The Author’s POV

Chapter 333: Infiltration [1]

"This should be the place."

Leopold murmured as he looked at an enormous building in front of him. 

"It should be…" 

Besides him were Ava and Hein.

Since the barrier had been set up and was covering the whole mountain, they decided to use the free time they had available to fix their equipment.

Although they wanted to rest, they acknowledged the fact that before they could do that, they had to have all of their equipment ready. After all, no one knew what could happen in the future. 

The barrier could be turned off at any moment, and they knew that if that happened, they'd be the first to die. 

This was something they had learned during their journey to Henlour. 

Ci Clank—

Entering the building, a wave of hot hair brushed against the skin of everyone present.

It was already hot outside, but the moment they entered the building, it felt as though they were inside of a steaming hot sauna. 

Breathing started to become more challenging, and sweat started forming on the side of their faces. 

Wiping the sweat away from his face, Hein tiredly muttered. 

"It's way too hot here…I'm going to die."

"I feel you."

Leopold lazily muttered. 

The heat was causing his body to feel extremely lethargic. 

"How may I help you?"

Respectfully greeting them at the lobby was a dwarven girl. With a smile on her face, she kindly looked at Leopold and the others who had just arrived.

Unlike them, she was not sweating.

From the looks of it, she was used to this type of heat.

"Hey."

Leaning against the counter, Leopold breathed out in exhaustion. 

—Plack!

Taking out his gun, he placed it on the counter and lethargically asked.

"Where…can I get ammunition for this?…I'm kind of running low. Haa…it's too hot."

"This…"

Lowering her head, the dwarven girl stared at the gun-like device on the counter.

Pointing at the gun, she looked at Leopold and asked. 

"May I?"

"Go ahead."

Picking up the gun, she carefully analyzed it from top to bottom.

After a while, putting it back on the counter she pointed towards a corridor on the right side of the lobby. 

"Judging from the model of the artifact you showed me, what you're looking for should be over there. Prices can vary from what types of bullets you are trying to get." 

"Thank you."

Thanking the receptionist, Leopold took the gun and proceeded to head towards the direction she had pointed at.

"Oops, I almost forgot."

However, just as he was about to leave, halting his steps, he suddenly recalled something.

Turning back, he looked at the receptionist and asked.

"Do you perhaps know of anyone named Melvil? Mulvil? Molvil…"

Frowning, Leopold scratched the side of his head as he tried his best to remember the name of the dwarf that Ren had told him to visit.

Unfortunately for him, his memory wasn't the best, and therefore, he had quite the trouble trying to remember the name of the dwarf that Ren had mentioned. 

"…Damn it, it's at the tip of my tongue. Mulvil? Morvilla?"

Listening by the side, the receptionist's brows jumped up.

With a hesitant look, she asked. 

"Are you perhaps talking about Sir Malvil?"

"Ah!"

—Snap!

Snapping his fingers, Leopold pointed his finger at the receptionist and excitedly nodded his head.

"Moolvil, Yes. That's the name."

"It's Malvil." 

"Yes. That's exactly what I said." 

The receptionist's face froze for a second. Leopold's behavior had left her speechless; however, she was quick to recover. She had seen all types of individuals. Compared to them, Leopold was a lot milder. 

With a perfect business-like smile, she asked. 

"You wish to meet Sir Malvil?"

"Correct." 

Leopold then pointed towards Ava, who was silently standing behind him. 

"You see, my companion over here needs to have her artifact fixed. From what we've heard, this Melan is very skilled and can help her fix her artifact." 

"I see…"

By now she had already understood what type of character was and completely ignored the fact that Leopold had once again mistaken the name. 

Touching her hair, she made a difficult face.

"…Let me see what I can do."

Taking out a communication device, the receptionist tried to get in contact with Malvil. While she was waiting for him to pick up, turning her attention back to Leopold, she reminded. 

"Don't get your hopes up. Malvil is incredibly busy, so I can't say if he will meet you or not. Don't get too disappointed if he rejects you." 

"That's fine. Oh, before I forget…" Leaning by the counter, Leopold whispered. "If possible, tell him that we were referred by a guy called Ren."

"Ren?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

Though confused, the receptionist kept that in mind.

"Hello? Sir Malvil, yes…"

It wasn't long before Malvil picked up. Once he did, the receptionist unconsciously straightened her back and started to relay everything that Leopold had told her. 

"Yes, they are human. They said that they were referred by a human named Ren…Yes, okay, I got it."

The call went on for a couple of minutes before finally, after speaking to Malvil for a short period of time and turning off the communication device, the receptionist fixed her clothes and smiled towards Leopold and the others. 

"Please follow me; Malvil is willing to speak to you."

***

[Inferno headquarters, unknown location.]

At the elder's orders, I was asked to prove my capabilities. I didn't mind this as it perfectly coincided with my plans.

"This is the equipment that you can use in order to do your task."

Arriving inside of a large room, the first thing I saw was an enormous levitating panel.

