There was no need to speak now that he could sense the entire complex, so Nick limited himself to overpowering the unfortunate guard’s body with a well-aimed [Spirit Blast], then moved on once the body was safely hidden behind the brick wall.

As expected, the same basement floor found beneath all other buildings in the area was also present here, but additions had been carved out over time. Now, a vast underground lair spread in all directions, with tunnels and safe rooms.

Nick had known this search would lead him to unexpected places. However, he never imagined that such a massive complex could be hidden beneath the city, especially one that was invisible to his senses from the outside.

Now that he was inside, he finally understood why he hadn't found it earlier.

“It’s the damn city wards again. They tapped into their runic scheme and diverted enough power to make anything possible,” he muttered as he reached a dark staircase and began the descent.

If the wards were ever pushed to their maximum strength to defend the city from an external attack, the drain would be exposed, and the entire labyrinth would be uncovered. However, this had not happened since the conquest of the grassland.

Even the bleakest predictions for the war in the north only ever foresaw the loss of a few minor settlements. No one believed the dwarves could ever reach Alluria, much less lay siege to it.

And so, the cancer spread throughout the city while both the nobles and the mages remained unaware of it.

But that wasn’t entirely true, was it? The gang of failed apprentices he’d just finished beating up knew about this place’s existence, if not its full extent. If they knew, it was unlikely that at least some of the Archmages weren’t aware.

But why would they allow it? Is it really possible that this place is only known to a few criminals and no one else?

There was still too much he didn’t know, and the more he discovered, the more he realized he was staring down the edge of the abyss.

The wiser choice would have been to turn back here. He could give the Duke this information, as he suspected Tholm wanted, and let him handle the mess that followed.

It should be enough to clear Devon of the charges. Even if it’s not solid proof, it will give the soldiers something more important to pursue than a teenage squire with too much curiosity for his own good.

However, Nick didn’t spend more than a second considering the option. His curiosity was already too stirred to turn back now, and there was something about the magic of this place he couldn’t quite grasp, but he knew he had to understand it before he could walk away. He’d regret it if he didn’t.

Finally, he reached the bottom of the staircase and paused to process what he was feeling.

Several people were currently inside the complex, both on the basement floor and on the lower branches. No one felt overwhelmingly powerful, which gave him hope he might actually get through the night in one piece, but he knew better than to underestimate them.

Someone with enough power to manipulate the city wards built this place. That could have easily happened a century ago or more, but it also might have been much more recent, and Nick knew he couldn’t hope to win against someone like that. So, he promised himself he’d leave at the slightest sign of real danger.

The closest presence to his position couldn’t have been much stronger than the guard he’d so easily taken down, but it was doing something strange, something that echoed through the ether in a familiar way.

Stepping into the stone corridor, Nick kept his presence hidden using the [Ring of Unknowingness] and moved toward the door he sensed in the distance.

Being unable to see would be a death sentence in a place like this, but since it’s already completely dark, stealth is a much better option. If I can sneak up on them without ever being noticed, my life will be so much easier.

A twitch of his finger caused the heavy iron door, behind which his target was hidden, to lift slightly off its hinges, preventing any scraping noise that might reveal his position, and it slowly began to open.

As it turned out, the person he’d been stalking was studying some complex-looking maps, muttering to himself while occasionally sending flickers of mana into the ether in a way that only then did Nick recognize as the result of long-distance communication magic.

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For a moment, he wondered whether he should try to take him prisoner, as he had with the apprentices, and make him spill everything, but that felt too risky. He was in enemy territory, and a single mistake here could easily ruin the entire operation.

A flash of light followed, and the man dropped like a sack of potatoes, the light leaving his eyes as his soul was overwhelmed by too much all at once.

Out of an abundance of caution, Nick took a vial from his spatial ring and tipped it into the man’s mouth, allowing two drops of [Dreamless Sleep] to fall in.

CONGRATULATIONS!

You have defeated [Wels - Lv 39]

+13.200 Exp

Dismissing the notification, he summoned the owl figurine, using their connection to regain his sight, and began reviewing the documents himself.

It only took a few minutes to realize he wouldn’t get the full picture here. Everything was written in code, and several spots on a map of Alluria were marked — which looked completely unremarkable and unrelated to each other — alongside nearly every notable location, such as the Tower, the Castle, and every temple in the city.

Still, what he learned from this was that the operation he’d stumbled upon the other day, which already seemed complex and layered with many hidden objectives, was actually only a part of what this organization was doing.

And it is an organization. They have a secret code, detailed maps, and a lair. Hell, I can see stamps and receipts! This is much more than just a chance to make a quick profit.

