Chapter 809: The Overlooked

Morola's nights had no streetlights, relying entirely on the crimson moon high above for light, leaving everywhere in deep darkness and thick shadows.

Guxin, dressed as a gentleman, carried a lantern and led Lu Mi to a district near the city's edge.

This area was completely abandoned, as a modest volcano had risen abruptly, swallowing several buildings, leaving behind a charred wasteland.

"You don't mean that place is under the volcano, do you?" Lu Mi glanced around, adjusted his cuff, and smiled.

Guxin gave a slight nod.

"Yes, that volcanic eruption affected the underground section of the cemetery, causing its power to seep out—the lava receded quickly, leaving only a hollow cavity."

"If you can find the correct path through the fog of war within that hollow and reach your destination, it proves you have the qualification to join us in assaulting the cemetery's underground section."

War fog… Guxin had consistently used this term to describe the subterranean mist—it truly resembled the kind leaking from an underground mausoleum, where the "0—01" representing the "Red Priest" resided… Lu Mi did not conjure a blazing white fireball for light, but followed Guxin, who carried the lantern, into a building at the edge of the volcanic zone.

Inside the house filled with solidified volcanic rock, the two ascended a shaky staircase into a partially collapsed basement.

A crack had been torn into the basement wall, revealing beyond it a hollow filled with thick mist.

"You must walk to this spot near the cemetery's underground section, light the oil lamp between the four stone statues—remember, there are four humanoid statues arranged in pairs facing each other." Guxin hung the lantern on a protruding brick at the crack's edge, pulled out a simple map, and pointed to the destination.

Lu Mi studied it for a minute or two, then gazed thoughtfully at the thick mist beyond the crack:

"What's special about this mist?"

Guxin pressed his half-tall silk top hat and smiled:

"It drastically reduces your visibility, impairs your hearing and sense of smell, suppresses your astral body's interaction with the Spirit Realm, and dulls your spiritual warnings and intuitive senses."

"And?" Lu Mi asked casually.

Guxin thought for a few seconds:

"The war fog has enveloped the corresponding Spirit Realm section here—some adepts who can enter the Spirit Realm cannot orient themselves or escape the fog; if they forcibly 'teleport' out, they risk becoming lost somewhere in Morola and never returning to reality."

You could teleport anywhere you could see… and with a "Hunter's" vision, I can barely make out five or six meters ahead… Lu Mi grasped the war fog's function, chuckled, and said:

"If I could summon a hurricane, couldn't I blow it away?"

"We tried—it works, but when the wind stops, the fog surges back. And dispersal only affects the physical portion; it doesn't touch the mist that has seeped into the Spirit Realm." Guxin briefly described the prior experiments.

Lu Mi asked a few more details, then smiled and conjured a ball of blazing white flame, letting it hover above his head.

He stepped forward, passed through the crack, and walked slowly into the thick mist.

Unlike normal mist, this did not feel damp and cold—it burned like fire-scorched air. The moment Lu Mi inhaled, his airways flared with a sharp, stinging pain; the scents of char, blood, and rust flooded his mind.

The thick, congealed mist churned violently, and the ground trembled slightly.

Lu Mi immediately saw towering figures emerge from the mist five or six meters away.

They were forged from black iron, their surfaces streaked with dark red rust, like metal automatons abandoned for years.

Some lacked arms, others were clumsily assembled, some had gaping holes in their chests and abdomens—all swaying unsteadily from all directions toward Lu Mi, each wielding a massive sword gleaming with cold light.

Lu Mi chuckled:

"Who dug you out of the junk pile?"

"Recycling trash?"

Before his words ended, his figure vanished from where he stood and reappeared behind one of the iron automatons.

His eyes turned iron-black; his right fist blazed with blazing white flame as he slammed it downward like a falling giant bird, striking the junction of the automaton's waist and hips.

Suddenly, a spear of blazing white flame shot from the crack in the wall, hurtling toward Lu Mi just after he swung his punch.

Lu Mi had no time to dodge or use "Spirit Realm Transit"—he could only follow the momentum of his downward punch and collapse to the ground.

Simultaneously, he prepared to swap his shadow with his physical body.

Crash!

His right fist, wreathed in blazing white flame, struck the automaton's waist-hip joint, shattering it with a spiderweb of fine cracks.

Then his fist scraped along the metal surface, dragging his body down to the ground, narrowly avoiding the flaming spear—only a lock of his hair caught fire.

With a metallic clang, the blazing white flame spear pierced the automaton's body and landed two meters away, revealing Guxin's figure, wearing his half-tall silk top hat.

The attacker was this examiner!

The second most dangerous man in Morola!

