Chapter 279: Stealth ’I still haven’t gotten to eat human food yet...’ Erblim thought with clear disappointment as he flew through the air in his crow form. His feathers cut through the air like black blades, and the sound of his wings alone was sharp enough to slice through the silence. Every so often, a stray limb or piece of metal turned into shreds as he passed. ’I have to admit,’ he continued, his beady eyes narrowing, ’this mission is starting to get boring.’ He had been hoping for something more interesting. When Azel’s face turned serious, he’d thought they would face some grand foe... someone like Ahrya, or maybe a monstrous beast that could shake the heavens. Instead, they were wandering through a grimy base filled with half-trained thugs. It was really disappointing... Erblim stopped in mid-air, hovering quietly when he realized there was no one left alive to kill. His sharp eyes flicked toward Ravik, who was standing near a decapitated corpse. The werewolf had bullet marks scattered across his torso and small tears in his shirt, but otherwise looked perfectly fine... he was healing pretty quickly. Azel, however, wasn’t moving. He stood perfectly still with his eyes fixed on a wall in front of him. It was an odd sight. "Master, what’s going on?" Erblim finally asked, flapping his wings once before landing neatly on a broken beam. Azel glanced over his shoulder. "Come on. Let’s go deeper inside. This feels too small to be the whole base. There’s definitely more." "Do you think we’ll meet stronger ones this time?" Ravik asked, cracking his knuckles. He needed to face stronger people... He needed to feel the thrill of battle again... "Maybe even a few werewolves," Azel said with a smirk. Erblim’s feathers rustled in excitement as well, Ever since he’d seen werewolves back in the familiar plane, he’d been itching to know how strong the real ones in this world were, well except for Ravik. The idea of fighting werewolves made his blood boil with anticipation. Ravik moved ahead, sniffing the air. "There’s a door ahead." The hallway led them to a large, rusted metal door at the far end. It looked heavy... reinforced with steel plating and covered in scratches that showed how old it was. Ravik didn’t hesitate. With one powerful punch, the werewolf tore it off its hinges. The door flew like a missile and slammed into the far wall of the next hallway with a loud metallic clang. The three entered cautiously. At first glance, the hallway beyond was empty. There were no guards, no patrols, not even a footsteps. It was strange... if this was really a gang’s main hideout, the moment they entered, alarms should’ve gone off... Yet, there was nothing but silence. Then Azel heard it. Beep. There was a sound in the air... a beeping sound? Then again. Beep. Beep. The rhythm grew faster. He turned his head slowly and noticed small blinking red lights embedded into the cracks of the wall, stretching from one end of the corridor to the other. These were Explosives... lots of them. "Ah," he muttered calmly, "so that’s their plan." The realization was immediate... they’d been baited. The gang members they had just killed were likely meant to delay them long enough for this trap to go off. A self-destruct mechanism to erase the evidence... and anyone foolish enough to follow. Ravik’s fur bristled. "My lord?" "I can use this to our advantage," Azel said. A faint glow appeared over his hand as he opened a floating grimoire, its pages flipping rapidly on their own. "Saint Shield." A surge of holy energy erupted outward, forming a translucent dome around them. The symbol of an angel’s wing shimmered faintly across the surface before vanishing. The beeping reached its climax. Beep-beep-beep... BOOM! The explosion hit like a thunderclap. The corridor was consumed by fire and smoke. The blast ripped apart the steel beams and shattered the floor. Walls collapsed inward as dust and rubble surged like a wave. The shockwave alone could have killed any ordinary person. But inside the glowing sphere, Azel and his two companions stood untouched. Ravik covered his eyes as the light faded. Erblim’s feathers were ruffled, but he looked more impressed than shaken. "Well, that was fun," the crow muttered dryly. Azel kicked at a fallen stone, creating a narrow path through the wreckage silently. "Come on, we’re not done yet." He lifted one of the larger rocks with a single push of his leg, clearing the way for Ravik and Erblim to move through. He also casted a cloaking spell that would cancel out their noises and bodies to the outside world... They had survived, but now the situation had worsened. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶 The teleportation stone he carried had been crushed in the blast... They were trapped underground, with no idea how deep they were or where the exits might be and worse yet, Exotin was being shared here. ’Great,’ he thought grimly, ’Maybe next time I should shut up and go on the vacation.’ He was about to speak when movement caught his attention. A figure appeared at the far end of the rubble... it was a young woman. She stumbled into view and she looked tired. Her clothes were dark, torn in several places, and her pale skin glowed under the dim light. Three eyes. Just like the priestess he’d killed earlier. The girl froze when she saw the destruction. Her lower lip trembled, and she dropped to her knees in front of the ruins. "Sister..." she whispered, voice cracking. "You didn’t have to sacrifice yourself..." Tears welled up in all three of her eyes, streaming down her cheeks in uneven lines. She pressed her hands together and sobbed louder. "I swear it’s that Azel’s fault," she cried out, her voice shaking with fury and grief. "Thank the goddess that he’s buried under all this rubble. I wish I could see his face... just once! I wish I could stomp on him! I wish I could kill him! But... I lost my chance. I lost everything because of him..." Her sobs echoed painfully through the hollow hall. ’Eh? What the fuck did I do? The girl wiped her tears, her expression hardening. "If only he had died earlier... then both of us wouldn’t be in this situation. I’m sorry I couldn’t fulfill your wish" She turned away from the rubble and began walking down another corridor. Azel waited until her figure vanished into the shadows. Then, barely above a whisper, he said, "Follow her." It was time to do a stealth mission...