A flare spell surged skyward, its warm orange glow scattering the oppressive darkness of the abyss space.
Silence hung heavy, as if no living thing stirred within.
Before stepping in, Iros had deliberately shut off his Insight spell.
The black data cubes in this place—dense clusters of crystallized information—delivered a mental jolt akin to physical contact if viewed directly with magic. Years ago, his first reckless venture here had cost him dearly, yet that blunder unveiled faint traces of the Ark Plan, a bitter gain from a brutal lesson.
Unable to use Insight, Iros relied on another trick. He crushed a shimmering crystal in his palm, and with himself as the epicenter, the surrounding mana field erupted into violent ripples. The chaos lasted only a fleeting moment, but any hidden traps or cloaking spells would flicker into view during that brief disturbance.
Nothing appeared.
Undeterred, a blazing ring of fire unfurled from Iros’s feet, stretching ten meters outward in a radiant halo.
Guided by this mobile inferno, he advanced cautiously, tracking the faint pull of his magical mark on the artifact.
He halted beneath the towering trunk of the Divine Tree, its gnarled bark looming like an ancient sentinel.
The mark pulsed nearby, maddeningly vague, impossible to pin down with precision.
“Jamming my senses with those data cubes, are you?” he murmured, his voice low and wary.
Rather than chase the artifact blindly, he scanned the surroundings with meticulous care.
No trace of the cunning foe emerged, but a chilling “greeting gift” caught his eye.
Wedged into the crevices of the Divine Tree’s rugged bark, two elves lay unconscious, their bodies broken.
Iros knew them both: Seldan, his disciple tasked with guarding the dungeon’s entrance, and Pelagel, a high-ranking Ark Plan operative who’d vanished earlier. Both were marred with brutal wounds, as if subjected to merciless torture, teetering on the edge of death yet clinging to a faint thread of life.
The enemy hadn’t slain them or used them as bargaining chips but left them displayed—a bold taunt meant to unnerve him.
Or perhaps a ploy to distract him, forcing him to shield them in the battle to come? If so, their scheme was doomed to fail.
Iros had long decided what could be sacrificed and what must be claimed.
Remaining vigilant, he gently lowered the two elves to the ground.
A wake spell washed over them. Seldan groaned in agony, his eyes clenched shut, trapped in some tormented dream. Pelagel, however, stirred slowly, his gaze clouded with confusion.
“Where… am I?” he rasped, disoriented, struggling to grasp his surroundings.
“Pelagel, who captured you?” Iros demanded, cutting straight to the heart of his burning question—the very reason he’d freed them.
“Chief?!” Pelagel’s voice spiked with sudden intensity. “It’s all Salian’s doing! He orchestrated everything!”
“Salian?”
The name jolted Iros into a moment of stunned reflection. In that instant, Pelagel lunged, a venom-soaked dagger gleaming in his hand, aimed at Iros’s heart!
Vines burst from Iros’s robe, swift and unyielding, locking Pelagel’s every movement in a verdant grip before the blade could strike.
Iros didn’t spare him a glance, his eyes scouring the encircling darkness. “Sending a lone Diamond-rank to ambush me?”
“Hahaha! A lone one?” Pelagel’s laugh was wild, unhinged.
A massive surge of energy erupted from his body, raw and uncontrollable.
“For the boss!”
“How is this possible?!”
BOOM!
A cataclysmic explosion, far beyond any normal blast, swallowed the trio in its fury.
At its heart, Iros’s translucent shield flickered to life, but it was a fraction too late. Half his body was torn open, flesh and bone exposed in a gruesome spray, his enchanted robe reduced to tattered rags.
Pelagel and Seldan had no chance of surviving such a devastating blast.
It wasn’t carelessness—Iros simply couldn’t fathom an elf self-destructing like that!
Magic could produce such an effect, but he’d have sensed the mana buildup. He’d have countered with ease.
A detonation this swift could only be a talent skill! Had Pelagel awakened self-destruction?
The conclusion was utterly absurd!
A Diamond-rank elf, sacrificed without a moment’s hesitation?
Iros’s mind reeled, unable to untangle the chaos, but time for thought was cut short.
As the explosion’s roar faded, a swarm of Puffshrooms erupted from the data cubes, charging with relentless fury.
Countless mushroom cannons hammered his shield, each impact sending ripples across its surface, draining his mana reserves.
They’d been hiding in the cubes!
One mystery unraveled, only to birth another.
The cubes were intangible, sure—artifacts could be stashed there, but living creatures? Whether pets or puppets, entering would shatter their minds or sever their connection!
How had the enemy managed it? And so many? The once-desolate space now teemed with Puffshrooms, their “puji puji” footsteps a maddening cacophony that grated on Iros’s frayed nerves.
His vines swept out in a desperate arc, but the Puffshrooms detonated before contact, their blasts riddling his sturdy vines with countless holes, leaving them tattered and useless.
The mushroom cannons never ceased, each shot chipping away at his mana, though they couldn’t yet pierce his shield.
Iros saw their game—to bleed him dry. He refused to play along.
He reinforced his defenses with a surge of protective magic, standing firm as he began weaving a wide-range spell to crush the onslaught.
The Puffshrooms, undeterred, seized their chance and rushed forward.
Self-destructs, mushroom cannons, and whip-like blades lashed out, yet none could breach the combined fortress of his vines and shield.
But… standing still?
That was far too bold, underestimating the mushrooms’ tenacity!
A cluster of Puffshrooms emerged, hauling a massive, elongated resonance cannon, its ominous hum cutting through the chaos.
Even in the battlefield’s frenzy, the cannon’s colossal mana surge screamed danger, catching Iros’s sharp attention.
Swallowing the nausea of mana reflux, he aborted his spell mid-cast and dove aside, narrowly dodging the blast.
The resulting explosion of raw mana confirmed his choice—his shield might not have withstood such a monstrous strike.
He unleashed a roaring fireball, aiming to obliterate the bizarre fused creature, but a collective Mana Shield from the Puffshrooms deflected it.
He could shatter the shield with brute magic, but the mana cost would tip the scales against him.
Charging closer, he strangled the cannon with vines, crushing it, and resumed his earlier spell.
When a second resonance cannon loomed, forcing him to halt his casting once more, Iros was ready to curse the heavens!
(End of Chapter)
Lmao, enjoying iros’s peril🤣🤣🤣