Chapter 601: Sneaking? (1/2)

Chapter 601 Sneaking?

Ilea glanced back at the scout, unsure how much he really knew and how much he was just acting. Was she annoyed that he didn’t know about her famous persona of Lilith? Was she annoyed that she might be annoyed about it? Maybe. Either way, she was pretty sure he hadn’t guessed at the nature of Feyrair at the very least. Bringing the elf into Mothine and close to the Officer had been a little test and so far everything seemed fine.

Paulson was definitely a liability when it came to their team and their combat effectiveness but while Ilea expected there to be some complications with this seemingly easy mission, she didn’t really think it would be that much of a problem. The only reasonable threat would be a four mark beast hiding in the walls of the fort but she assumed Paulson’s suggestions were much more reasonable.

A few Slavers and probably some Baralia nobility or military hiding away, maybe even amassing power to strike back at one city or the other, maybe even the Empire itself. She assumed there must’ve been many groups working on just that at the moment, especially around cities that were taken with extended battles and heavy losses.

“Any tracks or traps you can see?” she asked the soldier, knowing that Feyrair wasn’t exactly useful when it came to that. He too used her tried and trusted approach of literally just walking in there. With humans however, the problem of hostages was all too prevalent. And while she wouldn’t stop at such threats, she would at least try to prevent them from coming up in the first place.

“I’m not a tracker,” the man said. “And I doubt they’d put up traps in the middle of the forest.”

“But you’re a scout, are you not?” Fey asked him, the joy in his voice almost palpable. He really liked the rogue. For some reason. Maybe he really did want to eat him.

No

Eat

She sent the two words via her mind magic, knowing that the elf was at least able to receive them. His step lightened even more, a large grin surely plastered on his face below the armor.

“Yeah, well. It’s just a unit in the imperial troops. Trust me there are Scouts who wouldn’t know the difference between a horse and a demon track,” Paulson said.

Ilea smiled. She had met a few of them and her impression was that they were good at scouting and staying hidden but she understood that individuals didn’t necessarily have the spells and skills to make any of that easier. “You fought demons?” she asked the man, using her various abilities to check for any irregularities in the surroundings, both of physical, spacial, and magical nature.

“Ah, no. I was stationed in the eastern part of the Empire. Lucky enough not to face any of those, but I heard enough stories. I did fight undead ghouls before, they seem to match somewhat with the creatures I heard about. Except for the part where corpses start to rise as demons,” Paulson said.

“Where’s your team anyway? Don’t scouts usually work in groups?” Ilea asked, finding a peculiar runed stone hidden below a few large leaves. She held up a hand to motion them to stop.

The scout didn’t reply, scanning the surroundings as his hands hovered near the hilts of his swords.

“It’s just a trap, I think. Rune, looks like this,” she said and formed it with ash.

“That one makes a loud bang,” the scout said. “It’s pretty basic.”

“How do I disable it? I usually just let these things activate,” Ilea said.

“We can avoid it. Probably has a certain range where sufficient mana disturbance would activate it. A few meters I’d guess, if it’s hidden and small,” he explained. “Disabling is tricky, we’d need a rune mage, some way of mana intrusion, or a spell to essentially counter the effects. Barriers usually.”

Ilea formed a thin trail of ash, making it swirl around. “Think it would activate from that?”

The scout looked at the trail and shook his head. “Probably not. Barely registers to my sense and runes aren’t quite as nuanced as actual magic perception abilities. Usually.”

She extended the ash until she touched the rune, sending Storm of Cinders through it, hoping the time it took for the mana to reach the rune wouldn’t activate it. The rune didn’t fire, but she also learned that her spell was entirely too much for the problem at hand, the stone exploding into bits.

“I assume subtlety isn’t your forte?” the Scout asked.

Ilea looked at him. “No.”

“Figured,” the man said and followed. “Also we don’t always work in teams, but I’m not exactly supposed to share military formations and strategies with others. I would assume you figured that one out by my presence.”

“Sure, just that I met scouts before. Seemed more like a team effort thing,” she said.

“Most organizations use groups, except maybe assassins, though I hear they like to work in teams as well,” he said.

Feyrair scoffed. “No wonder you’re so weak.”

“You work in a group too,” Ilea remarked, knowing full well that Feyrair usually did his own thing even with Isalthar and the rest nearby.

“The goals justify the means, even if I may not agree with that,” he said.

“See, same applies here. The means of people dying somewhere in the middle of nowhere or in a forgotten ruin don’t exactly sound promising to most,” she said. “But I agree with you too. The issue is that people aren’t healers.”

“Too much focus on that,” Fey said. “It helps, but in the end it’s tenacity and experience that will get you through.”

“No, it’s resistances and being able to regenerate a missing heart,” Ilea rebuked.

“Both will help,” he compromised.

“I still think my interpretation is correct, but we’ll see how the Sentinels do,” Ilea said.

Paulson cleared his throat. “Erm, I don’t want to interrupt anything but I can actually see a few tracks here.”

Ilea looked down and found something too. “A wagon?”

“Seemed to be heavy too. Want to follow it? Leads away from the main road up towards the fort,” Paulson said.

“Cargo entry maybe? But why not just use the main road?” Ilea asked, following the trail.

They soon reached a camouflaged section in the rocky hill, Ilea seeing past the net covered in leaves and sticks.

Paulson checked and lifted the thing, the three people stepping inside. They found a dark tunnel leading inward. “Don’t know why?” Paulson asked. “Never had to operate the oversized gates of a city wall or a gate, I see.”

“I think I did actually,” Ilea said but she could understand how someone without ridiculous strength or body enhancements would feel about the situation. And she assumed the highest level people in a given group were usually not the ones taking care of cargo delivery. Depending on the cargo that was. “Silence now,” she added, focusing on the tunnel.

Ilea spread her wings by now, lifting up the scout and Feyrair, his bright fiery wings too visible in the darkness. Hers were far more quiet than walking, allowing them to move near silently through the tunnel until a stone wall blocked their way.

A steel gate had been set into the middle of it, a few enchantments brimming with magical energy within the wall. Nothing against space magic, Ilea found and displaced the three of them inside.

______________________

Paulson appeared behind the enchanted wall, teleported against his will by either Lilith or the yet unnamed mage. “There were enchantments,” he whispered.

“Nothing against that spell,” Lilith said, glancing at the empty chair sitting behind the gate. “No guard.”

She continued the flight through the tunnel, the smell soon suggesting rot, sweat, and plenty of other unpleasantries. They came out into a rather spacious stone cellar, dimply lit by burning torches placed into wall sockets.

Lilith placed them down and vanished, Paulson looking around in the room while he tried to cover his nose with the shirt below his armor. There were crates, some with opened tops, others still closed. Next came cages, holding people mostly, either dead or close enough. He knew how starvation looked like and he knew a sadistic fuck when he saw one.

Lilith apparently wasn’t a stranger to such things either, currently having the man’s mouth stuffed with ash and his hands and legs bound with more of the element behind his back. Her attention however was with the slaves in the various cages.

“Check the exit Fey, make sure nobody disturbs us for a while,” she said. Something in her voice had changed, the casual tone gone entirely.

Ah, she’s one of them. Makes sense why she took this job then. Or it really is a personal thing… well it looks like it’s one now either way, Paulson thought and examined the rest of the large cellar.