TAKE THEM DOWN

Chapter 7

43.

In this beautiful land mass, the central trading area resides. Numerous vendors selling different products. Ranging from foods, to machineries, to whatever product a place is known for. The diversity lives synchronously creating a welcoming atmosphere for every individual. Indeed, Gilword is the center of this world.

"This is actually the first time I've seen Demi-humans…" Ryuu stated.

"Maybe Demi-humans are quite rare in the Right Continent. This is also my first time seeing this many" Akari Added.

"I remember Kane said that the Ozo tribe are Demi-humans. Maybe there are plenty in Coronn, we just did not encounter them due to the fact that Coronn does not have a distinct pathway…" Reiko Responded.

"Coronn and Reganee are the ones that have civilized Demi-humans. There's a town in Suanga but the rest of the area is a rainforest, there are probably some Demi-humans lurking in that area, living by tribes like those in Coronn" Kane replied.

"This makes me want to Travel to the Left Continent soon!" Ryuu excitedly stated.

"But before that, let's explore this place first!" Akari said.

"Lezzgo!" Akari, Reiko, and Ryuu shouted.

The party roams and delightedly observes every item in the area. They all agreed to buy only those with the highest efficiency not just by impulse decision. This will prevent them from the scenario; buying unnecessary things that will lead them to regret once they saw a better item but not enough money to purchase it.

After hours, and more hours of identifying what to buy, the overloading choices overwhelmed them, preventing the party from purchasing even a single thing. With that, they all rest on a vacant bleacher for the time being.

"I never thought that it would be this hard…" Reiko mentioned.

"I want to buy everything that looks amazing but EVERYTHING LOOKS AMAZING!" Ryuu complained.

"We are only just on the other side of the country… Sure the town's map indicates where to buy a certain item, it is well categorized but this is too overwhelming…" Akari added.

"Even Taurus looks tired from walking in circles!" Ryuu complained even more.

"Instead of roaming randomly, think of a certain item that you want to buy then we'll head to that place using the town's map. We'll be wasting our time if you don't know what to buy" Kane said.

While they are resting, Akari, Reiko, and Ryuu think deeper. They all created their own list of things to buy, ranking the list according to priority so that they can budget their money efficiently.

Shortly, they compare their list to assess where they should head first. This will create a flow and a distinct direction that will be beneficial for all of them, thus saving more energy. The party realized that the top priority is the weaponry while jewelry is the least in the itinerary. Having the Adamant Sapphire crafted into the iron bracelet, makes the extra jewelry less of an option. When everything is settled, they head to the center part of Gilword where weaponry and armory resides.

The party visits every Weapon store in the vicinity but every high end weapon is already sold, only the dull ones are left. Upon reaching the last store, they started to ask questions.

"Let me guess, you don't have any good weapons here?" Ryuu sarcastically asked.

"Actually yes, sorry for the inconvenience but the next orders will probably be delivered here next month" the store keeper answered.

"NEXT MONTH?" Ryuu reacted.

"If I may ask, why is that every store does not have any stock?" Akari asked.

"There are a group of people hoarding weapons. I saw them buying store to store for the past few days. They also booked the following orders. Don't know what they are up to tho" the store keeper replied.

"That sounds fishy…" Reiko commented.

"When was the last delivery?" Kane asked.

"It was last week when they delivered. Though the same group already pre-ordered the next delivery. I'm not sure if there'll be anything left." the store keeper said.

*Kane walked out of the store*

"Oy Captain where are you going?" Ryuu asked as the rest followed Kane.

"Every week a ship docks here in Gilword, delivering supplies and transporting passengers. I think something is fishy here…" Kane said.

"I never met someone who buys that huge amount of weapons. It's like they are preparing for something…" Akari hypothesized.

"It's clear that whoever is behind this, they are strengthening their military. We just don't know the reason behind it." Reiko added.

"What should we do?" Ryuu asked.

