You promised to wreak havoc on the dungeon, but instead you've got Dragon Slime!

Ron paused for a few seconds on one of the purple wave lines with his fingertip, and whispered, "This kind of energy imprint cannot be made with ordinary poisons."

Claudia leaned closer: "Is it the craftsmanship of the Carnival Maze?"

Ron nodded: "And it's a finely crafted version, which can only come from a specific crafting point."

He pulled up a map showing the distribution of alchemy workshops around Emerald Town and pointed to an abandoned camp in the northern suburbs—that place was a small alchemy station five years ago, which was later nominally abandoned, but energy detection records showed that there had been stable fluctuations in the refining flames there in the past month.

“Found it.” Ron closed the light screen. “Their poison-making site.”

Early the next morning, Ron sent two bodyguards with specially made concealment talismans to lie in wait on the outskirts of the northern suburbs.

In less than half a day, two carriages from the direction of the Carnival Maze drove into the camp, unloading several sealed wooden barrels. The barrel openings were engraved with low-level camouflage runes, so ordinary people could not see anything unusual about them.

A guard quietly reported back, and Ron sneered, "It really was you."

That afternoon, a striking notice was posted at the Black Language Cave:

"Free detoxification and physical fitness tests will be offered to adventurers who have recently challenged the Black Whisper Caves. The event will be held at Emerald Town South Square."

The announcement spread almost instantly throughout the taverns, supply depots, and markets.

A large number of adventurers flocked to the South Square, some because they were worried about being poisoned, and others simply because they wanted to get a free stamina potion.

Ron set up a makeshift examination table in the center of the square, where Lilith and several assistants familiar with alchemy were responsible for the examinations. Each person who came for the examination had to first drink a special "neutralizing beverage." This beverage contained a trace amount of energy-reflecting powder, which would emit a subtle fluorescence on the skin's surface upon encountering a toxin of the same origin as the hallucinogenic poison.

Chapter 127

By evening, three people had shown a fluorescent reaction on the spot, and all three admitted that they had received free supplies from a "friend".

Ron had his men pretend nothing was wrong, disperse the group, and continue moving around the area.

Before long, two suspicious-looking men approached one of them, as if they were whispering to confirm something.

The next second, the guards rushed forward and subdued the two.

The pouch found on the spot contained not only a poison bottle concealed by a talisman, but also a parchment with a recipe printed on it, bearing the seal of an alchemy workshop in the Carnival Maze.

The message quickly reached Amata's desk. That very night, the guild issued a warrant for the arrest of the mastermind behind the alchemy workshop.

Ron sat on the high platform of the Black Language Cave, watching the square gradually come alive under the night sky, a slow smile playing on his lips—

"Now, it's your turn to explain."

Deep within the carnival maze, flames crackled in the stone chamber.

Bacchus kicked over the chair next to him, and the wooden board rolled several times on the floor before coming to a stop.

The man in black robes said in a low voice, "The name of the alchemy workshop has been publicly posted by Amata on the bulletin board in Emerald Town, and a reward has been offered for the mastermind behind it."

Bakus's face was extremely grim. That workshop was his regular refining point; it not only refined poisons but also helped him modify some equipment. Once his name got out, it would be like cutting off one of his hidden weapons.

“They have no evidence to directly point the finger at me,” he said through gritted teeth.

The man in black robes replied cautiously, "But... the signature on the alchemy recipe wasn't properly erased by our people."

Bacchus's knuckles turned white. The formula was supposed to be circulated internally, and outsiders should never have been able to obtain it, yet it had fallen into Ron's hands this time.

"He's trying to force me to back down."

Meanwhile, in the meeting room on the third floor of the Emerald Town Guild, Ron sat on one side of a long table and pushed the original recipe document in front of Amata.

"The signature is genuine, and the craftsmanship is theirs. As long as you submit it formally and according to regulations to the Carnival Maze guild branch, they will handle it."

Amata flipped through the recipe, then looked up at Ron: "You want more than just to shut down this workshop, don't you?"

Ron said calmly, "I also want to make sure they can't resume production for a while."

