Mission (2)

Woodgard, Loreleia, and five female high elves gathered together in a circle. Woodgard stood in between them, explaining the plan briefly in a soft voice. Just then, five black shadows appeared beside Woodgard. One of them reported, "The targets have already been eliminated, sir!" These are the assassin elves that Woodgard had sent earlier to secure the area.

Woodgard nodded his head. "Good job," he complimented. "You got the thing, right?"

"Yes, sir," they said in unison. One of them stepped forward and handed Woodgard a large bag. "Everything is inside, sir!"

Woodgard opened the bag and took out the things inside. He handed a sword to Loreleia, "Here you go," he said. "There are more swords inside the bag for you and the others," he continued. "Also, some clothes to wear for concealment."

Loreleia took the sword and turned to the other female elves. "Alright. We need everyone to be armed so go get the weapons and change your clothes immediately."

The rest of the female elves took a weapon each. They hold the weapon close to their heart, as they close their eyes, remembering the hardship that they had experienced the past few weeks. All the pain, the cries of the children, the agonizing scream from the forced working elves and the unwilling women who got sold as slaves. Everything that had happened ring through their mind again.

Each one of them took a deep breath. They quietly calmed their minds. Once they had opened their eyes, a glint of determination can be seen in their eyes. They each grabbed the black hoodies and changed their clothes. Once clothed in black, they walked towards Woodgard and Loreleia. They placed their hand on their left chest, where their heart beats. "We're ready!"

Woodgard and Loreleia nodded their heads. "Alright, let's do it!" Loreleia said. Her tone of voice was powerful enough to boost up the elves' morale, motivation and determination.

They headed towards the prison gate. There were no guards on duty around to watch over the male prisoners because Woodgard and the team had used the stairs above to the wooden path. The assassins had already cleared the way earlier so it was easy to walk around openly. They were heading towards the female ad children cells. Along the way, they only encountered several unlucky guards, who eventually were eliminated.

"Sir, there should be six guards guarding the gate," one of the assassins reported to Woodgard.

Woodgard nodded. "True. But from what we have observed throughout this week, I believed that usually there are four guards on duty. The other two would usually go to the cafeteria in the underground barracks. Its like their schedule on who will be on guard and who will be drinking on working hours.

Do it as planned," Woodgard ordered.

The assassins nodded their heads in unison.

The plan was to catch the guards off-guard. Woodgard and the assassins will make them confused by wearing the guards' uniforms, not knowing who were the friends and foes. Loreleia and the other female elves, on the other hand, will serve as a backup if needed.

Once they were close to the stairs that leads to the prison gate, Woodgard and the tea stopped. "Alright, you know what to do," he said softly to Loreleia.

Loreleia nodded.

Woodgard immediately gave a signal to the other assassins. They quickly walked forward, activating their face-changing skills.

Woodgard and the others continued to walk towards the gate. They saw that there were four guards on each side of the prison gates.

"Hey man! Got some ales for us? Furel and Yryok should be back by now. Damn them! They must be dead drunk and forgot that it's our turn now!" One of the guards complained at Woodgard.

Woodgard scratched the back of his head, pretending to be obtuse. "Ah, nah, we don't."

"Ah, sh*t!" he screamed and said while pointing his finger to Woodgard and the others. "All of you, change with us! At least until the other two are back."

"We can't, it's your shift now. I'm just strolling around with them to get some air," Woodgard rejected, shaking his head.

"Come on, man! We'll drag that two bastards here once we're there! Just give us a few minutes or so!" the guard literally begged.

"Well..." Woodgard pretended to think before reluctantly agreed. "Fine. A few minutes… not a minute longer than that. Otherwise, I will report you to General Ranghyl."

"Alright, no problem!" the guards exclaimed in excitement. They have already licked their lips as they imagined about drinking ales at the cafeteria.

Woodgard and his men stood aside as they waited for the ignorant guards to walk past them, defenseless. 

"Ah! Finally I can drink!"

"Yeah. I'm sick of guarding the gate. There's never been any problem so why bother?"

"Hahaha, that's righ-"

"SLASH!"

"What the heck are you doing?!" the guards hurriedly trying to pull out their swords, but before they could make a fighting stance, shadows appeared behind them.

"The problem that you mention won't ever happen had just happened."

"SLASH!"

Before they could react, all the guards' necks were swiftly slashed. Their bodies fell heavily to the ground, dead.

Woodgard wiped his daggers with the guard's uniform. "Good, let's send the signal to Tregnar's team and open the gate."

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Tregnar was standing not too far from the prison gate as he waited for the signal. He was still studying prison map when suddenly, one of his men came with a report. "Sir, the signal has been spotted!"

Tregnar clenched his fists, excitement was starting to surge into him. "Woodgard did it! Prepare to depart!" he called out.

"Yes, Sir!"

