*Three seconds earlier*

“Tyr… did you hear what one of them just said over the hidden radio?” Noa’s voice came through an ear chip in Tyr’s left earlobe.

“Yeah…” Tyr said, pushing the doors to the warehouse wide open.

As Tyr stepped inside, necks twisted toward him as if he was Medusa.

‘The guys you captured were dead. Thats what I heard…’ Tyr confirmed to himself, gritting his teeth with anger just at the thought of that possibility.

“Mrama!” Tyr roared, “You slugs… where are Hanzo and Malon!? Show them to me, now!”

Mrama had a smile stretching across his face right now. The three other figures also looked to be chuckling slightly to themselves for some reason.

“Woah woah! Calm down…” Mrama stepped forward, “First of all, where is my broth–” He paused, noticing Jiro’s situation as his eyes expanded with shock.

Jiro attempted to shout something but was muffled by a piece of cloth stuffed into his mouth.

After a short pause, Mrama looked at the figures whose heads were covered by bags.

“Here are your friends.” Mrama took off the bags.

Tyr squinted, getting a good look at both Hanzo and Malon.

Sure enough, they were who Mrama said they were.

However, something felt off.

The two simply stared forward without saying a word. They were breathing, but their eyes looked lifeless–like looking into a void.

“What did you do to them…” Tyr said in a low tone.

Mrama smirked, “Im sure they can tell you that themselves… anyways, you should be happy they are still here. Alive and well. Now… lets exchange. My brother…

for your friends.”

Mrama took a step forward but was abruptly stopped as a ginormous dragon of blood and fire rushed toward him out of nowhere–like something out of a crazy horror book.

He stumbled backward, falling onto his bum as his jaw fell to the floor as his eyes stared at the horrifying, demonic beast before him.

His entire body was shaking, as beads of sweat began to profusely form all over.

The three figures at the back also heightened their guards severely.

This was all a result of Tyr’s piercing glare at Mrama, which expelled a blast of Ancestral Presence toward the blue slug which was also masked with killing intent and anger.

Tyr spoke: “What did you do to them… our deal was simple. If I figured out that you touched them in any way, I would cut off the deal and butcher you.”

Mrama was too distracted by what was in front of him, but suddenly felt a lot safer when he felt a touch on his shoulder.

It was the superhero-dressed figure, who placed his hand on Mrama’s arm: “Be brave.”

Mrama laughed, scoffing at the same time with fear and disbelief.

“Y-you’re right… im back to normal now. Forget what just happened.” He awkwardly chuckled as he got back to his feet.

“Are you going to answer my question or not?” Tyr said, his tone deadly serious.

“Tyr…” The superhero-dressed figure exclaimed, “You have fallen right into our trap my friend.”

*Zibip… zeeep.* The paralyzed figure’s wheelchair made some odd robotic noises.

Finally, out from the paralyzed figure’s eyes shot out a beam of darkness.

It struck Tyr for only a second and ended.

‘That was fast… too fast for me to dodge. What the hell was that? I feel nothing from it.’ Tyr thought to himself for a split second.

“One second!” The tall, older figure said, “Tyr Evolion… what this kind man is trying to tell you is that you have fallen right into our trap.” He said, standing in front of the superhero-dressed guy.

“Thats exactly what he said… you are just repeating him.” Tyr exclaimed, confused as hell.

“Tell your friends from outside to come in… I know you were listening in on our little conversation.” The old Camadral said, smirking slightly.

Tyr squinted his eyes again, “A bluff… if you knew we were listening, you would have made precautions as to not have some random bastard say that you already ‘killed the captured,’ or in other words, Hanzo and Malon.”

Camadral paused, and then smiled, “We are the Black Merchant Guild.”

“Exactly. You wouldn’t make a mistake like that… having some big-mouthed rookie in your mix.” Tyr instantly replied.

“No no… we are greater than even that. To be honest, we weren’t sure if you were behind that door.”

“Huh? So you aren’t all that great after all…”

“But,” Camadral continued, “We had this one say those agitating words. And lo and behind, a certain Tyr, angry as a beast, comes stepping in. Quite a crucial mistake, boy… maybe next time, be more careful.”

Tyr snarled, “So what… that doesn’t change anything.”

“Oh…” Camadral’s smile widened, “Yes it does. You see…” The old man began to walk to the side:

“When one is flustered, he opens himself up to many games of the mind. When one of our soldiers said those angering words, you were already half of the way there. After seeing the state of your ‘friends,’ your mind had opened wide. That was when we implanted a black seed that has already almost fully bloomed.”

Tyr smirked, “A mental attack? Again? How foolish…”

“No no…” Camadral said, “This is no mental attack. It is a physical obliteration of the mental of a being.” He grinned.

At that moment, Tyr suddenly zipped out of reality.

Before he knew it, he was in a random black space in the middle of nowhere.

He furrowed his brows, reaching for his radio.

Out of nowhere, a voice came from all directions: “You have lost, Tyr. Did you think you could win against us so easily?”

Tyr gritted his teeth, “Don’t think I came here without any backups!” He shouted into the voice before placing the radio next to his mouth.

“Hello? Noa! Can you hear me?”

“Y-yes!” Noa’s voice barely came through the radio.

“Retreat… wait for me to come back.”

“W-we can’t! They found every one of our hidden locations around the warehouse. We are currently under attack. I have to go—zip” Noa’s voice suddenly warped off.

Tyr got another message, this time, it was from a male voice.

“Commander… Tyr.” A familiar voice sounded.

“Ha?!” Tyr yelled into the radio, “Why are you contacting me right now!?”

“Commander…” Ha’s voice sounded weak, as though it was barely still able to come out.

“Talk!” Tyr roared.

“All of us… are dead. They knew where we were…” Ha’s voice faded off.

Tyr then heard a thump through the radio, causing Tyr’s eyes to widen in shock.

“Ha! Ha! TALK DAMN IT!” Tyr exclaimed in frustration.

‘How? HOW!? No one knew where that damn location was… only the 20 discussed it. A mole… there must be a mole in the mix.’

At that moment, Tyr noticed a gravitational pull on his body.

He looked down, noticing a flat stone floor quickly approaching.

“Was I falling this entire time?”

***

Noa rushed toward the warehouse. She used her Aura array-breaking technique, opening a giant rift in the dimensional space.

A robed slug who was chasing after her suddenly knocked her aside, throwing them both into another barrier in space-time altogether.

They were both thrown into what looked to be a giant underground chamber.

As they rolled across the ground, Noa was abruptly picked up.

When she opened her eyes, Noa saw Malon standing above her.

“He’s gone… Hanzo is no longer with us.” Malon suddenly said.

“W-what are you saying!?”

***

Just like this… all hell broke loose. Confusion and chaos swarmed the entire world, it felt like.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep