Chapter 224
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 224
Chapter Title: The Poisoned Passage
The infiltration team consisted of five members: Yorgos, Sienna, Loan, Bertolu, and Milos, a Runner from the Practical Division.
Loan took the lead.
His role was to read the surrounding mana and find a safe path.
Loan only stopped when he sensed patrols making their rounds through the alleys.
They would hide in silence, and without fail, the enemies would appear.
Yorgos had always considered his own ability to read ambient mana to be quite formidable, but he couldn't help but be amazed by Loan's instincts.
At one point, Loan halted the group from a distance so great that they couldn't even tell if an enemy was present.
There was no sound, no discernible presence.
Yet Loan was extremely cautious.
“We should keep our distance.”
Sienna whispered back.
“Why? Is something wrong?”
“They’re different from the patrols we’ve seen so far. Their mana feels exceptional. More importantly, they’re with an animal. From the size, I’d say a large dog. Or maybe a wolf.”
“A druid.”
“Probably. Animals have much better senses than we do. We need to be careful.”
Ferber, the criminal organization that had taken control of Versa, was composed of nomadic peoples.
They had formed into a collective after losing their lands in the long wars and wandering from place to place as refugees.
Their ranks were diverse, comprising not only humans but various other races as well.
They were wanderers with no permanent home and engaged in few, if any, productive activities.
They didn't even pay tribute. It was only natural that local lords and dukes saw them as a thorn in their side.
The bigger problem was that they didn't just wander.
They were also a hotbed for all sorts of crimes, including pickpocketing, robbery, kidnapping, and human trafficking.
The reason Ferber had become one of the pillars of the Grave, despite lacking any real support base, was due to their shamanistic power.
It was a special force, originating from the power of nature, that operated on a different level from conventional magic.
Among them, the high-ranking shamans of Ferber could summon, command, and borrow the power of plants and animals.
These individuals were known specifically as druids.
Yorgos moved closer and asked Loan.
“Have you ever fought a druid?”
“No. I’ve fought some Ferber members back in Schwerin, but they were all clumsy grunts, just like the scouts we saw on our way here.”
The ones dressed in layers of shabby clothes, carrying crude swords and spears.
It was a characteristic of the nomadic peoples.
The Ferber thugs Loan had encountered so far were no different from common bandits.
“I have.”
Sienna spoke up and continued.
“They were quite tricky since you never know what kind of attack they’ll use. Suddenly, vines would shoot out to bind my feet. And the power of their summoned animals is nothing to scoff at. It was more difficult than fighting multiple people at once.”
“Right. The plan should be to ignore the summons and focus on taking down the shaman. In any case, if there are many of them, the battle will get quite complicated.”
Given that they had seized control of the entire castle this time, it was no exaggeration to say that all of their elites were gathered here.
And Le Tell had joined them.
Seeing as they had corrupted Versa’s soldiers, they were likely maintaining a close partnership.
Even Loan felt a bit tense.
This was because it wasn't a simple combat mission.
Thus, they couldn't just wait for the patrol to move away.
Loan spread his Convection like a curtain to prevent the beast from catching their scent and advanced slowly.
The infiltration team followed behind him, holding their breath.
Once they had closed the distance, Loan hid himself around a corner and peeked out to get a look at the enemy.
It was a member of a demi-human race called a Wood-man or plant folk, accompanied by a massive wolf.
They were continuously patrolling the alley centered on Loan’s hiding spot.
They would be back this way in a moment.
Sienna and Yorgos, who had assessed the situation from behind Loan, met each other’s eyes.
Sienna tilted her head slightly to the right.
*I’ll take the wolf.*
Yorgos tilted his head slightly to the left. After seeing their silent exchange, Loan enveloped the party in a Sphere of the Void, concealing their sound and scent until the enemy was as close as possible.
Thanks to this, the patrol failed to detect Loan's team until they were right on top of them.
And the moment they appeared in front of the alley where the team was hiding…
Sienna’s figure and Yorgos’s thrown weapons shot forward simultaneously.
The druid, who had been relying solely on its wolf, was walking along thoughtlessly when it was met with a volley of sharp daggers emerging from the darkness.
It was a sharp, powerful attack that punched a cluster of holes clean through the creature's bark-like hide and flesh.
Sienna silenced the wolf before it could even make a sound. The summoned wolf’s body then vanished like smoke.
It all happened in the blink of an eye.
It seemed this wasn't the first time Sienna and Yorgos had worked together.
And they were quite good at it.
Having dispatched the enemy in a single, silent strike, the two looked at each other and smirked.
Just as Loan was thinking it didn’t seem like a big deal…
Bertolu drew their attention with an awkward cough.
“Let’s get moving.”
For some reason, he shot a glare at Yorgos. He then started to move forward rashly but was stopped by Loan.
“Not yet. Quietly. Slowly.”
Loan gave everyone another warning, and the infiltration team began moving toward District 7 again.
The closer they got to the center, the more unnaturally quiet and dark the city became.
No matter how late at night it was, it was strange that not a single house had even a small lamp lit.
He suspected for a moment that all the citizens might have been wiped out, but that wasn't the case.
There were people inside the buildings.
They were just holding their breath and staying perfectly still, like mice before a cat.
The infiltration team, just like them, took one silent step after another.
They advanced, stealthily taking down patrols along the way.
And finally, they reached District 7.
Following Bertolu's lead, the team arrived in front of a darkened building.
A sign for a general store hung above, but the door was open.
The reason it was open was that the store was no longer functional.
It had already been completely looted.