"For now let's investigate. We'll stay here in Gilword for a month. I'll rent a place near the weapon stores where we can all stay. We'll wait for next month's delivery" Kane answered.

Kane is able to rent a house near the vicinity. They all take turns on watching the stores from a distance while the rest roams around to try to get some information. Their shopping plans were turned into sneaking and investigating, though they still manage to buy some things while it is their time to roam around the area. Weeks have passed but they are not getting any leads. It looks like the delivery is the only clue that they can look for.

After a whole month, the delivery came. As they expected the hoarders came exactly by the time the orders had been delivered. They all look like a bunch of civilians at the first glance but Kane witnessed how they hoard the weaponry. As they leave the premises, Kane tails the civilians.

In a handful of minutes, the hoarder entered a small tavern near the center of the Gilword. It looks like they own the house since there is no one besides them entering the residence. After making sure that the target won't leave the place, Kane immediately fetched his party to ask for backup. Planning to forcefully make them talk in a surprise ambush.

As the night settles, everyone seems to tuck on their beds. That's the time for the infiltration. Using her fire magic, Akari heated up the doorknob and then Reiko immediately cooled it down using her water magic. Because of that, Ryuu easily breaks the knob, making it easier for them to enter silently. Kane fills the surroundings with thick black smoke and when the hoarder is able to see things, they are already tied up in their own place.

"It feels like we are getting good at apprehending bad guys, feels like we are the bad guys" Ryuu stated.

"Don't ever try to scream. You are probably knowledgeable in weapons, you might not want to let this scythe go near to your neck.." Kane intimidates the hoarders.

"That line sounds like a villain to me" Reiko commented.

"W..wha..what do you want??" the boss of the hoarders asked while shaking.

"Hoarding weapons, explain" Kane responded.

"We..wee ju.. Just like to co...collect things… Right boys??" the boss nervously answered.

"Collecting? Why would you buy the same quality of weapons and leave the dull ones if your aim is only to collect??" Akari questioned.

"Ryuu, get my orb, I think my scythe needs to be sharpened," Kane said.

"HAI!" Ryuu immediately gets the orb and hands it to Kane.

"W..wha..what is he doing??? Why i...is that weapon glowing??" the boss asked.

"He is feeding his scythe some souls. The blade sharpens that way…" Akari softly answered.

"Ooooh… You better start talking now… His patience is quite small" Reiko mentioned.

"Noooo don't talk, I want to see that scythe in action!" Ryuu argued.

The hoarders are slowly losing their minds, the fear from Kane reaches deeper, making them want to beg for their lives. In that instant, one of the hoarders shouted.

"WE ARE COLLECTING BECAUSE SOMEONE PAID US TO DELIVER THEM ALL THE HIGH QUALITY WEAPONS HERE IN GILWORD!" One of the hoarders shouted.

"He… is… not stopping from what he's doing…" the other guy said.

"THE GUY FROM BERINGIA! HE PAID US TO DO THIS. LOOKS LIKE THEY ARE PREPARING FOR A WAR OR SOMETHING BUT WE DON'T KNOW ANY OTHER DETAILS ABOUT IT!" The boss nervously shouted.

"Beringia? Captain, I think they are bluffing. Beringia is just a huge land mass that connects the two continents" Ryuu intervened.

"We.. we a.. are telling the truth! There's a hidden underground base on the Left continent part! We told you everything that we know so please spare our lives!" the boss stated as he begged for their lives.

Kane stopped feeding the scythe.

"I think we're done here. Continue whatever you are doing and don't ever tell everyone that this happened. If you do, that will be the last time that your head is still connected to your body" Kane walks out as he instills fear in their minds.

After gaining the information that they needed, they all headed back to their lounge and they started their discussion.

"Why did we let them off the hook?" Ryuu questioned.

"They are not bad guys, I think they deserve to live" Akari answered.

"I do get your point but isn't it a little risky to let them roam around? I mean they could still warn someone that we make them talk" Ryuu argued.

