The spheres split open, disgorging a deluge of black liquid that emitted a foul, acrid stench. Curled at the center of each sphere was a human on the brink of death, their body covered in a sludge-like substance.
“What? There are people inside? Does that mean all those dozens of spheres up there contain living people?”
Ronald pinched his nose as he looked at the unconscious man, then stared in horror at the dozen or so black spheres still hanging from the canopy.
Aila, meanwhile, moved swiftly between the fallen spheres, using a short blade to slice them open one by one. Sure enough, each black sphere contained a curled-up figure.
Enduring the nauseating stench, Aila pulled an unconscious Blake out of one of the spheres. Black mucus splashed across the ground as his body was dragged free.
“Everyone, come quickly! I found Blake!”
Hearing Aila’s urgent call, the other three rushed over.
Blake was covered in black water, his eyes tightly shut. His ashen face seemed to be shrouded in a layer of black mist. However, because he likely hadn't been trapped for long, his condition was noticeably better than the others.
After seeing his state, Midir immediately took out the Void Energy Tracer. As expected, the silver arrow was spinning wildly within the disk, pointing incessantly toward the various black spheres.
“It seems the liquid on them is highly concentrated Void Energy. Unlike the gaseous form used to control small animals, this concentration is clearly capable of causing immense harm to humans.”
Ronald spoke while looking down, holding a palm-sized instrument to carefully check Blake’s vitals. “But with such a high concentration of Void Energy here, why haven't any Void Demons appeared?”
“I’m going to bring down the rest of the spheres now.”
With that, Midir waved his hand to send a purification beam toward the fallen Blake before grabbing Starflame and leaping back toward the treetop.
In just a few moments, he successfully retrieved the remaining dozen or so black spheres from the tree.
The three on the ground scrambled to pull the people out of the spheres, laying them side by side next to Blake. Among them, they discovered Duke Rowena and his wife.
Duke Rowena and the others were gaunt, their cheeks sunken as if their bodily fluids had been drained. Fortunately, they all still had a breath of life in them. Midir expanded the range of his light element purification, enveloping everyone in a white barrier of light.
After a frantic period of effort, the breathing of the rescued individuals gradually stabilized under the cleansing effect of the light element. However, of the twenty-odd people saved, several still succumbed to their heavy injuries.
Before long, Blake, who was in the best condition, suddenly opened his eyes.
Accompanied by a fit of violent coughing, Blake spat out a large mouthful of black liquid. He struggled to sit up, a sudden movement that startled Rosal, who was watching over him.
“Where... where am I? Rosal? Hiss... my head hurts.” Blake rubbed his forehead, his vision blurry as he looked around and saw Rosal kneeling beside him.
“Blake, are you okay? Do you remember what happened?” Aila asked with concern, crouching down beside him as he woke.
Upon recognizing Aila’s face, Blake’s emotions suddenly became volatile. He clutched his chest and shouted.
“Miss Aila, it’s my father! My father was replaced! The fortress high command has been infiltrated! They’re in danger!”
“Rest easy. We’ve already rescued Duke Rowena. Calm down and look around you.”
Midir’s calm but powerful voice came from behind. A warm hand pressed onto Blake’s shoulder, acting like a stabilizing force that instantly soothed his agitated state.
Only then did he notice the dozen or so familiar figures lying around him, including his parents.
Seeing the situation, the heavy weight in Blake’s heart finally lifted. His body felt like a deflated balloon as he went limp, falling back onto the ground.
“Take a moment to recover, then try to remember exactly what happened. During the time you were controlled, we encountered your double,” Midir said, watching him.
“I only remember my father taking me back to the Lord's Manor. From the conversations with the people around us, I felt something was off. When I went back to the study to ask my father to let me see you all, I saw black mist like a Void Demon’s rising from him. Then, a black liquid erupted from his mouth and enveloped me. After that... I don't remember much.” Blake held his head, trying hard to recall the events, but the information he could provide was limited.
“Do you know where we are? Have you seen that black tree behind us?” Aila used the nearby light source to point out the massive black tree growing on the building.
“This... should be one of the secret passages of Azure Fortress. My father brought me here once when I was a child. That building is an emergency resource warehouse; it’s filled with supplies for evacuations. As for this tree... I’ve never seen it before...”
Following Aila’s finger, Blake tried his best to identify the surroundings, but he also confirmed that he had never seen the eerie black tree.
“Then the information we have is still very limited. I don’t know where that fake Blake and Duke Rowena went. If only I could have caught one of them just now.”
Midir sighed, feeling a bit frustrated with himself for not capturing the strange, fake Blake earlier.
“Heh... you actually wanted to catch me? But I’m right here beside you!” Just as Midir finished speaking, a female voice they had never heard before rang out through the pitch-black space.
The sudden female voice echoed off the cavern walls. The group’s hair stood on end as they hurriedly looked around, but they could only see the black walls and the suppressed light orbs.
“See? You can’t find me. I gave you a chance, yet you can’t even see a target this close. How useless! Hahahaha!”
The eerie female voice echoed through the air again, seemingly coming from all directions at once, penetrating everyone’s eardrums and striking deep into their souls.
“Stop playing tricks. Come out!”
Midir frowned, condensing a massive amount of light element—far more than before—into Starflame.
Suddenly, a brilliant blue light erupted from the longsword and shot toward the ceiling, rapidly dispelling the surrounding darkness. It was as if a pale blue sun had risen within the massive cavern.
At that moment, Aila snapped her head up. The multi-functional goggles Ronald had made were already on her face. Squinting against the intense glare, she pointed toward the black tree and shouted to the others, “Over there! On top of the tree!”
The others followed her finger. A black figure was standing quietly at the top of the canopy, looking down at them.
“I must say, that half-elven bloodline gave you decent reactions. But... you’re still a bit too green, little girl. Otherwise, you would have found me much sooner, wouldn’t you?”
As the black figure spoke, it twisted and transformed into Blake’s appearance. The voice also shifted from a female tone to Blake’s voice, a faint, mocking smile on its face.
“You’re in no position to judge me!”
At the sound of the mockery, Aila’s figure blurred as she charged forward. Midir instinctively reinforced her with a layer of wind element, allowing her to close the distance to the “Blake” on the tree in an instant.
Leaping into the air, Aila quickly pulled the emerald long whip from the Arms Crafter. She traced a blurry green shadow through the air, lashing out at the black figure.
The long whip struck “Blake’s” body with a loud crack, sweeping through and severing the torso into two pieces.
However, the smile on the figure’s face only widened. The two severed halves turned into two masses of black liquid, quickly moving out of Aila’s reach and falling downward. They reformed into the shape of Duke Rowena at the entrance of the warehouse not far away.
“Half-elf girl, I told you not to be so impulsive. With your current strength, you cannot hurt me. If we’re talking about who is a threat, it’s only him, right?”
The fake Duke spoke to Aila in his gruff voice, but his eyes were fixed on Midir.
“Who are you? Do not use that face in front of me!”
Midir still held Starflame high. As his words fell, the light element in the air transformed into a massive light rain, pouring down toward the Duke Rowena before them.
They expected the sweeping rain of light to leave the fake Duke with nowhere to hide, but with a sneer from him, the black sludge on the surrounding walls seemed to come to life. Before the light rain could strike him, the sludge rapidly formed a churning black sphere around him, enveloping him tightly.
The light rain Midir summoned pelted the black sphere, only kicking up clouds of black mist. The sphere itself showed no sign of melting away.
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