Chapter 108
108 Invading
Slime acid would be an awesome weapon. “I want to cause as much death and chaos as I can before the army arrives.”
‘Let’s see if there’s anyone around here.’ Athos improved his hearing and focused on the tunnels, but apart from Emilia and Caio’s footsteps, there was nothing else. Obviously, Athos couldn’t cover the entire sewer with his hearing alone, but at least there was no one around.
“Skeletons stamp their feet or do anything that generates vibrations on the floor. I want as many slimes as possible.” Athos ordered and the skeletons obeyed. The slimes slowly crept towards them, but Athos released a pulse of darkness that dissolved them in a puddle of acid.
“Fine. Let’s keep moving and gathering more slimes here. Be careful where you step, or you might lose your feet.” Athos spoke as he moved.
*********
‘Haah... our master’s recklessness knows no bounds.’ Caio complained through the mind link as he ran through the sewers without making a sound thanks to his ability of silent footsteps, while sharpening his hearing. The fortress’s sewers looked like a labyrinth, so he ran the risk of encountering enemies at every turn.
‘Look on the bright side, we are doing what we were trained to do. Invading strongholds with magical defenses to assassinate someone is our specialty after all.’ Emilia replied, scratching the wall to her left with a dagger to mark that they’ve already passed this way.
They kept moving like this for about 20 minutes when they finally found the right spot. Emilia hid in a corner and peeked in, seeing a group of 15 soldiers guarding a ladder attached to the wall that led to a hatch.
The soldiers were at the end of a corridor, so it would be impossible to approach them without being seen. The eyes of some of the soldiers sometimes glowed with mana, so even using abilities to blend their presence with their surroundings would be pointless.
.....
‘I take the ones on the right and you take the ones on the left?’ Caio asked, but Emilia shook her head.
‘Only three of them use mana, the others just stare into the dark without seeing anything. If we kill the mana users, everyone else will drop in seconds. But for that, I need you to seal the trapdoor with earth magic so that the sound doesn’t leak and they don’t call for help.’ Emilia spoke.
‘Understood.’ Caio nodded and used earth magic to sink to the ground. He dropped low enough for the natural energy of the ground to cover him, and swam across the land until he was behind the soldiers. Caio conjured a thin layer of stone that sealed the openings in the hatch and stopped the sound from leaking out.
“Hmm?” One of the soldiers heard the sound of earth moving and looked up, only for a ball of mud to land on his face and solidify again. He fell backwards as he tried to remove the stone in his face, but she held on tightly.
“What happened??” The soldiers turned in panic and tried to help the thrashing soldier on the floor, turning away from the dark hallway.
Emilia took advantage of the gap and ran at maximum speed, reaching the soldiers in less than 3 seconds. She stabbed the mana users in the back of the head first, eliminating the only threat in her eyes.
One of them managed to react in time and blocked his dagger, but a second blow hit his unprotected armpit and a third pierced his right eye all the way to the brain, killing him instantly.
The surrounding soldiers panicked and tried to attack the black skeleton, but black stone spikes pierced its legs and immobilized it in place. A second volley of spikes pierced the soldiers’ abdomen or chest.
“I could have killed them all and saved their mana, you know?” Emilia exclaimed aloud, now that she didn’t have to worry about being discovered.
“It doesn’t cost much mana anyway, so don’t worry about it. But won’t it be a problem to kill them all? One or two soldiers disappearing won’t be a problem, an entire unit is another story.” Caio asked as he climbed out of the walls and conjured up the stone thorns.
The soldiers fell to the ground abruptly and groaned in pain. Emilia stabbed them in the heart and killed them all, before turning them into the undead.
“Do you really think our master is waiting for the army to arrive? If he only wanted to sabotage the fortress’s defenses, he would have stayed in hiding until tomorrow night, when the army was approaching. Besides, he said it himself, didn’t he? cause as many deaths as possible before the army arrives.”
“But we will be killed if that happens.” Caio complained.
“Our master still has the teleportation crystal. We can buy him time to flee at the cost of our own lives, so let’s just worry about fulfilling our mission.” Emilia said, ending the discussion.
