Fairy Round Table Realm, Poem of Eternal Mist

"Ah—!" "Uh..."

A short scream rang out simultaneously with the muffled thud of bones and flesh being completely crushed. The flashlight beam abruptly went out. As the smoke cleared, only two unrecognizable pools of blood and gore remained on the ground, mixed with shattered gun parts.

"Hey! What's going on?! What's that sound over there?! Answer me!" The sergeant's furious voice came again from the depths of the passage, filled with growing unease. "What the hell is wrong with you all?! Speak up!"

Lipkaner, cowering behind the sergeant, was already deathly pale with fear. He gripped the sergeant's arm tightly, his voice trembling, "He...they...could they all...already..."

"Don't panic, sir!" The sergeant forced himself to remain calm, gripping his gun tightly. "With me here, that woman won't be able to harm you in the slightest!"

On the other side, a small team of five was cautiously making their way forward. As their flashlight beam swept across a relatively wide fork in the road, a high-explosive pack, deliberately placed in a conspicuous location and even bound with a bright red cloth strip, came into view.

"Captain! There are explosives! They're very conspicuous!" a soldier immediately whispered, signaling everyone to stop.

The lead soldier glanced at the explosives, then carefully scanned the surroundings with his flashlight, a disdainful sneer playing on his lips: "Hmph, trying to blow us up with something so conspicuous? Do they think we're blind? Everyone, get around here, stick to the other wall!"

The soldiers did as instructed, turned around, carefully avoided the explosive charges, and moved forward along the other side of the wall.

However, they had only taken a few steps—

"Snap! Crash—!"

The ground beneath their feet suddenly collapsed! The perfectly disguised trapdoor was activated instantly!

"Aaaaaah—!!"

Amid screams, the five people fell one after another into the deep pit that had been dug beforehand, like dumplings being dropped into a pot! At the bottom of the pit, countless thick wooden stakes, sharpened to an incredibly sharp point by Kalia, were driven upside down!

"Pfft! Pfft pfft pfft—!!"

A series of piercing sounds, chilling to the bone, rang out! Falling soldiers, like skewers of candied hawthorns, were impaled from different angles by wooden stakes! Blood instantly stained the stakes crimson, and screams echoed from the bottom of the pit, quickly fading into faintness. That conspicuous explosive charge was merely bait, a trap to lure them into a true death trap.

Kalia appeared at the edge of the pit, her eyes indifferent. She lit the gunpowder tube she had just scavenged from the corpse and threw it into the pit.

"Swoosh—Boom!"

The gunpowder burned fiercely, igniting the soldiers' clothing and remaining combustibles in the pit. Thick smoke and a burnt smell immediately billowed up and spread along the tunnel.

"There's smoke over there! Let's go check it out!" Soldiers from other directions were drawn by the thick smoke and immediately converged in this direction.

However, just as they were rushing through a seemingly ordinary narrow passage—

"Bang! Bang!"

From the shadows at both ends, two heavy iron rakes were suddenly launched out by ropes stretched to their limit! Like the jaws of a giant beast, they slammed down on the soldiers huddled together, accompanied by a whistling sound!

"Pfft! Crack!"

The sharp rake teeth easily pierced through flesh and bone! Several soldiers in the middle were the first to be hit, their heads and chests clamped, squeezed, and torn apart by the rakes! Blood and brain matter splattered out!

Almost simultaneously, another small squad of soldiers running from the direction of the thick smoke tripped over a cleverly disguised fuse that extended near the explosive charge.

"BOOM—!!!"

The deafening explosion shook the tunnel once more! The scorching flames and violent shockwave engulfed and tore apart the soldiers along with the surrounding earth and rocks!

As the aftershocks and thick smoke of the explosion gradually subsided, the tunnel fell back into an eerie, even deeper, deathly silence.

The previously noisy footsteps, shouts, and clashing gunfire all disappeared.

Only a few scattered flashlights lay on the ground, their pale light weakly illuminating the blood, flesh, and limbs scattered everywhere, as well as the mottled bloodstains splattered on the walls, whose origins were now indistinguishable.

Of the Earth Clan soldiers who entered the tunnels, except for a very few who might have searched further out or were extremely lucky, the main force had been completely swallowed up by this underground labyrinth of death.

Now, deep within this dark, bloody, trap-filled lair, the only remaining "living things" besides the hunter Kalia, who roams there like a ghost, are—

The sergeant, huddled tightly together, his back against the cold wall, his face deathly pale, breathing rapidly, trembling all over...

