A heavy impact echoed through the crowd.
One of the Awakened was suddenly thrown forward, his body dragged across the ground. Several people stepped back.
"H-Hey! What are you doing?!"
The man who had pushed him lowered his head.
His body was trembling.
And then... he slowly raised his head.
His eyes had turned completely black.
There was no white left. Only darkness. It looked completely inhuman, as if he had turned into a monster inside a human shell.
And on top of that, his aura had suddenly changed into sothing corrupted, sothing that slled rotten—an unbearable stench that was impossible to tolerate.
"His... his eyes..."
Before anyone could react, the man lunged forward with unnatural speed and slamd his fist into the face of the person in front of him.
Blood splattered into the air.
"Has he gone insane?!"
"Get back!"
But it was too late.
In another corner, one more... and then another.
Their numbers kept increasing, attacking other Awakened one after another.
Bodies started trembling... heads lifted... and eyes turned black one after another.
"No... no... what is this?!"
Within seconds, the inside of the guild turned into hell.
Screams. Collisions. Released energy.
And in the middle of this chaos... Varnos’s eyes, watching through the monitors, narrowed.
What had happened?
What had happened to his guild’s Awakened?
What kind of trick had those bastards from the Goblin Guild used this ti?
Seeing his guild mbers killing each other made his blood boil.
"All control units!" his voice thundered through the area.
"Capture the infected alive! Don’t kill them!"
Imdiately, high-ranking Awakened moved into action.
Several of them skillfully restrained one of the crazed individuals, but he struggled like a wild animal, grinding his teeth and letting out inhuman sounds from his throat.
"Keep your distance!" Varnos continued.
"No one approaches without orders!"
At that mont, the communication system echoed throughout the entire guild:
"All guild mbers! Level two ergency declared! Report any abnormal behavior imdiately!"
Lana scanned the area with sharp eyes.
"Father... this isn’t just a few people..."
As if confirming her words, a ssage ca through the communication talismans.
"Leader! Similar reports are coming from other sections! More people... are showing the sa condition!"
For a mont, the atmosphere froze.
What had seed manageable was completely getting out of control, becoming more dangerous with every second.
If they didn’t handle this soon, there would be no need for a direct battle.
The guild would be destroyed from within.
They had to find out what was happening as quickly as possible.
Varnos didn’t hesitate even for a mont.
"Complete the defensive formation and war structure. We don’t have more than two hours. Prepare all units for direct combat as soon as possible."
"Y-Yes!"
"Move these individuals to the interrogation sector. Find out what caused this, no matter what."
Then his gaze fell on Daniel and Lana.
"You two, co with ."
Without wasting a second, they left the private dinsion. This situation required their direct involvent.
A few minutes later.
The atmosphere in the interrogation sector was heavy and cold.
Several Awakened were restrained on beds. Energy chains wrapped around their arms and legs, yet their bodies still trembled unnaturally.
One of them was slamming his head violently against the bed.
"Arrr...!"
His black eyes stared at the ceiling.
Daniel stepped forward.
For a few seconds, he said nothing. He just looked.
Then he raised his hand, and with a single motion, he killed him.
Varnos and Lana frowned, but said nothing.
[Forgotten Eyes]
As the old skill Daniel had obtained in the Pagoda of Death activated, countless strands of mory from the dead man appeared before him.
This was a skill that allowed him to briefly bring the souls of the dead back, observe their mories, and even examine their souls.
He had many ways to find out what had happened to these Awakened, and for now, he chose to use this skill.
There was another reason too.
Because of the poison, he couldn’t use a wide range of his abilities, and this was one of the few he could still use, even with difficulty.
"That’s it..."
"What?" Lana focused on him.
"Poison."
Silence.
"Are you sure?" Varnos stepped forward.
"Yeah... but it’s different. A different and more powerful poison. Still, it seems to have the sa origin as the one that poisoned us."
Daniel raised his hand. A weak stream of energy ford in his fingers as he slowly approached another infected person.
The man’s body suddenly trembled more violently.
"This isn’t just poison..." Daniel said quietly.
"It’s also a kind of corruption. It’s like it’s eating their minds."
"How did they get poisoned?" Lana asked angrily.
One of the intelligence mbers stepped forward.
"We did an initial check. None of these individuals had direct contact with the enemy."
"Then how were they infected?" Varnos’s gaze grew colder.
A few seconds of silence.
Then—
"There’s a pattern." Daniel’s eyes narrowed as he examined the data.
"What?" Lana asked quickly.
"These people..." Daniel pointed at them.
"They all ca into contact with sothing in the last 24 hours."
"What?"
"A person." he said, then continued,
"Soone inside the guild... is spreading this poison."
"A... spy?" Lana took a step back.
"Or a carrier," Daniel corrected.
"They might not even fully know it themselves, but they’re spreading it."
"Who?" Lana clenched her fist.
"We’re checking their contact lists" one of the officers said quickly.
At that mont, one of the restrained individuals suddenly laughed.
But this... wasn’t a normal laugh.
It sounded like multiple voices coming out at once.
"Heh..."
Everyone turned toward him.
His black eyes locked directly onto Daniel.
"Too late..."
His body suddenly arched.
"Get back!" Daniel shouted.
But an explosion of black energy burst out from his body.
The chains shattered. His body collapsed, and a wave of that sa energy spread outward.
Several people were thrown back. Fortunately, due to the strength of those present, no one was seriously injured.
Daniel slowly exhaled.
"...Confird."
"This isn’t just poisoning." He looked at the others.
"It also has an activation chanism."
"That ans anyone infected..." Lana whispered,
"Could explode at any mont."
Varnos straightened up. His eyes turned cold and resolute once again.
"The entire guild is now under quarantine. Any suspicious individual, without exception, must be detained."
"All distributions, food, dicine, items, are to be stopped imdiately."
"Form detection units. Every mber must be scanned."
Several people imdiately moved.
Varnos looked at Daniel.
"Can you help?"
"Yeah... I can find them," Daniel replied without hesitation.
Even though the poison had severely weakened him, finding a few insects shouldn’t be a problem.
The real issue was how many there were and how deeply they had taken root.
He was certain that a spy was behind this incident, and far worse things could still happen.
He had to find that spy as soon as possible, before anything even more dangerous occurred.
He let out a sigh deep in his heart. Now he understood what his intuition had been warning him about all this ti.
So the disaster he was about to face... was this war? And his intuition had been warning him that this was only the beginning.
"And the one behind this too." His eyes darkened slightly.
"So... the war isn’t just outside..." Lana took a deep breath.
"It started from within," Daniel said quietly.
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