"Finally, I started to miss this…"

Once Illyan finished killing these goblins, he devoured most of their flesh.

He thought about roasting them, but considering he was in a cave, it could be dangerous for his current state. For a normal person, losing breathable air or breathing in smoke was the end.

Not that the goblin's meat would taste better if he cooked it. He was pretty sure it would be disgusting either way.

Anyway, after finishing his meal and meditating for a few hours to adjust to his new spirituality, Illyan once again set off on his way out.

He didn't meet any more undead but felt that many eyes were observing him as he passed through large shafts.

Many creatures lived here, forgotten by the world above the surface.

Gigantic spiders and insects, gremlins, lizards, and whatnot.

But nothing attacked Illyan, just observing from a distance.

Thus, without any obstacles, Illyan found the entrance to the mine after using Aurelia's blood mark as a guiding point. It took him a lot of time since he didn't know which path was right, but in the end, with a bit of luck, he finally found the right way.

'I expected someone to be here, though.'

Illyan was careful when he got out of the mine, fearing any enemies, but he never met anyone.

Looking at the tracks, either someone hid them professionally, or no one passed through here.

'No, one track was left behind.'

When Illyan came to the blood mark made by Aurelia, he felt a certain attraction. Almost instinctively, he bit into his finger and put it on the mark.

Crimson light shone from the mark for a second before completely disappearing.

'With this, Aurelia should know I am alright. Now then… I need to return to that hidden spot before returning back.'

Illyan thought as he adjusted the robe he took from the remains of Aziro, whose body had turned to ashes after dying for the second time.

However, Illyan couldn't return with Aziro's robe. That would be just a naive and stupid thing to do.

Fortunately, he was aware of that as he hid his physician robe that he wore when he came out of Faruin.

He just needed to retrieve it.

'Aurelia should already be in the city. It should begin soon, so I need to hurry.'

As such, Illyan didn't waste time as he ran down the mountain back to the ancient ruins…

…….

Meanwhile, in the city, everything fell into chaos.

"W-what is happening? The ground is shaking!" Screams of fear were heard everywhere.

"We need to leave the city! It will collapse!"

Merchants and academics started to panic as they looked pleadingly towards the soldiers.

However, even soldiers and officers were in a state of confusion when they noticed the trembling buildings and vibrating ground.

"Everyone calm down! The bandits outside of the city must be in a state of chaos right now! This is our opportunity to flee! So worry no—Swish!"

Vice-mayor Hatar, the son of the mayor, saw the crux of the situation and tried to calm people before everything came out of control.

Unfortunately, he was mistaken about one thing. The bandits were far from a state of panic.

Evidence of this was the arrow that was protruding out of his chest.

"Ambush! Take cover!" Awur, seeing this, roared as he took his shield in front of himself and unsheathed his sword.

Bandits who had been keeping watch for days finally made a move.

They climbed the walls and used their bows to shoot the soldiers.

However, they mostly tried to scare them rather than kill them, as if keeping them at bay was their mission.

"Grroooaaar!"

Suddenly, a roar was heard farther away from the center of the city.

"Why is this happening? Shouldn't the main force be here already when something like this happens? They said they kept in contact!"

Ujir, the merchant who made certain deals with acolytes, was cursing loudly as he hid inside his caravan.

"Sir Ujir, please let me stay here… I served you for years…"

A woman in heavy makeup with a revealing garment came running toward him with a teary face.

It was one of the prostitutes under Ujir's protection.

However, when it came to shove…

"Go away, stupid bitch! There is not enough space!" Ujir spat at her as he kicked her away, even going as far as taking a dagger and waving it in front of him to scare her off.

Someone like him would never share his hiding spot.

Sob

The woman, seeing this, sobbed but decided to run away.

Ujir turned his attention back to the caravan.

"Where are the hidden doors…" he muttered as he put all the goods away.

"There it is!" With joy, Ujir opened the small hidden door on the floor of the caravan and entered it.

It was a small compartment where most of his prized possessions were. At the same time, it was his hiding spot when things went south.

'Don't blame me. It is that bastard's fault!' Ujir cursed in his heart.

The acolyte he fawned over for over a year not only hadn't paid his dues till now, but he had also completely brushed him off, saying it wasn't his responsibility to protect him.

