The Author’s POV

Chapter 330: Inferno [1]

Inside of a dark room, a loud slap echoed.

—Smack!

"Oy, wake up."

With a bald head, a white beard that was so long it felt like it hadn't been cut in months, and bluish-purple skin, a creature resembling a dwarf spoke in a hoarse tone. 

"If yer don't wake up within a minute's time, I'll make you feel something worse than the previous smack."

A vicious aura revolved around the blue-colored dwarf as he looked in front of him. A frail old dwarf sat there.

Bald head, braided hair, and wrinkling face; the dwarf was none other than Jomnuk.

The only dwarf that knew the access code of the security system. At the moment, he had both eyes closed shut and his hands were strapped on top of a large metallic chair. He wore a one-piece grey clothing and all of his beard hair was unbraided. 

Since artifacts were hard to identify, they decided to strip Jomnuk of everything.

Although his mana was sealed because of the poison, it was still best to remove all of the items that he was wearing. 

—Smack!

The blue dwarf once again smacked Jomnuk in the head. 

"Yer finally coming to your senses?"

This time, the blue dwarf finally managed to get a reaction. Jomnuk's eyes twitched slightly.

It wasn't long before he finally opened his eyes.

Upon opening his eyes and staring at the blue dwarf in front of him, a frightened and bewildered look appeared on Jomnuk's face.

"Huh? Where am I? What is going on?"

Moving his body, Jomnuk found that he was bound to the chair he seated.

"What the-?!"

"Haha, you finally came to your senses."

Taking pleasure in Jomnuk's struggle, The blue dwarf flashed a sadistic smile.

Hearing the blue dwarf's words, Jomnuk finally came to his senses. He looked at the duergar and asked in a worried tone, "W-Who are you?"

"Hehe, let me introduce myself…"

Plack! Plack!

Tapping onto something, the dark room was instantly lit up by bright white lights.

Once the lights turned on, Jomnuk was finally able to see his surroundings.

But upon witnessing what was inside of the room, a look of horror flashed in his eyes.

Because the whole room was one massive device connected to a helmet.

"Y-you're insane!" 

Bam—!

Smacking onto the metal armrest of the chair, the blue dwarf leaned closer.

"My name is Karl Kullam and as you can probably tell, I am a Duergar."

Walking towards the back of the room and taking the helmet, Karl flashed an evil smile.

"Although I'm not exactly famous among you dwarves, amongst us Duergars, I'm extremely well known."

Walking back towards Jomnuk, he dangled the helmet in his face.

"If you want to die peacefully, tell us how we can access the main defensive systems. If you refuse to do so…"

—Spurt!

A fountain of blood sprayed all over the room as Karl stabbed Jomnuk in the thigh.

"Huh?"

But contrary to his expectations, in what should've been a pained and desperate scream, Karl was met with two cold, emotionless eyes.

A chill ran down his spine.

Without taking his eyes off of Karl, Jomnuk took note of his injured thigh.

Then, looking up and staring at Karl, he muttered in a voice completely lacking an ounce of fear, "Is that all you've got?"

Pui—! 

Turning his head, Jomnuk spat towards the right side of the room. 

"Oh?" 

Karl shook his head and shrugged off the cowardice in him.

"It looks like you still got some grit in you." 

Approaching Jomnuk and grabbing him by the hair, Karl lifted his head up and stared at him in the eyes. 

On his right hand was the helmet-like device. 

"I want you to say that again while looking at your face. Where are your tough words from before? Lost all confidence already?"

"…" 

Coldly looking at Karl, Jomnuk did not answer. 

Smirking, Karl turned his attention towards the helmet-like device in his hand. Raising his hand and shoving the device on top of Jomnuk's face, Karl spoke up. 

"You see…the device on your head is my own creation, and what it does is something simple…"

Clank—!

Karl locked the helmet on Jomnuk's head. 

"…the helmet will help me extract the memories in your head. Although it is still in the development stages, I should be able to extract some information regarding the defensive barrier from you." 

As he spoke, Karl couldn't contain his excitement.

The device was one of his latest inventions and had the ability to extract the memories of the subject put under it.

Ever since he heard that Jomnuk had been successfully kidnapped, he couldn't hold his excitement.

That was because he knew that they would task him with the job of extracting his memories.

The prospect of looking through the memories of one of the greatest dwarven engineers ever excited Karl to no end.

He didn't actually care about the war nor for the information to disable the defensive system, all he cared about was Jomnuk's knowledge.

Clasping his hands together, Karl could no longer contain his excitement and pressed on the top button of the helmet.

—Ding!

The moment he pressed onto the top button, the helmet lit up.

"Hehehe, I can't wait to extract all of those juicy memories."

"She should just about be done by now…"

"Huh?" 

Lowering his head, to Karl's shock and horror, a thin white hue enveloped Jomnuk's body. 

"What?! Impossible! Your mana was supposed to be sealed!" 

Pointing his hand toward Jomnuk's direction, Karl took a step back. Fear and disbelief dyed his face. 

That was because Jomnuk, the dwarf that they were supposed to have captured, started emitting mana from his body. 

The poison was supposed to last at least a couple of days. 

Something was terribly wrong. 

