AT A MANOR A FEW BLOCKS AWAY FROM THE SILVERWOOD MANOR.
*VROOM*
“This one has also been deactivated,”
Draven said with a concerned expression, revealing the manor’s barrier formation with his mana.
“That’s what now? Like three manors, all with their magic formations deactivated. This cannot be a coincidence,”
Aldric commented.
“Yeah... you’re right. It’s too much of a coincidence for all four manors we’ve been to, to have their magic formations deactivated. Someone must be behind this, but why? What is their purpose in deactivating the barrier formations?”
Draven said, his expression mixed with wariness and curiosity.
“This situation seems suspicious. Should we request backup from Team 2?”
Orion suggested.
“No, we can handle this on our own. The team leader and the others are taking care of things at Silverwood Manor. So, our task is to gather any clues we can find about the identity of the person or group responsible for deactivating the manors formations,”
Draven asserted with a determined tone and expression.
“Well, if you say so, little team leader,”
Evander playfully teased.
“Hey, don’t call me that,”
Draven replied, feeling slightly embarrassed.
“Hahaha...”
Aldric, Orion, and Evander burst into laughter at Draven’s embarrassed expression.
“Alright. enough joking around. Let’s get back to work,”
Draven said, trying to regain a serious tone. After they finished joking, then they proceeded to inspect the next manor’s formation. But unbeknownst to them, two figures standing on the roof of the Manor they had just left were watching them silently.
“TSK! I can’t believe the damn Capital Knights have gotten involved. If that bitch hadn’t been knocked out of the silence barrier, we wouldn’t have stopped to stare at these knights. And why are we watching the knights anyway, instead of catching that bitch?”
Cobra grumbled, irritated. He glanced at Scorpion, who stood silently at his side, keeping a vigilant eye on the knights’ movements.
“…Tch, what an arrogant bastard. He’s not even listening to me,”
Cobra thought, frustrated as he realized that Scorpion hadn’t heard a single word he said.
"With the Capital Knights interfering, things have become troublesome. However, it appears their knowledge of formations is lacking. Otherwise, they would have noticed that the manors barrier formations are being interfered by this…”
Scorpion thought to himself, as he reached into his pockets and brought out a black, hexagon-shaped magical tool.
“!!...”
Immediately Scorpion brought out the magical tool. Cobra’s attention was instantly drawn to it. He became curious and wondered why Scorpion guarded the magic tool so closely, even though it seemed that its only function was to create a magic barrier that isolated sound in a specific range.
“Remind me again what other functions that rock has, other than removing sound? To me, it seems pretty useless, you should just toss it away,”
Cobra said.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Hearing Cobra’s words, Scorpion turned to him with an angry expression and a hint of murderous intent in his eyes.
“How dare you...”
Scorpion said, walking up to Cobra and grabbing him by the neck.
*WHOOSH*
*GRAB*
“URGH...”
Cobra groaned as he struggled for air.
“Listen well, I don’t care if you’re dumb or crazy, but never tell me to throw this ‘rock’ away again. Or I might just kill you before capturing the girl. Do you know how much a ‘Normal-Grade-High tier magic tool’, with a triple formation, installed by a formation master, costs? Hmm? Do you?!”
Scorpion asked angrily while tightening his grip on Cobra’s neck.
“Keuk!... I don’t know how much it costs, but... fuck you!”
Cobra managed to say, defiantly staring into Scorpion's eyes despite the difficulty in breathing.
Seeing Cobra’s defiant glare, Scorpion went silent for a while before smiling and letting go of Cobra’s neck.
*LETS GO*
*BAM*
“Keuk... huff... cough! cough!”
Cobra fell to his knees, gasping for air.
“If I killed you now, I would have to answer to the young Lord. That’s the only reason you’re still alive. Now get up; there are knights that need killing,”
Scorpion stated coldly before turning his back to Cobra and leaping off the manor's roof.
*WHOOSH*
“Cough!... Just you wait, you bastard. When I become a 3rd-class grandmaster, I’ll make you pay,”
Cobra muttered to himself, with an angry expression, while nursing his sore neck. Before getting up and following Scorpion.
--------------------------------------------------
CURRENT LOCATION OF THE GROUP LED BY DRAVEN.
*VROOM*
“Sigh...”
Draven let out a frustrated sigh as he discovered yet another manor’s formation deactivated. He could not help but be frustrated at the situation.
“How and why were all the manors three miles away from the Silverwood manor deactivated at the same time?”
