Assassinations (Part 4)

…

A few minutes earlier…

"Marco, have you gone mad?!" Aily asked. "Erm, nope." Marco replied short. "You're going to draw many attentions. Please stop this already!" Aily demanded him to stop.

"Sister, do something!"

"Uh, well…" Nina seemed reluctant in going together with her little sister's mind. "Seriously now? Pio, tell him to stop, please?"

"Um…" she touched her chin again with an adorable face. "I think he will do something cool! It will be awesome, I believe…"

"W-What's wrong with you guys?"

"Aily, listen. We did not tell you about this, though. But with making this display of fire, the soldiers of this kingdom will be forced to return back to secure the kingdom."

"How does that help with our mission here?" she questioned again. "Aily." Her sister called. Instantly, Aily glared at her sister with an unhappy face.

"The thing is that if the army returned here, the assassin will have little to no place to move. Considering there are still a bunch of soldiers in the kingdom, they will hastily come here and prevent anyone from going in or out."

"But isn't it gonna make us impossible to get out?" she asked again.

"It's not impossible, you know?" Marco commented while tying up some ropes. "The western is our best bet to get out of here. Errrgh! There we go. All ropes are set. Okay, let's get out of this tower. To the bridge there!"

All of them headed onto a bridge interconnecting to every tower around the castle. The bridge isn't lighted up with torches or lights but only from the towers, which makes the path quite difficult to move through.

As soon as they reached a safe distance, Aily commented again. "I really don't get it. This is dangerous! Besides, what about the signal that Sean told us?"

"Aily, be quiet and look." Her sister scolded her. "It's okay, Nina." Marco said casually. "We didn't tell you the real plan because you're too sleepy when Sean explained it widely."

"O-Oh… but why didn't you wake me up?"

"Sorry, no time to explain, Aily, because we need to give the signal to them," said Marco. "How are we going to give a signal if they're far away? Besides, what's with the dynamite boxes you put in that tower?"

"Oh, that? Hehe… that's the signal!" In the end of his sentence, Marco's arms are swirling up in thunderbolt. "Better close your ears, because the signal… is KABOOM!"

Marco then stretched his arms to the northern tower with a grin on his face. "This is a perfect timing to test this unused magic!"

A yellow magic circle enlarges from the edge of his palm. Encircling as it goes, a sparkling glow of lightning surrounds it. Finally, Marco casts out.

"Shocker Storm!"

A big yellow thunder strikes out into the tower in an instant, making a massive storm flash. The effect looks like a root of lightning bolt chaining in a very long range. In an instant, the explosive dynamites which Marco snatched during their escape, go off spectacularly, blowing apart the tower's wall.

"Sheesh, this-this-this magic is too mass-mass-massive for me to handle. I-I-I got my-my-myself like this after un-un-un-unleashing the magic," said Marco stutteringly. His hairs are all standing up as the effect of the magic.

The Shocker Storm is a deadly magical attack that depends not on a still mana usage. In other words, the magic can be used continuously until the user cuts his mana usage or until his mana energy dries out. It is the same type as its predecessor, the 'Shocker Hands', except this one has a mana toll to increase its range of fire. But on the flip side, it has a deadly backfire that can damage the user, should the user is not resistant to their own element.

"Please stay still, Marco," said Nina while holding Marco's shoulders.

"Rejuvenate!"

Slowly, Marco's body recovers from the damage he received from casting the thunder magic. "Gee, thanks Nina," said Marco while rubbing the back of his head. "Alright, then, let us do a clean-sweep!"

…

On the bridge heading to the central castle, Sean and Scias witnessed the 'signal' Marco gave. "Oh, my god," said Sean unbelieving. "That scale of explosion could burn them into a crisp. Just how many dynamites did Marco have?"

"Um…" Scias paused briefly, reluctant to tell. "It's actually… quite much. But I believe in him, he'll not die because of that shrapnel blast,"

"Good god… you guys are insane. Anyways, let's go, the chapel is up ahead."

"U-Uh." Scias nodded and together they set out into the central caste.

…

Twenty minutes ago, before their attack began…

"I freaking forgot to tell you people about it. Damnations, alright, listen up!"

The party listened closely. "The target is a non-human being or a demon if you guys prefer call it. The assassin wears a gray? Yeah, gray fedora. He wears a black suit covered with a dark gray cape. His hair is oddly in cyan and his face is covered with a metal mask up to his nose."