But before Karl could figure anything out, Jomnuk broke free from his restraints and took off the helmet from his head. Then, without wasting any time, he explosively shot towards Karl's direction. His speed was unbefitting that of a dwarf as he reappeared right in front of Karl. His speed was so fast, that Karl had no time to react before Jomnuk reached out his hand and grabbed him by the throat. 

"Khh…" 

He then lifted Karl in the air. No matter how much he struggled, Jomnuk's grip was far too strong. It wasn't long before Karl's already blue face turned a deeper shade. 

Many times Karl struggled. To retaliate, to beg. But, Jomnuk's grip was far too strong. He couldn't speak at all. 

Before long, his eyes turned white and he passed out. 

Turning his attention away from Karl, Jomnuk clicked his tongue. 

"Tsk, I've got to make this quick."

Putting his hand on his face, Jomnuk grabbed at it and pulled forcefully. In a fluid motion, Jomnuk's face ripped apart. Underneath, was a youth with black hair and blue eyes. 

The figure was none other than Ren, who was considerably shorter than his real self.

In order to disguise himself as Jomnuk he took a potion that decreased his height. 

"Huuu…" 

Breathing out loud, Ren didn't waste time. Taking out his clothes, he quickly replaced them with Karl's. 

After that, he put the mask on Karl's face. What followed after was a subtle blue glow that enveloped the room. 

"Done." 

After a while, Ren retracted his hand from Karl's face.

Putting the mask on his face, Ren did not channel his mana quite yet. He was currently low on mana, he needed to conserve some of it. 

Clank—! 

Locking Karl into the chair, Ren put the helmet on his face and turned to face the right side of the room. 

There, standing not so far from Ren, was Angelica.

Though her complexion was pale, she stood in the corner of the room with her finger pressed on a small device that stood at the top left corner of the room. 

"You done?" 

"Yes." 

Angelica coldly replied back as she took her finger away from the small device in the corner of the room.

'Tsk tsk tsk. Being so cold all the time, who knows if that's the secret to your skin. Getting a little warmer might not hurt, you know. I know I annoyed you, but still!' Ren cursed internally. Still, he had to give credit where it is due.

"Good," He smiled. 

If someone paid close attention, the moment Ren smiled, one could see a missing tooth. 

If not for the fact that Ren had been slapped in the face, one might think that Karl was the one responsible for the missing tooth. But, in fact, the one responsible for it was Ren himself.

Since he knew that the Duergars would strip him of everything he had, he knew that he couldn't have Angelica turn into a ring.

As such, after pondering over the issue for a while, he came up with a brilliant idea.

Have Angelica use her skill to turn into a tooth. 

The moment he proposed the idea, Angelica almost blew him all the way to the other side of the room. If not for Douglas and Waylan's intervention, he wouldn't know how he would've died.

In the end, it took a lot of convincing and bribing to finally make Angelica turn into a tooth.

That aside, the reason why Angelica had appeared in the corner of the room was because Ren needed her to disable the surveillance system.

Once Ren woke up and spotted it, he immediately spat her in that direction. By disabling the system, Ren was able to switch places with Karl without alarming the others.

But, of course, the fact that the surveillance system had been disabled definitely did not go unnoticed, but with the aid of the mask of Dolos, he should have no problems passing off as Karl. 

"Angelica, I need you to turn back into a tooth."

"…"

Closing her eyes, a look of disgust appeared on Angelica's face.

Eventually, she nodded and walked in his direction.

"Thanks."

Ren thanked Angelica as he fixed his clothes.

Without needing to look at Angelica, he knew that she was currently displeased.

But he was helpless.

They both knew that the breakdown of the surveillance system had alarmed someone.

Soon, someone would come in to check up on him. Knowing that he couldn't just have Angelica standstill in that form.

"Bear with it for just a little bit longer."

Ren muttered as he fixed the helmet on Karl's face.

'This looks good enough…'

Ren thought as he looked at Karl, seated opposite him. At the moment, Ren was wearing Karl's clothes, and his head was covered with the helmet.

If someone came in, only if they paid close attention would they notice that something was wrong? But it's not like Ren would let them.

His plan was simple. 

Unlike last time where he had to escape back at the Monolith, Ren's goal this time was the opposite.

Instead of escaping, he planned on infiltrating.

For that, he had made many preparations, and he wasn't going to let something like this ruin all of his plans.

"Uh!? What are you doing?!"

  Startling Ren who was fixing himself, a slender hand suddenly grabbed his jaw.

Opening his mouth, Angelica replied with a deadpan face, "I'm doing as you asked."

"Wait, wait!"

Pushing Angelica back, Ren facepalmed.

"Although I told you to turn back into a tooth, that doesn't mean you have to go back in my mouth!"

He then pointed towards the corner of the room. 

"You know that you could've just turned yourself there and no one would've said anything."

"——!"

At Ren's words, Angelica's usually cold facade crumbled. Her cheeks turned slightly red.

This obviously did not go unnoticed by Ren. He smirked.

"Oh my? Are you blushing from embarrassment?"

"Shut up unless you want to die." Angelica threatened, sparks of demonic energy going off around her.

Glaring at Ren, she walked towards the corner of the room and prepared to transform.

Clank!

But right as she was about to, the door of the room swung open and a Duergar rushed in.

"Karl, everything okay?"