Tepo froze for a moment. His eyes followed the guards’ movements as they threw small spheres onto the path. He didn’t know what those contained but he surely didn’t want to find out.
Gritting his teeth the young man activated his [Chaotic Evasion] again. Immediately excited shouts came from the guards.
“Here, here. He is here, we got him!”
The next moment Tepo appeared at the end of the road. Four guards blocked his way. They didn’t engage him, standing a bit further away. Their goal was to buy time until Voria arrived.
Tepo recognized the situation immediately. He couldn’t let anyone entangle him. His eyes focused on a black-haired woman who raised her hand quickly. She would definitely cast a spell.
A golden projection appeared in the air. The Force of Time gathered as the projection began firing [Subtle Strike] chaotically at the guards.
Suddenly flames roared to life, covering the ground as the spheres landed. Tepo felt the heat at his back but ignored it. He was just about to move when his legs turned heavy. Blocks of solid stone had encased his feet!
But only a moment later they vanished again as the female guard went to the floor with a loud scream.
“Ahh!”
“Careful of that circle!”
“What is this?!”
“Don’t let him get away!”
The situation was extremely chaotic. Other guards tried to come to help as weapons stabbed at Tepo.
The young warrior ignored two of the weapons, confident in his defense. He rather focused on the guard next to the female just now.
Tepo’s knife slashed out. Metal hit against metal. The guard was immediately pushed back, their strength not enough to contend with Tepo.
The guard’s eyes went wide as Tepo abruptly followed up on his attack. A knife aimed for their heart.
Suddenly multiple weapons found their target. Tepo groaned in pain as one spear coated in a strange white energy managed to pierce his defense.
Meanwhile his knife plunged into the guard’s chest, but they managed to safe their life as some spell helped them to dodge backwards.
More screams sounded out. The [Projection] ability worked tirelessly, injuring the other guards.
Tepo had achieved everything he wanted. He cancelled all spells and used the combination of [Chaotic Evasion] and [Time Dilation: Target] again. With a flash he suddenly escaped.
A while later exhaustion began to hit Tepo. His mental strength and Force of Time felt it difficult to keep up with the expenditure. Blood ran down the man’s waist.
Knowing that the situation was critical, Tepo took something out of his bag. It was a dark root again. He hurriedly stuffed it into his mouth and swallowed.
This time the warrior was prepared. The strange calling came again, but Tepo managed to stay focused. Although he couldn’t deny that his curiosity was aroused.
But right now, Tepo had other priorities. He sneaked through the base, changing his direction constantly. Doing his best to obscure his goal, he kept Voria on her feet and avoided a clash with the vice-captain.
Tepo stayed carful as he purposely let himself be detected in the east, west, east, north…
But he was always gone before the guards could encircle the area, not letting himself be caught in a fight.
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Everyone’s nerves were tense as this game continued for almost an hour. Finally, Tepo felt that he had confused his enemies enough, while he himself had recovered greatly with the roots’ help.
The young warrior peeked around a corner, his initial target in view. Not far from him was an impressive, large tower. Compared to the other buildings in the base it was immensely sturdy, made form solid bricks and guarded tightly.
Observing the situation, Tepo had to frown heavily. The solid steel door was surrounded by as much as eight guards, highlighting the tower’s importance. The heavy security threatened to destroy Tepo’s plan.
But as his thoughts raced and he panted in exhaustion, an idea suddenly came to Tepo’s mind.
He carefully sneaked around the tower, towards its back. Tepo took a deep breath as he was now at the edge of the cloud. Past the white ball of cotton laid an infinite abyss covered in grey-white fog.
Tepo didn’t know if anyone had explored the world below the clouds, but it would be difficult as the storms grew in power the further down one traveled.
The warrior stared in the abyss; his throat dry. He quickly shook his head. Right now, it was better to fight against the storms than against a base filled with guards who wished nothing more than to rip him apart.
With those thoughts Tepo focused his mind, staring at the tower with narrowed eyes.
The warrior stepped forward. Wind pulled on his simple workers clothes. After making sure to be in a spot which was hard to observe, he flexed his fingers, letting them take on a claw-like shape.
Suddenly Tepo’s hand shot forward. He activated [Rapid Pierce] and applied it to his fingers. His stealth got canceled as his hand dug into the solid stone tower.
Tepo gritted his teeth. From the pain in his fingers, he realized that his task would be more difficult than he expected. The stone wasn’t simple.
But his plan worked, nevertheless. Quickly Tepo reached out with his other hand. He repeated the same trick. His left hand dug into the tower above his head. Pieces of broken stone fell, carried away by the wind.
Tepo began climbing. His feet left the ground. He tried to get some grip with them, but the storm whipped his body, not impressed by Tepo’s resistance.
The warrior had to adapt. He used [Rapid Pierce] on his feet as well, ramming them into the tower. His ankles hurt and his simple leather shoes tore apart. Fortunately, his passive defense protected his feet.
With his eyes directed upwards, Tepo told himself that he could do it. One limb at a time he climbed up the tower. The storm howled and stones fell from time to time. The guards’ voices barely reached Tepo’s ears.
With straining muscles and pained limbs Tepo persisted. He dragged his body upwards. No one would expect him to choose this way.
After an excruciating thirty minutes Tepo finally was close to the top. His clothes were torn in places and his body hurt as he didn’t get a grip one time.
But with an iron will the warrior made it. He peeked carefully between two battlements. A large weapon appeared in front of his eyes, similar to a ballista.
It was manned by two lazily chatting guards. Those were probably the only ones who could still stay leisurely within the entire base.
Tepo took a deep breath. He focused his eyes on the guards, waiting for them to look the other way. For a few more seconds the fatigued warrior had to hold onto the tower’s edge.
But suddenly both guards turned around. Tepo saw his chance. All the muscles in his body worked together like a well-oiled machine. They pushed him over the edge in one fluid motion.
Mid movement Tepo activated [Minor Stealth] as a precaution. He landed with a low thud. Both guards looked over in confusion.
But suddenly an invisible knife stabbed out. The guards stood no chance. With a few quick attacks both of them fell to the ground as life left their bodies.
Tepo didn’t feel well about it, but this was just how the world worked. To distract himself the young man quickly scanned the ballista before him.
He was positively surprised as he noticed the ingenious mechanism allowing the weapon to store up to four long metallic rods.
Quickly closing the heavy iron plate which barred the way downwards, Tepo took hold of the ballista. With his strength he turned it around rather quickly. He did his best to estimate the trajectory, adjusted his aim, and… fired!
Within the base, hundreds of guards were still searching for the escapee. They were exhausted and confused, not able to figure out where their target could be hiding.
Voria was further away from Tepo’s tower. The vice-captain was never able to calm down, knowing that all of this was a massive blow to the Lirane Group.
Suddenly a loud hiss pierced everyone’s ears. Many looked upwards, their eyes blinking incredulously. For a moment they weren’t able to process what was happening.
One of their strong base defending towers had suddenly fired? Why? And why was the direction so strange?
But suddenly everyone’s faces paled. The realized where the lightning rod was headed. And indeed, a second later a deafening rumble shook the entire base. Chaotic screams followed. A dust cloud rose towards the edge of the cloud.
Shooting through the air the lightning rod pierced directly into another defensive tower! The impact was immense. Stones flew in all direction, even damaging other walls.
The tower’s wall crumbled. It began slowly but soon the wall couldn’t bear the tower’s weight anymore. It tipped over, unstoppable, and crashed to the ground. The ballista broke into hundreds of pieces, the guards buried somewhere below the debris, their fates unknown.