Ch.214Chapter 214: Dark Assembly (3).

# Chapter 214: Dark Assembly (3)

At the entrance to the central research laboratory area of Geruntia Fortress, a hellish large-scale battle was unfolding in front of the massive blast doors where malevolent magi energy was explosively surging.

The elite forces of the Southern Alliance, who had moved to seal off the laboratory under Quan’s orders, were engaged in a literal blood-splattering struggle against the Dark Assembly’s elite unit that had infiltrated to seize the “Water of Life Storage Core” on the orders of the Assembly’s leader.

Flashes of aura and magi, magic and magitech weapons intermingled, turning the area in front of the laboratory into a slaughterhouse.

The Southern Alliance forces were desperate.

Though they didn’t know what “magi” was, they felt extreme terror in the face of the ominous and evil energy they encountered and the horrific attack methods of the Dark Assembly agents.

However, thanks to their absolute loyalty to “Quan’s orders” and the support of magical defensive items imported from the Duron Kingdom, they were barely maintaining the containment line.

Great Warriors took the lead in blocking the Dark Assembly agents, but they were outmatched.

The Southern Alliance warriors were excellent fighters, but due to their constitution that prevented them from using “aura” itself, they were relatively vulnerable against monster-level opponents of Master rank or higher.

Only those of Great Warrior rank could stand against Master-level powerhouses.

There were more problems.

Those wearing black robes seemed less affected by magi influence, and all of them were either skilled warriors or mages.

And most terrifying of all… five Master-level powerhouses, Obscurants, had been deployed to this battlefield.

Besides the 3rd Seat Kallian and 6th Seat Morbis whom they had encountered at the 5th Workshop, three more Obscurants had appeared.

They overwhelmed the Southern Alliance’s Great Warriors and fiercely broke through the containment line.

The Great Warriors desperately stood their ground, but showed signs of gradually being pushed back in the face of the coordinated attacks of five Master-level opponents.

Dark Assembly agents swarmed like bees toward the laboratory entrance through the gaps created by the Obscurants.

Some Dark Assembly agents served as “decoys” to lure Quan’s forces from other directions and disperse their attention, but most of the elite forces were focused solely on capturing the laboratory where the “Water of Life Storage Core” was located.

Their objective was seizure, not annihilation.

“Damn it…! Those monsters! There are too many of them!”

A Great Warrior of the Southern Alliance screamed as he blocked an Obscurant’s attack, but then collapsed from a sword strike contaminated with magi that flew in from another direction.

The Southern Alliance’s defense line was on the verge of collapse in multiple places.

As Valt’s group made their desperate dash through the chaotic interior of the fortress, they felt they were getting closer to the source of the magi—the laboratory.

The surrounding magi energy grew more concentrated, weighing heavily on the air, and auditory and visual hallucinations became more vivid.

They witnessed countless sporadic battles between fortress troops and the Dark Assembly infiltration unit.

In some places, Quan’s forces had subdued Dark Assembly agents, but in most cases, the agents were smoothly penetrating deep into the fortress amid the confusion.

“Damn it! Those Dark Assembly bastards are spread throughout the entire fortress!” Solphin growled.

“There will be more of them blocking the way to the laboratory!” Yuria warned.

They moved while avoiding unnecessary friction with Quan’s forces as much as possible.

Valt’s group quickly advanced by finding tiny gaps between Quan’s containment line and the Dark Assembly’s infiltration routes.

Lilith’s spatial perception abilities, Yuria’s beast-like intuition, and Professor Liman’s knowledge of the fortress structure helped them find the fastest and safest route through the complex maze-like interior of the fortress.

Lati purified areas with weak magi contamination or disrupted detection magic, while Ramrpo desperately kept up with the team, terrified.

“This way! It’s the entrance to the laboratory area!” Professor Liman shouted.

Finally, as they emerged from the corridor and their view opened up, they held their breath at the sight before them.

A large hall where dozens of passages and corridors converged, and at the end stood the massive blast doors of the laboratory.

It was literally a battlefield.

Hundreds of Southern Alliance troops and Great Warriors under Quan’s command, and hundreds of elite Dark Assembly agents with five Obscurants surging like a black tide.

Both sides were entangled in a fierce battle over the laboratory entrance.

“Damn…! To think it would be this scale!!” Valt muttered. He realized his suspicions had become reality.

The Dark Assembly hadn’t simply come to take parts. They had launched a full-scale invasion targeting Quan’s most important facility in the heart of his territory.

‘The parts… they’re inside the laboratory! We need to break through this battle and get in! Before the Dark Assembly gets their hands on them first!’

Valt’s heart raced fiercely.

There was no time. Inside the laboratory, magi continued to surge. Either the assembled parts were in an unstable state, or perhaps the initial stages of a demon summoning ritual had already begun.