‘Master, we have found the entrance to the fortress, should we invade immediately or wait for you?’ Emilia asked through the mental link.
‘It will take a while for me to finish here, so I want you to invade the fortress without me. You have two goals: to find the place where the alchemical items are kept and where the large-scale spells are imbued.’
‘As soon as you find them let me know, but don’t attack. I will ignite the acid and create an acid cloud that will move to the surface, causing chaos and drawing their attention to me. Use the opportunity to explode alchemical items and destroy the large-scale spells.’ He spoke and Emilia nodded in confirmation. Athos and the other skeletons had already collected 1/3 of the slimes from the sewer and turned them into puddles of acid.
The floor was completely covered in acid to the point that Athos had to conjure corrupt platforms to move without losing his feet. Luckily, the slime acid didn’t spread like a liquid and looked more like a jelly, so Athos had no problem attracting slimes into puddles and destroying them one on top of the other.
‘Understood, master.’ Emilia answered and Caio opened the trapdoor slightly and looked around, making sure they were alone. The trapdoor was at the back of the fortress and the place was empty.
Emilia and Caio emerged from the hatch, before Emilia turned to one of the skeleton soldiers behind him. “Guide me to where the officers’ quarters are. Not the high-ranking soldiers or wizards, but those civilian officers who handle the paperwork.” Emilia asked.
Skeletons could not speak, so one of them would guide him while all the others would gather with Athos. Emilia, Caio and the soldier skeleton invaded the fortress, walking through the corridors glued to the wall, hiding from the soldiers’ patrol.
The fortress had several floors, but luckily, the officers’ quarters were on the third floor, along with the employees who took care of the maintenance of the fortress, while the first was used for important meetings. Court mages and high-ranking officials sat at the top of the fortress.
Soldiers were patrolling the corridors on the third floor, so they were forced to wait patiently for the patrol to turn the corner before continuing. Rooms were divided by gender, with women closer to the stairs and men at the end of the hallway.
Emilia broke the lock of one of the random rooms and found two bunks on the left and right. There was a large closet in the bedroom and a desk with an unlit candle on top.
“Who’s there?” a woman in pajamas asked in a sleepy voice, hearing the door open. She glanced at the door as she tried to get her glasses.
Emilia and Caio advanced as soon as they heard the voice, conjuring a fog of darkness that quickly flooded the room. There was no light in the room, so the nearsighted woman didn’t see the fog of darkness until she reached the edge of the bed, when it was too late.
Darkness rotted the woman’s skin and she tried to scream, but a dagger hand hit her forehead and killed her. The other women in the room woke up from the sudden pain, but Caio and the other skeleton killed them.
The black mist was actually the spell to raise undead en masse and it immediately seeped into their bodies, turning them into skeletons.
“The alchemical items and location where the large-scale spells are engraved, do you know where it is?” Caio asked, while Emilia watched the door. The woman nodded in agreement.
“Where it is?”
The woman opened one of the desk drawers and took out paper before writing something on it and handing it to Caio.
“The alchemical items are in a storage ring that the general uses, while the full-scale spell is imbued on the outer walls, but there is a control room at the top of the keep, just below the general’s office.” It was what was written on the paper.
Caio was surprised by the details, but understood why when he noticed that the skeleton wasn’t shaking. It is likely that the woman was not resisting out of sheer fear or confusion. Whatever the reason, Caio could only sigh at the information.
‘You heard. What should we do now?’ Caio asked Emilia.
‘We will inform our master, just as he ordered us.’ Emilia responded before contacting Athos and explaining what they discovered.
Athos was silent for some time as he thought about what to do. ‘Which layer is the general in?’ he asked after some time.
Emilia turned to the woman, but the one who answered was the skeleton they had killed in the sewer. He raised 7 fingers to him, making Emilia and Caio sigh. ‘7th layer, sir.’
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‘What are the chances of you and Caio killing someone of that level?’ Athos asked another question.
‘Low, sir. Our layers may be close, but the difference in equipment will be colossal.’ Emilia replied, looking at her own daggers. They were magic daggers made of corrupted willow, but they were the only decent equipment she had.