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'God damn these bastards… I will definitely pay you back for this…'

Ujir thought maliciously in his heart.

However, while he was inside his little haven, others outside were going crazy as the roars of unknown creatures got closer.

"Nord! Cara and Garran!" Terren, holding his bloodied spear, came to check on their safety. While most bandits attacked from a distance, there were still some that came to wreak havoc in the midst of crowds.

"Terren! Are there any chances we can win?" Nord, taking a deep breath as he squeezed the hand of his lover, asked in a deep tone.

Terren's expression was ugly as he breathed heavily.

"I… No." In the end, he could only answer truthfully.

"What do we do?" Cara said gloomily. There was some fear in her eyes, but most of it was sadness. She had finally confirmed her relationship with her childhood sweetheart, but this happened soon after.

"Run." In the end, Terren, who felt stuffed in his heart, said this quietly.

"What? What do you mean 'Run'? We don't even have a way to run from here." Garran shook his head despondently.

"I will make a way for you guys. There should be some chance then," Terren said seriously.

"Haha, this bastard! You're getting funnier, Terren." Nord's expression turned cold after hearing this as he laughed angrily.

"I don't want to lose even one more friend. This is what I should do as a knight," Terren said as he straightened his back.

"Do you think we don't feel the same?!" Nord was getting agitated at Terren's words, but before he could properly scold him, the ground shook even more heavily as roars of creatures resounded from all directions.

Surprised, they looked around and noticed all kinds of monsters running toward the center of the square.

"I-isn't that a troll?!" Garran gasped as he saw the troll running toward them.

But it wasn't just that. Rather, he was scared of what was running after the troll.

"These are… That's the thing that attacked us on that slope! There are so many!" Terren's voice jumped in horror seeing this.

Dozens of wendigos of both types were running around, herding large amounts of fauna from the mountains toward the center of the city.

"There is no way to run away now…" Nord said quietly.

"Wait!" Suddenly, Garran called out as he pointed in one direction.

There, in the distance, they saw Arun running toward his brother, trying to persuade him with something, pointing at the citadel.

However, his brother Awur just yelled back in anger as he took his spear after the sword's blade broke and prepared to lunge at the creatures that were already halfway into the square.

Arun wanted to drag him back but was thrown away.

In the end, the group of academics came to Arun and dragged him up the stairs. He yelled out in despair but couldn't fight back as he was too weak.

"Isn't that the group that Kaoran was in…? Kaoran!" Nord muttered to himself before suddenly realizing the crux of the matter.

"Kaoran told us, didn't he? To be close around the citadel. I didn't know what he meant by that before, but now… His colleagues are going there too. There should be some safe zone!" Garran, who realized this, clenched his fists.

"Kaoran… He knew something would happen and warned us…" Nord said with a heavy heart.

"I just hope that his death doesn't have anything to do with this," Garran said.

The realization shone in the others' eyes.

"We don't have time for this now. We will think about it once we get to the citadel," Nord said, while Terren, who saw the opportunity, called out to his friends.

"We need to warn others too!" Saying that, he prepared to run around to help but was stopped by Nord.

"Stop it! Look around! The robed guys seem to be confused, but look at the ones from the gangs! They seem to be calm, as if they knew what was happening. Not only that, but they also seem to be pressuring the robed guys," Nord said in a hushed tone as he pointed at the guys from the Heart Bearer Gang arguing with the acolytes.

They even stopped some merchants and academics from going outside of the square and towards the citadel.

Terren's face turned somber.

All of this was difficult to take in. It was as if everything had turned bleak suddenly.

"I… understand. Let me just warn my seniors. He is someone I don't want to see hurt," Terren pleaded.

"Then let's go!" Nord said as they prepared to leave.

But just then, they heard a panicked voice as a fat and bald man was running around like a headless chicken.

"Sir Bor?" The group looked at each other and nodded their heads as they ran toward him.

"W-what are you… It's you guys?!" Bor, who was confused, turned wary seeing them but then realized it was the group of children he had taken into Winterfrost that year.

"There is no time! If you want to live, then we need to enter the area around the citadel. You need to help us!"

Saying that, they set off and quickly found Terren's senior. They persuaded him to leave his post for the sake of survival and left the frontlines immediately.

As such, the group abandoned everything as they ran through all the people toward the citadel.

