The Author's POV

Spurt—!

Blood once again sprayed everywhere.

"Haaa…haaa…"

Once I killed the last duergar, I noticed that my breathing was quite heavy.

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, and wiping the sweat that had accumulated on my forehead, I walked towards the main room and checked the holographic map.

But before I could even make it to the room, a rumbling sound rang out throughout the whole building.

Rumble—!

Stumbling slightly, and leaning my body by the side of the wall, I looked up towards the ceiling.

Vrrrr—! Vrrrr—!

The ground beneath me buzzed and the communication device that I had kept in my pocket for quite a while now suddenly started vibrating.

'...It's done!'

I muttered to myself as I took out the communication device from my pocket.

At the same time that my communication started vibrating, the others also noticed the changes that were happening around as everyone stopped fighting for a brief moment to check what was going on.

"Waylan! Angelica, let's go!"

Taking advantage of that one brief moment of distraction, putting the communication device back into my pocket, I called out for Angelica and Waylan who had also stopped fighting.

Giving me a quicky nod, without saying anything, Waylan and Angelica proceeded to stop attacking.

Following this, they rushed towards my direction, ignoring the duergars who were standing behind them.

===

[Data synchronization.]

0%_____________{100%}

===

Entering the room and passing by the holographic map, I rushed for the portal which by now had already started fully functioning.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

The sound of energy blasts being shot towards Waylan and Angelica sounded from behind, but I paid no attention to it as I focused my whole attention on the portal before me.

With mana threads spiraling at the top of a small circular device, a portal appeared in front of my vision.

"Hurry up!"

Halting my steps right in front of the portal, I looked behind me and checked Angelica's and Waylan's positions.

"I'll quickly call Ultruk and tell him to come back."

Now that communication inside and outside worked, I could send a message to Ultruk telling him to come back.

I had already briefed him on what to do before, so the moment I called him and he felt the slight vibration, he would quickly rush towards us.

That was at least what was supposed to happen...

But just as I was about to send him a message, a thunderous explosion sounded in the distance.

Boooom—!

What followed after the explosion was a strong pressurized wind gale that spread throughout every corner of the hall.

The duergars that were previously attacking Angelica and Waylan stopped and looked in the direction of where the explosion came from.

Taking advantage of this moment, Waylan and Angelica appeared next to me.

"You...!"

A high-pitched voice followed after the explosion as the dust cleared out revealing a haggard figure standing at the top of a large body.

Upon closer look, I noticed that the body was none other than Ultruk.

"Shit"

I cursed out loud as my heart rate sped up.

With disheveled hair, and half of her entire face burned, Durara stood on top of Ultruk's figure. A torrential wave of mana burse out from her body.

'...How is she still alive? Fuck.'

I silently cursed at my circumstance.

Just how strong one had to be in order to survive that terrifying explosion from before? I couldn't fathom it as I involuntary took a step back towards the portal behind me.

"Khhh...y..you.."

Supporting her body with her long wooden staff, Durara pointed her skinny blue hand towards the holographic panel system that controlled the dampening system.

"What...have you...done!"

She shrieked with a distraught look filled with malice and despair.

Spurt—!

Raising her staff and stabbing it right into Ultruk's heart, blood spilled all over her body. Directing her terrifying glare towards our direction, she slowly and darkly muttered.

"How...dare...you!"

With my back facing the portal, taking one more step back, and giving Durara one cold glance before glancing at Ultruk's dead figure underneath her body, I finally turned around and entered the portal.

It was time for me to go.

"Let's go. We're done here." I said as I glanced at Angelica and Waylan.

Without waiting for the others to say anything, I entered the portal, and I slowly started to lose all of my senses.

Sharing the same thoughts as me, Waylan and Angelica also entered the portal.

"Die!!!"

The last thing I heard before losing all of my senses was Durara's enraged screams as a threatening energy appeared from behind me.

But by the time the energy appeared, I had long already disappeared from the place.

***

Boooom—!

A black mass of energy covered the land from above, dimming the enormous cave in an instant. A monstrous like aura spread from the black mass of energy, enshrouding the whole battlefield.

The land shook slightly.

Below the black energy mass were many different colored lights that met in the air, spreading small shockwaves throughout the entire battlefield.

The final battle between the duergars and the dwarven members had been going on for over an hour now, and both sides suffered tremendous losses.

Unlike the previous fight that was happening above, this was an all-out fight where neither side held back. If one side lost, that was it, they were gone forever.

Neither could afford to hold back.

The black mass of energy that was levitating above continued to spread, before completely enveloping the land outside of the headquarters of Inferno. Immediately after, the black mass of energy churned and droplets of black rain fell towards the battlefield on the ground.

"Be careful."

Standing at the top of a cliff, Givor, one of the dwarven elders, softly spoke to the people next to him. A grave expression dyed his face as his eyes were filled with unprecedented solemness.