Slime acid would be an awesome weapon. “I want to cause as much death and chaos as I can before the army arrives.”
‘Let’s see if there’s anyone around here.’ Athos improved his hearing and focused on the tunnels, but apart from Emilia and Caio’s footsteps, there was nothing else. Obviously, Athos couldn’t cover the entire sewer with his hearing alone, but at least there was no one around.
“Skeletons stamp their feet or do anything that generates vibrations on the floor. I want as many slimes as possible.” Athos ordered and the skeletons obeyed. The slimes slowly crept towards them, but Athos released a pulse of darkness that dissolved them in a puddle of acid.
“Fine. Let’s keep moving and gathering more slimes here. Be careful where you step, or you might lose your feet.” Athos spoke as he moved.
*********
‘Haah... our master’s recklessness knows no bounds.’ Caio complained through the mind link as he ran through the sewers without making a sound thanks to his ability of silent footsteps, while sharpening his hearing. The fortress’s sewers looked like a labyrinth, so he ran the risk of encountering enemies at every turn.
‘Look on the bright side, we are doing what we were trained to do. Invading strongholds with magical defenses to assassinate someone is our specialty after all.’ Emilia replied, scratching the wall to her left with a dagger to mark that they’ve already passed this way.
They kept moving like this for about 20 minutes when they finally found the right spot. Emilia hid in a corner and peeked in, seeing a group of 15 soldiers guarding a ladder attached to the wall that led to a hatch.
The soldiers were at the end of a corridor, so it would be impossible to approach them without being seen. The eyes of some of the soldiers sometimes glowed with mana, so even using abilities to blend their presence with their surroundings would be pointless.
.....
‘I take the ones on the right and you take the ones on the left?’ Caio asked, but Emilia shook her head.
‘Only three of them use mana, the others just stare into the dark without seeing anything. If we kill the mana users, everyone else will drop in seconds. But for that, I need you to seal the trapdoor with earth magic so that the sound doesn’t leak and they don’t call for help.’ Emilia spoke.
‘Understood.’ Caio nodded and used earth magic to sink to the ground. He dropped low enough for the natural energy of the ground to cover him, and swam across the land until he was behind the soldiers. Caio conjured a thin layer of stone that sealed the openings in the hatch and stopped the sound from leaking out.
“Hmm?” One of the soldiers heard the sound of earth moving and looked up, only for a ball of mud to land on his face and solidify again. He fell backwards as he tried to remove the stone in his face, but she held on tightly.
“What happened??” The soldiers turned in panic and tried to help the thrashing soldier on the floor, turning away from the dark hallway.
Emilia took advantage of the gap and ran at maximum speed, reaching the soldiers in less than 3 seconds. She stabbed the mana users in the back of the head first, eliminating the only threat in her eyes.
One of them managed to react in time and blocked his dagger, but a second blow hit his unprotected armpit and a third pierced his right eye all the way to the brain, killing him instantly.
The surrounding soldiers panicked and tried to attack the black skeleton, but black stone spikes pierced its legs and immobilized it in place. A second volley of spikes pierced the soldiers’ abdomen or chest.
“I could have killed them all and saved their mana, you know?” Emilia exclaimed aloud, now that she didn’t have to worry about being discovered.
“It doesn’t cost much mana anyway, so don’t worry about it. But won’t it be a problem to kill them all? One or two soldiers disappearing won’t be a problem, an entire unit is another story.” Caio asked as he climbed out of the walls and conjured up the stone thorns.
The soldiers fell to the ground abruptly and groaned in pain. Emilia stabbed them in the heart and killed them all, before turning them into the undead.
“Do you really think our master is waiting for the army to arrive? If he only wanted to sabotage the fortress’s defenses, he would have stayed in hiding until tomorrow night, when the army was approaching. Besides, he said it himself, didn’t he? cause as many deaths as possible before the army arrives.”
“But we will be killed if that happens.” Caio complained.
“Our master still has the teleportation crystal. We can buy him time to flee at the cost of our own lives, so let’s just worry about fulfilling our mission.” Emilia said, ending the discussion.
