Hello, is this a letter addressed to Demon Fortress?

As you crawl into the narrow passage, your body slides uncontrollably downwards.

Shea was the first to glide out of the tunnel, her body nimbly flipping in the air before landing gracefully like a feather, without making a sound.

A wooden crate slid out immediately afterward, but was held up by an invisible force just before it touched the ground, and remained steadily suspended in mid-air.

Next came the disassembled raft components, and the forest ghost, surrounded by a faint current, slowly drifting down.

Elvia followed closely behind, performing a nimble roll to dissipate the impact, kneeling on one knee and standing firmly.

Finally, it was Luo Youyou, the catgirl, who slid out face down, scraping the ground cleanly.

"Meow!! Can't you guys even pick me up, meow!"

She looked up, her nose and cheeks covered in dust, tears welling in her eyes from the pain.

Lin Gui ignored her complaints, raised his staff, and chanted softly.

A soft ball of light emerged from the tip of the staff, and the light of the [Illumination] spell dispelled the surrounding darkness, illuminating the environment in which everyone was.

This is an exceptionally wide passageway, with the ground and walls constructed from massive square stone bricks that fit together perfectly, their surfaces covered with mottled, ancient patterns.

Most strikingly, the stone walls on both sides are painted with many huge, bizarre eye patterns.

The eyes are depicted with bold lines, but the pupils are drawn with exquisite detail, as if they are coldly watching the intruder from all angles, carrying an unsettling sense of scrutiny.

Lin Gui frowned, looked at Elvia, and pointed to the eyes.

"Do you recognize its origin?"

Elvia looked at it carefully and shook her head.

"I don't know. You should ask scholars or professional archaeologists about ruins and ancient civilizations."

After getting off, Lin Gui didn't delay.

The first step was to pull out a brick that looked quite old from next to the wooden box.

With a "kind" smile on his face, he walked towards Luo Youyou, who had stood up from the ground.

Luo Youyou looked at the brick in his hand, then at his expression, and immediately tensed up, her cat ears taut and her tail bristling.

"What...what are you going to do?!"

"I'm sorry, the upcoming operation involves some secrets that I can't let you know," Lin Gui said calmly. "Why don't you get some sleep first?"

Before he finished speaking, he had already swung the brick in his hand, which was still covered with a faint magical fluctuation.

[Vertigo Technique]

"Wait! I'll close my eyes! I'll cover my ears! I swear I won't look at anything, meow... Waaah!"

"Bang!"

A brick landed squarely on her head.

However, Luo Youyou was, after all, a mid-level high-ranking assassin with a good physique; she only swayed slightly but did not fall.

(Please remember the website 20 ...

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Lin Gui was not careless at all towards the assassin who was a level higher than him.

It took thirteen uses of the [Stun Spell] to finally bring down the stubbornly resisting catgirl.

Looking at the familiar bricks, Elvia's lips twitched slightly.

She remembered that she had been taken down in the same way...

She walked to Lin Gui's side, lowered her voice, and her expression remained solemn.

"Seriously, are you really sure? That's legendary!"

Lin Gui nodded, his tone remaining flat.

"Unless they are legendary mages, legendary diviners specializing in divination, or legendary scouts who have reached the pinnacle of perception, they cannot see through the [Night Veil].

"??????"

Elvia knew how powerful Lin Gui's dark concealment magic was.

But I never expected them to be this aggressive.

Just in case, she confirmed again.

"How can you be so sure? A legendary figure is two major ranks higher than you! The suppression of ranks is absolute!"

Lin Gui didn't answer directly, but instead asked a question in return.

"Do you know how many legendary-level demons I evaded along the way when I traversed the forbidden 'Red Earth Desert'?"

Elvia was taken aback: "How much?"

"Three thousand five hundred and eighty-seven..."

"??????" Elvia's pupils suddenly contracted.

"Three...three thousand more??!!"

"So, believe me." Lin Gui put away the brick and looked at her calmly.

"As long as Youye Shayi is here, it will be impossible for a mid-level legendary knight and a low-level legendary archer to discover us."

"Of course, you don't need to even think about getting into a conflict with them. Any one of their legendary players could wipe us out."

"We're just here to rescue people, and we'll leave once we're done."

Shea moved the unconscious Luo Youyou onto the raft and secured her, then tightly bound all the wooden crates together.

Then, as usual, he planned to go ahead and scout the way.

Lin Gui called out to her.

"Sia, no need."

"Your reconnaissance abilities are no match for a legendary archer; you might even be detected by him beforehand."

"We will proceed in complete stealth."

"The location shouldn't be too far."

He pushed the unconscious catgirl further inside, then sat at the very front of the raft and began chanting a spell in a low voice.

The incantations for "[Night Veil]" and "[Levitation]" rang out one after another.

Shia sat back down on top of the wooden crate, her eyes flickering slightly.

She keenly noticed that Lin Gui's incantation time seemed to have shortened again!