That afternoon, the Emerald Town Guild officially submitted the Alchemy Workshop incident to the Carnival Maze branch, along with evidence of the recipe.

Forced by regulations, the Carnival Maze branch had no choice but to send people to seal off the workshop. The sealing order caused an uproar throughout the Alchemy District—no one dared to take on Bakus's work under such circumstances.

Three days later, the alchemy camp in the northern suburbs was completely abandoned. The doors were locked with the guild's seal, the furnace fires were extinguished, and even the smell of medicinal residue in the air had faded.

Ron stood on the high platform, looking at the blockade map sent back by his guards, and he knew very well—

With this strike, Bakus will be unable to use poison to his advantage anytime soon.

Moreover, this time the guild is taking action openly. No matter how much Bakus tries to manipulate things in secret, even if someone dares to help with the refining, they will have to consider whether they want to go against the guild.

Inside the carnival maze's stone chamber, the man in black robes lowered his voice: "The workshop is gone, but the guild is still watching our alchemy area."

Bacchus tapped his fingers on the table a few times, his voice so low it sounded like it was being squeezed out between his teeth: "Ron... you've forced me to resort to the dirtiest methods."

Deep within the carnival maze, in a stone chamber, the brazier roared as it burned.

Bakus sat in front of the map, his fingers pressed firmly on the core of the Black Language Cave.

The man in black robes tentatively asked, "The poison route is cut off. Shouldn't we slow down?"

“Relief?” Bacchus looked up, his voice so cold it could freeze the air. “Relief is for people who are afraid. I’m not afraid.”

He picked up a long, gilded needle and poked tiny holes in the map, tracing a hidden route from the outside to the core.

"This is the pulsating zone of the core energy chamber. As long as we plant magic explosives here to interfere with the core, even if we don't collapse the Black Language Cave, we can paralyze it in a short time."

The man in the black robe felt a chill: "This is a capital offense... If caught, it's a crime of destroying the city."

Bakus ignored him and instead beckoned to another tall, assassin-like man: "Take a team that can get into the core area and go in through this hidden vein. Bury the things within three days and don't alert any monsters."

The tall assassin responded in a low voice, then turned and disappeared into the firelight.

Meanwhile, on the high platform of the Black Language Cave, Ron was staring at the energy fluctuation graph on the control panel.

In the past few days, there has been little activity on the outside, but occasionally a very shallow "spik" appears on the energy map - this fluctuation does not seem like monster activity, but more like external energy probing.

Claudia frowned: "Is someone probing the core area?"

Ron nodded: "It doesn't seem like a normal reconnaissance mission. The location where the spikes appeared is right on the outer ring of the core energy vein."

He knew that once the outer ring was destroyed, the energy transmission in the Black Language Cave would be disrupted, and the control panel and monster spawning would malfunction.

“In other words, if someone can plant something on the outer ring, half of our defenses will collapse.” Ron zoomed in on the map. “This wave… is aimed at the heart.”

At night, Ron quietly descended to the outer ring of the core area. It was a long, narrow stone corridor, with natural magic stones embedded in the rock walls on both sides, emitting a ghostly blue light. A steady pulse could be felt in the air—the breath of the core.

He felt his way along the stone wall and soon discovered something unusual in a corner—beneath a few inconspicuous pebbles lay a tiny locator. The runes engraved on its surface were unique to the Carnival Maze.

Ron narrowed his eyes, crushed the talisman, raised his hand and carved a seemingly identical fake talisman on the original, and quietly connected it to his monitoring array.

"Since you're trying to mess with my heart, don't blame me for waiting to take your entire team's heads."

Over at the Carnival Maze, the tall assassin was leading a five-person squad to organize their equipment.

Bacchus stood in the shadows, his voice low: "Remember, if you go in, don't come back empty-handed. Even just setting off one bomb will be enough to give him a hard time."

The assassin nodded, the short blade in his hand gleaming coldly, and turned to step into the teleportation array.

The next second, their target was the core outer ring of the "welcome circle" that Ron had set up.

