful. The mana shook around the broadsword, making it look threatening.

There was only one problem with this method, however. It was that Waylan would have no time to complete it before the elder's attack reached him.

But, Waylan was no fool. With his eyes glued on the incoming attack, just as it was about to reach him, he shouted.

"Now!"

"Hahahaha, as you wish!"

The moments his words faded, a powerful voice rang out with a merry tone, and a large orc suddenly appeared out of thin air.

Pressing his toes onto the ground and holding onto an enormous axe, the ground beneath the orc split apart with a loud bang as his body immediately reappeared right in front of Waylan.

"Huua!"

Raising his axe, a deep cry powerful enough to shake the air reverberated throughout the whole room as Ultruk slashed down and met the duergar's attack head-on, in classic orcish style.

The two attacks soon me. 

BOOOM—

Once the two attacks met, a terrifying energy expanded from the point of contact. What followed after was a thunderous noise that rang throughout the whole area. 

Leaning forward, with his feet pressed on the ground, the orc turned to face Waylan for a second.

"Your turn human."

As he looked at Waylan, slowly, Ultruk was slowly starting to get pushed back. Fine, miniature crevices formed beneath his feet as he tried to hold on. 

Without answering Ultruk, Waylan turned his attention back towards the elder. With the elder having just attacked, he was wide open. 

Waylan knew this, and he wasn't going to waste such an opportunity.

Leaning his body forward, he slashed down once more. It was a simple slash. It did not look extraordinary or anything of the likes, however, the moment he slashed down, the world came to a standstill. 

SHIING— SHIIIING—

What the people in the room thought did not come to pass. Instead of a mana-based slash, all they saw was a plain downward swing.

Spurt—

But it was only a second after, as the sound of blood spilling on the ground reached the ears of everyone present, that they realized it was no regular swing.

With his eyes wide open, the elder stared in Waylan's direction with an incredulous look.

Many questions entered the elder's mind as he tried to figure out what had had just happened. 

From the very beginning, the elder knew that Waylan was preparing a powerful attack. Therefore, although it looked like he was open, he was prepared to active his arm bracer.

But before he could do that, once Waylan slashed down and the elder prepared to activate his barrier, he saw his blood splatter everywhere.

Even during the last moments of his life, the elder couldn't figure out what had just happened. His body began to collapse, the ground becoming increasingly closer.

—Thud!

With a dull thud, the elder fell on the ground. He was dead.

"Haaa…haaa…"

Supporting his body with the broadsword, Waylan heavily gulped for air. 

"Go take care of the others."

Although he wanted to rest, turning his head in Ultruk's direction, Waylan nudged him towards the other duergars present.

"Got it."

Nodding his head silently, Ultruk picked up his axe and headed for the other duergars.

While he was doing that, Waylan walked in the direction of the door and put his palm on it.

"Haaa...haaa… Ren, I'm done."

A few seconds after his words faded, the door slowly started opening up.

Clank—

Once the door fully opened, a pale youth slowly walked out.

Staring at Waylan who was standing opposite of him, he muttered in an unhurried tone.

"Took you long enough."