The Black Mountains were already proving dangerous.

Just then, a sharp, poisoned wooden spike shot from the side, a near-invisible trap launched by a primitive mechanism. Lyla's gaze narrowed instantly, tracking the deadly trajectory. She didn't slow down; instead, she executed backwards leap, creating distance.

"Fang! Now!"

Her beast companion, the black wolf, didn't hesitate. It ferociously leaped towards the spike.

Snap!

Fang caught the projectile perfectly, its sharp canines snapping the wooden spike into two before spitting the pieces out with a growl of disgust.

Lyla landed, spinning to face her attackers. She found a small, hostile group of green-skinned goblins holding makeshift bows and crudely sharpened wood sticks. They were low-level trash mobs, but lethal in a coordinated ambush.

"Chiiwwiik!" The short goblins stared at her and the powerful wolf with pitch-black, malevolent eyes, their primitive weapons raised in warning. Lyla just scoffed, drawing a thin, curved dagger that shimmered faintly with embedded mana.

"Just trash," she muttered, her eyes already calculating the shortest path through them.

The system notification flashed on her screen:

{Welcome participants! You have entered King's Landing}

{Current participants present: 9}

'Nine?' Lyla thought, scanning the map. 'That's more competition than I expected this early. I need to move faster.'

She glanced at the location of the Emblem on her map, a point deep within the dark, mist-shrouded peaks, and then back at the goblins.

She had no time for minor encounters. The Black Wolf, Fang, lunged forward with a terrifying snarl. The goblins scattered around, avoiding the ferocious beast, but one remained unlucky as it suddenly caught a streak of white light following its movement. The sharp blade slashed straight through it's skull allowing red blood to spill over the earth.

"Chiiwwiik!" The remaining Goblins stopped, staring at Layla with aggressive, pitch-black eyes. They were enraged, seeing that she had swiftly killed one of their own during her initial move.

They growled angrily at her, becoming more ferocious and tightening their circle. Seeing their reaction, a cold, predatory smile cut across Layla's face. She held the limp, dead goblin up by the head, its small body dangling weakly in her grip.

"Are you angry that I took his life? Alright, let me apologize," she said, her silver eyes momentarily glowing with a bright, malevolent green light.

A strange green energy immediately seeped out of her hand, wrapping around and entering into the dead goblin. Slowly, the eyes of the beast snapped open, now glowing the same eerie bright green as Layla's. The initial injury was sealed and the corpse stood stiffly on its feet, picking up its crude club again.

The other Goblins stared in profound confusion, their primitive minds unable to process the immediate, unnatural resurrection. Before they could understand what was going on, the reanimated Goblin—now under Layla's control—ran straight at them, club swinging wildly.

With the brief but vital distraction created by the newly animated corpse, Fang lunged. The Black Wolf grabbed onto another victim, his sharp fangs tearing straight through the Goblin's body. It didn't kill the creature instantly, but Fang ruthlessly tossed the crippled body toward Layla, who once again performed the same chilling magic on the dying Goblin.

In no less than a few seconds, the entire group of Goblins had been neutralized. Their corpses, now glowing with a faint green residual energy, lay littered on the ground, some controlled by Layla, others just dead husks. Layla was breathing heavily, sweat dropping from her forehead and mixing with the loose strands of her silver hair.

"I wasted so much energy," she said, letting out an exasperated sigh as she stroked Fang's massive head. The use of her power, which appeared to be a high-cost method of battlefield control or temporary resurrection, was draining.

Her gaze immediately sharpened as she stared deep into the dense, fog-ridden forest ahead, where the map indicated the Emblem lay.

'If I want to stand a chance against the Titan of Wrath, I can't have anyone get that Emblem before me,' she thought, the temporary exhaustion forgotten.

------

Inside the city, after all the casualties had been taken care of and the immediate civilian panic had subsided, Langdon calmly walked back to Seth, taking a deep breath of relief that the monster crisis was averted.

"Now we've dealt with that," Langdon said with a calm voice. "Let's head back and wait for Akhil to secure the Emblem."

"Wait? Didn't Akhil tell us to try and find any clues that could expose that masked man bastard?" Seth asked, raising a brow, almost taking Langdon by surprise.

"Seems you're quite interested in this Masked man. When did you stop being so lazy?" Langdon asked back, his face showing genuine surprise.

"Hmph. Who said I was lazy? I'm just bored," Seth retorted calmly. "At least we can do that much while we wait for him to fight a bunch of people on a cold mountain."

"So how do we start the investigation? We currently have no leads whatsoever," Langdon said, scratching his head in confusion. The Find the Culprit scenario felt insurmountable without a direction.

"That masked man has appeared in the city more than the others, and the blacksmiths he targeted first should have been here," Seth theorized, rubbing his beardless chin deep in thought. "So I think we should go to the main smithing shop."

"But I've been there before, right after we discovered the deaths. I didn't see anything," Langdon said with a wry smile.

"I didn't check with you, did I? Who knows, maybe we can find something this time?" Seth said calmly, his rare enthusiasm overriding Langdon's skepticism.

Langdon took a moment, deeply considering the proposal. "Alright then, let's go there. I'll take you to the blacksmith's shop; I have the coordinates." Langdon finally agreed, taking the lead.

He led Seth through the quieter, less damaged sections of the city until they arrived at the blacksmiths' main establishment. It was built in a rather old-fashioned, rustic style, but with a mix of modern reinforcing, built to withstand the tremendous heat and force of dwarven forging. It was a sturdy cottage sitting on top of a large bed of natural rock.

As they reached the heavy wooden door, Langdon led the way, pulling the door open with a solid creak.

"The place is still fresh; nothing much has happened here since the initial investigation. The place still looks okay, just abandoned," Langdon noted, stepping inside.

"Yeah, it looks pretty plain. I'm not sure we'll find anything," Seth said, glancing around the workshop. Tools were neatly racked, bellows stood ready, and the large stone anvil sat perfectly centered.

"Exactly what I said," Langdon sighed, running a hand over a dusty workbench. "He killed the Blacksmiths, scrubbed the scene, and stole the materials. There's nothing we can do here. Finding the culprit is going to be difficult."

Seth turned back toward the door, ready to leave, but right before he did, his eyes snagged on the large, central fireplace where weapons were usually formed.

He noticed something immediately: the soft, continuous crackling flames in the fireplace.

He hadn't thought about it when he first walked in, but seeing it now, the detail struck him with sudden, chilling clarity. If the Dwarven blacksmith was dead—and had been dead for months—and the shop had been closed off and abandoned...

"Who lighted it up?" Seth asked, the sudden drop in his playful tone making Langdon freeze completely.

{A/N:

Wow, 100 chapters! I'm genuinely thrilled and a little stunned that we made it to this first big milestone.

The past few months of writing have been tough, but knowing that you all were waiting for the next update was the fuel I needed every single day.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to every single person who has read this far.

Your support is everything. And a massive, special thank you to AuraNova, Marijayne, and Iree_. Your thoughtful gifts truly motivate me and keep the energy flowing! Thank you, thank you, thank you. Onward to the next 100!}

Sorry for the long note I tried to keep it short ༎ຶ⁠‿⁠༎ຶ

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