Chapter 477: Breaching the Vault

Spoiled for choice. Analysis paralysis. Upwards of ten different routes leading out of and away from the entrance to this base and no clue which way would lead to loot. That was the current situation so Ares and Sandy each picked one direction and played a game of rock paper scissors to determine their initial starting path. Ares picked scissors, because he imagined Enyo and Bellona had probably done something similar by now, and Sandy picked paper, perhaps due to the existence of the word 'sandpaper'. Though Sandy won, Ares' brain showed him some rather spectacular imagery so who really won in the end? That aside, Ares and Sandy took the furthest right path which led them down a fairly cramped corridor until they came across another junction offering them a split path heading left or right. This place was seriously convoluted and Ares was really tempted to throw out his divine sense and check the place properly in full. Unfortunately anyone who caught wind of his divine sense would have their suspicions aroused, as there was no need for anyone familiar with this place to search in such a manner, so that wasn't really an option Ares could resort to. As for why Sandy even came down this path in the first place, this was where the guard from before went. There was a non-zero chance he was currently placing the bribes from earlier inside a treasure vault or storage room and following him meant being led straight to the goods. Of course he might have just been heading off to go toilet or something but it's not like there were any better leads to go off and Ares lost the rock, paper, scissors game earlier anyway so followed along with Sandy's guess.

Sandy picked the right path and, after walking along its twisting route for about a minute, the duo ended up in a bustling cafeteria with surprisingly decent smelling food. This was clearly not the correct place but Sandy wasn't exactly unhappy to be here! In hindsight, it made sense this greedy rhino would somehow pick the one and only path that led directly to food; this was truly a spectacular talent but rather useless right now... Regrettably, eating here was a no-go no matter how much Sandy wanted to because she would need to remove enough of her headgear to reveal her face... Although, actually, now that Ares thought about it, very few people even knew what she booked like to begin with despite being a high profile figure and it was more likely he would get recognised first. Still, Sandy's pretty damn good looks would attract unwanted attention and maybe even trouble that would give the game away so Ares and Sandy simply left with the latter getting a bit moody. Ares could tell Sandy was staring at the side of his face and knew exactly what she wanted so he promised to feed her some food after they were done here... Wasn't Sandy almost exactly like Garuda? Both of them would kick up a fuss if they weren't able to get their hands on grub every so often... Though Sandy was lovely and the bird was an idiot so there was a key difference in that regard at least.

The duo kept exploring the base for another thirty or so minutes, making little to no progress up until they stumbled across an area that seemed to have high security compared to every other location thus far. There was a large open area, quite like the entrance to the base, but one path leading out of it was blocked off by about four guards who stood watch and refused to let anyone by. Most scavengers never even attempted to but the fact that some occasionally did, with all manner of ludicrous excuses, meant there was probably something back there worth 'scavenging'. While the scavengers who tried their luck might have gotten a small beating as punishment for their nonsensical audacity, Ares felt confident he could get by without meeting the same fate. He wasn't going to break cover right now, he would do that when dealing with the muscle weasels as they were the target Ares wanted to guarantee killing if nothing else during his trip here, but he didn't have to break cover at all.

There were other methods for Ares to go about infiltrating this guarded path so he meandered off to the side of the room, found a relatively quiet corner away from he meandering scavengers, and held the Nyxian Prowler in his pocket out of view. Ares could put Sandy in an Ebon Nightmare Zone to contain her while Ares darted around through the shadows to bypass the four knuckleheads standing guard. There was a pretty high chance he would get caught if he attempted to do things as is, though, as any darkness pillar experts nearby would spot him without fail. Ares was good with the darkness pillar now, sure, but he couldn't hide himself from anyone who was born with an affiliation for it, no way Jose. There was a high likelihood darkness pillar affiliated guards were chosen specifically for this reason so he needed to add a little extra flare to this plan in order to make things go smoothly and without a hitch. Put simply, a distraction was in order. Ares was tempted to shoot out Garuda and make him take the fall but the eagle would probably get moody afterwards and Ares didn't exactly want to deal with that. Also, a random eagle appearing in the base would wind up putting people on edge if there wasn't a valid explanation for it so ultimately Ares had to come up with a different plan. Luckily, he had one in mind.