Click. Click. The automaton, due to inertia, took one step forward—then its body began to crumble from the waist-hip junction, collapsing into a heap of scrap metal.

Lu Mi, still on the ground, did not roll—he used "Teleport" directly toward the crack, now covered in thick mist, maximizing his movement within visible range to escape the war fog as quickly as possible.

At that point, whether to counterattack Guxin or find an opportunity to flee, he would have far more room to maneuver.

When possible, never fight within someone else's pre-set battlefield!

The instant Lu Mi's figure materialized within the thick mist near the basement crack, his eyes caught a metal spear wrapped in blazing white flame—it had been waiting there, poised to impale his heart as if he had walked straight into it.

Besides Guxin, there was another ambush!

And Guxin's earlier attack had clearly been meant to lure Lu Mi toward the exit, into this trap!

At this moment, Lu Mi was in Morola, far from both Juliana and Franca, unable to use their "mirror doubles"—he could only, in the split second, activate his contract mark, flipping his shadow upward to swap places with his body.

Plop!

The metal spear wrapped in blazing white flame pierced Lu Mi's chest, igniting his entire body.

But Lu Mi's figure thinned and darkened, dissolving like a shadow within the firelight.

The man holding the spear stepped into the war fog from the crack.

His hair seemed dyed crimson, his features sharply aggressive, clad in a black jacket with red patterns—he was clearly Albus Medich.

Albus Medich, whom Guxin was supposed to be searching for, was here!

Lu Mi's figure rapidly materialized in another direction, but due to the war fog's constraints, his distance from Albus, Guxin, and the other iron automatons never exceeded six meters.

He saw Guxin's forehead faintly glowing red, as if something was about to emerge; he saw Albus's hair covered in crimson flame, flowing down as if it had grown longer.

"You traitor," Guxin murmured, eyes half-lidded, as if pronouncing a verdict.

He immediately conjured one blazing white fireball after another, launching them in a pattern to cover every corner toward Lu Mi.

He showed no fear of harming himself or Albus—despite their distance being only five or six meters, and each fireball capable of leveling the "Carnivore" bar.

Hearing Guxin's words and seeing Albus Medich's posture, Lu Mi suddenly understood why he had been attacked:

He had ignored the existence of the "Iron Blood Cross!"

This secret organization, primarily following the "Hunter" path, must also be searching for the whereabouts of "0—01." After years, it was highly likely someone had infiltrated Morola.

One of them was Guxin!

Given the strange connection between the Iron Blood Cross's core members and Trier of the Fourth Era, their ability to retain partial autonomy in Morola and sense the approaching Enforcement Team through the scattered power of "0—01" was entirely plausible—and consistent with Guxin's behavior!

Now, Albus Medich appeared to still be cooperating with the Iron Blood Cross, still using this secret organization—and Lu Mi's attempt to use Guxin's group to locate Albus had been turned into a trap.

Watching the incoming blazing white fireballs and Albus Medich, who stood blocking the exit, preparing something, Lu Mi made no hesitation—a faint glow flashed in his sleeve, and his figure vanished again.

But this time, he left behind a vanity mirror.

The vanity mirror fell straight through the thick mist, shattering with a crack into multiple fissures.

Boom!

Guxin's cluster of blazing white fireballs exploded—but affected only five or six meters, unable to disperse the thick war fog, confined to a tiny area.

The vanity mirror shattered into countless fragments in the violent explosion, some pulverized into dust, others melted and re-solidified.

Albus, watching the rising blazing white flames and feeling the oncoming shockwave, muttered with slight confusion:

"Using the Mirror World?"

Behind the dark, void-like mirror, Lu Mi, having used "Mirror Lock" again, quickly looked ahead—finding that the phantom, black, spiderweb-like tunnels had not been corroded by the war fog.

Indeed, in Morola, the Mirror World was unique… Lu Mi had dared to "trust" Guxin, to enter the war fog, and to "accept" the trial precisely because he possessed the "Mirror Lock."

Of course, he had not been defenseless earlier—he had magical items like the "Sword of Courage"—but without knowing Albus Medich's true cards, he had no intention of fighting to the death on the opponent's chosen battlefield.

Lu Mi then selected a mirror imprint located in Morola and used "Spirit Realm Transit" to leave.

The moment he vanished, the dark, void-like region behind the mirror disintegrated silently as the mirror shattered completely.

Lu Mi's teleport destination was the mirror inside Juliana's room.

Upon arrival, he peered through the glass, assessing the outside—discovering that Juliana, the "Witch," was gone, not sleeping in bed.

A slow smile curled at the corner of Lu Mi's lips.

(End of Chapter)