The group crossed the Logistics Hall and walked down a corridor for about five minutes until a wide, circular plaza appeared ahead.
The plaza floor was paved with neat gray slate, and in the center stood a stone platform about ten meters in diameter, its surface covered in dense runic patterns.
Several staff members in deep gray uniforms stood around the platform, and two Spirit Bone Guards stood like sentinels on either side of the entrance.
A short queue had already formed in the plaza.
Raymond led the four of them to the end of the line.
The line moved relatively quickly. One by one, the people ahead stepped onto the platform, announced their coordinates, paid their magic stones, and vanished in a flash of light.
When it was their turn, Raymond was the first to step onto the platform. He pulled a magic stone from his tunic and handed it to the nearby staff member.
"Five people. The Sgor Mountains mine in Gold and Silver County."
The staff member took the magic stones one by one and pressed them into a groove at the edge of the platform.
A pale gold light swept over the magic stones, which then vanished as a ring of runic light ignited at the bottom of the groove.
"Stand in the center and don't move. Once the mission is complete, the Logistics Area will reimburse your teleportation fees."
The five of them walked to the center of the platform and stood still.
The runic patterns beneath Ethan's feet glowed blindingly bright. A faint sensation of weightlessness rose from the soles of his feet, as if something were tugging at his body.
The light suddenly became dazzling.
In that instant, Ethan felt as if his vision had gone completely white. The sound of the wind, the sound of breathing, and even his own heartbeat seemed to vanish.
That sensation lasted for only one or two breaths—fast enough to be a blink, yet slow enough to feel like an eternity.
When the light dissipated, the scene before him had completely changed.
They were standing atop a small castle.
The castle wasn't tall, only about three stories high, and was constructed entirely of grayish-black stone.
The teleportation array beneath their feet occupied the entire rooftop. Runic patterns spread across the slate floor, with several grooves along the edges.
But Ethan's gaze didn't linger on those things.
The smell of blood.
A thick, pungent stench of blood surged toward them from all directions.
He looked up.
Below the castle was an open mining site. A massive pit looked like a scar upon the earth, its edges piled with rubble and abandoned ore carts.
Dilapidated wooden houses and crude sheds were scattered around the pit. Some had collapsed, while others were still burning, sending plumes of black smoke into the air.
And across that open ground, Human-Faced Wolves were everywhere.
They were a full size larger than a human, with a shoulder height of at least two and a half meters, their bodies covered in coarse grayish-brown fur.
Most striking were their faces—twisted human countenances with blurred yet discernible features, eyes glowing with an eerie green light, and mouths that split open to their ears, revealing a maw full of yellowish-white fangs.
They wandered through the mine in small groups. Some were tearing at corpses on the ground, some were chasing screaming miners, and some had already stopped to look up toward the castle.
Those eerie green eyes were everywhere; there were at least seven or eight hundred pairs of them.
Raymond's face instantly turned ashen. "Eight hundred... The intel said a hundred to a hundred and thirty. Where the hell did this information come from?"
Carl shrank back. "What do we do now?"
"Retreat," Raymond said without a moment's hesitation. "Return to the academy. The academy won't hold us accountable for incorrect intel."
"Are you stupid?" Carl's voice suddenly rose. "Since when did the academy's rules change to not holding people accountable?"
Leah sneered. "Yeah, retreat my ass. If we flee without completing the mission, the academy will fine us double the magic stones. Forty magic stones—how are the five of us supposed to pay that back?"
Cedric stood at the back, his gaze sweeping over the three of them before landing on the swarming Human-Faced Wolves in the mine. His expression wasn't great either, but he remained relatively calm.
"If we don't retreat, we die. If we do, we're in debt," he spoke, his voice measured. "Forty magic stones can be paid back eventually. But if we die here..."
Before he could finish, a whistling sound of wind rushed past them.
The four of them turned simultaneously.
Ethan had already charged out of the teleportation array with his short spear and round shield. In a few strides, he reached the edge of the castle and leaped off.
"Are you crazy!" Raymond's voice exploded behind him.
Ethan ignored him.
Dropping from a height of three stories, he slightly bent his knees to absorb the impact, sending gravel flying beneath his feet.
The sound of his landing was exceptionally clear in the desolate mine, and the nearest Human-Faced Wolves turned their heads at once.
Those twisted human faces stared at him, a bloodthirsty glint flashing in their eerie green eyes.
Ethan didn't pause; he charged forward, spear in hand.
The blade of the short spear carved a silver line through the air, plunging precisely into the neck of the nearest Human-Faced Wolf.
The tip pierced below the Adam's apple, tore through the trachea, and emerged from the back of the neck.
The Human-Faced Wolf didn't even have time to scream before its legs buckled and it collapsed to the ground.
【Life Energy +10, Current Life Energy: 27.】
Before the Human-Faced Wolf's corpse could even hit the ground, Ethan had already sidestepped, pulling his short spear from the body and bringing a spray of blood with it.
A second Human-Faced Wolf pounced.
Its twisted human face enlarged rapidly before his eyes, its green eyes filled with bloodthirsty madness. Its wide-open mouth revealed interlocking fangs, and a foul, rank breath hit him in the face.
The Human-Faced Wolf stood two and a half meters at the shoulder; even on all fours, its back was nearly level with Ethan's chest. This pounce came from above, its entire body resembling a descending mountain of meat.
Ethan did not retreat.
He raised the round shield in his left hand to meet it, slamming it into that human face.
Bang!
The moment the shield collided with the twisted face, the Human-Faced Wolf's charge was cut short. Its head was knocked back, its body lost balance, and its front legs buckled as its upper body crashed toward the ground.
Ethan's right hand followed through with the short spear.
The spear tip entered through the wolf's lower jaw, passed through the roof of its mouth, and pierced straight into its brain.
【Life Energy +8, Current Life Energy: 35.】
Before the Human-Faced Wolf's corpse could even hit the ground, Ethan had already sidestepped, pulling his short spear from the body and bringing a spray of blood with it.
The third.
The fourth.
The fifth.
Human-Faced Wolves swarmed from all directions, their distorted faces swaying around Ethan, their green eyes filled with murderous frenzy.
But the speed at which they pounced seemed laughably slow to Ethan. Every movement of the Human-Faced Wolves looked like slow-motion footage; he could clearly anticipate the trajectory of every claw strike and the angle of every bite.
The short spear in his hand was like a bolt of silver lightning—stabbing, flicking, sweeping, and hacking. Every strike landed precisely on a Human-Faced Wolf's vital point.
The neck, the eye sockets, the heart—wherever the spear tip passed, a life was surely taken.
After killing for a while, Ethan frowned.
Too weak.
These so-called Knight-level Human-Faced Wolves were no different from paper to him.
Their claw strikes could shatter stone, but against his reaction speed, they couldn't even touch the hem of his clothes.
Their fangs could bite through iron armor, but he didn't give them a single chance to open their mouths.
Rate on N.U.