BANG

Near enough everyone in the room turned to face a hallway off to the right side of the room to check what on earth caused that loud noise but they all shrunk their heads back into their necks and made themselves busy when it became obvious who was responsible. Diggers himself was storming around the corner, smacking his knuckles against the pipes in a fit of rage and he was blatantly in a bad mood so everyone did their best ostrich impression and kept their heads down. Diggers himself wasn't all that strong but he had sufficient backing within this base to bully others freely and act like a king. It was well known he was in a foul mood after the failed raid last time as getting booted out of the sect meant he was nowhere near his goal, the palace. It wasn't the first temper tantrum he'd thrown since then nor would it be the last and each caused everyone nearby to sweat nervously les they become his targeted outlet for he day. Thankfully for all the people here he didn't take it out on anyone else today, at least nobody in this area, and walked down another hallway while continuing to bang the walls with his fist. He didn't even mutter anything, he silently stormed off without even looking anyone in the eye. The guards, in particular, were grateful for this because they were, in fact, guarding the base's vault. It wasn't' uncommon for Diggers to stop by and check if there was anything new added to it that he wanted or could make use of. If he stomped over with that foul mood of his then someone would have paid dearly for it but that seemingly wasn't the case and the guards could breathe a sigh of relief...

... So too could Ares and Sandy, however, as they'd made it past the guards during this convenient opportunity and wormed there way down the corridor. Ares would have to go pick up Rox later but he'd done an excellent job at impersonating the furious false king. This probably wasn't that hard for him to pull of, though, as he had first hand experience with the person in question himself back during the raid. Rox's mimicked expressions were simply perfect and more than eye grabbing enough for Ares to slip by unnoticed while everyone's attention was elsewhere on the opposite side of the room from him. From here Rox would transform into somebody else, probably a fully clothed fellahin to blend in, and wait things out until Ares came back to stash him in the Blade once more when he was done here at the vault. Maybe Rox had done so well because he was feeling motivated after spending however many days hidden away with his succubus lady friend? Or maybe he was excellence personified to begin with! Regardless, his value was still as incalculable as ever so Ares was patting himself on the back for keeping him alive back inside the tomb that day after grasping his worth correctly.

Ares and Sandy slipped through the hallway as a shadowy blob on he floor but came to a halt before turning around the last corner that led to the vault because something was amiss. It was logical to expect there to be another set of guards, or even just one powerful guard, here in case for an added layer of security but there hadn't been any this whole time. Ares even intentionally stuck to the shadows this whole time with Sandy instead of walking specifically to avoid running headfirst inti guards accidentally. And yet, after checking around the final corner by, peeking the shadow around the wall ever so slightly, Ares saw nothing whatsoever. He was about to leave the shadow but Sandy quickly gripped his arm and shook her head while pointing towards the corner nearest to the vault entrance. At first Ares wasn't sure what it was he was supposed to be looking at but he soon understood, thanks to the Omniscience he activated, that the relatively innocuous pile of sand on the floor was actually something far more problematic that nearly tripped him up. If anyone who wasn't familiar with fellahin were in Ares' shoes, including Ares himself apparently, they would have walked right into this trap thinking that pile of sand was nothing more than buildup from the sandy roof above occasionally dropping down and falling to the floor.