"If you suddenly stopped them, the man who paid them will be cautious since they suddenly did not get the items. It will take maybe around a week before they realize someone intervened with their plan. The same time span can be estimated when we let them live and report once they reach Beringia. The result is the same whether we let them live or not." Reiko argued.

"Ooooh… This is hard, what should we do then?" Ryuu asked.

"We need to outrun those hoarders before they reach Beringia. We'll use this crystal and make our way to Mystic forest. Afterwards, we'll talk with Kyap first before making our way to Beringia. Those hoarders will take at least a week or two before they can warn their client while all we need is 2 days before attacking that place." Kane answered.

44.

Kane, Akari, Reiko, and Ryuu rode in the wagon and ordered Taurus to start moving. They head to the northern part of Gilword wherein there's a small cave near the sea. After securing the area, Kane twisted the crystal and inserted his mana. A magic circle is cast beneath their feets and above their heads, it is wide enough to fit everyone inside the teleportation, with that, they teleport back to Mystic forest.

"After living for as long as I can remember, this is the first time that my place is being used as a teleportation ports" Mych mentioned.

"Hehe… We are truly sorry for the inconvenience" Akari responded.

"It's fine, it is also my fault for giving Kane that crystal. Besides, you humans won't last that long. I just have to endure this for at least a decade" Mych replied.

"Don't know what to feel about that… anyway, we are quite in a hurry soooo byeee~" Reiko said.

"See you guys around again" Mych said as she chuckled a little bit.

The party rushed towards Mechtown again. This time Kyap is not even surprised. He already anticipated that the party would suddenly pop up after a month.

"Why do you guys always arrive in the middle of the night?" Kyap asked.

"No time to explain, let's start the meeting!" Ryuu said while in panic.

"HAHA! There's always trouble when your party appears. Come inside, let's discuss this with something to drink" Kyap offered.

They all proceed to the Guildmaster's room, they even invited Hikari and Gali to join them, thus the discussion started.

"So we were at Gilword last month, we were looking randomly but we got tired because there are so many items and I don't know what to buy!" Ryuu started talking.

"Cut the intro and proceed to the main topic please" Reiko intervened.

"Oh right, so we look for weapons in the middle area of Gilword but everyone is out of stock! Can you imagine that?" Ryuu continued talking.

"Basically there are peeps hoarding weapons and bringing them to Beringia" Reiko once again intervened.

"HEY! I thought I'm allowed to tell the story!" Ryuu complained.

"YOU ARE TAKING WAY TOO LONG!" Reiko argued.

"Wait, Beringia? I don't know that there's a factory there…" Gali said.

"They said that there's an underground base and they deliver the weapons there" Akari replied.

"Hoarding weapons… Not only are they strengthening their army, but they are also preventing the other nation from acquiring new items from a different area.. They are monopolizing the market… This is bad.." Kyap responded.

"Looks like they already shifted gears in terms of their planning since they knew Gali is alive" Kane said.

"They are probably allocating their resources to prevent you from destroying those facilities in the previous basement" Gali added.

"Not to mention, your previous basement could probably be a trap right now since they are anticipating that we will raid them" Reiko replied.

"It looks like that's a clear threat to our town.. Beringia is not that far.." Hikari responded.

"I say, let's locate their new basement then blow everything up!" Ryuu suggested.

"Even though they are a possible threat, blowing up a place randomly might trigger a bigger war.." Kyap argued.

"Kyap is right, they could use that as a reason to strategically take Mechtown back in their hands" Reiko agreed with Kyap.

"They are not making any rekkles decisions even though they already know our place. Nin had an opportunity to kill us all but she did not… It's like they are protecting an image or somesort…" Akari hypothesized.

"That could also be possible, I've heard that they have allied places that sponsor our experimentation. All I know is that Mechtown was one of them because I received plenty of deliveries from this town back then." Gali mentioned.

"This is getting complicated again!" Ryuu complained.

