Thick dark trees fill the entire forest in the middle layer of the dark wind forest, from time to time whirling black winds raged around.
Four shadows dashed and moved silently among the forest of dark trees in swift motions before stopping behind a boulder.
These people were naturally Vin and the others, although they'd used beast repellent potions to avoid most of the demonic beasts in the second layer they still encountered some troublesome ones on the way which they had to avoid in other not to get delayed.
"Alright, our target is that cave entrance over there, embedded in that mountain" Raya said as they hid behind a huge boulder that was almost directly opposite a cave that was well hidden behind some huge tree and thick grasses.
"Wow, this cave is quite well hidden, we wouldn't even be able to locate it with ourself alone without this map guiding us" Fourna exclaimed.
"Those spies of the sect are quite capable for finding something like this" Marco chipped.
"So how exactly do we infiltrate this place, does anyone here cultivate dark elements" Vin asked at that moment.
Raya looked at Vin on surprise as his guess was spot on, "Well except for you we all cultivate dark elements, or something similar, I cultivate the element of darkness, Marco cultivates shadow elements and Fourna is good at poisons" Raya replied.
"Ohh, seems I'm the odd one out" Vin said in surprised, no wonder they were chosen to infiltrate this place, their cultivation methods were truly fit for this mission.
"Don't put it like that, I heard you were born with inborn flames that seems quite powerful, it could come in handy" Fourna said.
"Alright, enough chit-chat, this is the plan, I'll cloak our auras in my dark energy while Marco would move us underground, Fourna, your poison bugs would be used to direct our movements. Our mission is to investigate first before anything else."
"This include their purpose in this place and what they are aiming to achieve here, the Tenebrous Taskforce are rumored to always be carrying out experiments so we should look out for that, and lastly their numerical strengths, if they're something we can handle, we engage If not, we retreat and report back to the sect. Any questions"
Raya said as he glanced at the rest of them, but they shook their head indicating that they didn't.
Raya nodded at this. "Darkness shroud" he muttered and then dark energy seeped out of his body and covered the four of them, after that Marco released his shadow element skill "Shadow slide"
With their aura cloaked by Raya, they burrowed into the ground with Marco's Shadow slide skill and moved silently among the shadows of the dark trees.
Fourna wasn't just an expert in poisons, she was also someone who dabbles in a branch of beast taming and controlled a lot of poisonous bugs and insects.
And one of such Insects were the Asian giant hornets, these Insects were highly venomous, fast flyers, and were able to navigate with precision.
They had were quiped with shadowy wings allowing them to blend well with the darkness turning them nearly invisible and they also had the ability to fly using electromagnetic field around them boosting their speed.
These features made them very suitable for aerial reconnaissance, after releasing the hornets for aerial view, she also released her well trained bullet ants.
These bullet ants were known for their painful sting, they were also highly organized and communicative, they were used for underground and hidden areas surveillance.
After doing that she commanded them through a Pheromone pulse she cultivated, allowing them to transmit vital information to allies over long distance.
The group moved swiftly underground with Fourna directing their movements every now and then until they were right under the entrance of the cave.
Just as they were about to enter, "Wait stop!!" Fourna called out "Marco is there anyway we can go deeper underground, there are traps at the entrance and they extend a little bit underground"
"Roger that" Marco replied and controlling the shadow slide skill, they got deeply underground.
Fourna used the Asian giant hornets to get an aerial overview of the entire layout of the base from outside, while she used the bullet ants to navigate underground.
When they had gotten way past the entrance, she made the bullet ants go over ground so she could navigate clearly.
"There are four late stage Body refining realm guards hidden behind the the entrance."
"Take a right now."
"Three at this place"
"Go straight ahead"
"Oh, four here on each side too"
"Keep going. Take left turn"
"Whoa, there almost a dozen here"
"Another left"
"Then right. Straight ahead"
"Alright we're clear, you can bring us up now"
She'd kept in reporting until she gave the cue to rise above earth which they did.
"This mountain is even deeper than I imagined, we've been moving for almost an hour, just how big is it" Marco commented.
"It might not be as big as you see it, it's probably because of all the curves we had to take, is all." Vin stated.
"Hmm, so where exactly are we now Fourna" Raya asked, although they could all see above ground while they were moving, only she was able to have an accurate understanding of their current situation.
"That door up ahead, my ants felt something ominous from it" Fourna replied pointing at a door that was five meters away from them.
"The door is ominous?" Vin asked in confusion. "More like what's behind it" Raya said "alright let's move, I think this place is our target point, I can sense three strong auras behind that door, but I can't tell how strong they are, as my sense are being blocked away by that door"
"But how do we pass through without alerting the enemy, I don't know much about arrays but I'm pretty sure those are quite dangerous, and not even shadow slide would help us get thrown underground" Vin said as he pointed at some inscription that were inscribed on the huge door.
"Wait, you even know about arrays at all, how come?" Raya asked in surprise, this guy seems to know more that he gives off.
"it's just superficial knowledge I read somewhere, nothing much" Vin replied, of course he knew a lot about arrays but he wasn't going to tell then that.
"Alright, I have a skill called darkstride, which we can use to phase through mostly anything that isn't above my capabilities, but Marco you would have to take use really deep underground this time till we get to the the weak point of the array, before we can have any chance of success, think you can pull that off ?" Raya said looking at Marco.
"Well I've never been that deep ungrounded before, but I'll try" Marco said, "Fourna, have your bullet ants follow us underground, they should be able to locate the weak points of the array better" Raya instructed again.
"Hmm, okay"
"Vin I have a feeling we might have to engage in battle, so be ready"
"Roger"
"Alright, let's go"
And with that they burrowed underground again, this time going really deeper than even before, they moved on like this for like five minutes, and just when Marco had almost reached his limit....
"There, the array's weak point should be over there" Fourna pointed out.
Marco moved towards the end of the path she pointed out and stopped in front of an array formation, Raya then took a step forward and muttered "Darkstride"
With the Darkness shroud around them, their body seem to blend more with the darkness around them, turning them almost transparent and without wasting time, they phased through the array.
Marco then took them upwards so they could view outside better but no sooner had that done that when.
"Huh, do you smell that? "
"That metallic smell!"
"No mistaken its....!"
"Blood"
The huge stench of blood, it perforated even underground, so how intense would it be up there, they hadn't even come above ground when...
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh"
"Aaaaaaaaaaahhhh"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah"
"Stop it pleweeeeewwsssss"
They could hear huge tiny but piercing screams from different sources, like they were undergoing the most grueling torture.
"Marco take us out there right now" Fourna ordered "Wait, Fourna, I don't know think that's a good idea, it might be...." Marco started but "I said send us out there right f*cking now!!!!!!" Fourna screamed cutting him right off.
Marco looked at Raya in askance and after getting a nod of approval he moved up, not only Fourna even they were quite curious about what was going on.
But when they went above ground, they were incredibly stunned beyond dismay. It seemed like they had dropped right into hell itself.
"The hell is this"
"What the..."
"How can this be happening"
"Jeez, such monstrosity, how can they be this ruthless"
"These bastards deserve a thousand deaths"
"Are they even humans at this point anymore?!"
"All my life, I have never hated any one this much, but these people, they've entered my must kill list"
"Tenebrous Taskforce huh?, you guys are officially dead meat, I swear it".
*****