The guild was still burning in chaos.
Screams, clashes, and the sound of skills colliding echoed from every corner, but in the middle of this chaos, Daniel stood alongside Varnos and Lana, trying to find the spy.
After interrogating that man, he had managed to gather some information, but it wasn’t nearly enough. He had only confirmed one thing, the cause of this internal chaos was a poison.
The origin of this poison was the same as the one that had poisoned him and Varnos. That meant the creator was the same, and from that alone, it was clear this was definitely one of the Goblin Guild’s schemes.
But why? Why would the Goblin Guild use such a method?
He had a few theories, but they weren’t enough to be certain. He needed more time to think about it.
But that aside, right now he had to find the spy and the method they were using to spread the poison, and he had to do it quickly. Otherwise, the guild would collapse from within.
He took a deep breath.
"I have to find them..."
A faint flow of energy spread from his body. It wasn’t for attack, and it wasn’t for defense... it was for seeing.
He began.
One by one, he examined the energy traces of every Awakened.
With the poison affecting him, this was the best he could do right now. If it weren’t for this damn poison, he could have found the spy in a single second.
He looked deeper, into their auras, into their mana, into the same place where he had seen that infected man before.
Still, it was difficult. He couldn’t penetrate too deeply.
At first, there was nothing.
But he wasn’t someone who would give up that easily. The longer he looked, the more he could feel that something was wrong.
And then...
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"...There it is."
A very faint fluctuation.
Something he would have never noticed without his previous experience.
Like a stain, blending perfectly with its surroundings.
A tiny contamination... something that should not exist under normal conditions.
His mind began to compare.
First... second... third...
And then the pattern formed.
They all had something in common.
Something they shouldn’t share.
Daniel’s eyes widened slightly.
"Mr. Varnos."
Without even turning around, he spoke.
His voice was calm, but serious.
The guild leader, who had been issuing orders, turned his gaze toward him.
"What is it?"
Daniel didn’t hesitate.
"They... weren’t infected through direct contact."
A brief silence formed around them.
For a moment, their minds processed his words, and when they understood what he meant, they frowned.
If not direct contact... then what?
"Then how?" Lana asked quickly.
Daniel raised his hand and pointed at one of the Awakened who hadn’t completely lost control yet.
"That one... and the others... they all have something in common."
"What?"
This time, Daniel looked directly into their eyes.
"Talisman."
A few seconds of silence.
Then disbelief spread between them.
"What?!" Lana said in shock.
"The communication talismans... they’re spreading the poison."
The atmosphere froze.
Varnos frowned.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes." Daniel replied without hesitation. "The energy trace is inside them... the same type of contamination. It’s subtle, but it’s there."
A heavy silence followed.
Then Varnos immediately turned to one of the officers.
"Who was responsible for distributing the new talismans?"
After the war began, they had distributed new talismans to the Awakened, special ones designed for battlefield conditions that couldn’t be disrupted easily.
Normal talismans could be disabled by flooding the area with heavy mana, but these new ones couldn’t.
And now that he thought about it... this chaos had started exactly from that moment.
"Support and medical division..." the officer paused, then answered.
Varnos’s eyes narrowed.
"Name."
"...Aria Solis."
Lana stopped breathing for a moment.
"No..."
Her voice trembled.
"That’s impossible..."
Aria Solis.
One of the most famous healers of the guild.
Someone who had saved hundreds of lives.
Someone known among the Awakened as the "Hand of Salvation of Everlight Moon."
"Bring her to the interrogation sector," Varnos said without any change in his expression.
It didn’t take long for his order to be carried out. They also headed to the interrogation sector.
Aria was sitting on a chair.
Her hands were restrained, but not harshly. After all, she was still a guild member, only a suspect. If they were wrong, it would be a serious mistake.
Her face was pale.
When Daniel, Varnos, and Lana entered, she lowered her head.
A few seconds of silence.
Then—
She started crying.
Not quietly. Completely broken.
"...I didn’t want to."
Her voice cracked.
"I... I didn’t want this to happen..."
And that confirmed it.
Daniel let out a sigh. The fact that she didn’t even try to deny it meant she wasn’t a true spy.
She had been forced.
"So why did you do it?!" Lana stepped forward.
Aria raised her head.
"They... they took my family..."
Her eyes were filled with tears.
"They said if I didn’t cooperate... they would kill them... in front of me..."
Her voice trembled.
"I... had no choice..."
The atmosphere grew heavy.
Varnos said nothing for a few seconds.
Then he slowly stepped forward.
"Don’t worry."
His voice... softer than before.
Something like this had happened right under his watch.
Then what kind of leader was he?
It was his duty to protect his guild members, and he had failed.
"Your family... is safe."
"W-What...?" Aria said with wide eyes.
She had expected anger. She had expected to be shouted at.
But none of that happened.
"We’ll protect them," Varnos continued.
"I’ve dealt with situations like this before."
For a moment, his gaze drifted away, as if remembering something from the past.
Aria’s tears fell even harder. Her body trembled.
What was the right choice? What was the wrong one?
Lana stepped forward. Her voice was firm, but no longer angry.
"Stop the poison."
"Undo whatever you did."
"And don’t worry about your family."
"I-I’m sorry... I... I’m really sorry..." Aria cried even more.
She never wanted to betray them. How could she betray them? This guild was like her home, like her family.
Every time she did those things, it felt like she was tearing her own heart apart with her own hands.
But she had no choice. Her family’s lives were on the line.
But it’s fine... she would pay for her mistakes with her life.
at that moment, Daniel’s eyes narrowed slightly.
A familiar feeling.
The same feeling.
"...Step back." His voice suddenly turned serious. Lana and Varnos looked at him.
"What—?"
"Now!"
In the next moment, Aria’s body arched.
Her eyes turned completely black for an instant.
And then, an explosion.
Black energy burst outward. A wave of corruption filled the room. Several people were thrown back.
And what remained... was the broken remains of what used to be a human.
At that same moment, a call came through to Varnos.
"Leader!"
"Report from across the guild—"
"The infected... have returned to normal!"
Varnos let out a sigh.
A sigh filled with anger.
Lana clenched her teeth.
"Damn bastards..."
By sacrificing herself, Aria had destroyed the poison.
But before they could even feel a moment of relief, A much louder explosion echoed.
The ground shook.
And then One of the officers, his face pale, shouted:
"Celestial Aegis... has been destroyed!"