"I doubt that they can link that to Mechtown. They still don't know that we now know their place. This time, I agree with Ryuu, let's blow that place before they get the news" Kane argued.

"It feels like music to my ears, Captain finally recognized my brilliance…" Ryuu stated.

"We are inevitably gonna face them soon, destroying their new facility will lessen the possibility of them invading this town. Our party will solely fight them so that we won't drag this town into another war" Kane added.

"I'll fight as well! You need additional reinforcement and Kyap cannot send you our troops." Hikari responded.

"Looks like you grew for the past months. Will you allow her?" Akari asked Kane.

"Your magic is wind right?" Kane asked hikari.

"Yes! I've been practicing and I'm strong now!" Hikari answered.

"Good, we'll use your magic to help us flee when things get dire" Kane said.

"I'll do my best!" Hikari stated.

"If that's the case, let's invite Broko and Mista as well! I'm sure they will agree, plus they are practicing all this time. They'll be a huge help!" Ryuu suggested.

"Sounds like a plan to me" Reiko agreed.

"Additional frontline and supporting magic will be helpful!" Akari added.

"Fine, we'll go to Graspmoon first thing in the morning, that's it" Kane replied.

"Aaaaand there is it again, Kane with his formidable decisions. HAHA! You kids goodluck out there, try not to die" Kyap mentioned.

"Lezzgo blow that hidden base!" Ryuu shouted.

"YOSSSHA!" Akari, Reiko, and Hikari responded.

The next morning, the party sprinted to Graspmoon. Upon reaching the place, Broko already saw them from a mile away. He then rushed and called Mista to inform her that the party is back after a couple of months.

"OY!" Broko shouted while waving his hand.

"I should have dressed better if only I knew that they were coming…" Mista murmured.

"OOOOOYY!" Ryuu shouted back as they approached Broko and Mista.

"It's been a while, how are you doing?" Akari asked both Broko and Mista.

"It's been a peaceful yet busy time. A lot of productive things happened aaaand I think we are stronger now!" Broko confidently answered.

"That's reassuring to hear" Reiko replied.

"We tried our best to keep up with our promise. By the way, who is that young girl?" Mista asked.

"I'm Hikari, it's a pleasure to meet you" Hikari introduced herself.

"Hikari… wait… IS THAT YOUR DAUGHTER?" Broko asked Akari.

"Babies don't grow that fast" Reiko replied.

"What makes you think that is her child?" Mista asked Broko.

"Her name is close to Akari and they are quite close… Like a mother and daughter thing image" Broko explained.

"Well we gave her that name, that's why it's close to mine. We kinda adopted her so I guess that explains it. Basically it's a long story hehe." Akari briefly clarifies the scenario.

"Let's go to the guild and we'll listen to that story over a cup of any drinks you want!" Broko offered.

"We are here for a different matter. Let's head to the guild." Kane replied.

They all head to the guildmaster's room to discuss their agenda. Orichi is also present in their meeting. Reiko and Akari discussed their situation, from the Nin incident to their Gilword discovery. Orichi also told the party about the hidden project that they made, linking it to Nin's previous attack.

"They already told you everything, why aren't you scared?" Ryuu asked both Broko and Mista.

"We are actually waiting for this moment to happen" Broko optimistically said.

"I guess we already know the answer to our question" Reiko responded.

"We kinda get the Gist from the moment you guys suddenly showed up here hehe" Mista replied.

"Soooo, will you help us destroy their place?" Akari asked.

"OF COURSE!" Broko and Mista answered.

"We can easily fight them now" Hikari said.

"The plan is simple, we sneak there, locate them, destroy them" Kane stated.

"But how are we exactly going to locate them?" Hikari asked.

"Don't worry about it! I'm an expert at locating hidden places! My earth magic won't let us down!" Broko confidently answered.

"What do you mean?" Ryuu questioned.

