"Hey Ren, hold up."
Waylan's frustrated voice rang throughout the long and narrow corridor of the Inferno headquarters.
Usually, there would've been many duergars present patrolling the area, but now, it was completely deserted.
They were either fighting against the large army outside or most likely gathering towards the spot Ren and the others were previously in.
The enormous commotion they had caused definitely did not go unnoticed by them as they most likely sent reinforcements.
"Ren, I still haven't recovered from my injuries."
Frustratingly said Waylan as he hurried his pace.
Following from behind him was Angelica. Unlike him, she still seemed fine. Having recovered some of her demonic energy from Ren, she was in a much better shape than Waylan.
"We don't need to be in optimal condition for this part of the plan. Our roles are already over. All we have to do is show up in the locatio—"
Ren coldly muttered before picking up his pace.
But just as he walked a couple of steps further, his legs buckled slightly and he stumbled slightly.
***
"Ukhhh..."
Holding onto the side of the wall, the effects of Monarch's indifference quickly wore off.
In order to cope with the throbbing pain that was coursing through my head, I had activated Monarch's indifference. Now that the pain was over, Monarch's indifference naturally wore off.
Instantly, my head cooled a little.
"Haaaaa..."
"Ren?"
Turning my head, and staring at Waylan whose complexion seemed too pale for his own good, I massaged my forehead.
"Ugh, I'm fine, I'm fine."
"Has your head cooled down a little?"
"Yeah...." I replied, taking a deep breath.
Even though Angelica had warned me beforehand about the side effects of signing a contract with her, I didn't know they would be this severe.
Not only did it feel as though my head was being split into two, but even under the effects of Monarch's indifference, I could barely stop myself from formulating dark thoughts.
"I'm glad you're feeling better," Waylan replied in relief.
"Me too,"
I replied back.
Had I continued to roam in that state, I wasn't sure how things would've gone. Perpahs, everything would've crumbled.
Glancing around the corridor, Waylan suddenly asked.
"You've already warned Douglas, right? Should we proceed with the last step of the plan?"
"Yeah, they should already be done taking down the surveillance system."
Still supporting my body with the side of the wall, I slid down on the ground to recover some energy.
Before taking out the communication device from my dimensional space, I looked at Waylan and bitterly smile.
"He's not going to kill us after everything is done, right?"
Scratching the back of his head, Waylan wrily smiled.
"That, I don't know. He'll probably be pretty pissed..."
"Ugh.."
Letting out a groan and taking out my communication device from my dimensional, I quickly got in contact with the other group.
The one with Gervis and the others were in.
Di— Di—
Before long, a familiar voice rang out from the speaker of the communication device.
***
In a dark room filled with smoke and multiple impressive auras, the communication device of one of the people standing in the room rang.
Di— Di—
"Hello?"
Answering the communication device was Gervis, the metropolis keeper of Henlour.
Having just finished his mission and having just destroyed the surveillance system, everyone present in the room was waiting for the next set of instructions.
The wait didn't last for long as Gervis's communication system rang as Waylan had told him.
"Waylan? Have you guys accomplished your task already?"
—We have.
Waylan's voice echoed from the speakers of the device.
"That's good. What next?" Gervis asked, nodding his head in relief.
Ever since entering Inferno, they had been in the dark about what they were supposed to do.
Waylan had not revealed a single thing to him or the others.
Was it on purpose? Gervis didn't know.
—We'll soon be sending you a set of coordinates. Go there, that's where the elders of Inferno are located. Reinforcements are quickly in the way so you guys should obstruct their path so that they don't go anywhere.
Since Gervis had enabled the speaker function everyone in the room could hear what Waylan was saying.
—Although you guys will be at a numerical disadvantage, with your skills, you should be able to hold out for at least a couple of minutes, right?
The air around the room tensed at his words.
Taking a deep breath, Gervis said with a solemn voice.
"A couple of minutes? Nothing longer than that right?"
—Yes, hold them back until the reinforcements arrive.
Turning his head to look at the other people present, Gervis stroked his beard.
As he stroked his beard, his hand would pause from time to time until eventually, exhaling, he once again opened his mouth.
"We can do that. But the most we can do is a couple of minutes. I can try to waste as much time as possible but I can't guarantee anything beyond that.
—It shouldn't be long. Shouldn't be less than two minutes. Some of the spies must've already alerted the higher-ups of Inferno, so we need to act right now.
"So be it."
Gervis said.
He understood the seriousness of the situation.
With the dampening system out and reinforcements coming in, the elders would without a doubt either flee or choose to fight back.
They could also set up a portal and escape from there, but that would be even better since they would gain access to all of inferno's resources. Enough for them to compensate for their losses and contribute to the war going on up above.
This was the least likely scenario, however. If they escaped their headquarters and the dwarves gathered all of their resources, their chance to rise once again would practically be impossible.
For the duergars, such an option was nothing short of suicide.
All in all, this was a favorable situation for them. One they shouldn't be missing out on.
"I will do as you've requested."
Douglas said, reinforcing his convictions.
—That's good. I'll send you the coordinates soon. We'll be meeting each other very soon.
"We'll leave now."
—Good luck.
Turning off the communication device Gervis looked at the others present in the room.
"You heard him, didn't you? Let's go."
Putting the communication device away, Gervis headed for the door of the room.
"Are you guys coming or not?"
As his words faded, Gervis stepped out of the room and took a look behind him.
A smile appeared on his lips as he saw that everyone was fine with the arrangements.