‘Master, we have found the entrance to the fortress, should we invade immediately or wait for you?’ Emilia asked through the mental link.
‘It will take a while for me to finish here, so I want you to invade the fortress without me. You have two goals: to find the place where the alchemical items are kept and where the large-scale spells are imbued.’
‘As soon as you find them let me know, but don’t attack. I will ignite the acid and create an acid cloud that will move to the surface, causing chaos and drawing their attention to me. Use the opportunity to explode alchemical items and destroy the large-scale spells.’ He spoke and Emilia nodded in confirmation. Athos and the other skeletons had already collected 1/3 of the slimes from the sewer and turned them into puddles of acid.
The floor was completely covered in acid to the point that Athos had to conjure corrupt platforms to move without losing his feet. Luckily, the slime acid didn’t spread like a liquid and looked more like a jelly, so Athos had no problem attracting slimes into puddles and destroying them one on top of the other.
‘Understood, master.’ Emilia answered and Caio opened the trapdoor slightly and looked around, making sure they were alone. The trapdoor was at the back of the fortress and the place was empty.
Emilia and Caio emerged from the hatch, before Emilia turned to one of the skeleton soldiers behind him. “Guide me to where the officers’ quarters are. Not the high-ranking soldiers or wizards, but those civilian officers who handle the paperwork.” Emilia asked.
Skeletons could not speak, so one of them would guide him while all the others would gather with Athos. Emilia, Caio and the soldier skeleton invaded the fortress, walking through the corridors glued to the wall, hiding from the soldiers’ patrol.
The fortress had several floors, but luckily, the officers’ quarters were on the third floor, along with the employees who took care of the maintenance of the fortress, while the first was used for important meetings. Court mages and high-ranking officials sat at the top of the fortress.
Soldiers were patrolling the corridors on the third floor, so they were forced to wait patiently for the patrol to turn the corner before continuing. Rooms were divided by gender, with women closer to the stairs and men at the end of the hallway.
Emilia broke the lock of one of the random rooms and found two bunks on the left and right. There was a large closet in the bedroom and a desk with an unlit candle on top.
“Who’s there?” a woman in pajamas asked in a sleepy voice, hearing the door open. She glanced at the door as she tried to get her glasses.
Emilia and Caio advanced as soon as they heard the voice, conjuring a fog of darkness that quickly flooded the room. There was no light in the room, so the nearsighted woman didn’t see the fog of darkness until she reached the edge of the bed, when it was too late.
Darkness rotted the woman’s skin and she tried to scream, but a dagger hand hit her forehead and killed her. The other women in the room woke up from the sudden pain, but Caio and the other skeleton killed them.
The black mist was actually the spell to raise undead en masse and it immediately seeped into their bodies, turning them into skeletons.
“The alchemical items and location where the large-scale spells are engraved, do you know where it is?” Caio asked, while Emilia watched the door. The woman nodded in agreement.
“Where it is?”
The woman opened one of the desk drawers and took out paper before writing something on it and handing it to Caio.
“The alchemical items are in a storage ring that the general uses, while the full-scale spell is imbued on the outer walls, but there is a control room at the top of the keep, just below the general’s office.” It was what was written on the paper.
Caio was surprised by the details, but understood why when he noticed that the skeleton wasn’t shaking. It is likely that the woman was not resisting out of sheer fear or confusion. Whatever the reason, Caio could only sigh at the information.
‘You heard. What should we do now?’ Caio asked Emilia.
‘We will inform our master, just as he ordered us.’ Emilia responded before contacting Athos and explaining what they discovered.
Athos was silent for some time as he thought about what to do. ‘Which layer is the general in?’ he asked after some time.
Emilia turned to the woman, but the one who answered was the skeleton they had killed in the sewer. He raised 7 fingers to him, making Emilia and Caio sigh. ‘7th layer, sir.’
???????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????? ????????????????????-????????????.????????????
‘What are the chances of you and Caio killing someone of that level?’ Athos asked another question.
‘Low, sir. Our layers may be close, but the difference in equipment will be colossal.’ Emilia replied, looking at her own daggers. They were magic daggers made of corrupted willow, but they were the only decent equipment she had.
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