"I recently learned a skill called seismic sense. When I touch the ground and use that ability, I can recognize if there's a gap within the land mass in a certain distance. At first, I used that to make sure that the ground is safe while exploring caves. Then I learned to locate treasures since gaps on ground means there's something buried on it." Broko explained.

"So it means that you only have to touch every area on Beringia and when you sense a huge gap, that could be their hidden base." Reiko responded.

"THAT IS AMAZING!" Ryuu complimented.

"Though it will require a huge amount of mana, it might take a while for me to locate every area in Beringia" Broko said.

"Mana won't be a problem, I will let you borrow my bracelet" Kane replied.

"I don't think a simple accessory would boost my mana that much" Broko argued.

"Haha… It surely will" Akari replied.

"Looks can be deceiving, I kinda appreciate this even more" Reiko added.

"I've been wondering, the 4 of you have that matching silver bracelet. What does it do?" Mista asked.

"Hoho, you are not going to believe this" Ryuu said.

"Please keep this a secret, these bracelets are fused with Adamant Sapphire." Akari answered.

"ADAMANT SAPPHIRE?" Broko and Mista reacted.

"You mean you managed to get it this time?" Mista questioned.

"Don't want to brag but yeah, we did it.." Ryuu bragged.

"Your party never fails to surprise me" Orichi stated.

"It's called Kane's effect. You'll get used to it, like we do…" Reiko replied.

"It doubles your mana. That will be more than what you need." Kane said.

"I still cannot believe that the Mythical Stones are crafted here in a very simple item…" Mista mentioned.

"I guess there won't be any problems now" Broko added.

"LET'S DO THIS!!!" Ryuu shouted.

"YOSHA!" Akari, Reiko, Hikari, Broko, and Mista responded.

45.

The party puts down their supplies in a vacant room in the guild. They will only bring potions so that they can all fit in the wagon. As everything settles, they immediately move and head out. Once they reached Mystic Forest, the party briefly explained things with Mych and they left Taurus with its wagon to avoid being spotted. They will only walk from Mystic Forest, crossing Lacreyn, to Beringia while carrying some of the pots in their inventory.

Upon crossing the land bridge, they start their mission on the Left side of Beringia. Kane handed his bracelet to Broko, letting him double up his mana.

"Let's see how this works" Broko touched the ground and silently cast seismic sense.

"Is it working?" Ryuu whispered.

"I actually don't believe it at first coz it's not flashy but it works" Mista whispered back.

"How long does it usually take?" Akari asked.

"Mostly a minute? He moves a mile after a minute in a specific area" Mista answered.

A couple minutes have passed, Broko is still and not moving.

"Aahmm… It is already half an hour…" Hikari mentioned.

"I think he is sleeping" Ryuu added.

"Oy Mista, are you sure that this actually works?" Reiko clarifies.

"Ever since he learned that skill, we have always had a successful treasure hunt. This is actually the first time that it took this long" Mista answered.

"Should I wake him up?" Ryuu asked.

"Ryuu, there's no person that can sleep in that position" Reiko argued.

"Hey, don't judge someone's sleeping capability!" Ryuu replied.

"Ssssshh, you are too loud, you might interrupt him" Akari intervened.

"Come on, we barely talk for the past 30 minutes, how come are we going to interrupt him?" Ryuu complained.

"Please forgive my brother, he can't keep his mouth shut for a whole hour" Reiko said.

"Oy Nee-san!" Ryuu madly reacted.

"HAHAHA I missed this type of chaos" Mista mentioned.

"Ha ha ha ha, very funny" Ryuu sarcastically responded.

"Silence" Kane ordered.

"Hai.." Everyone immediately replied.

'Done!" Broko said.

"Nice, now we have to move a mile and wait for another hour" Ryuu sarcastically said.

"We don't have to, I already found the place" Broko stated.

"Say what now?" Ryuu reacted.

"This bracelet drastically boosted my mana. It helped me to continuously search without taking a break. It's insane!" Broko explained.