The outer ring of the core shimmered with a deep blue magical energy, like the pulse of a heart. A faint humming sound filled the air, causing people to unconsciously hold their breath.

With a flash of teleportation light, the tall assassin appeared at the entrance of the stone corridor with a five-person squad. Their steps were very light, almost hugging the rock wall as they moved forward.

"The locator is just ahead," the assassin whispered.

Ron watched from the surveillance array on the high platform as they slowly approached the fake runes he had set up, a cold glint in his eyes.

Chapter 128

The fake rune looked exactly like the real one, even its energy fluctuations were adjusted to their original state. But it had an extra hidden circuit—once touched, it would trigger the surrounding sealing array and monster spawning array.

The assassin squad stopped in front of the fake rune, and the tall assassin crouched down to examine it.

“No signs of tampering.” He reached out and gently pressed his hand on the rune.

"Om-"

A low rumble reverberated from the rock wall beneath their feet, as if the entire stone corridor had come to life. The next second, the runes on all sides lit up, and with a dull thud, the thick stone doors at both ends of the corridor slammed shut, sealing the entrances and exits completely.

"There's an ambush!" one of the team members whispered.

Before they could react, the magic stones on the rock wall suddenly shone brighter, and thick, mutated stone lizards slid out from the cracks in the rocks. Their scales had a metallic sheen, and they spewed out corrosive acid from their mouths.

The first wave of acid burned through a team member's armor, sending him tumbling and crashing into the stone wall.

The tall assassin gritted his teeth and swung his blade, cleaving a stone lizard that charged at him. But then, a second wave of monsters crawled down from the cave above—a core guardian-type beast horde that Ron had specially summoned, swift in action and ridiculously durable.

Ron watched the energy curve rise rapidly in the monitoring array, knowing that the monster had completely suppressed the assassin team's operational space.

“Turn off the ventilation shaft,” Ron whispered to Claudia.

Claudia immediately cut off the ventilation openings of the outer ring of the core. In just a few dozen seconds, the air inside the stone corridor began to thin, causing the assassins to breathe rapidly.

"Retreat!" The tall assassin realized something was wrong and led the remaining three towards the east stone gate. But the gate was already sealed shut, and countless talismanic lights shone through the cracks, ready to be activated at any moment.

In the brief moment they hesitated, Ron pressed the last key on the console.

The array of runes behind the stone gate lit up, and a violent shockwave exploded outwards, blasting the two people at the front into the air before slamming them heavily onto the ground. Their armor shattered, and blood splattered everywhere.

The remaining two exchanged a glance, realizing they were in a dead end.

The tall assassin cursed under his breath, tossing the explosive bag on his back into a corner, hoping to take someone down with him. But the moment the explosive bag touched the ground, the rune array absorbed the detonation energy, reflecting the shockwave back and engulfing them in flames.

A few minutes later, the stone corridor fell silent again. The monster slowly retreated back into the cave, and the stone door slowly rose.

Ron put away the monitoring array on the high platform and said in a calm tone, "Tell Amata that the Carnival Maze sabotage team has died in the outer core ring."

Claudia raised an eyebrow: "Does this count as declaring war?"

Ron said coldly, "It was already like that the moment they placed the locator."

Deep within the carnival maze, the braziers burned so brightly they seemed to spew flames.

Bacchus stood before the long table, clutching a broken magical communication stone in his hand. It was the tall assassin's last signal before he died, and then the signal vanished completely.

The man in black robes forced himself to speak: "The squad... is all gone."

Bacchus tapped his fingers on the edge of the table like he was drumming a war drum: "Ron set up an ambush in the outer ring of the core, but even the explosives failed to detonate."

He took a deep breath, as if suppressing his last bit of patience, and then turned to the several adjutants in the room and shouted: "Summon the 'Crimson Claw Battalion' and the 'Mist Axe Team,' all in heavy armor. Notify the 'Abyss Hunter Corps' to bring all siege equipment."

The man in black robes paused for a moment, then asked, "You want to—"

"Fight him head-on," Bakus growled in a low voice. "Since we can't beat him in the middle, let's just smash down his door and make him vomit blood while guarding his own doorstep."