When they were slaughtering the Knights of Leon in the Black Demon Forest.

[Levitation] requires approximately twelve seconds of complete chanting, while [Night Veil] requires about three seconds.

Now, the [Levitation] skill only takes two seconds, and the [Night Veil] skill has been reduced to one second!

This is almost at the threshold of "casting spells without chanting"!

Even though she wasn't a mage, Shia knew that.

"No-chant magic" is a sign that a mage has reached the pinnacle of mastery over a particular spell.

However, very few monks are attached to this, because the effort and the reward are often disproportionate.

Achieving spellcasting without chanting can certainly compensate for the fatal flaw of a mage's excessively long casting animation.

However, it may take years of time and effort to reach this level.

Moreover, the higher the magic level, the longer it takes, making it not worth the effort.

Xia looked at Lin Gui's back with a puzzled expression.

This incredible rate of progress... Could it be that this guy has been secretly practicing extra behind their backs all this time?

Completely unaware that his unusual breakthrough in strength had aroused suspicion among his companions.

Lin Gui steered the raft, canceling the [Illumination] spell to avoid attracting attention.

The orb of light overhead vanished silently, and the road was instantly swallowed by pure darkness.

Lin Gui steered the raft silently through the wide passageway made of huge stone bricks.

Absolute darkness did not impede his perception.

【Wind Listening Technique】feeds feedback on subtle changes in airflow.

With Shea's whispered guidance, finding the direction was not difficult.

Not long after, Shia suddenly hissed, "Stop! There's something strange on the ground ahead."

Under Lin Gui's precise control, the raft instantly came to a stop and slowly descended.

He used the [Levitation] spell to bring an inconspicuous, dark-colored block on the ground into view.

A small flame suddenly ignited at my fingertips, providing illumination.

[Basic Magic, Ignite]

After seeing what it was, all three of them turned pale.

It was a piece of meat... a piece of flesh that clearly belonged to a human, with skin and some hair.

The edges are jagged, as if it had been forcibly dug out.

Elvia stepped forward and took a closer look; her gaze was so dark it could drip water.

"It was the work of that madman Ghosn."

"That guy likes the smell of blood, so he usually carries a slave with him, or a civilian he 'casually' grabs."

"Holding him in my arms, I sliced ​​his flesh raw, one cut at a time, and licked the blood that flowed out."

Her voice carried a suppressed disgust.

"To prevent people's shouts from disturbing his 'refined mood,' he would use a specially made steel needle to pierce his vocal cords beforehand."

Upon hearing this, Shia's throat involuntarily bobbed, making a soft "gurgling" sound.

Elvia seemed to hear the voice, turned her head, and looked at Shia with a cold, mocking expression.

"So, half-demon, if Gorn finds out that his prized bow 'Zachou' is in your hands..."

"I suggest you pray that you have enough time to end your own life before he catches you."

The procession continued forward.

Every so often, Lin Gui could find similar pieces of flesh and blood on the ground.

It's like a cruel signpost pointing the way.

After turning a corner, guided by Shia.

They found a woman's body lying in a corner like a discarded rag bag.

Shea stepped forward to examine it closely.

When I saw that the corpse's limbs were covered with deep, bone-revealing cuts, I realized that it was riddled with cuts.

And when the edges of the wound are white and curled up, clearly indicating repeated cutting.

Shia's hand holding the bow trembled slightly.

"That's...too cruel..."

A thin steel needle pierced through the woman's throat.

The frozen expression on her face was not one of pain, but rather a complete numbness and emptiness.

It was as if, before death arrived, consciousness had already been destroyed by endless torment.

Shea sighed and tried to make out the other person's vague face.

"She's one of Bob's family members; I've seen her a few times in Karan. Not Lorna."

Upon hearing this, Elvia sighed somewhat dejectedly and muttered to herself.

"It's a pity, if only it were Rona, we wouldn't have to go any further, we could have just turned around and run away..."

She leaned close to Lin Gui's ear and tried to persuade him again.

"You see, you've witnessed Ghosn's brutality firsthand. He's such a terrifying madman, so it's best if we avoid him, don't you think?"

The result was as expected.

Her attempts to dissuade him were completely ineffective.

Lin Gui continued to steer the raft, steadfastly drifting forward.

The further we went, the more we ventured into the area.

The more ruins and remains emerge from the walls, the more they become.

The strange script carved on the wreckage.

And a series of eye illustrations, each with a different style, yet all equally unsettling.

Lin Gui and the other two couldn't understand the meaning of these symbols, so they could only ignore them for the time being.

The passage went down and down, seemingly without end.

The temperature underground is clearly getting higher and higher.

The air was filled with an ancient scent that was a mixture of dust, mustiness, and a faint smell of sulfur.

Lin Gui's brows furrowed more and more tightly.

He felt there was something wrong with the way the site was built.

The passage does not extend smoothly forward.

Instead, it extends continuously into the depths of the earth at a constant slope...

This doesn't look like an ancient relic naturally buried by the loess soil of history.