In reality, however, the sand pile was a fellahin who'd turned fully into their elemental form and was acting as a disguised sentry. Not every fellahin could control their elemental form to this degree, even Sandy only recently go the hang of it, so there was a high chance this person was one of the few powerhouses the scavengers had their disposal and could be considered an old expert. Getting past them would be tricky. There was no way a person at this level wouldn't notice shadow magic trickery, so that was out of the question, and a distraction would be impossible without Rox again as he was still outside this area. Ares was thinking that the only way through, realistically, was to kill he guard quickly without giving them a chance to fight back or arise an alarm... But that was easier said than done so the question now was how? Assuming this guard was at the peak of transition realm, although their cultivation might actually be lower but it was better to be prepared for any eventuality, Ares would need an attack that affected them in this sandy form... And one that could do the guard in before he could even blink. Right off rip, physical attacks were ruled out categorically as fellahin in their elemental form were outright immune to them. This was more of an issue than it might have initially seemed because the war aura flag was somewhat of a no go as a result of this. Ares could coat it in destruction magic, of any of the three types, and that might work, but it was still a bit of a questionable choice so Ares went back to the drawing board... And came up with a devious idea pretty quickly. Ares was about to combine a few different tricks up his sleeve but it ought to be a pretty reliable assassination method that had a backup plan even if things went awry.

Ares hopped out of the shadows and immediately cast "Quietus Edict." Now, no matter how poorly this went, the chances of being discovered due to noise issues was slim. Ares could fire off a Grand Annihilation if he wanted without anybody being clued in to his rampaging. Plus if the guard survived what was yet to come he wouldn't be able to call out to his pals down the hallway. This was step one as well as the foundation for the backup plan, blowing everything up and praying the lightshow didn't reach the eyes of he other guards, for later. Step two was "Teleopsia" with a disintegration-coated scythe looking to cleave straight through the pile of sand and split it into two halves, killing the guard outright. Naturally this was unlikely to work, as the sandy fellahin could shift out the way or become human and block the attack, so step three was to bog down the sand in pressure and mitigate these drawbacks. physical attacks didn't work but pressure wasn't a physical attack so Ares overlapped standard annihilation pressure with an Esoteric Compression to truly drag down the fellahin and keep him locked in place for the scythe. Even a Genuflection Mandate was thrown in for good measure even though its impact on this cluster of sand would be relatively low.

If this plan up until now worked, and the scythe killed the guard, then great. If not, however, the real plan would kick in and Ares was prepared for it. As it turned out, step 4 did become necessary as the fellahin transformed back into a human who barely rolled away from the scythe of death that scratched his neck. This roll, however, placed him directly in front of Ares, as was planned from he start, who swung a weapon of absolute despair at the fellahin. The guard had a gut feeling that even turning back into sand wouldn't save him from his impending doom as this attack was truly unblockable and impossible to live through. Even if the Riddlemyd itself suddenly fell between Ares and this guard this sheathed katana swing would be able to slash through it and claim its reward, the guard's feeble life. Though the guard didn't understand exactly what killed him in the end, he knew that it was easily the most powerful weapon Sheryashka had ever laid eyes on. He was right.

Sandy came out of the shadows and whistled, silently because Quietus was still running, while admiring the Primordial Blade. Even though she wasn't the target of the previous swing she could indirectly feel just how disturbingly sharp and deadly it was from afar. The war aura flags were great but they couldn't contend with his, individually, in the slightest. And the Blade was still sheathed too! The havoc this thing could and would wreak when wielded to its full extent would be legendary no doubt... Although Ares was currently suffering a bit. The Blade was a guaranteed kill against anything it hit, essentially, but it was also guaranteed to punish Ares for being too weak to wield it. This was another backlash but thankfully it wasn't as bad as the war aura. His hands were shaky, and his body ached all over, but it didn't get much worse than that. It wasn't a particularly devastating swing he unleashed, and the Blade was capable of way more even in this sheathed state, so Ares going easy on it meant he wasn't too beaten up by the blowback. In that sense, if Ares had to pick between a war aura backlash or the Blade it was an obvious choice. Alas, he had less control with the Blade and was far more likely to also outright kill his target which was no good in capture scenarios where he didn't want his opponent to become bloody confetti for even barely being touched by this thing. The guard Ares sliced across he chest was scattered into hundreds of tiny pieces because the force of the universal-scale Blade was horrific for a human body to receive in full. The power of thousands of planets crushed a single body and put it through a meat grinder in its final moments.

