CH52: Castle Massacre

***

CH52: Castle Massacre

I very rarely let my emotions get the better of me.

One of the first things I learnt as a soldier, and then as an operative, in my first life was to leave my emotions at the door when working.

In retrospect, the decision to let myself be kidnapped along with Anastasia... Anna, might have been a hasty one born out of emotions.

Perhaps I could've found a way to stop the kidnapping from happening and bought enough time for the bigwigs at the party to react.

But then again, that might've meant I'd have to reveal my combat ability as well as put the unconscious Anna at risk.

Maybe I made the right decision after all.

Well, it's not like it mattered now.

-

The flying beast flew fast but not very far. Even with my eyes closed, I knew it couldn't have flown out of Landrose city yet.

When we landed, I cracked open my eyes thinly and caught a glimpse of where we were.

It was an old castle built on a high ground.

Combining this with the fact that we hadn't left Landrose yet, I figured this must be an abandoned outpost built centuries ago, when the city was still relatively young.

The kidnappers locked us in one of the cells in the dungeon of the palace before leaving.

From the little chatter I picked up from their grumbling, it seemed the kidnappers were from Blood Coffin, another one of the three major Assassin Guilds in the Human Domain along with the House of Death and Reaper Clan.

Blood Coffin was an open Guild, meaning anyone could join and receive missions from it. Members of the Guild were more mercenaries than they were assassins.

Case in point Anastasia's kidnapping.

The Client hired the Guild to kidnap Anna in order to pressure her father into a decision. The Client knew of the Union bigwig's arrival beforehand and knew the powerful people in the city would be at Rose Palace, making it the perfect time for the kidnapping.

Blood Coffin Guild members used sleep poison instead of out-rightly killing people because the Client only wanted to pressure the Bayveth Republic President and not offend him as well as other bigwigs who maybe relatives of those attending the event.

This was the reason why the kidnappers didn't try to kill me to pry Anna away from me and instead brought me along.

Well, there was the fact that they knew who I was and believed they could get good ransoms from the DoomMane Guild and the various Associations without much effort since I was 'weak'.

I chuckled coldly because these guys signed their death warrants without realising it.

-

I sat up from the laying position the kidnapper left us.

They tied our hands behind our back and frisked us for any weapons or items so they weren't concerned that we could escape.

Too bad for them.

'Gandr, Come!'

I summoned Gandr from the {Private Realm}. The serpent rarely left hugging the tree root these past two weeks. It only came out a few times to eat and slither around my house in the Elite camp.

Gandr rose out of my shadow.

'Inanimate Form!'

It change into a cane and I used it to get back to my feet. Then, I unsheathed the hidden blade and used it to cut my bindings.

Once free, I used my sense of mana to search my surroundings.

"Good. I can't feel any being's mana above 5-rings."

This made sense. Most of the graduates were under 5 rings. Anastasia herself just progressed to 5 mana rings.

So a contingent of multiple Knight-rankers was enough to kidnap and hold her safely.

Unfortunately, while I could determine the strength of people around me based on the mana they exuded, it was still a little difficult for me to pinpoint their exact positions.

So, I made a decision.

'Search the building. Let me know the position of the enemies.'

Gandr hissed a positive response and slithered away. It went up the door and through the bars.

Meanwhile, I went to check on Anastasia.

She was fine. As I surmised before, the gas we were exposed to was a weak sleeping gas without any other detrimental effects. I deduced it targeted those Knight-rank and below considering the people who were still awake within the hall before.

What I had trouble deducing was how long the poison's effect would last. The best I could predict was an hour.

About twenty minutes had passed so I had less than forty minutes to take care of the hostiles before Anastasia woke up.

I moved her to a sitting position against the wall out of sight from the door and wrapped my jacket around her to keep her warm in the cold dungeon.

I couldn't cut her binds because Gandr was away, plus it might be a good thing to leave her like that in case of emergences.

I looked at the sleeping beauty. My hand caressed her face.

"Fate really plays a mirthless joke. Our first meetings in both our lives has me saving you from a kidnapping." I whispered. "Well, I don't mind doing it. I'll save you as many times as you need saving in this life. I won't let you die in pain again."

I stood up and turned my focus to the hostiles.

-

I found out something about Gandr these past two weeks that wasn't mentioned in the Interface. I could share its vision and see through its eyes if I wished. Its stats also mirrored mine so its movement... slithering speed was as fast as my running speed.

The abandoned castle was poorly lit, so Gandr took advantage of the cover of darkness to move unhindered through the mansion as it found the targets.

I doodled a rough layout of the castle in my notebook based on what I could get from Gandr's vision. I also marked the locations of the hostiles.

Gandr returned to me by entering a shadow and reappearing from mine.

"That's convenient. That saves time and trouble." I muttered.

Gandr coiled around me.

The vague thought it sent me seemed to be asking what I wanted to do.

'We are going to kill all of them.' I said with a thick killing Intent. "But we have to be fast and quick. I also need to take care of the bodies. I can't leave any traces, I can't be sure if one of them has a Pangea that can detect blood or something."

