Chapter 200: Fang (1/2)
Rakna landed on the top of a building and leaned over to take a look at the windows. He didn't see any light but his spell was definitely pointing at this place.
”Further in? Or underground?” He mused and glanced at the roof's floor. He pulled his hood on and swiped his hand across his face to put on Scherzo.
He walked to the center of the roof and put his hand down. His pupils became crosses and spotted the focal points of the material. He focused on his right arm and cloaked it with dimensional power before punching one of the points.
”[Rift Shuttle,]” he muttered and his fist strangely and silently broke through. Many cracks spread around but remained oddly silent. Then, when Rakna pulled his fist out, shattering sounds echoed and a huge portion of the roof vanished as if it was never there.
Rakna crouched above the hole without falling thanks to Flash Step as the sounds finally returned and the small pebbles at the edge of the hole fell inside the open space below.
”{I see that you have perfected your control over dimensions,}” Fray commented.
'Kind of. Higure said that Rift can be used in different ways to defend and attack. This is a mix of both. By focusing on the focal point, I created a dimensional black hole that sent the material into a blank dimension,' Rakna explained and jumped down inside the building after checking it with his soul sense and Fabled Sight. At the same time, he powered down his aura and reinforcement and the temperature outside gradually reverted to normal.
He looked around and saw several exits. He hummed and quietly drew a rune in mid-air that he placed on the wall. ”All right. Little guy, let's split up. There should be more than one staircase so we'll meet up at the ground floor if we don't find anything,” he said and Pronos nodded and jumped out from under Sonata. They nodded at each other and went off in opposite directions.
Rakna opened a door leading to an empty corridor and the golden lights of his mask scanned every inch of it. His tracking proficiency had reached maximum level and if there was one thing he could do was spotting traces of living presence.
'This building is being cleaned… but not used,' he thought and reached a staircase. He inspected it and silently walked down. His Stealth was obviously active and along with his Sin Skill, there was basically nothing that could possibly have him detected.
He scouted the following floors with Fabled Sight and reached the same conclusion as the very first one. But he also continued to place runes with seemingly no use. After a while, he reached the last floor and rejoined with Pronos who made a shrugging motion with his tail and head.
”Well, that only leaves one place,” Rakna said and looked at the floor. ”I can't see any souls through it but there might just be an array that blocks senses. Tyran would have helped to confirm if there is one or not… Let's see; there doesn't seem to be any traces of a trap door or anything,” he added whilst wandering around.
”{Realistically speaking, this organization probably has an actual 'underground network' and they use it to navigate the city,}” Fray commented.
”Could be,” the therian agreed and pondered on what he should do. ”Oh well, if it goes wrong, I should be able to escape,” he said and turned into a werewolf.
At his full size, compared to before, he was at least a meter taller. His whirlpool-like eyes revolved and glowed with a golden and cross pattern. ”[Rift Shuttle,]” he muttered and his entire body was covered in dimensional power. He then channeled his mana into his hand where a constellation formed instantly.
”Well, then. Fuck stealth.”
”{Really…}”
”[Star Monarch – Taurus,]” Rakna intoned and a deep growl resounded. The ground shook and his right arm began to shine. He reared it and brought it down with all of his strength.
The instant his fist touched the floor, nearly all of the building's foundations disappeared, which was accompanied by a large shockwave. The structure began to collapse on itself as a miniature earthquake spread for a few house blocks.
Meanwhile, Rakna fell through the hole together with Pronos, who had used Gigantism to become nearly ten meters long. They landed on an underground area and right away, his auras came out and blew all the dust while the debris falling from above were being stopped by a green hexagonal shield.
”Fuck! What's going on?!”
Rakna started hearing several voices right away. He observed the place he had barged into and automatically compared it to a very voluminous sewer system.
Tunnels were going in all thinkable directions and people were moving crates around. There was indeed an organized system under the city. And after a few seconds, everyone began to notice the werewolf in the room.
”Shit, what is that?! A werewolf?!” One shouted and dropped the crate he was carrying. ”Gather up, you all! And call the boss! Fast!”
They were quick to react to the situation and took their arms. The ones that had been knocked by the collapsing building recovered their bearings and joined in. They surrounded Rakna in the most efficient way possible, which even the latter had to give them credit for.
He had had a few altercations with criminal groups in the past. More than half the time, they were composed of brainless men that were just there for the thrill of it and the promise of being able to do whatever they wanted. And it usually boiled down to one mentality; egotism. Criminals made for extremely bad teamwork where regulations are needed.
”Well, I praise you for that,” Rakna spoke up after he finished appraising all of them, making sure they could not take him by surprise or that they were not his target.
When his distorted voice resounded; everyone suddenly froze. They began to shiver for one and simple reason; the steadily growing black skull aura around the werewolf.
”But unfortunately, your days end today.”
Pronos hissed at the criminals whilst coiling around his master.