Chapter 53: The Paranoia

Draven and Estella stepped through the circular opening melted into the reinforced brick.

The air inside the hidden treasury was completely stagnant, heavy with the dense pressure of concentrated energy.

Rows of iron shelves lined the walls, packed with high-grade magic cores that glowed with various elemental hues. But the true wealth of the vault did not lie in the stones.

Resting on a raised obsidian pedestal in the center of the room was a large object wrapped in faint dark mist.

"Here it is!"

It was a Spirit Egg, its surface pulsing with a rhythmic blood-red light.

Draven approached the pedestal. His pitch-black eyes narrowed as he examined the eerie artifact.

Thanks to his perfect memory of the original novel, Hunter Odyssey, he knew exactly what this object was.

’The Church of the Eternal Eclipse had spent years cultivating this specific Spirit Egg. They intended to use it as the ultimate catalyst, a grand sacrifice to please the Evil God and summon an ancient entity known as the Evil Blood Spirit.’

In the original timeline, Neville Hennessey had led a reckless assault against the surface cells of the Cult. Because of Neville’s complete incompetency and lack of tactical awareness, he had entirely overlooked this underground treasury.

He had left the hidden vault untouched.

As a direct result of the Hero’s failure, the Cult successfully sacrificed the egg during the upcoming Midterm Exam, summoning the Blood Spirit and turning the Beast Wave into an absolute slaughter that wiped out thousands of innocent lives.

’Yeah! Removing the elements that will be troublesome in the future is the right way to go. The enemies may become wary and they will create variables, but it is better to act than wait and have regrets later.’

By standing here today, Draven had effectively rewritten the history of the world.

With a smooth wave of his hand, Draven systematically began channeling his spatial ring. The high-grade magic cores vanished from the shelves in rapid succession.

Finally, he reached out and secured the pulsing Spirit Egg, storing the massive catalyst safely into his inventory.

Estella watched him empty the room with practiced efficiency. She lowered her blank black mask slightly, her vibrant eyes filled with curiosity.

"Your hands are always full of hidden preparations," Estella noted quietly. "When did you even find the time to map out this entire layout?"

"A good commander never enters a theater of war without counting the bullets first," Draven replied flatly, adjusting his coat.

"You know how I get prophecies in my sleep, right? It’s just one of those days."

Before turning to leave, Draven walked to the center of the empty floor. He knelt down, channeling a precise stream of his own mana into the stone tiles.

He etched a highly complex runic array directly into the concrete.

The markings flared with a brief violet light before completely fading into the floor, turning entirely invisible.

The trap was set.

It carried a specific visual trigger, programmed to activate only when scanned by the distinct mana signatures of the Cult elders or the city authorities.

"We are done here," Draven said, standing up and pulling his mask back over his face.

"Let’s move before the surface guards realize the sewer grid is offline."

---

Three hours later, the heavy iron doors of the storage chamber were violently thrown open.

Elder Martha strode into the cavern, her features twisted into a mask of pure venom.

Flanking her were Elder Mathews and Elder Briggins, their dark robes billowing as their heavy protective mana flared against the damp air.

They had noticed the sudden silence of the skeleton crew and descended into the sector to investigate.

Martha stopped dead in her tracks.

The reinforced brick wall was gone, replaced by a perfectly smooth circle of hardened molten slag.

"No," Martha whispered, a sudden wave of panic cutting through her fanaticism.

She rushed through the melted entrance, the two male elders following close behind her.

They stepped into the treasury and froze.

The iron shelves were barren. The magical ores had been completely stripped away.

But worst of all, the central obsidian pedestal was entirely vacant.

"The Spirit Egg," Elder Mathews gasped, his face turning an ash-gray color under the green light of the mana crystals.

"It is gone."

The moment the dark mana radiating from the three elders saturated the room, Draven’s hidden runic array detected the trigger.

The stone floor violently flashed with a sharp violet luminescence.

The invisible lines of the trap converged, projecting a bright holographic screen into the center of the empty vault.

Floating in the air were six distinct words written in elegant runic script.

The Embracing Hands send their regards.

Martha let out a screech of pure, uncontained fury.

She drew her jagged ritual dagger and slashed the air, instantly shattering the holographic projection into harmless light particles.

"The Secret organization! I told you lot a thousand times but you never heard a single word of it!" Martha roared, her pale eyes twitching with absolute rage.

"Now look what they have done to us! They dare mock us! They dare rob the treasury of the Eclipse!"

Elder Briggins stepped forward, his fists trembling as he looked at the empty pedestal.

"This is catastrophic, Martha. The Spirit Egg was the core ingredient for our holy ritual. Without that catalyst, the incoming Beast Wave will lose its primary strength. We will not be able to summon the Blood Spirit in time."

"He is right," Mathews agreed grimly, looking around the stripped vault.

"Our resources are severely depleted from the Hennessey Clan’s raids on the surface. We cannot execute the original plan without the main sacrifice. We must delay the deployment."

"We will not delay anything!" Martha snapped violently, turning on her fellow elders with a lethal glare.

"The wheels of fate are already turning. If we stop now, the Vanguard Knights and the Hennessey guards will trap us in these sewers and slaughter us one by one. The campaign must continue!"

She stepped up to the empty pedestal, her knuckles turning white as she gripped her blade.

"We will accelerate the timeline of the Beast Wave immediately," Martha commanded coldly, her voice dripping with venom.

"If we do not have the egg, we will find an equivalent sacrifice among the students during their exam. We will force the Bastion to bleed regardless."

She looked down at the floor where the runic message had just vanished, her face contorting with a murderous resolve.

"But first," Martha hissed, her voice echoing through the dark cavern.

"I swear upon the Void that I will hunt down every single shadow belonging to the Embracing Hands. I will rip their organization out of existence, and I will paint these walls with their blood."