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Loreleia and the rest of the female elves ran to the gate. "Sir Woodgard, leave the gate to us! You still need to free the men who are still forced to work at the mines!"

"Alright. I leave this part to you." Woodgard said. He then ran to the mining area with his team.

"Hey, you! Don't stop! Keep moving the cart!" one of the guards shouted. He was whipping an old elf because he had fallen, pushing the cart. The fallen elf was trying to protect his head with his hands.

"Hey! Stop!" shouted a young elf as he ran towards the old elf to help him up.

"What?!" the guard then turned to whipped the young elf, instead. "What are you doing here? Go push your cart!" he said with a sneer on his face.

The young elf gritted his teeth as he endured the pain from the whip. "Please!" he begged. "Let my father rest for a bit. He's sick from the work here!"

"Shut up!" the guard whipped the young elf again, "He will be healthy again after more whippings!"

When the guard wanted to whip the young elf's father again, the young elf ran to protect his father with his body. "I won't let you hurt him again!"

The guard became angry. He shouted, "It seems like I have to teach you a lesson!"

He was about to whip the young elf again. But before the whip could reach the elf, it was cut.

"WHO DARES?!"

A guy wearing a guard uniform appeared in front of the guard. But suddenly, he vanished again.

"Cra-"

"SLASH!"

Before the guard could turn around, his throat gushed out with blood. He put his hands on his wound. He looked around to look for the culprit who had slashed him. Hatred and disbelief could be seen on his eyes. But then he had lost too much blood and he fell to the ground heavily.

The man who had killed the guard turned his head towards the young elf. "Are you alright?"

The young elf was in a daze. He hurriedly stood up and replied, "Yes, thank you... who are you?"

The man in the guard uniform was none other than Woodgard. He lightly smile, "Just someone who is passing by." He paused for a moment, sheathing back his daggers. "Just run to the main gate. Your friends are there."

It was then, the young elf and his father realized that something major will be happening tonight. They nodded their heads. They felt like their lives will change for the better good. This had made them so happy, even the young elf's father who was sick regained his vigor. "Alright!"

Woodgard nodded and vanished from sight.

"Let's get goin, father!" the young elf ran towards his father. He helped and supported him as they walked towards the main gate. 

As they hurriedly walked towards the main gate, every now and then, they would turn around to where the other prisoners were. They saw that there were fights among the guards. They were not sure what was happening but they felt hope. "Finally! The day has come!"

-----------

"Push the cart! Stop being so lazy!" shouted one of the guards while holding a whip.

The prisoners were clenching their fist in anger. "Just you wait, Wildan's dogs. When Princess Azalea come, this will be the end of your lives." Said one of the prisoners in his heart.

They have been enduring the mockery and humiliation for the past few weeks. All because Miss Loreleia had told them that Princess Azalea would surely back to seek justice.

Even without Loreleia's encouragement, they would absolutely wait for their princess. Their princess would never abandoned them. They could only hope that Princess Azalea would not be too much in a rush. They know that she would need to have powerful allies beside her.

"Endure it, hold on, don't lose hope!" said one of the prisoners to himself. He gritted his teeth as determination flashed in his eyes.

"What?! You better know your situation here! I don't like the look in your eyes!" shouted one of the guards when he saw the look on the prisoner's face.

Not far from them, a figure was getting closer to the guard. He readied his daggers as he activated his {Stealth}. He then dashed forward.

The guard felt a cold feeling like a darkness seeping into his soul from behind. He shouted,  "Who is that?!" the guard had turned his back but then a figure appeared. The figure attacked with dual daggers on both of his hands.

"Crap! You dare?!" the guard hurriedly jumped backward. The tips of the daggers left two scratches on his neck.

The figure who appeared was Woodgard. He was slightly surprised to see that the guard has good instinct. "Seems like it won't be as easy as the other guards. He could feel my killing intent," he thought to himself.

Many more figures started to appear behind Woodgard. They were Woodgard's men. "Sir, what do we do now? Should we help you?"

Woodgard shook his head without turning his head. "No need, leave him to me. You guys should take care of the other guards."

"Roger." They nodded and vanished.

Woodgard turned to the nearby prisoners, who were looking at him in surprise. "Quickly get back. Run to the main gate, your friends should be there."

The prisoners were surprised, at the same time, worried because they were not sure whether Woodgard was a friend or foe. But when they heard his words, their hope heightened. This man was on their side! They hurriedly ran. "Okay!"

"Did I give you permission to leave, trash?" the guard coldly said. He used his whip to catch one of the elves' legs. But Woodgard had intervene and cut the whip. "Your opponent is me."

"Tsk. Annoying trash. Dare to rebel against Chief Wildan? You deserve death," said the guard as he unsheathed his sword from his back.

Woodgard looked as cold as ever. Right now, he let his killing intent spread to the surrounding. If normal people were near Woodgard right now, they would find it hard to even breathe. "You'll pay for what you've done."