Draven thought in his mind with a frustrated expression.
“From your expression, I guess this manor is the same,”
Aldric commented, noticing Draven’s sigh.
“Yeah… If only I had a deeper knowledge of formations, maybe I could have found something. But, right now, I feel useless,”
Draven said with an unhappy tone.
“Hey, don’t say that. Who would expect a knight to know about formations anyway? If you weren’t here, we wouldn’t even have a clue where to start. You’re more useful than you think. Cheer up.”
Aldric reassured Draven, raising a fist in the air for a fist bump.
Draven noticed Aldric’s fist and smiled, getting up and saying.
“Thanks, … I needed that.” He raised his fist and bumped it against Aldric’s.
*THUD*
“Hey! I found something!”
Evander’s voice echoed from a distance, grabbing Aldric, Draven, and Orion’s attention.
-----------------------------------------------------------
SITE WHERE GRACE FOUGHT AGAINST COBRA AND SCORPION.
*PITTER-PATTER*
“Oh, you guys finally arrived,”
Evander said as he saw Draven, Aldric, and Orion approaching with haste.
“Look what I found,”
Evander said, trying to show them the area where a conflict had occurred. But he noticed Draven’s unhappy expression as he approached.
“Hey! Evander, you can’t just run off like that without telling anyone,”
Draven said, walking up to Evander in an angry and worried tone. On a night filled with suspicious activities and danger, he couldn’t believe Evander would wander off alone. If anything had happened to him, Draven wouldn’t know what to say as the team leader.
Seeing Draven’s angry expression, Evander understood that what he had done might have put not only himself but the others in danger as well.
“I’m sorry,”
Evander apologized sincerely.
Seeing Evander’s remorseful expression, Draven placed a hand on his shoulder and spoke.
*PAT*
“Just don’t do that again. We have to watch each other’s backs tonight. Now, what did you find?”
Draven asked, with a curious tone. As he takes his hand off Evander’s shoulder and walked forward. He takes a small orb out of his pouch, pours his mana into it, and throws it on the floor.
*THUD*
Immediately after hitting the ground a bright light emanated from the ‘Everglow orb’ and illuminated the entire area.
“Whoa! Who the hell did this?” Aldric exclaimed in surprise, observing the impact and damage done to the area.
*CRUMBLE*
*CRASH*
The sound of crumbling fragments from the damaged walls of a nearby manor hit the floor, echoing through the night, indicating that a battle had taken place recently.
“Looks like this is the clue we were looking for,”
Orion said as they entered the scene.
“!!”
While glancing around at the aftermath of the battle, Draven noticed a part of the ground that had cracked under intense pressure. He walked closer and saw a footprint at the center of the cracked floor.
“Guys, come see this,”
Draven called their attention to the discovery. They gathered around Draven to examine the footprint.
“Hmm... it seems two people fought here, and the owner of this print appears to have struggled against their attacker. But this just makes things more complicated. If we assume that one of them is responsible for the abnormalities with the manor’s formation, then who is the other person? And why did they fight?” Aldric questioned, analyzing the situation.
“Yes, things have indeed become more complicated. But you’re mistaken about one thing: three people were present here, and the fight was two against one. As you said, the one who left the footprint struggled against an aerial attack. However, if you look to the side of the prints, there is a blurred line that seems to trail from over there,”
Draven explained, tracing the line with his eyes to a print thirty meters away.
“So, there was one more person?”
Evander asked.
“Yes, and it seems this third person used the third-class skill ‘Gale Storm Blade Fury’ to attack the attacker in the air,” Draven speculated.
“But how can you be sure the third person used ‘Gale Storm Blade Fury’?”
Orion inquired with a curious tone and expression.
“What do you think of that dent in front of the footprints?”
Draven asked.
“Hmm... it looks like it was made by the edge of a heavy circular object that fell with force behind it,”
Aldric replied after observing the dent.
“Yes, but if you look at the surrounding walls, you’ll notice the same dent in them. The only skill I’ve seen do this is ‘Gale storm Blade Fury’,”
Draven said in a confident tone and expression.
“But that skill can only be learned by official knights of the empire who are 3rd-class grandmasters... Are you saying the people we’re looking for might be knights?”
Evander asked, his surprise evident.
“I think--“
*CLAP*
*CLAP*
Draven’s words were interrupted by a loud clap coming from beyond the illuminated area.
“I must say, you have a very good head on you for a 2nd-class grandmaster.”