"You don't have to worry. We know just how important the next part of the mission is. We will try out best to help you out."
Aris, the elf of the group replied. Her voice was smooth, yet intertwined with an ever-so-faint ring, reminiscent of a cup of tea mixed with a little bit of honey.
Next to her, Randur didn't say anything and just nodded his head to express his agreement.
Seeing that he had the support of Aris and Randur, Garvis smiled.
"That's good. Let's go."
Turning around he left the room and rushed towards the coordinates that Waylan had shared with him.
*
"Is this the place?"
Following the coordinates sent by Waylan, Gervis, Aris, and Randur stopped in front of an enormous door.
An old oak door stood tall towering over them. With intricate runes engraved by the side of the door, the door gave an ancient and mighty feeling to those standing behind it.
Since this was the point where the coordinates ended, the door most likely was the door that led to the Inferno elder council.
"We should be careful."
The place was deserted, and if not for the fact that he could feel a couple of powerful auras lingering by the other side of the door, Gervis wouldn't think that everyone had already escaped.
Casting a powerful barrier using a large chunk of his mana, Gervis was not joking around.
Reaching out to grab the rusted handle, the door opened effortlessly and a loud ear-piercing creek sounded from its hinges, slowly revealing what was behind the door.
"Get ready..."
Gervis muttered as he walked forward carefully pulling the door all the way open as another deafening creek accompanied by a low rumble sounded by the feet of everyone present.
Rumble—
Upon fully opening the door, Gervis and the others instantly became alarmed.
Seated in their seats, were eight duergan elders.
With their faces relaxed, they all directed their attention towards Gervis and the others.
Their relaxed attitude gave Gervis an unsettling almost ominous feeling.
"It's been a while Gervis."
A gruff voice entered Gervis's ears.
'This voice...'
It sounded slightly familiar to Gervis who immediately snapped his head in the direction of where the voice came from.
The moment Gervis's eyes paused on the duergar that had spoken, the very air inside of the room chilled as Gervis coldly muttered.
"Orion."
"How long has it been since we've last seen each other. Fifteen years?" Orion replied, a relaxed smile plastered on his face.
"That's fifteen years too little." Replied Gervis, his voice filled with coldness. "After the incident, you should've stayed put and repented for the rest of your life…but not only did you not repent, but you joined the enemy side as well?"
"Hahaha."
Orion's hoarse laugh resounded throughout the whole room.
The laugh did not last for long as it was soon replaced by a bone-chilling pressure.
Standing up and smacking his palm on the table, Orion glared at Gervis.
"Do you have any idea what I've been through the past year? Do you!?"
His voice thunderously shook throughout the entire hall, as everyone present could feel the malice and hatred contained within each and every word that he said.
'What's going on?'
While Orion and Gervis were speaking, Aris, had a confused look on her face.
Turning around to face Randur, she transmitted her voice inside of his head.
'Dwarf, tell me what happened between the two of them.'
"Huh!?"
Startled by Aris's sudden transmission, Randur let out a strange sound. Fortunately, everyone present within the hall was too distracted by Orion's and Gervis's exchange to pay attention to him.
It was only after he realized that it was Aris that was talking to him that he calmed down.
'You may not know, but the two of them used to be contenders for the Metropoliskeeper role.'
Randur explained from the side, taking note of her confusion.
'Although the two of them were never considered friends back in the past, they didn't hate each other as they did now.'
'What exactly happened?' Aris curiously asked, glancing at Gervis's back.
She wanted to get a better idea of the situation.
Nodding his head, with his eyes locked onto the exchange in the distance, Randur gave a very brief summary of what had happened between the two.
'It's a complicated story, but in short, Orion had cheated during one of the trials that would elect the Metropoliskeeper of Henlour and Gervis exposed him for it. After that, Orion was set to be imprisoned for life but he somehow managed to escape with the aid of inferno, and the rest is history.'
The story was quite a famous one, so he summarized it the best he could.
'I see…'
Aris nodded her head in understanding.
"Because of you, I had to go through fifteen years of torture!... Let me tell you, they were not the best years of my life."
Startling the two out of their discussion was Orion's powerful voice that once again thunderously reverberated throughout the hall.
Remaining calm, Gervis replied back.
"Don't blame me for your own mistake."
"Pah! My ass! All of us participating knew that you had been selected beforehand. Had I not done what I did I would've never gotten a shot at the position." Orion replied with a disgusted look on his face.
"Is that what you've been telling yourself every year? That's the excuses losers make."
Narrowing his eyes into slits, Orion didn't reply back.
Sitting back in his seat, with his arm on the table, his fingers tapped on the table.
Tap.Tap.Tap.
After a while, returning to his usual calm attitude, Orion once again opened his mouth.
"You may be right. Maybe I truly did lose because I was not good enough…but so what?"
Staring at Gervis for a good couple of seconds, Orion suddenly grinned.
"The past is the past. I've long since moved on. After all, what matters is not what happened in the past, but what happens in the future."
Seeing Orion smile and relax, Gervis suddenly had an ominous premonition.
"What are yo—ukhhh."
But before Gervis could even finish his sentence, blood spurted from out his mouth.
Looking down in his hand that was now reeking in blood, Gervis weakly looked behind him where another dwarf stood.
With a cold look on his face, Randur lowered his head slightly.
"I'm sorry, but this was necessary. You've gone too much astray. It's about time I set this place back to normal."
Those were the last words Gervis heard before his consciousness slipped.