“Listen, everyone! We’re breaking through the battle at the laboratory entrance! Our only objective is to get inside the laboratory and destroy the parts! Minimize unnecessary combat and break through as quickly as possible!”

Valt shouted resolutely. His team members already knew his decision just by looking at his eyes.

Professor Liman adjusted his grip on his sword.

“Kehehehe… Finally time for some real fun!”

Solphin shouldered his massive claymore, and Aileen gathered aura at the tip of her sword.

Lati and Lilith began preparing their magic incantations, and Ramrpo gritted his teeth despite his fear.

Valt’s group took a moment to catch their breath and observe the battlefield before them.

Quan’s forces resisted with overwhelming numbers and loyalty, but they were gradually retreating in the face of the organized attacks of the five Obscurants and the Dark Assembly’s elite agents.

Terrible situations unfolded where malfunctioning magitech defenses of the Southern Alliance, affected by magi, caused damage to their own allies.

The Dark Assembly had truly calculated everything and targeted this moment.

“Charge!”

With Valt’s shout, he leaped into the chaos with explosive speed.

His team members followed like shadows.

Their desperate breakthrough toward the laboratory entrance began. Plunging into the midst of the fierce battle between both forces, they pushed all their abilities and teamwork to the limit, aiming for just one goal—entering the laboratory.

Deep within Geruntia Fortress, in Quan’s temporary command post surrounded by strict security.

Quan was closely monitoring the battle situation in front of the laboratory through a video device.

His face was frozen cold, but fierce anger burned in his eyes.

His brow furrowed deeply, especially at reports that the Dark Assembly side included multiple Master-level powerhouses and that his forces were being pushed back.

“…These bastards are no ordinary foes. To dare enter my Geruntia…!”

Just then, an eerie sense of discomfort swept through his entire body.

A feeling like a cold snake crawling up his spine. It was… a premonition of some invisible danger stimulating his intuition.

For a moment, his vision seemed to distort, and an ominous vision flashed by.

It was a different energy from magi… like a curse from another world.

‘What is this…? A warning to… not approach?’

Quan felt bewildered by this ominous sensation that he couldn’t completely shake off even with his absolute power.

His instinct strongly rejected directly approaching the laboratory source.

Outside, the battle was intensifying.

Reports came in that Dark Assembly agents were getting closer and closer to the laboratory entrance.

It was time to step in personally and resolve the situation at once.

With his power, it was certainly possible. But… that unpleasant premonition he had just felt.

Quan hesitated for a moment.

His pride and anger were screaming at him to rush out and tear the Dark Assembly bastards to pieces.

But what had made him the absolute ruler of the Southern continent for decades was precisely this cold judgment and caution not to ignore warnings.

‘This is ominous… I shouldn’t intervene directly. That magi… something more is hidden…!’

In the end, Quan decided to trust his intuition.

“How ridiculous I’ve become.”

He muttered lowly.

And immediately issued orders.

“I command all troops! Hold the laboratory containment line! Don’t let those Dark Assembly bastards take even one step inside the laboratory! And… deploy all Great Warriors! Stop the Dark Assembly Masters at the laboratory entrance!”

Swallowing his anger and frustration at not being able to intervene personally, Quan pushed his most powerful direct subordinates, the Great Warriors, to the front line.

The true power of Geruntia Fortress now began to converge at the laboratory entrance.

But the Dark Assembly did not back down either. Under the Assembly Leader’s orders, the Dark Assembly’s elite forces surged toward the laboratory entrance without fear of death.

The laboratory entrance had now become a battlefield where the continent’s strongest warriors clashed with the Dark Assembly’s monsters who wielded otherworldly magi.

And in the midst of that pandemonium, Valt’s group was desperately attempting to break through with the sole objective of destroying the parts.

***

Watching the burning Geruntia from a distant rocky mountain, the Assembly Leader coldly muttered.

“He has good intuition. Well, a ruler of a nation can’t afford to be reckless. It would have been nice to deal with Quan as well, but that would be asking too much.”

What he had prepared was a cursed artifact that would activate when Quan tried to directly approach the source of the magi.

An artifact from the demon realm that uses magi to cast a powerful curse, the ‘Curse of Powerlessness,’ which is useless without magi itself.

Though the activation conditions were very strict, its performance was equally reliable.

He had been saving it for an eventual encounter with Quan, the Emperor, or a Grand Master-level powerhouse, but it seemed difficult to use this time.

“A pity, Leader,” said his subordinate.

The Assembly Leader put the artifact back inside his robe.

“It’s good to save a precious item, isn’t it? If Quan doesn’t participate, there’s nothing more to see in this operation.”

The magi in Geruntia grew even thicker.