I fell into thought a bit.

"I'm going to have to do this without information. For that, I need to kill them all before they can react." I decided.

Gandr poked my cheek with its head.

'Food.' It said to me.

"That's true. I can get rid of the bodies by feeding them to you." I stroke its head.

I had a plan of action.

"Sleep tight. I'll be right back." I said to the unconscious Anna.

Gandr changed into its inanimate form and I used the sword to pry open the rusted old dungeon gate.

{Mask of Loki}!

A white Jester mask appeared on my face as I changed into my 'Alex Fury' skin while rolling up my sleeves.

I made my way out to begin my killing spree.

**

I hugged the corners and used the cover of darkness to hide my tracks as I arrived close to my first target and my first obstacle.

There was a guard seated by the door leading out of the underground dungeon. I would have to get past this guard before I could leave the dungeon.

I admit, I made a blunder.

I had spent most of the two weeks resting that I didn't stock up poisons for Gandr. The incarnation's poison gland was empty at the moment. If I knew this would happen, I would've prepared some poisons for Gandr.

Well, now wasn't the time to cry over spilt milk.

I needed a distraction to draw the guard close.

I retreated back into the corner before ordering Gandr to slither towards the hostile.

It arrived in front of the man and posed itself like it wanted to attack. Suddenly, the man's fist lit up in a blinding light. He also released his mana rings.

The man was at four rings and likely an Expert ranker.

Gandr recoiled back into the corner much to the amusement of the bored guard. He slowly made his way to the corner after Gandr.

Unbeknownst to him, Gandr had switched back to his sword form while I was lying in wait at the corner.

I didn't have to do so much to prepare for him. The beacon of light in the dark was a big give away of his position.

Just as he turned the corner, I swung my sword horizontally, decapitating him.

I searched the body and recovered a knife and two bottles of green liquid, which I identified as the sleep poison the hostiles used at the party.

The sword reverted back into a snake and a silvery vortex opened before Gandr's mouth which swallowed the decapitated body.

"One down."

I fed Gandr one of the bottles while I kept the other. I sensed two mana sources approaching the door.

Gandr and I got into position. I moved to the left of the door while Gandr was at the right.

Two males arrived and looked through the door. They quietly opened the door and entered. The door opened to the left, obscuring me from their vision in my crouched position.

One of the men moved to check behind the door when I sprang to my feet, using the momentum and all my strength to jam the knife through his skull from the bottom of his jaw. Meanwhile, Gandr used {Bite} to send some of the fast acting sleep poison directly into the other man's bloodstream.

He limply fell down, only to have his life choked out of him when Gandr coiled around him with {Toughened Muscles}.

I disposed my man of his longsword and another bottle of the sleeping poison while I took two throwing knives and a dagger from the man Gandr killed before having it take care of both bodies.

"That's three."

I checked the mana sources again.

I heaved a sigh of relief when I noticed they were still at their previous positions.

'I need to keep the element of surprise since I don't have any information about the hostiles. Whether humans of my previous life or the mana-enhanced variety of Arun, a single attack is enough to send them to the afterlife as long as I maintain stealth.' I thought to myself.

I moved through a narrow corridor and arrived at the stair which led out of the underground dungeon.

The remaining hostiles were on this floor. Two were patrolling the floor, coming from the left side, while six more huddled together in a marsh hall down the corridor to the far right.

I waited by the stairs and hugged the corner so that I would be in their blindspot when they passed. They were pretty relaxed as they talked about the huge pay day they'd be getting.

I heard the Client was paying them 1,000 UC, excluding their Guild merits for participating tonight.

I must say, it was a very good deal for one night's work.

It's just a shame they haven't been paid yet or I would've earn some good money on the side.

People in a line of work like this, knew better than to carry their wealth on them. In the event they died, they didn't want their killer to earn from their bodies as well, which was why I didn't find anything of value from those I had killed except their weapons.

Anyway, the two guards passed the staircase. They didn't even bother to check it.

I stealthily crept up behind them.

They walked one after the other.

I arrived quickly but quietly behind the patrol at the back.

My Dexterity stats weren't for show. Each of my stats were between Knight to Noble-rank level so my speed was not something these guys below Noble rank could keep up with.

I got him from the back with three rapid stabs to the heart from behind while covering his mouth.

The guard in front realised something was up and turned to look back, only to receive a flying dagger to the head.

The dagger had the full force of my Physique Stats behind it, so it pierced to the hilt into the man's skull. The remnant force even took him off his feet.

I didn't bother stripping these guys of their weapons and just had Gandr take care of their corpses before the smell of blood spread.

One could never be too careful with the plethora of Pangea in existence.

"That makes five."

My gaze looked far ahead. The remaining hostiles gathered nicely at the mesh hall.

Now that I was close by, I could sense the strength and position of each mana source vividly in my head.

