I know nothing...
Yeah, Ash knew nothing about the enemy, even after giving what could only be called a spectacular performance of dying. All he had now were a few speculations from his observations, and even those felt uncertain.
Whether any of them were true or nothing more than wrong guesses, he could not say.
Clad in the guise of the Unknown, wrapped in his Phantom armor, the hood pulling shadows over most of his face, and the mask hiding what little remained, Ash stood at the very top of the underground city’s do.
Or rather, clinging to it like a spider clings to the ceiling, holding on with a single hand.
The Absolute Concealnt shrouded him completely, not a trace of his presence leaking out.
From this vantage point, he could see the city in its entirety. Lights glimred from windows and lanterns, streets branched like veins, and the dwarves moved about their lives far below.
The sight should have impressed him atleast, but all he felt was an urge to turn his back and leave. He wanted nothing more than to be gone from this place.
Yes, if he could, he would have already left for the central city by now... if not for one thing.
I will burn him... that bastard...
That thought alone was enough to anchor him here.
The thought burned hotter than the flas that had consud his body. Call it petty or childish, Ash did not care.
He was a man who rembered every slight, every wound, and every humiliation, no matter how much ti passed. If soone wronged him, he kept that mory until the debt was paid.
He would have made lissia suffer through the exact sa way she had once made him endure, if not for the state he had found her in at the ti and consider his revenge taken.
He rembered every single debt. He had sworn to wipe out the Shadow Rats when he took the Rune of Stability, to destroy the one who had created the Trial Ground on the Dragon Continent, and even Solareth’s na was etched deep into his mory.
He had not acted on any of these grudges yet, but the day would co.
The Unicorn might be spared death, but that did not an they were safe from his revenge. Killing was not the only way to settle a score.
But this ti...
I will burn that demon for sure...
And for that to happen, he first needed to find the source from where the demon was polluting the water to control the people
With Snow’s X-ray vision, the network of water supply points across the underground city was easy to locate. Ash began at one end and moved through them one by one, checking for any sign of corruption. Hours passed like that.
But at each location, there was nothing. No strange mana, no demonic presence, no concealed remains.
Finally, he reached the last water supply point, far from the city’s main entrance. He scanned it thoroughly, his gaze lingering on every pipe and reservoir.
Still, there was nothing.
There is nothing here... was my assumption wrong?
He weighed the possibility. If it is not from the water, then could it be from the food? But unlike water, food has no single source. It cos from countless houses, shops, and storerooms. Searching through them all would take too much ti...
I wish I had so sort of intelligence-gathering un—
Wait...
If I do not have one, then I can just create it, right?
He still had one skill slot left. If he could sohow create an information-gathering skill, even if the chance of success was small, it could give him exactly what he needed.
Moving without hesitation, he slipped behind the massive water tank. There was a small cabin nearby, most likely a resting place or storage space for maintenance workers who serviced the water system.
Ash entered, closing the door softly behind him. The cabin was dim, dusty, and silent, the air stale from disuse.
Certain that no one was around, he exhaled slowly, cleared his mind, and stepped into his soul space.
Entering together with Snow, Ash spoke clearly,
"Skill Creation..."
As the familiar black and white window materialized before him, Ash began throwing out one idea after another for an information-gathering skill. Most were imdiately rejected, either due to an insufficient description or because the probability of creation was abyssal.
"Create a skill for information gathering using all my runes."
[Insufficient description]
"Create a skill using Rune of..."
[Insufficient description]
"Create..."
[Skill creation failed due to very low probability]
"Create..."
[Failed]
"Create..."
[Failed]
"Create..."
[Failed]
No matter what Ash tried, the result was the sa. Every attempt failed, the creation chance locked at an absurdly low 0.1%. That was far too low to create any skill worth having.
Looking at his arsenal of Runes, the outco was no surprise. He did not possess a single Rune directly related to information gathering. Rune of Knowledge might help... perhaps... but Ash was far from certain.
What he needed was a carrier—sothing that could move freely, exist everywhere without being noticed, and yet still be sentient enough to listen, collect information, and deliver it to him.
Was there even such a thing?
He could not think of even a single one. He didn’t think sothing like that even existed.
...Or did there?
Ash did not know, nor did he have the ti to think about it further because without warning, he was suddenly thrown out of his soul space.
-BOOM!!!!
Crap!!!
His senses snapped back to reality, and he found himself surrounded by flas. The heat licked at the air, and the roar of the blaze was deafening. This ti, it was not only his own body burning—everything around him was on fire.
The water tank above had been blasted apart, twisted tal and shattered stone littering the ground.
The shockwave had leveled everything nearby. His body was already healing, and the torn fabric of his clothing began stitching itself back together.
Before his thoughts could even settle...
-BOOM!!!
Another deafening explosion erupted nearby, the force slamming into him like a battering ram and sending him flying across the wreckage.
Fucking dwarfs!!!!!
He could already guess what had happened. Soone must have noticed an intruder near the water supply—him—and decided the quickest solution was to destroy the entire area.
That was the dwarven way: shoot first, ask questions later.
Ash knew exactly why he had been caught in the blast. When he entered his soul space, only his consciousness retreated; his physical body remained in the real world.
From the dwarves’ perspective, he had simply been standing there in silence, doing who knows what, making him a pri target.
And yet...
I had Absolute Concealnt activated... for hell’s sake, how did they even see ?
Not willing to test his luck any further, and now aware of the direction from which the dwarves were watching, Ash teleported away without hesitation.
The world shifted, and in the next instant he was standing deep within a dark alley in the middle of the city.
He leaned against the wall, taking deep, steadying breaths as his clothes finished repairing themselves.
What a crazy city... really...
And this sentence, Ash didn’t knew that he would be repeating for a long, long ti.
Because not even a single minute had passed before...
-BOOM!!!!!!!
Another explosion tore through the air, the deafening blast shaking him to his core.
Curses... there are people around here, there are houses, how can they—
-BOOM!!!!
-BOOM!!!
His thoughts were drowned in nothing but the relentless roar of destruction. The entire area was engulfed in chaos, the missiles launched by the dwarves carrying nothing but pure annihilation.
Within monts, every house in a radius of several kiloters had been reduced to dust and shattered stone. The sa fate had befallen the people. Blood painted the ground in dark splashes, bodies of the old and young alike lying scattered and broken. Children, elders... no one had been spared.
Ash’s eyes trembled as he took it all in. Have they gone mad? Or... is this the demon’s doing?
He was not sure what to believe. If the dwarves had truly gone insane, attacking their own without hesitation, that would be madness beyond reason. But his instincts told him this was not the case.
If they were not acting of their own will, then these attacks had to be connected to the demon in so way.
Beneath a massive slab of rubble, Ash stayed perfectly still. He could have teleported away in an instant, but he chose not to. If he left cover now, there was no telling whether another barrage would co hurtling towards him.
But there was various question burning in his mind, and one such was...
How is he sensing ? Or rather... seeing ?
It was the most troubling thing of all. His Concealnt was absolute—just as the na of the skill stated, Absolute Concealnt. Never before had it failed him. This was the first ti another being had been able to pinpoint his location while it was active.
As his body finished nding and his clothes stitched themselves back together, Ash slowly crawled out from beneath the rubble. He ignored the lifeless bodies of dwarves strewn around him, stepping over broken limbs and crushed armor until he erged into the open.
And then he saw it.
...Ah! Damn... it’s a nightmare...
And in that instant, he wished he had never laid eyes on it.
***
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