Most of the officers and leaders were already dead from arrows anyway, so no one stopped them.

However, one person noticed them. Cornelius, rolling on the ground because of the arrows, saw the deserters left and right, but very few went to the citadel.

Normally, he wouldn't care, but as he lay on the ground, he noticed the faintly shining engravings on the ground.

The patterns were difficult and head-spinning, but they were covering the entire square. But nobody cared for such things as the danger was running toward them.

But Cornelius knew. This was the thing the academics were working on. And now, it was shining.

Normal people wouldn't understand much about Winterfrost's situation, but he had an idea.

Looking around, he saw the gangs slowly but surely retreating while pressuring the acolytes, soldiers, and everyone else to stay in the square.

And their destination…

'Citadel! I need to get to the citadel. The academics who did this also made it to the citadel. That definitely means something is going to happen.' Determination shone in his eyes as he slowly crawled toward the building in the center while screams of pain resounded everywhere else.

……..

"Where is Kaoran?"

After many days, Vanda finally returned to the ruined city.

However, she was in a foul mood.

Their plan had to be moved forward as some bastards collapsed the entire cave and caused chaos in each of the nodes.

It took several days just to excavate the stele, not to mention that Korin told her their enemies also gained the stele's authority and that he couldn't do anything with it.

Because of all that, Vanda was getting angrier each day.

And on this day, when they finally decided to go forward with their plan, she planned to release some stress with the help of her cute colleague, but she couldn't find him.

"Miss Vanda… Kaoran died a few days ago. He—Ugh,"

Neddard, who was reporting to Vanda at the base of the citadel, coughed heavily as Vanda let out her mana, creating an oppressive aura.

"What… did… you just say?" Vanda's eyes turned empty as she emotionlessly looked into Neddard's eyes.

He could only grit his teeth as he explained.

"He was out to observe the constellation of the stars but was ambushed by certain enemies. Cough. They baited a troll to attack his group…"

Everyone else around turned silent. They didn't know much about Vanda, especially her strength, so now seeing her being so oppressive made them fearful.

"Unknown enemies?" Vanda's mind turned blank.

But then, she thought about those bastards in the mines.

"It's them! Those… Argh! How dare they kill my toy!" For a second, Vanda turned silent before yelling in frustration as she bit into her nails until her fingers bled.

"How is my brother?" In the end, Vanda asked as she sat down heavily.

"He is recovering. Fortunately, Ezekiel's magic helped him to recover his leg, but it will never be as good as his original one," Neddard explained obediently.

"Haah… No matter. Since it came to this, we need to look forward. I suppose that you managed to crack the diagram on that stupid citadel, right?" Vanda inquired.

"But of course, my lady. We retrieved Kaoran's notes, so we managed to finish it, albeit it took more time. Without these notes, Arun and I would have had problems finishing it. Korin and Kaoran are truly talented," Neddard shook his head in defeat.

"Where is Arun anyway? We will start soon. He is also one of the reasons why this entire project had to be delayed. If not for making so many mistakes during the reconstruction of the array, we would have been able to start weeks ago," Vanda's eyes shone with frigid indifference.

"He… will be here soon. He is trying to persuade his brother to stay near this place," Tami, who had been listening quietly until now, suddenly raised her head and explained this to Vanda.

Unfortunately, Vanda shook her head.

"It is already time. We can't delay as the array is already activating. Bring him here, even through violence if needed."

After saying that, Tami and Mufa left and took Arun by his shoulders despite his resistance.

"What about other rats? Several of them passed through those useless bastards," Neddard clicked his tongue as he looked at the quick-witted merchants and academics running toward the citadel while evading the gang members.

Vanda also looked in the direction of the stairs and narrowed her eyes.

Despite all of the chaotic scenes happening, she could easily spot the red hair of a certain person.

She was sitting near the citadel, looking weak, with several Heart Bearer members guarding her. Because of that, it seemed that this spot became the weakest link as a lot of people passed through that space.

"Leave them be. It is not like we want to kill them all. There need to be some witnesses for our next plan."

Right after saying that, the trembling stopped.

It was as if time froze, everything got sluggish, and the world lost its colors.

The only thing that was giving off myriad colors was the array engraved in the pavement of the square.

"It began," Vanda said as she looked over the square with a cruel look in her eyes…

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