Displayed on the panel were all sorts of different pieces of information and commands.

To be honest, I could barely understand anything that was displayed on it, but even then, calmly walking towards it; I pretended to look at it with disinterest. 

Stroking my beard, I muttered. 

"I see…"

"Is there anything that you are unsatisfied with?"

The guard that brought me here asked.

Lightly glancing in his direction, I shook my head.

"No, everything is fine."

"Here are the items that you have requested." 

Extending his hand, the guard handed me a small pouch. Upon seeing the pouch, my lips twisted upwards. 

"Good."

Snatching the pouch from the guards hands, I opened it and looked through its contents. After a while, nodding my head, I gestured for the guard to leave. 

"Good, everything is here. You may now leave." 

"Understood, I will be waiting outside. If anything happens, so, not hesitate to call for me."

"Aye."

Turning around, I walked in front of the panel and focused my attention on it. Completely ignoring the guard's existence. 

According to the files I received, Karl Kallum was an individual who had zero on things that were nonartifact related. He would always show an aloof and disinterested expression on his face whenever he interacted with others. 

At least that was what it said on his profile. 

Thanks to the chip inside of my head, I was able to store an incredible amount of information in my head. From their behavior, traits, and hobbies, I was able to memorize a lot of things. 

As such, I knew exactly how Karl acted and behaved. 

'This looks like something that would come out straight from the movies.'

I inwardly muttered as I admired the panel in front of me.

Though it wasn't the first time he had seen this, it never ceased to amaze me whenever I saw it. 

Ci Clank—

As I was analyzing the panel, the door behind me suddenly closed. Without paying much attention to it, I continued to pay attention to the panel.

The sound most likely came from the guard from before as he had probably left the room, leaving me inside of this place by myself.

Even then, I continued to focus on the panel in front of me. 

Since I was currently being monitored by the surveillance system, even if the guard had left, I couldn't quite do anything.

In fact, there was a high chance that the elders were currently watching over me from the surveillance system. 

'Let's get this started.'

Placing my hand on the panel, a circular spiral animation manifested on the screen, encircling the palm of my hand. 

Thereafter, multiple different commands appeared in my vision. All of them were in the dwarven language, but I had no trouble reading them. 

Having stayed in Helour for quite a while now, I could now understand and speak the language.

This was all due to the chip inside of my head. If not for it analyzing the language, I would've never been able to speak it. 

Though it took a while, it made this mission possible. 

'It should be this.'

Pressing on the panel, a small holographic keyboard appeared in front of me. 

Ti. Ti. Ti.

With the chip in his head working, my fingers quickly danced on the keyboard.

'Since you guys want me to prove my abilities, that's exactly what I'll do.'

There were a total of fifteen beacons built around the walls of the city; at the moment, I was planning on shutting one down.

Prior to the incident, I had Jomnuk secretly teach me how to shut down one of the beacons.

Since we both knew that this was crucial for the plan, he had no qualms with it and as such revealed to me how to shut down one of the beacons that connected to the main defensive system.

He obviously only thought me how to shut one down. Regarding the other fourteen beacons, I had no clue.

But this was enough.

Enough to convince the elders that I wasn't all talk.

***

"Today, we are here to discuss your inability to protect Jomnuk Dramegrip; exposing all of us to danger."

A cold voice sounded inside a large white room where seated on a large wooden semi-circular desk, were multiple dwarfs. Judging from the pressure that was oozing from their small bodies, it was apparent that each and every single dwarf present was an important figure. 

At the moment all of their eyes were focused on a human figure; he stood with his back straight, and his clear brown eyes fearlessly looked at the dwarves opposite to him.

The figure was none other than Waylan. 

The news of Jomnuk getting kidnapped had sent the higher-ups into a state of panic. Being the one responsible for protecting Jomnuk, Waylan bore the full brunt of the dwarf's rage.

At the moment he was put under trial for his failure in protecting Jomnuk, one of their best engineers and the dwarf responsive for setting up their barrier. 

His kidnapping had obviously dealt a massive blow to the dwarfs, and Waylan, the one responsible for being unable to defend Jomnuk, was currently being glared at by half of the dwarfs inside of the room. 

Even then, under the glares of the dwarves, he kept a calm and composed face.

Ever since he had accepted the plan, he knew that he was going to face a similar situation.

'I can at least do this much.'

This much was nothing new to him.

Ren was currently in the middle of infiltrating Inferno, an organization that was just as scary as the Monolith, if not even scarier. 

What Ren was going through was probably a million times more dangerous than what he was currently going through.

And it was because of this that Waylan did not have an ounce of nervousness as he stood in front of some of the most powerful dwarves in the human domain.

Plus, it's not like he didn't have a plan for this.

In fact, everything was going just as he and Ren had discussed. 

As he thought that far, Waylan inwardly laughed.

'That kid is crazy…'

Ever since meeting Ren, his dull days at the dwarven domain had become a lot more interesting.

For that, he had to thank Ren.