Chapter 378: Tearing Away the Veil of Complacency

If they did not fight with everything they had, what awaited them was, in all likelihood, death…

A deathly stillness spread through the empty room.

No one spoke.

Someone was wiping down their weapon. Cloth scraped repeatedly against metal, producing a faint, rasping whisper.

Someone else was checking their remaining potions—taking the small vials from their potion pouch, returning them, taking them out again, putting them back once more.

Yet all their movements carried a certain sluggishness, a hesitation.

As if they were making some vital preparation, when in truth they were merely using repetitive busyness to mask the bewilderment beneath.

In reality, everyone knew what had to be done. 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

But no one wanted to take the first step.

When faced with certain death, people are often dragged down by an instinctive inertia.

That inertia was not laziness, but a form of self-protection—as long as no action had been taken, they could still pretend there was a chance for things to turn around.

As long as they had not yet rushed out to die, they could still believe in “waiting just a little longer.”

Only a stronger fear could drag a person out of such paralysis.

And the source of that fear…

Was to place “death”—the outcome everyone dreaded—more directly before their eyes.

Staring at the final line of the message from Lady Pandora, Betty at last made up her mind.

She lifted her head, her gaze passing over the others, and settled on the quiet, unremarkable squad member beside the assistant squad leader.

Jack.

The one clutching the crystal fragment, sensing the Anomaly’s movements.

Betty fixed her eyes on him and slowly asked a single question:

“You know… that Anomaly has been getting closer to us all along, don’t you?”

Every movement in the room froze in an instant.

The hand wiping the weapon stopped mid-air. The fingers checking potions went rigid at the vial’s neck.

All eyes converged on that one squad member.

Jack started, instinctively wanting to deny it. His lips parted, but nothing came out.

His Adam’s apple bobbed once, as though swallowing something bitter.

Betty did not press further. She simply waited in silence.

That silence was more forceful than any interrogation.

After a breath of hesitation, Jack nodded with difficulty.

“Yes…”

His voice was hoarse and dry, as if forced from the depths of his throat.

“It’s not fast, but the general direction… it is slowly closing in on us.”

He had no idea how Betty knew.

But he had indeed sensed it himself.

After the earlier failed attempt to retreat, the Anomaly seemed to have discovered a way to track them.

It was no longer wandering aimlessly. Instead, like a beast catching the scent of blood, it had begun moving slowly but steadily in a certain direction.

Though its pace was still not fast, and its trajectory did not always point directly at their position—

Sometimes it veered, sometimes it paused, as though probing.

But overall, it was unmistakably creeping toward the center of the mist where they were hidden.

In other words, the situation Lady Pandora had warned them about was now unfolding.

Before long, the Anomaly would likely find a way to break through the Susurrus Mist.

He had been hesitating over whether to tell the squad leader.

Thinking perhaps they could wait a little longer, perhaps the situation would shift, perhaps the mist could hold out just a bit more…

He had not expected Betty to make the decision for him.

And Betty knew—not because she could also sense through the mist—

But because the emotion on that squad member’s face had already exposed what he had perceived.

That conflicted look, the words caught in his throat, the expression of wanting to speak but not daring to—it was an answer in itself.

Betty had seen it.

She chose not to wait any longer.

Betty believed that only by fully exposing the matter, only by making everyone truly understand—

That their current situation had deteriorated to the absolute worst possible point—

Only then could a turning point emerge.

And indeed, this information made everyone’s faces turn grim.

Someone sucked in a sharp breath, fists clenching until their knuckles went white.

Everyone had just checked the message on Betty’s Palmfiend, and reality had once again confirmed the Lady’s words—the Anomaly was approaching, and the mist was failing.

They could not afford to wait any longer.

If they kept waiting, there was only one word left—death.

Everyone’s eyes quietly shifted.

It was something that only appeared when pushed to the absolute brink.

Not courage. Courage was far too luxurious.

But something more primal, more instinctive.

The will to survive.

Facing a Rank-3 Anomaly head-on was indeed despairing, but… there would be no better outcome.

Better to gamble everything on one desperate strike than to sit waiting for death.

“How far away is it now?”

The squad leader spoke, his voice hoarse.

The member sensing the Anomaly closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment.

His brow furrowed slightly, as though trying to make something out within the mist’s perception.

After a pause, he opened his eyes.

“About thirty meters to the west. Two or three floors of vertical difference.”

The squad leader drew a deep breath, then took another object from his tactical pack—something wrapped in layers of black felt cloth.

His left hand fumbled at the cord, peeling back the felt layer by layer.

The motions were slow but steady.

A red crystal lay quietly in his palm.

The red was not vivid, but a deep, dark crimson—like solidified flame.

Yet the interior of the crystal was far from calm. It was as if a burning cloud of fire had been sealed within. Red matter churned slowly, occasionally bursting with fine motes of light, radiating a faint scorching heat.

That heat seeped through the palm, into the skin, making his left hand prickle with warmth.

“Conflagrant Breath.”

The squad leader spoke its name in a low voice.

This was their last card.

Lady Pandora’s experimental Wizardry Crystals had come in two. One was the Susurrus Mist they had just used. The other was this one.

The former had bought them a brief respite.

Now all that remained was this red crystal.

Their own strength was limited, and against a Rank-3 Anomaly, even a fatal blow was hard to deliver.

Therefore, all their hopes were pinned on this single Wizardry Crystal.

This crystal had to play the most critical role.

Success was the only option. Failure was not permitted.

The squad leader took a deep breath, tucked the crystal solemnly into his palm, and swept his gaze around the room.

Five faces—fearful, resolute, or bewildered—turned toward him at once.

“Here’s what we do next—”

His voice was low and firm, reverberating through the mist.

No one interrupted. No one cut in.

Everyone listened.

………………

At the same time, deep within the mist.

The ferocious beast—a monstrosity assembled from countless bones—came to a halt.

Upon its single bone eye, the mottled oil paint reached out like something alive, thrashing wildly in the air, repeatedly expanding and contracting.

The sight was utterly grotesque.

As if a parasitic worm—some leech-like creature—had embedded itself in the eye of a snail, growing wantonly upon its host’s eyeball, emitting a nauseating iridescent sheen.