CHAPTER 99:The Heist 2

"The coast seems to be clear," Leo muttered, crouched on the slanted roof of an elven cottage. His sharp eyes swept the quiet street below, searching for any signs of patrolling guards or nosy elves. When he found none, a sigh of relief escaped his lips.

With a quiet grunt, he dropped down, rolling on impact to absorb the force of the fall.

"No time to waste," he mumbled, already irritated by the blazing noon sun overhead. "And I'm supposed to be back at the stables by evening…"

He clicked his tongue. "Annoying."

Rounding a corner, he nearly ran into another party of guards.

"To think I'd face this much security before I even got to the catacombs," he scoffed, instantly turning on his heel.

Crack!

The cobbled ground shattered beneath his foot as Leo vaulted upward, soaring through the air with feline grace. He landed smoothly atop a thatched roof, his body absorbing the impact like a shadow.

"Much better."

With a smirk, he took a deep breath of the free air and, in one fluid motion, shifted into his panther form.

---

Down below, two young elven guards strolled through the empty alley, lost in loud chatter.

"Remember that young maiden?" asked one, a red-haired elf whose thick beard made him look more dwarf than elf.

"The beauty with the golden locks?" his friend chuckled, tossing his head back in laughter. "How could I ever forget? That woman was a—"

The words died in his throat. His eyes bulged in alarm. His companion turned, confused—until he saw it too.

A dark silhouette, fast as a passing shadow, zipped across the clustered rooftops.

In a blink, it was gone.

"You saw that, right?" the red-haired one asked, suddenly uneasy.

His friend nodded slowly. "We really need to stop drinking."

They laughed awkwardly, but the unease remained as they made their way back to the castle.

---

Meanwhile, the silhouette — Leo — had stopped over a wide street that was oddly deserted for that time of day.

"Still sleeping off the ball?" he mused. But that didn't add up. Most commoners weren't invited to the grand celebration, only the brief public feast afterward.

Still, Leo wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

He shifted back into human form and descended with a soft thud. Pulling out the brittle scroll from his cloak, he unrolled the ancient map of the catacombs.

"Damn it," Leo cursed, turning the map upside down, sideways—no change.

The map was a work of art: elegant ink strokes showing winding tunnels, cryptic runes, and vibrant symbols marking royal graves and the tombs of the Ancients.

Leo's finger trailed to a specific mark—a white flame etched in the paper.

"Elhyr's grave," he muttered. "My destination."

His brow furrowed. "So he reappeared after his race's supposed extinction? Was he like me?"

There were parallels. Both came from forgotten bloodlines. Both burdened with enemies meant to destroy the world.

Elhyr had faced Camhyr. Leo's own prophecy had named Draghyr.

But Elhyr had won. Leo was still fighting.

"Well," he murmured, "neither of us did it alone."

He folded the map with a quiet sigh and headed down the path it laid before him.

---

Elsewhere…

A sweet old elf lady patted her grandson's head as she unwrapped a cloth bundle of candy.

"Here you go, child."

"Thanks, grandma!" the boy beamed, stuffing his mouth.

"Careful now," she chuckled from her rocking chair. "Don't choke."

The child giggled, mouth full, and skipped away. The old woman smiled, closing her eyes as the distant sounds of playing children lulled her toward sleep.

She never noticed the shadow crouched silently above.

"Finally," Leo whispered, dropping to the ground with the silence of a ghost. The only other presence in the cottage was the snoring grandma.

"Let's get this over with."

Inside, Leo activated his azure eye. The world shifted into spectral hues, letting him see beyond stone and wood — and revealing a hidden tunnel behind a bookshelf.

"Seriously?" he muttered. "Why is it always behind a shelf?"

Now came the tricky part: getting in without leaving a trace.

He sniffed the air. The dust hadn't been disturbed in years.

Creak.

His hands gripped both ends of the bookshelf, digging in deep. With one heave, he slid it aside, leaving gouges in the wood floor.

"I really hope no hunter lives here," he muttered, glancing at the trail he left behind.

Doing his best to cover the marks, Leo slipped into the passage and dragged the shelf shut behind him.

---

Darkness.

The only light came from Leo's glowing azure eye as he crept through the tunnel. The silence was heavy. The mana in the air felt strange — dead, yet somehow alive.

Then… a pulse.

Something was ahead.

Leo rounded a bend, and a warning scream rang through his instincts. The air was thick with chaos. He froze.

"Just great." He kissed his teeth and switched fully to his azure vision.

A silhouette emerged in the spectral view — massive, with limbs shaped like stone columns and mana threads that flickered like a twisted hybrid of life and death.

Leo blinked off the eye. Even in his night vision, the shape remained.

A stone golem.

Its dull jade eyes locked onto him.

Leo's daggers slid free from his cloak.

The golem did nothing — yet. It stood motionless, with egg-shaped head and runes glowing across its timeworn stone surface.

Leo took a cautious step forward.

BOOM!

A giant fist slammed the floor where he had just been. The ground split from the impact.

"Sh*t!" Leo rolled to the side, barely evading a sweeping kick.

Back on his feet, Leo watched carefully. The golem stood still again.

"Interesting…"

He activated his azure eye once more — and then he saw it.

A massive rune circle encased the golem, pulsing white with dense threads of mana.

"A magic seal. Probably a combat ward."

Leo grinned. "And here I was hoping for a week off fighting."

His daggers glinted in the pale mana light as his mind began spinning a new plan.