It looks more like a... tomb?

Or is it an entrance to some deeper underground city-state?

Suppressing his doubts, Lin Gui continued to steer the raft forward.

Following the unsettling bloodstains along the way, it drifted for about ten minutes.

After encountering two more gruesome corpses, tortured to death.

At the end of the passage, they finally saw a steady light, different from any other illumination.

They didn't rush in.

Lin Gui canceled [Night Veil] and [Levitation].

He maneuvered the raft to land in a shadowy spot near the bright entrance, and began meditating to restore his magic.

Maintaining the [Night Veil] for nearly twenty minutes at full power consumed almost a quarter of his mana reserves.

[Levitation] is alright; his LV9 proficiency means his mana consumption is almost zero.

As a basic spell, it consumes far less magic power than the higher-level Dark Night Veil.

Lin Gui sat down cross-legged and quickly entered a meditative state.

Beside her, Shia immediately drew her longbow to its full extent, her emerald green eyes sharply scanning the surrounding darkness, wary of any disturbance.

Elvia also drew her sword, took a step to the side, and stood firmly in front of Lin Gui to protect him.

It doesn't matter if either of them gets into trouble.

As long as Lin Gui is alive, his magic power will be sufficient.

With his unpredictable ability to hide, he could quickly lead them out of danger.

Fortunately, no accidents occurred until Lin Gui's magic power was fully restored.

Just as Lin Gui finished his meditation and was preparing to start anew.

Shia frowned and whispered to the two of them:

"Do you... feel... as if someone is watching us?"

Elvia was taken aback for a moment upon hearing this.

Then it was as if they had heard something funny.

Pointing to the ubiquitous eye murals on the wall, he raised his voice slightly.

He said with a hint of mockery:

"Hey Shia, are you scared by these painted eyes? Don't scare yourself!"

Lin Gui nodded in agreement, echoing him in a flat tone.

"Yes, it must just be your imagination. It's just a mural."

Xia was taken aback and blinked.

Is this... is this how Lin Gui and Elvia, those two guys who are more cautious than foxes, should react?

Before she could react, Lin Gui had already started chanting the incantation again.

The darkness of the "Night Veil" spread again, enveloping the raft and everyone on it like a light veil.

With a flash of light, the raft and the people on it vanished from their spot in an instant.

And at the very same instant the veil descended.

The mocking smile on Elvia's face vanished instantly.

Instead, there was a sense of seriousness and coldness.

She spoke urgently to Shia in an extremely soft voice, barely audible only to those nearby:

"Are you sure about what you just said?!"

Lin Gui immediately followed up with a question, his voice grave.

"Did you only realize you were being watched after I canceled [Night Veil]?"

Shea immediately understood the purpose behind the two's unusual behavior.

It's an act for potential surveillance!

She felt a chill run down her spine, quickly nodded, and responded in a low voice:

"Yes! Absolutely certain! I felt it shortly after the concealment was canceled!"

Lin Gui looked at Elvia: "Are you from the Holy Knights of John?"

"They don't have that kind of means," Elvia said, shaking her head firmly.

He then revealed a gloating expression on his face.

"It seems that besides those lunatics in the Knights, there's another group hiding in this godforsaken place."

"I say, Commander, the situation is getting increasingly complicated. How about we call it quits?"

Lin Gui ignored her repeated attempts to dissuade him and instead asked Xia.

"Can you sense the specific direction from which the gaze originates?"

Shia frowned.

Its emerald green eyes are like the most sophisticated detectors.

It slowly swept across every corner shrouded in darkness.

Finally, her gaze locked onto the wall of the passageway.

On those densely packed, antique-style eye murals.

"Eyes! Eyes in these murals!" Her voice was filled with disbelief.

"The other party's surveillance methods were very sophisticated, almost blending into these murals."

Perhaps... perhaps our sudden appearance caused him to reveal an extremely slight flaw for a fleeting moment!

"So, they can't see through the [Night Veil] either?" Lin Gui confirmed.

"It seems so, and they don't even know we've discovered them."

Elvia clicked her tongue, patted her chest, and looked still shaken.

"Luckily, I reacted quickly and put on a good show, so I didn't alert the enemy."

She looked at Lin Gui, seeking his opinion.

"So, should we wait here and see if they'll show themselves to confirm their identity?"

"No need," Lin Gui decisively rejected.

"Our primary objective is to rescue Lorna and leave immediately afterward, without causing any further complications."

After saying that, he no longer hesitated.

Maneuvering the raft perfectly concealed by the [Night Veil], they sped towards the light at the end of the passage.

Shortly after they left.

On the mottled murals on one side of the passageway.

An eye that was originally still, as if it were just painted with ordinary paint.

The pupil moved almost imperceptibly.

The black pigment used to depict the pupils.

In absolute darkness, it quietly transformed into a faint, almost invisible crimson.

Within that crimson hue lay confusion and a hint of something indescribable...greed.