And, there was Lipcan himself, whom he was protecting tightly behind him, almost collapsing to the ground, his eyes filled with boundless fear.

"There it is!"

The sergeant's eyes suddenly sharpened, and the beam of his flashlight instantly locked onto a golden figure that flashed past from another fork in the passage! Without the slightest hesitation, he raised his automatic rifle and pulled the trigger!

"Bang bang bang bang-!!!"

Rapid gunfire exploded in the confined tunnel, deafeningly loud! The narrow space limited the angle of evasion, and bullets, like a deadly swarm of bees, tore through the air, relentlessly pursuing Kalia's movement!

"Pfft! Pfft!"

Despite Kalia's best efforts to shrink and dodge, two bullets still managed to hit her precisely—one grazed her shoulder blade, leaving a trail of blood and fragments of armor; the other pierced her side abdomen!

"Ugh—!"

A sharp pain, like a red-hot iron rod, pierced through Kalia's nerves in an instant! She groaned, her body staggering uncontrollably, managing to stay upright by bracing herself against the cold, damp earthen wall with one hand. Warm liquid immediately gushed from the wound, soaking through the lining and dripping down the seams of her armor.

"It hurts so much..." she whispered through gritted teeth, cold sweat beading on her forehead. What made her even more desperate was that the flow of magic within her body seemed to be tightly bound by invisible chains, as still as stagnant water—that damned restrictive device was in effect, preventing her from even casting the simplest healing spells! With each breath, her wounds tore apart with excruciating pain.

"You hit her! Well done!" Lipkaner, hiding behind the captain, poked half his head out and saw that Kalia was injured. His face immediately lit up with wild joy and a hint of morbid excitement.

Kalia didn't stop, nor did she even try to treat her wound. She forcefully suppressed the pain that was almost overwhelming her consciousness, and using her bloodied hand to support herself against the wall, she continued to move forward. Each step felt like stepping on a red-hot knife tip, and the wound in her abdomen continued to ooze more blood with each movement, leaving a discontinuous, glaring scarlet trail behind her.

The sergeant's eyes were fierce. He held his gun, cautiously following the trail of blood like a hyena tracking wounded prey. His attention was completely focused on the golden figure that might reappear ahead, his feet...

"Click".

A faint, crisp sound as a wooden plank was stepped on.

Just as the alarm bells rang in the sergeant's mind, the seemingly solid wooden plank beneath his feet, which had actually been tampered with by Kalia, suddenly collapsed and flipped over!

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!!!"

Beneath the wooden plank, hundreds of sharp iron nails, bound by a powerful spring mechanism, shot towards the unprotected sergeant above like a sudden burst of metal storm!

"Puff puff puff puff—!!!"

A series of dull, rapid sounds of flesh being pierced filled the air! The sergeant didn't even have time to fully scream before his entire face, neck, chest, arms… every exposed part of his body was instantly pierced and filled with countless iron nails! His wide eyes still held horror and disbelief. His body stiffened for a moment, then, like a skinned corpse with its bones removed, he crashed backward with a thud, landing heavily in a pool of blood, splattering a dark red stain. His gun slipped from his hand, and his flashlight rolled aside, its beam still illuminating the bloodstains splattered on the wall.

Inside the tunnel, only Lipkaner's heavy, terrified breathing and Kalia's suppressed, intermittent gasps of pain remained.

Kalia, enduring the dizziness and excruciating pain that threatened to rob her of consciousness, dragged her wounded body step by step to the sergeant's corpse. She bent down, her movements unusually slow and stiff due to the pain, and pulled a communication crystal, still slightly warm, from the pocket of the blood-soaked, nail-studded uniform.

"W-How is it? Did you catch her? Or..." Lipkaner's trembling voice came from around the corner ahead, carrying a last glimmer of hope. He cautiously peeked out.

What came into his view was not his victorious subordinates, but the sergeant's body, riddled with holes, eyes wide open in death, and resembling a grotesque hedgehog, lying silently in the center of a pool of blood, the pale light of his flashlight illuminating the gruesome scene.

"Ah...ahhh...this...this..." The color drained from Lipkaner's face instantly, his lips trembled, and his pupils dilated with extreme fear. The last barrier had collapsed. At this moment, he was like a lamb stripped naked and thrown into a pack of wolves, completely exposed to the fangs of the avengers.

A chilling emptiness and despair overwhelmed him like a tidal wave. The sinister smugness and triumph he had displayed during his plot in the royal city had vanished, leaving only the most primal fear of death. He instinctively gripped the cold metal device in his arms—it was this device that restricted magic, indirectly forcing the soldiers to rely solely on firearms, ultimately leading to their deaths. Ironically, once activated, this device could only be deactivated by Morgan herself, the one who granted it the authority. And Queen Morgan… was no longer there.