The inside was a mess, with furniture and fixtures overturned and broken.
“Hmm…”
Bertolu let out a low groan as he surveyed the interior.
His gaze was fixed on an old man slumped in a corner. He had not died peacefully.
Bertolu placed a hand on his chest and closed his eyes.
After a brief moment of prayer for the deceased, Bertolu moved without another word into a back room that appeared to be a storeroom.
With the door closed, the space was completely cut off from the outside.
Confirming that no light could escape, Loan conjured a flame in the air to illuminate their surroundings.
The storeroom was just as chaotic as the main shop. Even the shelves were completely destroyed, leaving the wall behind them fully exposed.
“Is there a secret passage here?”
At Yorgos’s question, Bertolu gave a small nod and approached one side, pushing against the wall with one hand.
It was an ordinary wall, with no distinguishing features.
Suddenly, Bertolu’s hand sank slightly into the wall.
*Grind… groan…*
The floor gave way, and what had been a dead end transformed into a staircase.
There was no magical influence; it seemed to be the result of a highly sophisticated mechanical device.
Loan took the lead, his flame lighting the way.
“There are no forks in the road. Just keep going straight.”
Bertolu closed the entrance from the inside using the same mechanism as before, alleviating Loan's unspoken concern.
The stairs were steep and incredibly long.
They were descending deep underground.
After a long while, they finally set foot on a flat path. It was then that Bertolu answered the question on everyone’s mind.
“As you know, Versa Castle is surrounded by a deep and wide moat. It’s comparable to a sizable lake. This secret passage runs beneath it.”
“So this path leads directly to the castle.”
Loan said, extinguishing his flame.
The underground passage was illuminated by luminous stones, so it wasn't dark.
“Yes. It’s safe from here on. There are no mechanisms or traps, so shall we hurry a bit?”
Bertolu's voice was tinged with impatience and was incredibly heavy.
From the tremor in his voice and the state of the secret passage, Loan could guess what was on his mind.
The musty dust, mold, and cobwebs inside the passage were undisturbed, indicating that no one had passed through here recently.
He was worried because the duke and his son had not managed to escape the castle.
Loan wanted to relieve Bertolu’s anxiety as quickly as possible, but he was hesitant to extend the Narrow Path too far.
Having descended so deep underground, the amount of mana he could draw upon had significantly decreased.
It became even more so as they advanced.
At some point, it became unclear how far they had gone or how much farther they had to go.
They had to be extra cautious, not knowing what enemies awaited them at the end of the path, or how many.
He needed to conserve and use his mana as efficiently as possible.
He reabsorbed the mana he had been circulating separately to forge a new path of circulation.
He retracted the Narrow Path and maintained Convection as only a thin film.
Suddenly.
Loan, who always led the group in silence, began to make footsteps.
*Tap—tap…* The dry sounds were followed by a mix of footsteps from behind.
The sound echoed off the walls, sending a gloomy resonance down the long tunnel.
No one spoke.
How long had they been running?
Suddenly, their footsteps began to sound wet, and soon, the sound of splashing, *splash—splash…* echoed all around as they trod through a shallow stream of water.
Thin streams of water were seeping from the ceiling and walls.
This wasn't a recent occurrence.
The whitish, icicle-like formations on the ceiling suggested it had been happening for a very long time.
Fortunately, the water wasn't deep enough to submerge them or make walking difficult.
Bertolu's voice followed.
“It seems we’re passing under the moat…”
He, too, seemed uncertain whether the water would get deeper or if it was safe.
But having come this far, there was no stopping or hesitating.
Loan didn't slow the pace at which he led the group.
*‘This is actually better.’*
For Loan, at least, this situation was slightly better than the dry tunnel, which had been devoid of any life force.
The mana in the atmosphere had become a little richer.
Loan circulated his mana as he watched the water droplets fall from the ceiling like rain.
His Circles, as if they too had been thirsty, whirred to life, eager to fulfill their purpose.
Then, at a certain moment.
“Hm?”
Sensing something amiss, Loan abruptly stopped and raised his fist.
Then.
“Everyone, hold your breath!”
He shouted urgently.
Everyone was startled by Loan’s sudden command, but they reflexively obeyed.
Loan also stopped his mana breathing and examined the falling droplets, the water flowing down the walls and wetting the floor, and the ominous residue faintly dissolved in the air.
*‘It’s the virulent poison.’*
It was extremely faint, but the characteristic green particles of the poison were floating in the air ahead.
Though the amount was minuscule, the poison could not be taken lightly.
He had confirmed through experiments that it could combine, replicate, and divide on its own.
*‘What should I do?’*
In that fleeting moment, Loan’s thoughts accelerated.
Marbas hadn't entered the passage to release the poison. Nor had someone contaminated with the poison entered.
It had mixed with the dripping water and spread this far.
In other words, they had filled the moat with the poison to prevent anyone from swimming across.
This state would likely continue until they had completely passed through this tunnel.
Using fire or lightning to burn the poison in a narrow tunnel with no escape posed a risk of explosion.
As his thoughts reached that conclusion…
Loan extended a wave of cold toward the walls, ceiling, and floor.
The streams of water froze. The water pooled on the floor turned to ice.
Simultaneously, Loan spread his Convection like a screen and pushed it forward.
He would freeze the poison mixed in the water and push the airborne particles ahead.
The poison particles were larger than mana, so the area around them soon became clear.
He would decide how to dispose of the concentrated poison when they reached the end of this path.
“Follow me at a distance.”
Loan dashed forward, freezing the tunnel as he went.