Chapter 442: A Shattered Battlefield

Boom!!

The Elemental Blade, unleashed in an instant, suddenly erupted in searing flames. Through the blaze, the Researcher—who had been looking at Yenir with eager anticipation—now wore a face twisted in terror.

Everything happened incredibly fast.

On his face, a look of disbelief briefly flashed before a burst of intense heat melted it away. Just 0.01 seconds later, the violently swung Elemental Blade sliced through the man like a hot knife through butter, cleaving him in two.

Pfft!

Blood splattered, only to vaporize instantly in the scorching heat.

The entire room was stunned.

Zhang Ke stood frozen, dumbfounded as he watched Yenir suddenly go on a murderous rampage, unable to muster any response.

It wasn’t until a second later—when the severed corpse crashed to the ground—that the girl’s eyes widened in horror as she cried out.

“Yenir!? What are you doing!?”

“Why did you kill him!?”

No answer.

Turning on his heel with his sword, Yenir glanced back at the terrified young girl with a wry laugh. In an instant, with a soft swish, the Elemental Blade effortlessly pierced Zhang Ke’s heart.

Without a moment’s hesitation.

Under his overwhelming force, another sudden assault erupted. The Longsword flashed like a streak of light; by the time its blistering heat had seared the girl’s heart, and amid her excruciating pain, Zhang Ke finally realized that Yenir had turned on her as well.

Her whole body trembled.

She coughed up blood repeatedly, her eyes wide with disbelief. Instinctively, she gripped the sword piercing her chest, only for its sharp edge to slit her hand, leaving a bloody gash.

Her heart had already been roasted and turned into a disorganized mess.

“Hah… hah…”

“Wh-why…”

The girl’s face turned deathly pale as she looked at him in despair. The incredulity and pain in her eyes silently demanded an explanation for his sudden attack.

Weren’t they supposed to be allies? Hadn’t she once saved Yenir?

Meanwhile, Zhang Ke’s squad members erupted in horrified shouts, utterly unable to comprehend why Yenir had suddenly started killing.

“Captain! Captain!?”

“Zhang Ke!?”

In the still-warm room, several squad members moved as if to charge him. Although they knew they were no match for Yenir, their instincts compelled them to try to stop him.

Ignoring the group of dungeon NPCs, Yenir tilted his head and remarked in amusement at the girl before him:

“Still acting?”

“Why are you panicking, you Otherworldly Ghost?”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than his right hand surged with Spirit Energy, shattering the girl into pieces.

After bursts of blood mist exploded and he swiftly dispatched the two, Yenir hesitated for a fraction of a second before launching another sword strike amid a chorus of agonized, furious screams.

This time, it was meant to send Zhang Ke’s teammates soaring to the afterlife.

There was no choice—these people were charging at him. Uncertain if more Otherworldly Ghosts lurked inside, he had to eliminate them all.

He no longer needed these NPCs to lead the way; keeping them around would only be a nuisance.

“Bang bang bang! Bang!”

As puffs of blood mist exploded, the room erupted with seven or eight bursts before the world fell eerily silent.

Slowly sheathing his sword, Yenir surveyed the floor strewn with corpses shattered by Spirit Energy, shaking his head imperceptibly.

There was no room for mercy.

His mission was far too important…

Even if these NPCs weren’t all problematic, he had no time to sort them out. He could always act the part again next time…

Yet, for some reason, recalling the moment he had taken down Zhang Ke, he couldn’t shake the feeling that the girl hadn’t shown any unusual signs before dying…

“Emmm…”

“I hope I didn’t kill the wrong person…”

With a flicker in his eyes, Yenir looked down at the shapeless mass at his feet and couldn’t help but prod it with his sword.

“It must be an Otherworldly Ghost…”

“There’s no way Anya is an Otherworldly Ghost—this little girl is human. And besides, during the supply raid, she made a fatal mistake.”

He muttered under his breath.

As he swiftly rummaged through the scattered debris, Yenir continued his quiet mutter.

His decisive action stemmed partly from the realization that he had inadvertently shattered the dungeon’s storyline, exposing an obvious trap.

On the other hand, Zhang Ke, while scavenging supplies, had subconsciously forgotten that Yenir once mentioned Anya was ‘pregnant.’

That was not normal.

She and Anya were so close—both eager to bring her gifts—there was no way she could forget such a critical detail.

The only possibility was that both of them were Otherworldly Ghosts—whose minds didn’t even conceive of pregnancy…

These two anomalies were enough to ignite Yenir’s murderous intent.

But…

“Everything exploded into pieces… and there wasn’t even a Third-Stage Otherworldly Ghost kill notification…”

“Aren’t these NPCs supposed to be key characters?”

While searching, Yenir hadn’t heard any system cues. Suddenly, he felt a tinge of embarrassment.

Damn…

Could he have really misjudged things?

Surely that little girl must have just had a bad memory, right?

…………..

One minute later.

Exhaling lightly, Yenir looked at the evidence he had uncovered with satisfaction.

Fortunately, it really was an Otherworldly Ghost…

Both Zhang Ke and the Researcher were being played by Otherworldly Ghosts.

Even if killing the wrong person didn’t matter much, if he truly had, it would mean his judgment was off.

“Their acting is something else…”

“Suddenly ‘rescuing’ me, while dragging along a whole squad of normal humans to fight Otherworldly Ghosts with me.”

“To be honest, any normal Awakener with a conscience wouldn’t be able to bring themselves to do it…”

Reflecting on his recent interactions with Zhang Ke, Yenir admitted that he might have been deceived too if he hadn’t harbored his suspicions about her identity.

After all, the little girl was quite adorable…

The whole plot may have been clichéd, but it sure did work.

“The three-headed Otherworldly Ghost act kept luring me into following the typical storyline.”

“So this passage leading to the underground core is no small matter… Going down shouldn’t be a problem; the key is what they want me to retrieve.”

Staring at the opened metal passage, Yenir habitually fiddled with his Ring, pondering the trap behind it all.

According to the Researcher, this passage would run through the entire underground realm—whether to the thirteenth floor or the final levels, it posed no issue.

And there would be no Otherworldly Ghosts lying in wait nearby—absolutely safe.

Yenir had no doubts about that.

It was simple.

If they were merely trying to lure him into an ambush, the Otherworldly Ghosts had a thousand ways to do it—they would have ventured underground all by themselves.

Thus, the only plausible reason was that the Otherworldly Ghosts wanted these Awakeners to enter the core and snag something.

And that something was most likely an object the Otherworldly Ghosts themselves couldn’t touch.

“This is interesting…”

“If we reverse-engineer this trap, could it be that the Otherworldly Ghosts know that Awakeners differ from regular dungeon humans? Is it part of the system?”

Frowning slightly and with no clues at hand, Yenir decided not to overthink it.

The priority now was to reach the thirteenth floor!

Once he got the Renmane, he’d take off immediately!