Falsely Accused, I Started Plundering Monster Traits

For a moment, the corridor was filled with nothing but heavy breathing.

The young knights had gradually pushed themselves back up, but none of them dared come any closer. The old knight was still pinned beneath Lin Yan’s boot, the dented plate over his chest rising and falling with each breath, occasionally giving off a faint scrape of metal.

Lin Yan stared down at him, his eyes completely cold now.

He’d already said more than enough. If the old man still hadn’t figured out who was calling the shots here, then there was nothing left to talk about.

"You guys... don’t hear that?"

The voice came from the side, completely at odds with the tension in the corridor.

Lin Yan turned his head and only then realized Lucia wasn’t looking at them at all. At some point, she’d turned toward the half-open stone door, her head tilted slightly as if she were trying to make out some distant sound.

The old knight looked as if something had suddenly occurred to him. The anger on his face faltered, and he immediately turned toward Lucia, seemingly forgetting that Lin Yan’s boot was still planted on his chest.

"My lady... what did you hear?"

Lucia didn’t answer. She simply listened in silence for a few more seconds.

"A bell."

The moment she said it, the anger vanished from the old knight’s face. His pupils contracted sharply, and even his breathing stopped for a moment.

With a reaction that obvious, there was no way Lin Yan could miss it. He listened for a moment himself, but the corridor remained completely silent. There was no bell, not even the slightest sound. The four young knights looked just as confused. Clearly, aside from the old knight, no one knew what Lucia was talking about.

Lin Yan looked back down at the old knight beneath his foot.

"What’s going on?"

The old knight hesitated, clearly torn over whether to say anything at all. After a few seconds, he let out a slow breath and finally decided to tell the truth.

"That’s not a real bell. It’s the awakening ritual calling to the Saintess. No one but the Saintess can hear it."

"Awakening ritual?"

"Didn’t you just ask me to take you to the thing that can deal with the Dragon?" The old knight’s gaze lingered on Lucia for a moment, and something in his expression seemed to dim. "It’s her. Only after awakening does the Saintess truly gain the power to fight the Dragon. That’s why the Dragon has been hunting her, and why those heretics who serve it have been trying to kill her before she awakens."

Figures. Same old tired plot.

That confirmed his earlier suspicion once and for all, but he hadn’t forgotten the old knight’s reaction when Lucia said she’d heard a bell. Lin Yan took his foot off the old knight’s chest.

"If it’s your own ritual, why did you react like that just now?"

The old knight’s expression grew even worse. "Because the ritual isn’t supposed to start now. Normally, we don’t start the ritual until the Saintess has returned to the Church and all the preparations are complete. But we haven’t done anything, and she’s already hearing the bell."

Lin Yan immediately understood.

"So someone started the ritual early?"

"Most likely." There was obvious urgency in the old knight’s voice now. "And once the Saintess hears the bell, it means the summons has begun. We need to reach the ritual site as quickly as possible. We don’t have much time."

"The heretics did it?"

"Right now, that’s the most likely explanation."

Lin Yan didn’t jump to any conclusions. Whoever had started the ritual, he’d have to see where this so-called summons was leading Lucia before he could tell what they were after.

"Lucia, which way is the sound coming from?"

Lucia closed her eyes and listened for a while, then slowly raised a hand. Instead of pointing upward, she pointed toward the half-open stone door ahead.

"There."

Lin Yan followed her finger and felt a little exasperated.

Well, great. After all that, they still had to go in.

At this point, there wasn’t much left to guess. Whoever was behind this didn’t care whether they’d already realized there was a trap ahead. Once the awakening ritual began, Lucia had to go, which meant the rest of them didn’t have much of a choice either.

Lin Yan looked away and turned to the old knight, who was still sitting on the floor.

"How much longer are you planning to lie there?"

"How long? I’d say at least half an hour."

Nick was sprawled across the back seat of the Humvee with his head against the window, casually answering Rochelle’s question.

"This place is huge. Who knows how far they have to go once they’re inside? If they have to find whatever they’re looking for, half an hour would be pretty fast."

After saying that, he glanced out the window. Two response unit members were still at their respective guard positions outside, rain running down their helmets and body armor as they stood ramrod-straight.

Nick clicked his tongue. "I seriously don’t get those guys. There’s room in the car, but they’d rather stand out there getting soaked."

The response unit member in the driver’s seat looked at him through the rearview mirror.

Nick seemed to realize only then that one of their teammates was sitting right there. He paused, then added as casually as he could, "Of course, what I mean is, that kind of dedication is definitely worthy of respect."

Rochelle gave him a look. "Little late for that save, don’t you think?"

Before Nick could defend himself, she brought the conversation back around. "But they have been in there for a while, right? It’s been completely quiet. I’ve just got a bad feeling about it."

"Quit scaring yourself." Coach sat back in his seat, chewing on a piece of chocolate as he spoke around it. "You’ve seen what Lin’s like now. Guy’s carrying an M2 and all that ammo and still moving around like he’s carrying nothing. If you’re gonna worry about somebody, worry about us before you worry about him."

With that, he looked toward Marcus up front.

"Right, Marcus?"

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