CHAPTER 909: THE HORUS TEMPLE ARC (PART-5)

The woman resumed. "So, as I was saying, your team will enter from a secret entrance."

The image was changed to a blueprint of the temple, which seemed to have four entrances, unlike a normal dungeon. After she explained everything that is needed, Julia Snider (Codename: Kitty Ranger) then addressed Azrael, "Mr. Azrael, you are the key to this operation. So, we would like to hear your thoughts."

"What is there to hear from a rookie?" Jaden (Code name: Stryker) sneered in response without even minding the fact that Azrael was listening. "In fact, I don’t think he is anything but the baggage that will slow us down."

Upon hearing his words, a blue-eyed blonde furrowed her brows and scolded him, "If you cannot hold your tongue, at least, mind your tone, Stryker. When Lt. Commander Albert believes in his ability to guide us, who are you to question his judgment?"

"Celia Storm, you..." Stryker clenched his fist in anger. But, before he spoke another word, all of a sudden, his lips were clamped together with stitches between them. "mmmpf..." He struggled with his eyes widened in shock.

"What the..."

While the others looked a bit confused, Cyro mumbled with a frown on his face. "Who is it?" He glanced at everyone and found that Azrael’s eyes appeared to be a little different. He spotted a glow underneath the patch. However, he couldn’t sense anything emitting from him.

Just as he was about to speak out, Iphi Magnolis reacted, "Stop it, Azrael."

Her words attracted the attention of everyone. She looked at the guy with a stitched mouth, "It’s an illusion, Stryker. Just dispel it with your Soul energy."

When he did that, the stitches were removed. He let out a deep breath, "Thanks, Sister."

Then, something clicked in his mind. "Wait a second... did you just imply that this was done by this damn intern?" He flared up.

This time, Azrael replied instead of Iphi Magnolis, "I felt like I should showcase some of my abilities so that you guys no longer think that I’m some kind of baggage."

"And do you think this proves your ability?" Jaden slammed the table in fury. He felt insulted upon being a fool in front of everyone. "What will you do when the Werewolf lord appears before you? You will stitch his mouth?"

"I agree with Stryker. Such tiny illusions won’t help us." Lucas, codenamed Steel Guardian, voiced out his opinion, coming in support of his teammate and a friend, "We don’t know what we are going to deal with, and no one in the team would have enough time to save the rookie."

"C’mon, you too, Lucas..." Celia Storm was just about to stop these Arcana Master who were bullying the poor guy, but neither she nor the rest of the Arcana Master expected that Stryker would suddenly raise his hands and strangle himself tightly while his mouth was stitched up again.

It only lasted for five seconds before he got free and started taking heavy breaths.

Everyone: "..."

The faces of a few Arcana Master turn dead serious when Azrael opens his mouth again, "I can use this ability to acquire enough time to run away, Stryker. And if it is a human, I can atleast take away his/her life in case I had no way of escape. I will make sure to have a companion in the afterlife."

"You fuc*ing bas*ard, I will kill you." Jaden was filled with rage, and the sparks of lightning started dancing all over his skin.

He was about to charge forward and catch Azrael’s throat, but suddenly, an enormous amount of invisible pressure descended onto everyone, followed by a deep, threatening voice from the head of the table, "Sit down, Stryker. We are not here to fight."

Jaden’s body instantly shivered from top to bottom, and he turned around to look at Cyro, who looked quite displeased.

The speedster suppressed his anger and sat down in his chair.

Azrael, meanwhile, intently stared at the man who commanded great respect from these individuals. "So, this is the power of Rank-9 Arcana Master, eh?"

Cyro then looked at Azrael in displeasure, "What do you think you are doing, Mr. Azrael?" His earlier demeanor as a nice and easy-going person was gone.

"What do you think?" asked Azrael in return as he leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table, trying to act tough. He added, "Words are useless to people like you because no matter what I say, you will dismiss it with your own logic. So, I think actions are better."

Meanwhile, Iphi Magnolis felt like she was looking at a different person. In her view, Azrael was someone who might frustrate her with his sharp and witty replies, but he wasn’t the type to act this violently.

Or maybe, she doesn’t know him properly. After all, it hasn’t been long since they know each other. However, there’s still a part of her that believes that Azrael was only trying to act hard so that he won’t be bullied by others. But, at the moment, her position makes it hard for her to speak. So, she decided to stay as a spectator.

Lucas, codenamed Steel Guardian, became speechless by Azrael’s temperament and said, "Do you even know where you are at the moment?"

In response, Azrael simply scoffed and said, "Of course, I know. I am in the presence of mighty individuals who not only know how to fight villains but also know how to bully a rookie."

For a moment, a brief amount of silence filled the room. Except for Celia Storm, the woman who supported him, and Iphi Magnolis, who looked confused, everyone just flared up in anger. They felt like this rookie is more audacious than they expected.

In reality, Azrael never planned to butt heads with these Arcana Masters for higher positions and the social ladder.

If they had simply ignored him, he would have been fine but as Jaden had crossed the line by hurling such statements, followed by the support of other Arcana Master in the form of silence, Azrael decided to showcase the ability of his demonic eye once again, this time, with more power, so that these people with a high ego would listen to his words when he leads them into the temple.

In reality, this technique isn’t as simple as an illusion.

Azrael first unleashes an illusion and then turns it into a reality. It’s called Absolute Reality and was developed only a day ago.

As a result, it wasn’t mastered, consuming almost all of the Soul energy particles in his body. That means he can no longer use his demonic eyes until his cells regenerate the Soul energy particles, but he was willing to gamble for the sake of the mission.

Fortunately, no one recognized this flaw, and Azrael managed to fool everyone successfully.

Of course, this wasn’t his strongest attack either. He still had black lightning, and he frankly believed his own fists would be enough to beat them up. After all, apart from Cyro, no one is in Rank-9. And now, he waited for the result with his reserves hit almost to nil. Based on the reaction, Azrael decided on the degree of cooperation he had in mind with this secret mission.

To his surprise, Cyro acted before the others. No one even got to speak a word after this rebellious act, and the captain spoke. "Ms. Kitty Ranger, continue. Everyone, sit down."

With the entire room filled with silence, Julia, aka Kitty Ranger, cleared her throat and continued to speak where she stopped earlier. "The main reason Mr. Azrael is joining this mission is that his mentor was the scout who sacrificed his life to find the secret entrance and get us the inside details. Lt. Commander Albert gave him the task of leading this team to the heart of the temple."

Of course, this was a fake scenario Everlasting guild and WAMO used to induct him into this operation. They made him a secret survivor and the one who actually delivered the news.

Taking a brief pause, she then glanced at a silent Azrael, "Mr. Azrael, can you give a brief explanation of how you were going to lead the team?"

"Certainly," Azrael immediately rose to his feet and walked toward her.

The rough sketch of the temple’s blueprint was already displayed on the projector screen. So, he wouldn’t have to request a change of slide and directly started explaining after taking the laser pen from Kitty Ranger.