He was unaware of what the black mass in the air was, but he knew that it was nothing good.

"The energy mass in the sky is supplementing the duergars with demonic energy. It is not an offensive attack, but the fact that it is providing the enemies with more energy is a case of concern."

Answering Givor's worries was Alga, another dwarven elder.

With a similar solemn look on her face, she gazed into the distance. Raising her hand in the air revealing a small black bracelet, the bracelet slowly lit up and a powerful energy gathered at the center of her palm.

The gathering of energy was fast. Within a split second, a small energy ball had formed at the center of her palm. Thick adulations of mana began to spread out from the energy ball.

The energy that emitted from the ball was so strong that had any weaker individual that was below <A> rank been present, they would've instantly died by just standing near it.

Fortunately, the people around her were all elites whose strength was far past <A> rank. Such energy was no longer threatening to them.

"Go."

Pushing the energy ball in the air, it quickly shot towards the black mass of energy in the sky.

Leaving behind a long luminous trace in the air, marking the direction of its path, the space around the attack distorted slightly.

With just a brief glance, everyone could tell just how powerful the attack was.

The speed of the attack was extremely fast. By the time the energy ball had left Alga's palm, it had already arrived by the black mass of energy in the sky.

"This should be able to do it..." Givor said as he looked at the attack in the distance.

But just when the attack was about to land on the energy mass in the sky, a thin film suddenly materialized around it, acting as some sort of shield.

Boooom—

What followed after the appearance of the thin film, was a sound similar to that of a thunderclap.

The defeating sound of the explosion drowned out all the other sounds that came from below the battlefield.

Ripples formed around the small veil, and the residual energy from the attack spread out throughout the enormous cave.

"As expected, this is going to be a lot tougher than I had imagined."

Alga sighed softly upon seeing her attack being blocked. She did not say anything else.

With her eyes locked on the black mass, Alga's eyes furrowed deeply.

"If we don't take that down soon, we will soon fall into a disadvantageous situation."

Lowering her head she stared at the battle that was happening below with a worried look.

"While our fighters are slowly losing mana as they fight, the duergars will continuously replenish the energy with the demonic energy that is being supplemented to them from above. Although we're currently at an advantage thanks to our surprise attack, if we don't find a solution for that anytime soon, we're going to be in deep trouble."

Alga's words caused the atmosphere to turn tense.

"Actually, you don't have to worry about it too much."

An aged voice suddenly sounded.

The moment the voice reached everyone's ears, everyone present turned their heads towards where the voice came from.

Once they managed to figure out the identity of the one who spoke, a surprised look appeared on the faces of some of the people present.

"Human?"

Alga was the first to speak as she raised her brow in a questioning manner.

"What do you mean by what you just said now?"

"I meant exactly what I said. You don't have to worry too much about what's going on at the moment."

Douglas replied to Alga with a relaxed look. His aged and wrinkly eyes calmly stared at the massive gate in the opposite direction.

With his hands behind his back, his eyes rippled slightly.

"Our real goal is killing the higher-ups, correct?"

His sudden question caught Givor off-guard as he thought that Douglas was asking for the obvious, but nevertheless, he answered.

"Indeed. If we kill at the higher-ups or at least a major part of them, then that will be enough to be considered a victory."

Because duergars were connected to demons through contracts, the moment one died, a demon would suffer heavy repercussions from it.

By killing the higher-ups of Inferno, what they were essentially doing was at the same time dealing damage to the demons outside of the city. The more powerful the duergars that were being killed were, the stronger the corresponding demon that was contracted with them.

And because the demons were currently outside of the city, and couldn't get in, they could only helplessly suffer the tremendous repercussions of having their contractee die.

The war was over when the demons would be weakened to the point where they could no longer attack.

"Correct...."

Douglas nodded. His eyes swept over the fight happening below. Because their fight would cause most of the people below to die, they were forced to stay put for now.

"Anyways, human, what were you trying to say when you said that we didn't need to worry too much?" Givor asked, redirecting the topic back to Douglas's previous words.

He wasn't the only one that was interested in what he had to say as almost everyone next to him paid close attention to his next words.

"Ah, right...." Douglas's brows relaxed a little. "What I meant by my previous words was that—"

Vrrr—! Vrrr—!

Abruptly halting mid-sentence, Douglas suddenly felt the side of his waist vibrate. The moment he felt the vibration, his eyes jumped up a little.

Then, realizing what was going on, the edges of his lips curled upwards.

'They did it.'

For the communication device to vibrate now, it could only mean one thing. Ren, Waylan, and the others had managed to accomplish their mission.

"Have you guys done it?" Douglas asked, taking out the communication device and enabling the speaker to function for everyone present to hear.

After his words sounded there was a brief pause before a voice sounded from the speakers of the communication device.

"...Yeah, we did it. The surveillance and dampening systems are down. We can proceed as planned."