'One 5-rings, three 4-rings and two 3-rings.' I mused. 'Considering that members of Blood Coffin are a ragtag group, That's likely 1 Knight, 3 Experts and 2 Beginners. Even by some miracle, someone can fight about their strengths, I'd be up against 2 Knights at most.'

I analysed the situation calmly.

The men were spread out in the mesh hall, not sitting within weapon distance of each other. This was a clear show of lack of trust.

'Makes sense. There's an equal distribution of loot for an unequal distribution of strength. It makes sense they won't trust each other. The strong ones would want to prey on the weak ones while the weak ones would be wary of the strong ones.' I thought.

Fortunately for me, the two 3-rings were the ones closest to the door. It's likely they took position here so they could escape in case the strong ones turned against them.

This made things easy for me as they were unlikely to sense me lurking at the door.

The 5-rings was in the centre position to the left of the hall, by the window, while the remaining three 4-rings were at the far end of the hall from my position.

I weighed my options before given Gandr an order.

I'm really happy Gandr is an Assassin-type snake as it silently snuck into the hall to carryout my order.

Meanwhile, I uncorked two bottles of the sleep poison and poured it on the ground.

The poison was volatile and evaporated quickly to fill a space. This was why the hostiles were able to use it to their advantage at the party.

I was merely returning the favour as I fanned the vapour towards the hall. As I did, the vapour turned colourless as it drifted into the hall.

The sleeping poison was colourless and odourless so those in the hall didn't realise it until they had taken it in.

The 2 3-rings were the first to show signs of it as they began to yawn excessively.

It only took a moment before the others realised something was wrong. Too bad, it was already late. The gas had spread through the hall and they had inhaled enough of it that they were becoming drowsy.

Now, I just had to wait for them to fall asleep.

The 2 3-rings and the 3 4-rings soon dropped to the floor. However, the lone 5-rings held.

He coated his body in mana to form something akin to an armour around his body.

(P.S: This is why those that can display the full strength of the 5-rings are referred to as Knights by the Union. Check my notes in the Auxiliary Volume for more information.)

This, plus the fact that he backed an open window meant he didn't inhale enough of the gas to render him unconscious.

"Who is there? Show yourself and stop hiding like a rat!" He shouted.

I shook my head and sighed.

I walked into the hall with the sheathed longsword in hand.

"Who are you?" The man glared at me.

"I am an humble messenger of death. You may call me The Fool."

"You really are a fool. Draw your blade. You won't get another chance."

The man activated what I suspected to be his Pangea as a Black-tinted White Crystal Broadsword materialised in his hands. The Black tint signified that his Pangea was a B-rank Pangea.

"As much as I would have loved to dance with you, I am in no mood. You have targeted someone you shouldn't have and as a result offended someone you shouldn't have offended. My only wish now is your death. So, drop to the floor!"

The moment my words rang out, the man wavered as a feeling of vertigo assaulted him.

I'm sure as he dropped to the ground unconscious, he must be wondering how the poison could still affect him through his mana coating.

It's a pity he didn't notice nor feel the fang digging into his ankle from the shadow behind him.

Once he dropped to the floor, he was strangled to death and consumed by the owner of those fangs.

Gandr!

Ridiculous. I was a pissed Assassin.

The guy thought I would fight him 'fair and square'? Please... I only wanted to kill him nothing more.

How I did so, made no difference.

I ruthlessly finished off the other unconscious hostiles and had Gandr consume their bodies to be converted to energy and nutrients for my {Private Realm}.

My rage and killing intent only calmed down after I finished off the last hostile.

While I wasn't sure if Anastasia was Anna... my Anna. I would act on the assumption that she is.

That meant, she was my reverse scale that I wouldn't allow anyone touch. Not again... not in this life!

I turned around to walk away when a notification window appeared before my eyes.

**

[Notice: Host has fulfilled Lord Fenrir's requirement.]

[Notice: Lord Fenrir is pleased with Host's actions. Host has earn Patron Spirit's acknowledgement.]

[Notice: Blessing {Destroyer} is unlocked!]

[Notice: Host should prepare. The test to determine the grade of Blessing, {Destroyer}, can begin at any moment.]

**

'What am I supposed to prepare? What is the test about? When would it start?' I asked the Interface.

I got the same answer to all questions.

[Unknown!]

-

Realising it was pointless to think about it, I decided to return to Anastasia before she woke up.

I had Gandr absorb every trace of conflict, every drop of blood, and clear the scene. It even absorbed the blood that got onto my vest, much to my relief.

I was returning to the dungeon when Gandr alerted me that it found something. It slithered away before I could ask it what it found.

'I need to work on its discipline.' I thought.

Anyways, I wasn't too worried. I could share its sights and it could return to me at any time through a shadow so I let it go and returned to the dungeon.

I removed the mask and I became Leo Xander again. Then I walked into the cell where Anastasia was. She was still unconscious.

"I'm back, Anna. All the bad guys are taken care of." I whispered as I cut her binds behind her back.

She sleep-whispered an answer back to me that caused me to freeze in shock.

"Welcome back, Alex. I knew you'd come for me."

!!!

(To be continued...)