If it made the guard feel any better, his hand survived through the body crushing and slicing, thanks to Ares' good aim, and was being incredibly helpful to his murderer right about now. Slap. That was the sound of Ares using the guard's palm to get past the scanner, now that he removed the Quietus Edict, and open up the vault door that slowly rolled aside for him. Slap... And that was the sound of Ares giving himself a high five for a job well done using the guard's severed hand... Sandy rolled her eyes, snatched the severed hand, and threw it away to get Ares to stop playing with it like it was some kind of toy. The duo stepped inside the vault and were greeted with rows and rows of mixed quality goods. There was a sorting system here, and better gear was typically stashed towards the back, but some items of unknown rarity had been scattered around haphazardly by scavengers who knew nothing of the value of these items and simply guessed. It was all mostly accurate, as far as Ares could tell, but his Omniscience was informing him that some of these resources and treasures were really solid, more so than he scavengers knew. Ares himself probably had no use for anything here but having some of this loot be higher quality gear for the sect's better disciples was definitely a win in his book. Ares got down to storing everything inside his Blade but only took about half the items within the vault before stopping and bringing the Primordial Blade back out of from within him. 

"What's wrong?" Sandy queried as she didn't understand what caused Ares to stop looting in an unguarded place like this.

"Just checking something and getting a bit of practice in for magic I'm going to have to do on a larger scale in the future." Ares gave a somewhat cryptic hint before stabbing the Blade into the ground and walking around the segment of the vault he had yet to loot, dragging his sword behind him. His Blade cut through the ground and formed a rectangular chasm around the quarantined area and Ares subsequently buried the Blade directly in the centre of it. Ares channelled nothingness mana into the Blade for a few minutes before lifting it slowly and what followed next was a rather mind bending sight as the room around the Blade funnelled inside the sword. It was as though the world in this one area was made of flexible paper that all folded like scrunched origami towards a central point and allowed itself to be absorbed without a fuss.

This was how Ares was going to store Red Sun in the Blade later, and take it all with him to Vraizon, so he was getting practice in now with a smaller range first. It hadn't been hard, really, but it took a long time to pull off and so Ares would need to continue working on this in his spare time. Still, it did work though as the chunk of vault vanished, leaving behind an empty cave with no sign of the shelved goods that had once been stored here. Inside the Blade the half of the vault Ares just abducted began floating through space and tumbling its way across the solar system. Ares felt like a room of this size was his limit for now, otherwise he would have taken the whole vault and made his life easier from the start, but it was sufficient as is and Ares had bigger problems to tackle right now. Though the guard was dead his lack of communication would eventually raise eyebrows as his shift didn't last forever. The guard, despite his ultimate fate, was a strong cultivator so there was no doubt he wasn't replaced often, freeing him up to go do more important things elsewhere, but Ares didn't exactly know this guy's timetable or when his replacement would arrive. It could be in a week's time or it could be in a few minutes; it was for the best if Ares didn't pointlessly linger now that he got what he wanted in case he found out the hard way. He wasn't in a rush now, per se, but it was wise for him to finish what he came here to finish ASAP so he left with Sandy in tow, slipped out past the guards, and picked up Rox who was waiting incognito nearby. This little detour was over so now it was high time o return to searching for the real target and there was only thing for it, mindless walking in random directions! this might have seemed dumb but Ares was a person with much dumb luck on his side and, eventually, he came across another secure area. This one was filled to the brim with guards, though, and there was abundant suffering pillar mana wafting through the air. So much so Ares didn't even need Omniscience to see it, there was a faint black mist drifting around the room and plenty more of that mana behind closed doors in one particular direction. Ares was willing to bet his life on this being the location of the weasel farm so his goal was in sight and it was time to fight!