Marco sweated a little. He really knew who was it they're going to look for. "Fridges, it must be him," Marco said in his thoughts.

"We will need—wait… Aily, you're sleeping?" Sean realized Aily was falling asleep. "W-What…? N-No… I'm not sleeping, seriously!"

"Hmf…" Sean let a breath out in a slight concern. He then proceeded "Anyway, Marco, once you and your team begins sweeping, signal out to us."

"A signal? What should I use?" asked Marco in a bit of confusion. "Anything that can be heard, seen or felt by us," said Sean.

"Anything, huh…?"

*DING*

A flicker of idea passed by his mind, and it's a massive one. "Hehehe…" he smiled evilly. "Don't worry, Sean, I'll give an explosive signal."

"Huh? Explosive signal?" Sean did not get it. "Explosives… explosives… oh, wait…" Instead of following Marco's thinking, he came up with another plan.

"That's it!" he said brightly. "If we place a bomb and detonate it, then the army will surely return to secure the bombed area. That way, the assassin will have little space to move around. Hey, Marco, I remember you brought a box of dynamites before, where was it?"

Marco, Scias, Nina and Pio stared at him with an unbelieving face. Aily on the other hand was barely listening to what they're planning due to her being sleepy. Marco could not believe that Sean actually had an explosive plan in his mind that actually sounded better.

"Man, I don't really think the prince would be in the throne room, though…" Scias commented.

"Why's that?" Sean wondered. "I think the prince—

"Hey, who goes there?!"

Their movement was spotted. In a panic backlash, they rushed away and decided to start the plan accordingly. Aily's sleepiness disappeared after the sudden shout from the soldiers. When they're going to reach the northern tower, Aily wiped her eyes cleanly and looked behind her. The soldiers… were frozen in ice.

Sean and Scias talked during their run to the central palace while Marco and the rest except Aily placed the dynamites in some weird order on the wall of the northern tower.

…

And right now… Sean and Scias rushed inside the castle. They stopped right behind a wall when they just got inside. The loyal soldiers are in a hectic play after the commotion Marco caused.

"What the hell was that noise?!"

"It's from the northern tower!"

"Quick, find out what's going on in there!"

"Must've been terrorists,"

"Move! Move!"

"Secure the castle!"

A few seconds later, the area in front of them are emptied from soldiers. "The explosions were too loud to be ignored, don't you think, mate?" Sean jokingly stated.

"U-Uh." Scias nodded coldly. Sean felt a bit awkward afterwards. "Anyway, to the chapel, let's go!"

In front of them is the throne room while the path to the left is a staircase going up. Scias told Sean during their way to the central palace that the prince might've been inside a chapel, mourning the king's death. It was logical, said Scias. Sean did agree to this, because he knew the prince wasn't an asshole that hungers for power. It would be natural for someone to mourn the death of someone dearly to them.

And so, they headed upstairs in a heartbeat.

"You know where the chapel is exactly?" Scias asked while running upstairs. "Huh? Oh, of course I know. I believe if we go up four levels more or so, we'll reach the courtyard that leads to the chapel…. Hopefully."

"Y…you don't sound too assuming."

…

..

.

Fire engulfs the holed tower. Many soldiers arrived and used several water magic to take out the flame. In spite of that, the tower wasn't endangered to collapse. The explosion only mauled a speck of hole in it.

Marco, Nina, Aily, and Pio have reached the bridge intersection that leads to the eastern, southern, and northern towers. The wind shear is powerful during night time, especially knowing the fact that they are high above the ground so they must make sure to tread carefully.

"Alright, we'll split here. Remember, if any of you found Queaz, don't go straight attacking him."

"Huh? Queaz? Why did you bring him up all of sudden, Marco?" Nina asked curiously. "I have high belief that he was the guy that Sean mentioned. That's why I really think it was him."

"That irritating man, huh…" Aily grumbled to herself.

"I can't believe it…" said Nina in disbelief.

"The man I talked to a few days ago was actually the killer…?"

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Character RPG-ed Stats

Name : Marco J. Istinggar

Class : Human Explorer

Magic : Offensive

Element : Lightning

Element Level : Level 3

Proficiency : Gunslinger

Thanks for reading :)