Chapter 116: Providing Information, Mission Complete

Chapter 116: Chapter 116: Providing Information, Mission Complete

Seraphina Sullivan activated a Skill.

PFF—

A pink, sweet-smelling mist gently blew from Seraphina’s lips, precisely enveloping Cole Ross, who was in a panic over her captured brother.

The [Sweet Fragrance] Skill activated!

Cole Ross felt an irresistible wave of drowsiness and relaxation wash over her. Her tense nerves instantly went slack, and the arm holding her Crossbow dropped limply. Her eyes glazed over as she lost the will to resist.

Shane Ross, restrained by Flora, watched in horror as his sister lowered her weapon as if she were being controlled.

Seraphina then seemed to remember him, smiling as she said, "Oh, I forgot about you. Don’t worry, Flora won’t eat you, and I’m not going to hurt either of you. I just need a little favor."

With that, she gently blew a small puff of the Sweet Fragrance mist toward Shane Ross.

Shane Ross’s struggles quickly ceased, and his eyes became as dazed and docile as his sister’s.

After easily gaining Control of the two, Seraphina glanced cautiously toward the two Players still fighting in the distance. Confirming she hadn’t been spotted, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Seraphina wasted no time.

To complete the lucrative "Save Mission" as quickly as possible, she directly ordered the pair to lead her to their Shelter.

Though their eyes were vacant, the siblings were exceptionally obedient, leading Seraphina to an extremely well-hidden cave entrance concealed by vines and rubble.

Inside the cave was a narrow, downward-sloping tunnel.

After about ten minutes of walking, the view suddenly opened up, and Seraphina couldn’t help but gasp in faint astonishment.

"It looks like this underground tunnel was dug very deep... To think there’s actually an underground city here," Seraphina muttered to herself.

While it couldn’t quite be called a city, before her was a massive, artificially excavated and reinforced underground Space. There was even a crude lighting system on the ceiling providing a faint glow, and the air circulation seemed decent as well.

Cole Ross and Shane Ross led Seraphina through a series of maze-like tunnels, finally stopping before a heavy fortress door made of a mix of metal and stone.

Cole Ross raised her hand and knocked on the door in a rhythmic pattern.

A small window on the door slid open in response, revealing a pair of wary eyes.

Upon seeing it was the Ross siblings, the owner of the eyes visibly relaxed. With the sound of sliding chains, the heavy door was slowly pushed open.

The man who opened the door wore old work clothes. But when he saw Seraphina behind Cole and Shane, he froze, a look of surprise and confusion on his face.

"Cole, who is this...?" he asked, instinctively blocking the way as his gaze swept over Seraphina’s unfamiliar face and clean clothes.

But Cole Ross, under the Control of [Sweet Fragrance], completely ignored his question and simply continued leading Seraphina inside mechanically.

Seraphina gave the man a polite nod and followed close behind.

As soon as she entered the underground fortress, Seraphina immediately sensed an oppressive yet orderly atmosphere.

The Space was smaller than she had imagined, and there weren’t many people living there. Every face bore the exhaustion and numbness of a life lived under constant pressure.

Her arrival was like a stone tossed into a calm lake, immediately drawing curious, wary, and even slightly uneasy gazes.

She didn’t linger, following Cole Ross straight toward the deeper parts of the fortress.

Soon, they arrived at a relatively clean door.

Cole Ross knocked, then pushed it open directly.

The room behind the door resembled a crude laboratory, cluttered with various instruments, blueprints, and samples.

A middle-aged man with glasses, wearing a white lab coat that was faded but exceptionally clean, was hunched over a desk writing something.

He didn’t look like a manager with powerful combat abilities, but more like a scholar engrossed in his research.

Hearing the noise, he looked up. Seeing Cole and her brother, a flicker of confusion crossed his face. "Cole? Weren’t you two on a patrol and reconnaissance mission on the surface? Why are you back so soon?"

But when his gaze moved past the siblings and fell on Seraphina behind them, his confusion instantly turned to astonishment, and his eyes sharpened abruptly!

The scattered, scholarly Aura about him vanished in an instant, replaced by a look of extreme, vigilant scrutiny.

Almost instantly, he noticed something was wrong with Cole Ross and Shane Ross.

Their eyes were vacant, their postures stiff. They had completely lost their usual alertness and vitality, as if... they were being controlled!

Isaac Ingram’s expression changed. One hand crept silently beneath his desk, where an old-fashioned pistol was hidden.

Just as he was about to draw the weapon, Seraphina spoke, her voice calm.

"You don’t need to worry. I’m not here to hurt you. Quite the opposite, I’m here to bring you some important information about the petrification monsters outside."

Hearing the words "petrification monsters," Isaac Ingram’s movements froze, a flicker of disbelief in his eyes.

To show her sincerity, Seraphina snapped her fingers.

SNAP~

With the soft sound, it was as if a spell had been broken.

Cole Ross and Shane Ross both shuddered, and the dazed look in their eyes quickly cleared.

They first looked around blankly. But when they saw Isaac Ingram in front of them and Seraphina behind them, memory came flooding back like a tide. Fear and shock instantly returned to their faces, and they instinctively moved to take a defensive stance.

"Relax."

Seraphina spoke at the right moment, her gaze fixed on Isaac Ingram. "Now, can we have a proper chat? ...Sir?"

...

Seraphina organized her thoughts and selectively shared what she knew with Isaac Ingram.

This included the fact that the monsters were called "The Silenti" and that the core of their Power was a strange ore called the "Petrification Star."

This stone was not a product of this world; it had come with The Silenti from a place called "Silenti Prime." The special Energy and light it emitted had an absolute Petrification Effect on any non-Silenti Prime creature.

It was also the source of Energy that sustained The Silenti.

After listening, Isaac Ingram’s face was filled with shock and the complex emotion of seeing a theory confirmed.

He adjusted his glasses, his voice a bit hoarse. "We... we previously had some bold hypotheses based on Energy analysis and special fragments, suggesting that the source of this disaster might be... extraterrestrial.

But we always lacked definitive proof. To think... that these monsters, The Silenti, actually came from another world..."

His gaze fell on Seraphina again, filled with a sense of incredible strangeness. "And you... what are you...?" He seemed at a loss for words. ’What kind of Power would allow this young woman to travel between worlds so easily and possess such detailed intelligence?’