Science/Magic

Sorry guys, I was unable to post last night. However, I'm posting three chapters now, so please forgive me :p

...

The practitioners of this world had never seen a grenade before. Therefore, they were slow to react when they saw the small metallic ball falling through the hole in the door.

By the time they realized something was wrong–

*BOOM!!!*

–The grenade had already exploded, shooting shrapnel and super-compressed plasma into the surroundings.

The underground passage turned into a fiery hell. Many of the practitioners waiting to ambush Bloed and company were killed by the extreme heat caused by super-compressed energy, while another part of them was killed by the shockwave and shrapnel of the explosion.

Despite it, Bloed did not lower his guard. He put strength on his legs, kicking the semi-destroyed door open and charging into the underground structure.

Something charged before him, though. Leto turned into a wave of sharp metallic sand, flooding the underground structure and cutting everything inside, alive or dead.

Such an attack was more than enough to kill most of the enemies still alive after the explosion.

When Bloed reached the ground, only a few enemy practitioners were still alive.

And for them–

*Bam Bam Bam Bam!*

–Bloed's bullets were already waiting.

"Dammit! What the hell!"

"W-What is happening!?"

"S-Someone…!"

Many of the practitioners screamed in panic and confusion in front of the sudden wave of attacks, unable to react properly. Only a few B-Ranks realized the gravity of the situation and tried to organize the remaining practitioners to perform a better defense.

"Get a grip of yourself!"

"Mages, put a stop to the fire!"

"Don't panic!"

Unfortunately for them, they took too long.

Suddenly, the shadows seemed to come alive, engulfing the still-alive enemies. The next second, a pair of daggers emerged from the shadows, stabbing neck after neck at an astonishing speed.

It was Javelin!

Like a god of slaughter, his movements left behind a path of blood and death. He made use of the shadows and darkness to assassinate the enemies in seconds.

But he was not the only one that acted.

Regina, Liu Ying, and Illina also fell into the underground structure. Same like Javelin, they charged towards the enemies and started to kill.

Bloed supported them with his bullet while commanding Leto to continue entangling and killing enemies.

"Let's go, this is the way!" Illina shouted, pointing in a direction. The group nodded and followed her.

At that moment, the group realized this underground structure was much more vast than they expected. It was filled with complicated passages that interconnected together to form a giant underground maze.

The passages were dark, moist, and cold. Javelin took out an illumination stone he had with him and used it to lit up the way.

"… Incredible, I thought it was a rumor." Javelin muttered in disbelief.

"A rumor?" Bloed asked curiously.

"I heard about this place before. A rumor about a net of underground tunnels below Diadel City. I always thought it was just an urban myth. I never expected I would see it one day."

Bloed nodded deep in thought. He could imagine how hard it was to build a structure like this.

It was so vast and complicated that you would get lost if you don't know the way. Fortunately for the group, the lack of wind and sun made it so the scents took much longer to dissipate. Thus, Illina was able to track the prince's smell and guide the group in the right direction.

How did they know it was the right direction?

Simple, they continued encountering enemies in the way.

"Stop them!"

"Don't let them continue!"

Waves after waves of enemies attacked the group nonstops.

"How many of them are there?" Liu Ying frowned. "We had killed around thirty or forty already!"

Javelin frowned. "Illina, how far!"

"… The scent is becoming stronger. Two hundred meters or so!"

"That is good." Javelin nodded while stabbing the heart of a man. "Guys, just a bit more!"

"Roger!" Liu Ying grinned.

Bloed frowned. He could feel that the resistance had increased greatly. Although they had not met any A-Rank yet, the number of B-Ranks they had faced was at least five.

'They put a lot of effort into defending this place…'

But then, Bloed felt the resistance lightening.

And suddenly, there were no more enemies targeting the group.

'Have we killed them all…? No, this is…'

Bloed did not need to think for long to guess the reason.

And as he suspected, his thoughts were spot on.

After running for another minute, they arrived in front of what seemed like an entrance.

"It's here!" Illina stopped and said.

But then, they realized something strange.

The entrance... tt was opened.

"There are enemies inside, around ten of them." Regina said.

Bloed nodded. He could feel the obvious energy fluctuations from practitioners coming from inside.

Moreover, according to Illina, there were a lot of slaves and kidnapped people inside. If they were not careful, they could end hurting them.

Javelin frowned before looking at Bloed. "Any idea?"

Bloed nodded and grabbed a grenade from his pocket. But before he could throw it inside, Javelin stopped him.

"Are you crazy!? The prince is inside too!"

Bloed smiled. "Don't worry, this one will only stun them."

Before Javelin could understand the meaning of his words, Bloed threw the grenade inside.

But before the grenade passed through the entrance, there was a flash of light.

Then, the grenade was cut into two.

"Oops. That looks dangerous." A leisure voice came from the entrance.

Bloed narrowed his eyes. It seemed like the same trick was not going to work twice.

"… It has been a long time since the last time we had invitees." The voice of before continued. "As the host, it's my duty to give you the best reception possible."

With these words, a thick fog started to fill the underground passage.

Bloed wrinkled his brows. 'Could it be, poison…? No, this fog is normal.'

But although the fog was not poisonous, it was very thick. Just after a few seconds, the group's sight started to be affected. Even Javelin's illumination stone stopped being useful.

Bloed frowned. So that is his intention...

Javelin seemed to have understood it too. Thus, his expression turned very serious.

"Who are you?"

"You are invading someone else's property and are you asking who I am? That is pretty rude." The voice chuckled.

One second later, the group heard the sound of footsteps. Whoever was the owner of the voice, he was walking towards them.

However, he was still hidden behind the fog.

"I'm surprised, though." The voice said. "It's the first time in history someone reaches this far."

"What is this place?" Javelin asked.

The voice chuckled again. "You see, the Duke is a great man. When he started his rule, he abolished slavery and increased the security of the duchy. Before him, Diadel Duchy was a place of chaos and crime, but he transformed it into the prosperous state it's today.

"However, not everybody was happy with it. For years, Diadel Duchy had been the paradise for slavery and human trafficking. It bordered with the beastmen countries and its geographical location allowed to realize business with half of the continent. Thus, when the Duke abolished slavery, the people that lived from such a business had to find a way to survive.

"And this place was their answer. A net of tunnels that covers a third of the city, allowing to imprison and transport slaves to the different underground auctions."

"I can't believe a place like this exists." Javelin frowned in disgust. "Such a dirty place. How did you manage to keep it hidden? Such a net of tunnels is not something easy to overlook."

The man laughed smugly. "The people behind this are more powerful than you think, young man. Their means are not something you can imagine, and hiding this place is very easy for them. I congratulate you on coming this far, though. Even the duke has not managed to do it.

"Well, enough chitchat." The man hidden in the fog said. "I think this amount of fog is already enough."

Bloed and the others frowned. Currently, the fog was so thick that he could hardly see his hands.

It was obvious the reason the owner of the voice had been talking to them was to wait until the fog filled the passage completely.

With a soft chuckle that seemed to come from everywhere, the man bellowed.

"Now, you can die!"

It was as though the man was the fog itself. He suddenly materialized behind Illina, with a knife ready to stab her.

But suddenly, a strong sense of danger assaulted him.

Without hesitation, the man jumped aside; only to see bowl-sized bullet of energy coming towards his face.

And behind it, a pair of bright blue eyes glowed in the fog, following his movements.