Capítulo 33: Chapter 31: Winter Assault
We could now see the walls of Verdale City.
As we approached the city gates, we could see a large group of girls with burly bodies. They were heavily armed and armored.
It was normal, considering monsters often attacked the city during the winter.
Haruna screeched, sensing the tension in the atmosphere.
I signaled for her to be quiet, and Eura slowly approached the guards.
"We're mercenaries from the capital. We've come to lodge in this city to wait out the winter," Eura explained to the guards, showing her identification and some silvers as toll.
He inspected them carefully before nodding and gesturing for the gates to be opened.
As expected, the city was deserted. Most people were huddled in their homes, trying to stay warm and safe from the monsters that roamed the snowy lands.
"So what's the game plan, master?" Eura asked.
"Let's bust through the front door. It's hard to case out the Baroness' estate in the cold. Besides, we can catch them off guard with a winter assault."
We made our way to the Baroness' estate, passing through empty streets and abandoned houses. The snow was knee-deep and made it hard to move around quietly.
As we approached the estate, we saw a group of guards patrolling the perimeter. They were heavily armed and looked like they were on high alert. We knew that this was going to be a tough fight.
"Get ready," I whispered to Eura and the rest of the team.
We held our breath as we waited for the right moment to make our move.
The guards were on high alert against possible monster attacks, but they weren't expecting us to launch a full-scale assault in the freezing cold.
When the time was right, we charged forward, weapons in hand. The guards were caught off guard and struggled to defend themselves against our relentless attack.
"Dark Bullet," Aerith bellowed out, launching a volley of tiny black spheres at the guards. The bullets crushed the flesh and armor it struck, raining down chaos and destruction on the unprepared guards.
They scrambled to their feet in confusion, only to be caught in Eura's slashes.
One guard charged towards me, a blade raised. His face contorted with rage as he swung wildly. I stepped out of the way and immediately struck with my new-found power: "Supreme Swordsmanship: Nameless Blade."
I wanted to test this new ability.
With bone-crushing force, my open hand stabbed through his armor. It went beyond flesh and muscle, smashing through his body until I could feel the jagged edges of his ribcage against the back of my hand.
The guard stared in shock, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
[Your proficiency of "Supreme Swordsmanship: Nameless Blade" has increased by 0.032%]
This... is great. It's a karate-style spear-hand strike with increased power and penetration.
Fuck it. Let's go.
I lunged at the guards, my muscles surging with adrenaline as I drove my foot into the closest one. He stumbled back in shock, unprepared for my sudden attack.
[A town guard is now under 'Agony.']
*Agony: Decreases evasion and movement speed of enemies by 25% for 30 seconds.
"Supreme Swordsmanship: Nameless Blade"
I lunged forward and delivered the Nameless Blade, puncturing through the guard's chest with such force that it shattered his ribcage. My fingers curled around his beating heart, and I tore it from his chest, the organ dripping with lifeblood as I held it in my hands.
The guard, crippled by 'Agony,' lunged at me with a dagger as I danced around his movements with ease.
With lightning speed, I dashed forward and hit him with a bone-crunching flying knee that sent him crashing to the ground.
Adrenaline surged through my body as I sent an elbow strike down upon the guard's skull, caving it in and killing him instantly.
I looked around, and the others had finished off the guards as well.
Eura was holding a decapitated head with her hand, Haruna was collecting corpses in her webs, and Aerith was standing around bodies that had puncture wounds all over their body. They looked like Swiss cheese or some burglar who took a hit from a shotgun shell. It was NOT a pretty sight. The snow was stained crimson red as our assault went on.
By this time, alarms were blaring off and attracting more guards. We couldn't stay here much longer.
"Let's get going," I said.
The others nodded in agreement.
"They might be running off to their secret emergency exit. Let's split up after we enter the estate," I suggested.
"Let's do it," Aerith said.
The other two nodded in agreement.
We split up into three groups and navigated through the estate. I was with Ruvia while Haruna was casing out the estate, planting web traps everywhere. Aerith was with Eura, a strange combination, to say the least.
Aerith and Eura entered the mansion while Ruvia and I searched the outside. I activated All Seeing Eye of Despair to see through walls and through the soil in case they had an underground lair or passage.
As I inspected the area, I felt Ruvia tugging my arm.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"... It's cold," Ruvia said, shivering as he tightly held my arm.
I sighed before I took out my coat and wrapped it around Ruvia.
"Thanks, master," Ruvia said.
We arrived at the rear of the estate, and there I glimpsed a mysterious entrance that led downwards into an underground tunnel. It seemed to stretch on forever that even my All Seeing Eye of Despair could not penetrate its depths.
I kicked the door, but it didn't budge.
It's tough.
I'll have to use C4. That should knock it off its hinges.
[Are you sure you want to buy C4 Detonator and C4 Charge? (Y/N)]
I clicked the 'Yes' button, and the C4 Detonator and C4 Charge appeared in my hand.
I placed the C4 charge on the door, then activated the detonator.
The air around the door filled with a bright light, followed by a powerful explosion that sent shrapnel and debris everywhere.
The sound of the detonation echoed in the air, loud enough to shake the ground. The door was blown off its hinges, leaving behind a gaping hole and rubble in its wake.
