Chapter 106: Assassins

Chapter 106: Chapter 106: Assassins

As Squad 07 passed through the shimmering anti-monster barrier into the bustling courtyard of Glowstone Refuge, the tension of battle finally began to thaw. The outpost was alive with the ambient chatter of seasoned adventurers, the clinking of ale mugs, and the warm scent of roasted subterranean game.

However, nestled in the upper balcony of a nearby stone building, two figures in nondescript traveler cloaks stiffened. Beneath their heavy hoods, their eyes narrowed as they locked onto Princess Lyra’s striking silver hair and regal aura. Hidden beneath their collars were faint, inverted crests—the mark of the Order of Humanity, a fanatic cult dedicated to returning the world to the pre-mana era.

Recognizing the imperial heir immediately, the two cult members backed into the shadows without uttering a single word. Slipping quietly through a secluded side exit of the outpost, they sprinted into the surrounding fungal wild, navigating a hidden path toward their secret hideout nestled deep within a nearby quartz ridge.

Deep inside the damp, rune-carved hideout, the scouts knelt before the cult’s regional commander, rapidly delivering their report.

"Princess Lyra is here on Floor 4," the lead scout reported, his voice low and trembling with dark excitement. "She is traveling with a small squad of academy students. They just entered Glowstone Refuge to rest."

A cold, sinister smile spread across the commander’s face. Eliminating the Empire’s golden princess inside the perilous environment of the Luminescent Grotto was an opportunity handed to them by fate itself. The chaotic terrain and natural hazards of the floor would make her death look like a tragic exploration casualty.

"We will not let her leave this floor alive," the commander declared, stepping up to a heavy stone table. "Dispatch our elite shadow unit. Three level 10 assassins—the absolute peak of Tier 1."

Three shrouded figures stepped forward from the dark recesses of the room, their dual daggers gleaming with lethal poison coating.

"Shadow the outpost perimeter," the commander instructed them coldly. "Do not engage inside the safe zone. The moment Squad 07 steps past Glowstone Refuge’s barrier and enters the wild grotto, strike without mercy and bring me her head."

Unaware of the dark net closing in around them, Rowan, Princess Lyra, and Squad 07 settled into the outpost’s tavern, finally taking their well-deserved rest.

Inside the warm, quartz-lit tavern of Glowstone Refuge, Squad 07 sat around a heavy wooden table, enjoying hot herbal tea and roasted subterranean game. The glowing blue anti-monster barrier outside provided a comforting sense of absolute security, but the conversation at the table turned serious as Princess Lyra addressed the squad.

"While we were passing through the outpost gates, I felt a familiar, unsettling chill," Princess Lyra said softly, her striking eyes reflecting the amber lantern light. "It is very likely that scouts from the Order of Humanity are operating on this floor."

Barney frowned, setting his heavy mug onto the table with a dull thud. "The Order? Those zealots have been quiet in the lower floor sectors for months."

"Their fanaticism hasn’t diminished—it has only grown more desperate," Lyra explained, her tone carrying a grave weight. "Unlike typical anti-monarchist rebels, the Order operates under a radical, dark doctrine: they are a fanatic cult dedicated to returning the world to the pre-mana era. They believe the emergence of magic, system paths, and monster cores ruined mankind’s original purity. To them, those born with high mana talent or divine royal crests are ’anchors’ keeping magic tethered to this reality. By slaughtering high-tier mana wielders, they believe they can forcibly break the system and revert existence to a non-magical world."

"A delusional fantasy," Seraphina observed quietly, tapping her mapping slate. "You cannot undo the world’s fundamental mana laws through execution. But that exact delusion makes them incredibly lethal—they operate with zero regard for their own lives."

Rowan tipped the brim of his Enchanted Straw Hat, taking a slow, calm sip of tea. Guided by his Gardener of Eden perception, his acute awareness extended beyond the wooden walls of the tavern, feeling the subtle vibrations of the living fungi outside. High up in the shadow-draped quartz monoliths surrounding the outpost’s exit, three cold, stealth-suppressed energy signatures had just taken position.

"They won’t be returning anything to the past today," Rowan said smoothly, a sharp, resolute look gleaming in his eyes. "Three peak Tier 1 assassins are already crouching in the spore mist just outside the barrier perimeter, waiting for us to step into the wild."

Caelen rested his hand on the pommel of his greatsword, a cold grin spreading across his face. "Three assassins waiting in a dark, toxic cave against a freshly rested team? They’re about to find out how dangerous Squad 07 really is."

Princess Lyra stepped past the anti-monster barrier of Glowstone Refuge completely alone, her posture relaxed and her radiant silver hair catching the violet luminescence of the giant mushroom canopy. To any lurking eyes, she appeared to be an unescorted imperial target wandering blindly into the dangerous grotto. Ten meters behind her, concealed within the deep shadows of a towering quartz monolith, Squad 07 trailed in absolute silence, holding their weapons at the ready.

The trap sprung exactly as anticipated.

The moment Lyra crossed into a secluded clearing between two giant glowing fungal stalks, the air distorted. Three dark figures detached themselves from the high spore branches above, dropping down like silent raptors. Their poison-coated daggers gleamed with lethal intent as they plummeted toward the Princess, their peak Tier 1 stats generating a sudden, terrifying pressure in the damp air.

Before their boots could touch the stone or their blades could strike, Rowan acted.

Stepping cleanly out of the shadow line, Rowan drew his trusty hoe and slammed the heavy blade deep into the subterranean earth. Green vitality mana erupted through the wooden handle as he channeled his Gardener of Eden traits into a violent, large-scale tilling technique.

[Terra Tilling]

- A quick tool strike violently churns the soil in a frontal cone, converting solid ground into soft, unstable mud. Enemies in the area lose 40% Movement Speed and suffer a 20% penalty to accuracy due to thrown debris.

The ground beneath the falling assassins violently churned and upheaved. Basalt stone, dense clay, and liquid fungal spores dredged upward in a massive surge, instantly transforming the cavern soil into a heavy, suffocating vortex of thick mud and wet earth.

Mid-leap, the three assassins were engulfed by the flying spray of wet terrain. As their feet touched the ground, the churned mud slammed over their boots and calves, hardening like wet concrete under Rowan’s mana control. Dense, petrified fungal tendrils coiled out of the muck, wrapping tightly around their thighs and torsos to entangle and glue them completely in place.

The lead assassin thrashed violently, his poison dagger pinned uselessly against his chest as the hardened dirt locked his joints. "What—what kind of magic is this?!" he snarled, his eyes widening in horror as his high-tier physical stats were rendered utterly useless against the dense earth.

Princess Lyra turned around smoothly, her runic sword sliding from its sheath with a crisp, golden ring. Behind her, Caelen, Barney, Mirei, and Seraphina stepped into the open, surrounding the immobilized cultists with cold, calculated precision. Rowan tipped the brim of his Enchanted Straw Hat, resting his hoe lightly over his shoulder with a calm grin as the trap closed.