Indeed, it was becoming increasingly clear to Nick that involving the gangs was likely intended to divert attention from the real operation, and that, in fact, the attack on the auction might be just one part of a larger scheme.

Once he’d gone through every paper, he turned the owl back to the man he’d ambushed and saw that he was surprisingly young.

“Can’t be older than twenty, yet already part of a secret terrorist organization?” He asked in a low tone, shaking his head.

He wasn’t exactly someone to throw the first stone, but even he, who summoned demons from the depths of a dimensional nexus to prepare for a crusade against an old political enemy of his friend’s, thought this was a bit too much.

With a flick of his fingers, he lifted the young man from the cold stone floor and gently settled him into a nearby chair, where he would be hidden enough to go unnoticed if anyone entered the room and took a quick look.

A wave of his hand over the papers made them vanish into his ring. He might not fully understand what this organization was trying to do, but that didn’t mean he’d leave clues behind.

That done, he stepped back into the corridor and started heading toward his next target.

This time, it was two people moving back and forth within an enclosed room in a dance that felt like sparring practice.

It had been a while since Nick had wielded a sword, but at least he remembered that much.

If they want to do the work of getting exhausted for me, who am I to complain?

With a smirk, Nick moved closer until he was just outside the training room. A quick glance revealed nothing unusual about the door protecting it, indicating that this probably wasn’t an actual training room and had just recently been converted into one.

More clues that they are building up to something. There are still too few people for the operation they seem to be preparing, but that could be quickly fixed if one of those tunnels leads outside the city.

The two sparring partners kept going for another couple of minutes, during which Nick started controlling the air in the room and forming invisible wind blades to carve [Emakimono] into the stone floor and walls.

By the time they wrapped up, patting each other on the back for a good session, sweaty but satisfied, they found themselves caught in a kill box from which they couldn’t escape.

Nick waited a little longer, hoping they would finally discuss something useful, but apart from vague references to “being ready for it,” they didn’t seem interested in talking about work.

In fact, he sensed a baser urge rising in both men as they started talking about which brothel they should visit after their shift ended, and he decided he’d heard enough.

This time, there were no flashes of light, no emotional outbursts. Shadowy ropes shot out from the [Emakimono] in all directions, wrapping around exhausted limbs and draining all their remaining strength before they could even flinch in surprise.

CONGRATULATIONS!

You have defeated [Walker Gris - Lv 42]

You have defeated [Paul Roothand - Lv 44]

+31.500 Exp

Nick opened the door with a casual wave of his hand and stalked over to the two.

Again, these seemed to be younger men than he would have expected in such a high-security organization, but because they were nearly undressed, only wearing their trousers, he finally saw something that triggered a memory.

Tattoos spiraled up from their hips, covering their torso, back, and arms, while leaving their necks, faces, and hands bare, allowing them to blend in with the rest of the population easily just by putting on clothes.

It wasn’t the specific type of tattoo he recognized, no. He had no idea what those might symbolize, beyond being some kind of dormant enchantment. But the way they’d been applied... Yes, he knew that.

“It’s the same ink I found on the needle,” he muttered in realization.

If this was the same organization that had camped at the last beastmen temple to study its destruction, and that subsequently attacked Eztie’s shrine in Honeyton, it made several things fall into place and raised many more questions.

“Why would they attack the auction, then? Is there some kind of religious artifact being sold that they need to destroy?”

The research he’d commissioned from One-Ear and that he had conducted himself hadn’t revealed anything of the sort, but he guessed it might be possible. It just didn’t seem likely.

With this new information, Nick summoned the map he had been studying earlier from his ring and held it up in the air telekinetically, positioning the owl so he could read it.

As he’d noticed before, the temples were all marked, but what once seemed like a simple acknowledgment of their importance and proximity to the castle now took a much more sinister sheen.

Is the attack on the auction just a distraction? Are these madmen really trying to launch a full-scale invasion just to have the chance to burn down some places of worship? They would need hundreds of trained warriors and several Prestige-tier elites to pull something like that off. Is there even a single organization outside the Royal Court’s control capable of bringing that much power to bear?

Unsummoning the map, Nick paced back and forth, keeping a weary eye on his captives. It was tempting to wake them and question their intentions, but something told him it wouldn’t be that easy.

No secret organization willing to risk exposing its members by covering their bodies in tattoos would ignore the chance of them being captured and interrogated.

Instead, it was almost certain that if he tried, he would activate some hidden enchantment that would either alert whoever was in charge or simply kill the men.

Closing his eyes, Nick sighed. “I can only go deeper.”