"What was that explosion, master?" Ruvia asked curiously.
"C4. An explosive."
"You mean that you can make that weapon to create explosions?"
"Yes."
We stumbled along the musty, winding tunnel, our barely-there footsteps echoing through the oppressive darkness.
A chill crept up our backs as the total blackness seemed to close in around us, threatening to consume us if we dared to linger.
I took out a flashlight from my inventory.
I turned it on and lit the path ahead. It was somewhat dim, probably from prolonged usage. I did use it heavily during the trip to the Rabi Forest.
I can see in the dark with my ability, but Ruvia can't, so the flashlight should prevent him from tripping.
"Is this... an artifact?" he asked, sounding seriously shocked.
"No. It's just a flashlight. It doesn't exist in this world, but... no, never mind, now's not the time to talk about it."
Ruvia looked confused for a moment but did not press further.
I saw a door in the distance which led to another room.
As we opened the door, we were greeted by a chamber made of pure black marble. A mountain of gold coins was right in the middle.
"I thought this was an escape route... who would've thought this was the Baroness' treasury?" I said while Ruvia was still staring in shock at the amount of gold in the treasury.
"That's... all the gold from the territory should be there. I never imagined that she would've hidden this much."
You tried to steal what's mine, so you won't mind if I steal yours, right?
I ran over to the pile of gold and started throwing it into my inventory.
I ran over to the pile of gold and started throwing it into my inventory. I could feel a surge of power in me as I was doing it. It was exhilarating.
Ruvia also started helping me collect the gold coins, and soon enough, we had gathered all of them.
[You have collected over 100,000 gold coins.]
[You have acquired the achievement "Six-Figure Earner"]
[+40,000 gold coins have been added to the user.]
[New items have been unlocked in the item shop.]
[Vehicles have been unlocked.]
[Legendary Weapon Pandora's Box I has been unlocked.]
[Legendary Weapon Pandora's Box I Free Ticket x10 has been acquired.]
There was still a possibility of a hidden room, so I activated All Seeing Eye of Despair again to search for one.
Sure enough, there was one that I had missed. I could only see it when I activated the skill.
I headed in the direction of where I saw the room in my vision, and it was just as I thought. There was a small keyhole in the wall.
"Stay away, Ruvia. I'm blowing the door off," I warned Ruvia, buying a new charge of C4 and placing it strategically near the keyhole.
[Explosion in 3...2...1...!]
I pressed the detonator, and the bright orange and yellow light erupted from the C4 charge. An earth-shattering boom soon followed, the walls of the structure trembling from the force of the explosion.
"Dammit... my ears are ringing..." I looked toward Ruvia, and he seemed to be in pain as well. "I forgot explosions are louder in enclosed spaces."
"Ruvia, are you okay?"
"Y-Yes, I'm fine...," he said, rubbing his ears as he walked towards the wall that had a huge hole in it.
"I'm glad," I smiled, patting him on the shoulder with a sigh of relief.
We entered the path that was revealed by the explosion, and the first thing I noticed was the earthly sweet smell.
"This can't be...," I said to myself as I walked a little further. "Is this... Opium?"
"What was that?" Ruvia asked me.
"Opium. It's a drug that causes euphoria and pain relief. It's severely addictive that once you inhale or ingest, you'll end up wanting it even more."
"Cover your nose," I warned him.
"But why would it be here?" Ruvia asked me.
"Who knows... perhaps the Baroness has a drug den here..." I said and continued toward the end of the path.
"No..." I retracted. "The fact that it's connected to her treasury means whatever is inside is more important than gold for her. Besides, drug dens are usually placed outside the lord's estate."
As we arrived at the end of the path, we saw a huge door.
"God fucking dammit. Another door?!" I shouted in frustration, buying another C4 charge.
Ruvia was already retreating away, knowing that something was coming.
I placed the charge beside the door and left it.
I retreated a few steps, pressing the detonator once I was far enough.
The charge exploded, but it failed to open the door.
"It actually failed to open the door. Shit, what is this door made of, fucking Vibranium?" I muttered in frustration.
Annoyed, I bought ten C4 charges, setting them up meticulously in perfect symmetry.
I ran back to the treasury room with Ruvia following closely behind.
A sinister smirk crept across my face as I held up the detonator and muttered, "Let's see if this doesn't work,"
The C4 exploded.
Flames burst outwards from the path, smoke and debris scattered in all directions, and the structure shook even more violently. The deafening boom ripped through the air, tearing down the door with a single blow.
As we stepped inside, what lay before us was a place that looked like a whorehouse, butcher, and a slave trader's place in one.
Ruvia stood there in disbelief. He had never seen anything like it. There were elves everywhere, all around us. Some of them were sedated or staring blankly, letting out soft moans. Others were hanging from hooks, but most of them were inside cages.
"What is this? What is going on here?" Ruvia asked.
I shook my head slowly, not knowing how to answer him. We continued to look around the room in horror and confusion until our eyes fell upon the figure of a woman in the middle of the room.
It was the Baroness herself, sitting on a throne-like chair surrounded by her guards and servants. She had a cruel smirk on her face as she looked at us with an icy gaze that sent chills down my spine.
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