Like a gambler who had lost everything, he futilely and frantically pounded and kicked the device, trying to stop it from working. The metal casing struck the ground with dull thuds, but it was all in vain. His attempt to steal a chicken backfired; the stone he had lifted was now crashing down on his own feet, trapping him in this desperate predicament.

Just then, the communication crystal in his pocket suddenly lit up with a faint light and emitted a buzzing electrical noise.

Immediately afterwards, Cariana's voice, slightly hoarse from suppressing pain, yet chillingly cold, seemed to come from the depths of hell, clearly echoing within the crystal and reverberating throughout the deathly silent tunnel:

"They're all dead...everyone..."

Her voice paused for a moment, followed by a suppressed gasp, as if she were struggling with some intense pain.

“...I could have killed you a hundred times, a thousand times... Lipcan.”

Every word was like an icicle, chiseling into Lipcan's heart.

"But... I want to save you for last... to 'treat' you properly."

Lipkaner's body trembled violently, like a frog caught in the venom of a snake, almost collapsing to the ground. He opened his mouth, wanting to utter a threat or beg for mercy, but only managed to utter a string of meaningless, broken syllables: "Go...go to hell! You...you..."

"Do not."

Kalia's voice suddenly rose, interrupting his weak curse; the suppressed anger and hatred in his voice were like a volcano about to erupt.

"It's you—you should die!!!"

The communication crystal seemed to tremble slightly at her murderous roar.

"I'm going to make you... taste... my anger! My hatred!!"

Her voice was distorted by extreme emotion, yet it carried a chilling, almost oath-like calm:

"When I personally... reached into your chest... and ripped out your filthy, vile, still-beating heart!!!"

"Just like... what you did to our Emperor—!!!!"

The final roar echoed dully through the tunnel, like the tolling of a death knell.

Lipkaner was struck dumb. The communication crystal slipped from his trembling hand and fell into the pool of blood, its light flickering a few times before going out. He slumped against the cold earthen wall, his body sliding uncontrollably downwards, his mind blank, only that one sentence echoing wildly in his head—"Tear out your heart..."

I don't know how much time passed; maybe only a few seconds, maybe as long as a century.

Deep within the dark passage ahead, a faint yet steady, icy blue light suddenly shone. It wasn't the light of a flashlight, but more like... the cold light refracted by ice crystals, barely illuminating a small area.

Then, Kalia's voice came again, calmer than before, yet carrying an undeniable invitation, as if from the Grim Reaper:

Do you want to... live?

She paused, seemingly enjoying the other person's fear.

"Then...follow the light."

As soon as he finished speaking, Kalia's five fingers tightened suddenly!

"Clap!"

A crisp cracking sound rang out, and the communication crystal turned to dust in her blood-stained palm, its faint light completely extinguished.

The next second, without hesitation, she pressed a simple yet deadly detonator switch on her waist!

"Bang--!!!"

"BOOM—!!!"

"BOOM BOOM BOOM—!!!"

A series of deafening explosions, like the roar of a subterranean beast, erupted simultaneously from all directions, from the depths, and from the side passages of the tunnel! Blazing flames tore through the darkness, and violent shockwaves, carrying mud, gravel, and smoke, surged and overlapped wildly within the narrow passage like a destructive torrent!

The entire tunnel was shaking and groaning violently! Chunks of earth were falling from above, and spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the walls, as if it would collapse completely at any moment!

Lipkaner was thrown off balance by the sudden, apocalyptic explosion, unable to stand properly. His ears were ringing, and he was temporarily deafened by the sound of the explosion. Only his heart was pounding wildly in his chest, as if it were about to burst! The instinct for survival, like a last surge of adrenaline, overcame the stiffness brought on by fear.

"No... I can't die here...!"

He screamed and scrambled to his feet, ignoring the dirt hitting his head. He clutched the cold metal device in his arms—the very thing that had killed everyone and trapped him—which now became his only solace. Staggering, he ran with all his might toward the faint, icy blue light at the end of the passage ahead, a single guiding light!

Behind him, waves of explosions surged one after another, scorching air licking his back, and shards of rock grazing his body like bullets, leaving streaks of blood. Thick smoke and dust choked him, causing him to cough violently, his face streaked with tears and snot.

Closer! The light is getting closer and closer! The outline of the exit is faintly visible through the smoke and dust!

Just as he was about to lunge towards the light—