Malek, Nahir, and the rest of their group were gathered inside what appeared to be a storage room, where several crates were as tall as an average adult and as wide as six adults standing side by side were scattered everywhere. Array formations could be seen on each side of the crates. Though none of them could understand the rune writings on the array formation, they more or less guessed they were meant to protect and preserve whatever was inside those crates.

All of the complete beings were in awe when they saw these crates. After all, array formations could not be replicated, meaning these crates were all lost technologies. It was also not a stretch to think that whatever was inside those crates were rare treasures.

Malek, Cyneah, and the other humans were the only ones not impressed with those crates. It was no surprise, though, since some of those humans were Array Specialists and could decipher array formations and reproduce them as long as they had suitable materials.

Still, even if these Array Specialists could decipher and reproduce array formations, they did not understand their runes like the rest. For this reason, they were also in the dark about what effect these formations possessed.

"We've been here for more than half an hour. Why are they not back yet?"

One of the fort leaders wondered out loud.

Going back more than half an hour, when they stepped into that storage room, Malek and Nahir sent a group of four to scout the surroundings.

Ideally, Gael's Shadow Minions would have been a good choice when doing that. However, all his minions retreated as soon as they arrived because they needed to assist Gael's side. After all, Kesiah, Gael, and Gaham's group were considered weak compared to the other groups.

While Gael had several Shadow Minions, most of them were low-ranked and could not pose a threat to Arch Magus and Legendary Level Knights.

"Could they have met some unforeseen accident?"

Another fort leader wondered.

"There is no cause for panic. Eikin is with them; they will be fine," Jita replied indifferently.

Among Kyran's Servants, he had Eikin and Jita join Malek and Nahir's group. Achim had Haji, while Anan and Tamir went with Noir and Sigma.

The fort leaders looked at Jita skeptically. They obviously knew who she was but found her attitude different from what they were used to. If it had been before, she would have snorted at their words and accused them of acting unbefitting a knight leading a fort.

"I agree," Nahir also gave his opinion. "If something had happened to them, we should have noticed some commotion outside. For argument's sake, they were caught, and the enemy leaders ordered their side not to make a commotion while they looked for us; they would not have waited this long to get here.

"Though rare, I don't believe Armakea did not have a lost technology that could pry information on people without them saying anything. They might even have someone with Memory innate magic."

"Humph," Malek suddenly snorted. "If those guys returned so soon, I would have personally punished them for slacking. Do you think scouting this place will only take a few minutes?"

The fort leaders could not help but frown. They gave Malek a side look but did not say anything further.

They also believed it would take some time for those people to scout the area, but one of them should have contacted them to provide an update at least. Thus far, they heard nothing from them, and as knights, they believed those people should have been taught how to act when out scouting.

"They are providing updates," Jita said suddenly, startling the fort leaders and the rest of the Armakea knights and officers.

If they did not know better, they would have thought she had heard their thoughts and answered them.

Of course, Jita did not know how to read minds. However, she had gotten pretty good at reading other people's expressions, even if they were practically wearing poker faces. That was the result of her being around her new Master.

"But only the operation heads received them," Jita added while looking at Malek and Nahir. She meant to tell them that the latter two were communicating with the scouts, even though she could also do the same. Or at least she could telepathically communicate with Eikin if he was within her range. That was something that every Servant was capable of doing.

The fort leaders frowned, clearly dissatisfied. Why would Malek and Nahir be the only ones to receive the update? And what was their attitude just now? If they could communicate with the scouts, they should have said so. Why bother lecturing them?

In the end, the fort leaders reigned in their dissatisfaction. They were still knights, and their disciple training was practically imprinted to their cores. They would not act out just because they were dissatisfied with their leader.

[Lord Nahir, Sir Malek! I found something!]

Suddenly, one of the scouts spoke from the earpiece Malek and Nahir were wearing.

This earpiece was something Noir created as a makeshift communication device for humans. Since it was hard to create a communication device that would work in Somuli with the limited resources they had, he chose to make a simple communicator that could directly allow one person to talk and hear the other person by simply inserting enough magic energy into it. Unfortunately, the ones he had on hand were limited. Thus, he could only provide a few earpieces to Malek.

Besides, Noir did not think they would need it because they all had their own communication devices, and Achim opened an encrypted channel they could connect to without rousing their enemy. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝙚𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝒐𝙫𝙚𝓵.𝓬𝒐𝒎

'What did you find?' Nahir responded at once.

[I am currently inside a conference room. I'm the only one here right now, but the meeting has just adjourned. After entering, whatever they were discussing could still be seen on the projection hovering above the round table.

[It is an operation log, Lord Nahir, Sir Malek! Apparently, these guys are planning to take advantage of the commotion we've started to launch their own attack!]

Malek frowned at what the scout had said and asked, 'Does the projection include a map where they plan to launch their attack?'

[Yes! It looks like this underground shelter is connected to the castle's lower level. Not only that, they also have an army they plan to dispatch in the next hour.]

Malek and Nahir looked at each other. Both could see doubts reflected in each other's eyes.

What army could the Royal Family members dispatch? Did they not heed King Aran's summon and send all their forces after Achim and Kesiah in the fort they recently vacated?

Cyneah, who had been sitting with the Eidums at one corner, suddenly furrowed her brows as she turned toward the two large doors of the storage room.

"People are coming," she said. Her voice was not loud, but because there was less noise in the storage room, everyone heard her loud and clear.

Malek and Nahir looked at the door as well. They were surprised that Cyneah managed to sense other people coming when they did not. Although they were not actively using their magic sense to probe and watch their surroundings for obvious reasons, their other senses should have been enough to alert them if there were people outside.

One of the officers near the door immediately used his Divine Armament, which was a visor, to scan the walls. He then frowned and said, "I saw nothing."

Cyneah shook her head, "There are people coming. I could sense them approaching."

Nahir looked at Cyneah. If this had been before, he would have been skeptical of her claim. But he more or less knew her strong perception was something others with intact five senses could not comprehend using common logic.

On the other hand, Malek guessed the real reason Cyneah was able to detect the approaching group. Obviously, it had something to do with her affinity to souls.

"Everyone, find a place to hide. Use concealment spells to hide your presence," Malek told them at once.

"Eidums cast concealment spells and smell neutralizers," Nahir also ordered all the Eidums.

The Eidums need not to be told twice. They were already casting their spells even before Nahir finished what he was saying.

Meanwhile, Cyneah's mirror-like eyes were glued to the doors. The group she sensed was still some distance away, but she could not shake this feeling that they were already close.

The knights and officers did what they were told without making any sound.

While this was happening, Cyneah's mirror-like eyes suddenly lit up as she finally realized why she felt those people were already close.

"They are not coming through those doors—!"

KRSHK! BOOM!

An explosion erupted from above, sending the ceiling rubble toward them.

"Tsk," Malek clicked his tongue as he activated the miniature array formation of Noir's creation that Kyran made. He then summoned his magic and created an air field above, preventing the rubbles from falling on them.

"Humph, sneaky rats. Did you really think we would not notice your arrival?"

A voice said from above the still airborne ceiling rubbles.

"Were you Achim and Kesiah's people? How did you know about this place, huh?"

"It doesn't matter how they know. Since they have come here and seen this place, we have to eliminate them all."

"I agree."

From the conversation they heard, there were three enemies above. Maybe even more, and the others had not spoken out loud yet.

"Fight if you want to fight. Stop talking nonsense!"

Malek said as he suddenly appeared directly above the airborne rubbles.