Affinity: Chaos

Chapter 2086: Exploding Puppets

Grey and Chris did not know what Cory was thinking about, Grey was fully focused on locating the place he sensed the aura of the spatial leak.

They walked for a few minutes before stopping in front of a small old-looking house. Grey observed and realized it seemed to have been abandoned for a while now. Taking the lead, he stepped into the house.

Chris and Cory followed behind him. The bunny leader was resting in Grey’s spatial storage, while Void was resting on Cory’s arms.

As soon as Cory stepped into the building, the door shut behind them.

Void, who was resting casually on Cory’s arms suddenly sprang to life and a large black sphere seemed to cover both him and Cory. This black sphere was made purely from the space element by Void.

Three arrows shot straight into the black sphere, before appearing on the other side and impaling themselves into the door.

Grey and Chris were a little further ahead, and were also attacked at the same time.

Chris, using his light element, evaded the attack, turning to catch a glimpse of Void enveloping Cory with the strange black sphere. Understanding he did not need to worry about Cory, he turned to see Grey easily grabbing the arrows shot at him with his bare hands.

‘Still so crude.’ He thought internally before looking in the direction the arrows came from.

“Traps set beforehand.” He commented when he saw the holes on the walls where the arrows were previously hiding.

Grey tossed the arrows to the side before inspecting the holes on the walls. He looked around and soon spotted the mechanism that activated the trap. He spread out his powerful mental sense, sweeping it across the room they just entered. After a careful sweep, he did not find anything odd.

Looking at the path before them, he took a deep breath and took the lead, this time, extra cautiously. They soon entered a smaller room that had a bed and nothing else.

Grey did not search long before finding a staircase leading underground after he raised the bed.

They went underground and quickly came across a dark long winding tunnel with small glowing stones embedded in the walls that provided light. Grey did not expect to make such a discovery, so he paused for some time as he tried to assess if the situation was good for them to continue or not. If he had been alone, he would have not thought twice before going further, however, with his Teacher and Cory with him, he had to take their safety into account.

“We should continue deeper. I don’t think the danger here will be anything outside our abilities.” Chris immediately understood why Grey stopped and said.

Grey took a glance at his Teacher, and then at Void who was with Cory before nodding. He at least believed in Void’s spatial abilities, so he did not have to worry too much about Cory’s safety, and thinking about his Teacher’s light element, he calmed down knowing it would be difficult for his Teacher to get hurt unless a Half God Plane expert made a move. Of course, there was still the possibility of them being ambushed.

They followed the tunnel and after a few minutes, Grey sensed activity ahead of them.

“Wait.” He whispered to the others before going forward while his aura was concealed.

He soon heard two voices ahead of him.

“You almost exposed us, you moron.”

“I already told you it was a mistake, I wasn’t informed the portal couldn’t take anyone stronger than the Sixth stage.”

“I clearly told them to inform those being sent here.”

“Come on, your brother used this portal last month, he’s in the same realm as me.”

“Where did you hear such lies?”

Before the second voice could reply, the first voice continued, “Since you’re already here, there’s no point arguing any further. You should join the troops ahead. This is deep in human territory, we have to be very careful, otherwise we will not be able to achieve our objective here.”

The owner of the second voice expressed his gratitude before the sound of receding footsteps rang out. The footsteps soon died down, accompanied by a frustrated sigh.

“That idiot told his friend about the mission.”

Grey, who had been eavesdropping on the entire conversation, decided to step forward. His aura was still concealed, and he made no sound as he walked. It was almost as if he was not stepping on the ground.

The tunnel became wider and he soon saw an opening of around fifteen square meters with a portal as well as a complex array surrounding it. There was also a Gnome sitting in front of the portal making different hand seals.

The Gnome was obviously the owner of the first voice. On the other side of the opening were two more paths that led forward. Grey could tell the Gnome that just passed through the portal used the path by the left.

He silently stood behind the Gnome, tapping him on the shoulder.

The Gnome was deep in meditation, he did not expect anyone to come close. When he felt the tap, he knew that hand was larger than a Gnome’s hand. Thinking it was one of the Necromancers who were among the troops, he ordered in disdain.

“Take your filthy hands off me.” Opening his eyes, he looked at the hand coldly and asked, “Who gave you permission to come here?”

As he turned around, he was surprised to find an unfamiliar face. He was the one placed in charge of this portal, and other than those who first came here with him which he knew, he was confident he could recognize the faces of everyone who had passed through this portal, both Gnomes and Necromancers. This person was not one of their Necromancers. His expression changed, he wanted to make a move when he felt like the weight of the world was resting on him, forcing him to stay in the sitting position.

“I should be the one asking you that question, and not the other way around.” Grey commented before sending a stream of essence energy into the body of the Gnome, easily incapacitating him.

This Gnome was only a Fifth stage Sovereign, so it was quite easy for Grey to seal his power.

Grey called his Teacher and Cory over.

Cory looked at the Gnome with curiosity, while also observing the portal. This was not the first time she was seeing such a portal, she used to stay in a small world and came out of one of such portals with Grey years back.

Chris was not unfamiliar with these portals either, after all, True Dawn was located in a small world, and he had also helped in the sealing of such portals.

Not wasting time, Grey asked, “What mission are you guys doing here?”

The Gnome looked at him and spat on the ground, refusing to reply.

Grey chuckled and his grip on the Gnome’s shoulder became firmer as he grabbed the collarbone of the Gnome, squeezing it until it started to make cracking sounds.

The Gnome screamed in pain as his eyes almost went red from pain and rage. He looked at Grey, and before he could open his mouth to speak, Grey exerted even greater force and shattered the right collarbone of the Gnome before moving his hand to the left collarbone.

Another bloodcurdling scream escaped from the Gnome’s mouth after his right collarbone had been broken by Grey in such a manner. Now, he started to feel dread and fear. The veins on the head of the Gnome seemed like they were on the verge of exploding due to how prominent the bulges were.

Grey did not squeeze on the left collarbone, he only placed his hand there and said, “I’ll ask questions, you answer.”

The Gnome nodded in a hurry, worried Grey might continue his evil act if he refrained from speaking.

Grey smiled at the Gnome’s reply, “What’s your objective here?”

“We found a mine in this place. The item is useless to you humans, but it’s of great use to us.” The Gnome replied through rough breaths.

“Oh, there’s something here you guys need? What does it do?” Chris asked.

The Gnome kept quiet for a few seconds, only to feel the hand on his collarbone starting to get tighter, “It’s to help create different types of puppets.”

“Independent puppets?” Grey muttered when he heard the Gnome’s answer.

The Gnome turned to look at Grey and asked in confusion, “What’s that?”

Grey snorted and asked, “What type of puppets?”

“Exploding puppets.” The Gnome replied.

“Can’t you guys generally detonate your puppets?” Grey asked, a little confused as to why the Gnomes would waste their time doing such useless things.

“Technically, but we suffer from some side effects. With the new puppet making technique, we won’t suffer from such backlash.” The Gnome explained.

Grey’s pupils constricted as he thought of what this could possibly mean.