Chapter 57: First Mission-Commence!

After some time had passed, Ark reverted to his form as a wolf. Since the spot they had chosen was very comfortable, they both just sat there for an hour or so, enjoying the afternoon breeze. Thufrat even fell asleep for a while, leaning against Ark. Ark didn't mind, Thufrat had been through a lot of suffering, and Ark's fur was super fluffy, so falling asleep was completely natural. Ark still blamed himself a little because he couldn't protect Thufrat from the lich, therefore this was the least he could do. Ark made sure that no humans came too close to them, he didn't want anyone to disturb Thufrat's sleep.

Thufrat woke up a while later, apologizing for falling asleep. Ark only smiled and shook his head a little, trying to say that he didn't mind. After being around Ark for a while, Thufrat could pick up on what Ark wanted to say, so he got the gist of it. Since it was already afternoon, and neither of them had eaten yet, they decided to hunt for some food. It didn't take long for Ark to find a small magical boar. He took care of it with the help of his wind magic for once, since he had never tried it out before. He was a little surprised by the result even though he understood before what the wind element embodied, the swiftness and speed of his attack were just on another level! Especially because his wind affinity was pretty low.

If he could, he would upgrade this wind affinity when he got the chance to! Thufrat was a little surprised to see this wolf use yet another element. But he had already gotten used to this wolf's absurdity. Since his affinity with fire had taken a step forward, Ark decided to cook the boar himself. Even though he had never used his fire to cook like this before, the meat on the boar slowly turned into a very enticing colour as the smell of roasted meat started circulating in the air. Before they dug in, Thufrat applied some spices that he had bought earlier, and all of a sudden, this humble meal turned into something else.

After eating, both Thufrat and Ark just idled about as they tried to make time pass. Both of them were nervous about this mission they were going on tonight, but they were also excited, as well as upset. These people they were after were literal scum, and they would be doing the world a favor tonight, but nervousness and unease couldn't help but settle in their hearts anyway, it was only natural.

As time passed, the sun was beginning to set, and Ark and Thufrat were once again outside Everwick. They didn't enter the city though, there was no way the could, with Ark being a wolf and all. Therefore they just patiently waited. They didn't know when midnight was, but Ark's time in his human form would refresh once midnight passed, so they could find it out anyway. Speaking of, Ark's "Shapeshift" skill had leveled up once more, bringing its total level to 5. Normally skills would get harder to level the higher their level was, but Ark's "Shapeshift" skill kept leveling at about the same pace even though it was higher level now than it was before.

After waiting for several hours, Ark felt something shift within himself, and he changed form into a human again. Thufrat was a little surprised when this happened, but he quickly calmed down. After Ark got dressed, they both hurried into the city as fast as the guards at the gate allowed them to. After they had entered the city, Ark turned on his "Mana Perception" and looked for any fire mana converging somewhere. It didn't take long for him to locate some fire mana gathering on top of the roof of an abandoned building, and as they approached it, they could see the small fire on the roof.

They hurried onto the roof and were greeted by the sight of 5 people sitting around a fire. All of them looked at them with some level of disapproval, they were a little late after all. Ark instantly realized why they looked annoyed, and he took half a step forward and apologized.

"I'm very sorry for arriving late, sir!" He said as he looked earnestly at Ulfig. This gave him a small nod of approval from Ulfig, and everyone else also calmed down, well, except for Gilpin. He still seemed displeased.

"It's ok, just try to be on point in the future! This mission is not a joke!" Ulfig said whilst looking at the two. After saying this, he stood up, followed by everyone else, and started talking again.

"Now, since everyone is here, let's go!"

Once Ulfig said this, everyone present split up into two teams. Team one contained Ark, Gilpin, Ryner, and Eliryll. This was the team that was going to infiltrate the camp of the slave-merchants while the other people commenced a frontal attack. The slave-merchants had a ton of mercenaries and guards, which is why they had to launch a frontal attack to stall said mercenaries and guards, while team one took care of the actual slave-merchants and saved the people they held captured.

The slave-merchants were currently residing in a large estate that was located on the east side of the city. Guards were standing in front of the main gate 24/7 while patrols were searching through the yard and the estate at all times. Since these patrols were always vigilant and at high-alert, it would be very hard to sneak by them even if one used the darkness element to the limit unless one was a lot more powerful of course. But these mercenaries were all fairly high level and experienced, these slave-merchants were pretty infamous after all.

This was why they needed team two to create a distraction at the gate, drawing the attention of almost all of the mercenaries. They knew that some mercenaries would still stay behind to protect the merchants, but with the power of this group of 4, not many would be able to stop them. They had to be very quick though, they needed to be gone before the city guards arrived since that would complicate things.

Team one was hiding a little bit away from the estate, while team two was quickly approaching the main gate. They did this so they could see when team two attacked, so they could sneak in. With Ulfig in the lead, team two arrived in front of the gate. The guards standing outside the gate noticed this small group as they quickly made their way towards them. Both of them got into battle-ready stances, pointing their spears towards Ulfig in the front, whilst one of them shouted at them.

"State your name and business!"

As Ulfig heard this, he slowly clenched his fist and smiled a little eerily, today, he would go all-out! He had been holding all his anger until now, but he finally exploded with all his might! The guards fell over as a mighty aura exploded out of Ulfig's body, along with intense killing intent. The guards were shocked, to say the least, and scared out of their minds. Ulfig didn't give them much time to think though as he removed both of the axes on his back sent out a devastating attack.

"BOOOOOOM"

The gate exploded along with the guards in a splendid fashion with a thunderous boom. Everyone inside of the estate instantly woke up and put up their guards, even more, the whole estate quickly sunk into turmoil, as Ulfig's team made their way inside. Team one saw all of this, and slowly descended into the shadows, disappearing from the streets of Everwick...