"THAT IS SO COOL! I NEVER DOUBTED YOU EVEN A SECOND!" Ryuu complimented.

"But you just sa.." Hikari responded but suddenly got interrupted.

"No time for side comments, let's move!" Ryuu immediately replied.

Everyone immediately moved and followed Broko. On the southern west of Beringia, a small cave can be spotted. It will be pretty obvious if they just enter, there might be guards that are on duty to halt those people who will randomly stumble to their area. To avoid being spotted, they created their own entrance by digging in a nearby proximity, which directly led them to the inventory.

"Should we start the riot?" Ryuu asked.

"Maybe we should inspect first? Just to make sure we won't be harming other civilians" Akari said.

"They could kidnap some innocent people and animals to use as test subjects, I agree with Akari" Reiko responded.

"Wait here, I'll go investigate" Kane stated.

"Wait, let me boost your speed." Mista casted haste to Kane in order to amplify his speed.

"I'll be quick" Kane casted a black smoke on his feet, rapidly submerging to the shadows and instantly disappeared.

"Di...did he just enter the shadow…" Broko shockedly questioned.

"I… I sometimes wonder how OP he is…" Mista added.

"We didn't even know that he could do that. But we never put a ceiling to his capability that's why we just whip it out with that's Kane effect when he suddenly do those things" Reiko replied

A couple of minutes have passed and Kane has not returned. Things were working fine until a guard, roaming in the area, spotted them.

"HOOY! INTRUDERS!" The guard shouted to alert everyone.

"Ow shit, shit, shit, what are we going to do?" Ryuu panickedly asked.

"Move out!" Reiko ordered as they ran outside of the base.

The guards immediately followed them but thanks to Mista's buff, they managed to swiftly flee from the area. The moment they stopped running a dark shadow appeared on the ground, Kane showed up together with some childs and teenagers.

"YOU CAN TRANSPORT PEOPLE THROUGH YOUR SHADOW?" Ryuu questioned.

"Only for a short distance. Now protect these children and blow up that factory" Kane answered as he ordered the next move.

"I'm on it. The power to heal and protect, defend my surroundings, WATER DOME!" Reiko casted an immense swirling water around them.

"I call upon this land, a scorching death to my target… METEOR!" Akari chanted, directly casting the spell to the entrance that they created.

The soldiers that followed them immediately regretted the idea when they saw the ball of flames, directly hitting them. In that instant, the area exploded, widening the entrance, burning everything in the near proximity, turning them into ashes.

"Wait, you can still stand after that? I remember you passed out after you cast that spell back then" Broko questioned.

"I can cast 3 of those now hehe…" Akari answered.

"I guess this bracelet is literally too much" Broko replied then returned the bracelet to Kane.

"Be on your guard, the fight will start. Hikari focused on protecting the children, Reiko and Mista provide support spells on the back, Ryuu and Broko be the vanguard" Kane ordered.

Everyone gets in their position, afterwards Nin and her brother Kero show up.

"Impressive magic, you almost blew half of our current base from up here" Kero complimented Akari.

"HIII RYUU! LONG TIME NO SEEE!" Nin waved her hand.

"WE ARE NOT FRIENDS ANYMORE!" Ryuu shouted.

"THAT'S MEAN! Oh by the way, is that Kane? I finally met him in person!" Nin said.

"Please, hand over those children. My tea would get cold." Kero politely asked.

"YEAAAH, What's the big problem? IT'S TEA TIME!" Nin complained.

"This will be the end of your experiments!" Akari stated.

"Interesting… Oy Nin, Let's give them a good show, shall we?" Kero asked Nin.

"HAHA! Let's do 50/50, take on everyone and I'll take on Kane!" Nin replied.

"That sounds fair, I prefer collateral damage than 1v1. Let's do this" Kero responded.

-This looks like a bad idea, we are now facing the top generals.. They look very strong. If we manage to defeat them, it will eventually lead to Kane's closure… We have to take them down..