Now that they were finally in the city, the tension was palpable. Every second spent just existing in here was sheer psychological torture, so they decided to get on with their first objective right away.
Lunaris pulled out one of the capsules Cadmus gave them and crushed it into dust. They knew that it would lead them to the biggest source of Darkness within the area, but what they didn’t expect was the dust immediately entering Lunaris’s nose.
As disturbing as the sight was, Lunaris immediately knew where they needed to go.
She covered her eyes as if someone was shining a flashlight right into her eyes. “Guys, I can feel a large concentration of energy in the distance. It has to be the reservoirs we’re after, nothing else could possibly be this blinding.”
The rest of the group looked around, unable to notice even a hint of the so-called reservoirs. “Wow, that thing dad gave us is useful after all. Let’s hope the rest of the plan goes just as swimmingly.” Helios laughed awkwardly.
“I just want to remind everyone that the option to run away is always available. I’m not saying it will get to that, but I just think it’s important that we all remember it’s an option.” Denmac said while his eyes were rolled back.
“What do you mean? Do you see something with that divination of yours?” Emilia asked bluntly.
“Can’t see much of anything, to be honest. The stakes are too high, the future is too uncertain. And that’s precisely why we should remember that running away is actually a noble and courageous option.” Denmac declared in an almost pleading tone. “All I ask is that you remember this when things get too intense.”
James wanted to say something, but he chose to remain silent and just nodded. Perhaps there was a nugget of wisdom in what Denmac said.
As the group was moving towards their target, Lunaris’s expression seemed to be getting more worried by the second.
“It’s a lot more than we thought.” She announced, her uneasiness being felt through her voice, even though she was transmitting the message directly into the groups’ minds. “With this much energy, they could teleport an army of hundreds of thousands wherever they wanted. Maybe even millions! And these are the reserves of just one city!”
Just imagining millions of demons and agents rampaging throughout their cities made the group’s footsteps a lot more unsteady for a few seconds. But that very same though only reinforced just how important their mission was.
“That’s why we’re here. That’s why we have to push forward. We’ll destroy that energy and they won’t be able to teleport anywhere, I promise.” James reassured everyone. There were many personal reasons for him to come on this mission, but they now seemed to pale in comparison to the atrocities the legions of agents could commit if he didn’t stop them.
“Yes, I know. Thank you.” Lunaris replied as she looked into his eyes. She couldn’t stop trembling though. The closer they got, the more vivid became her thoughts. She could almost see the massacres that would happen if the Darkness’s army could actually use these reserves. They had to destroy them, even if they were the reserves of just one city of many.
“You know, I’ve been using my divination, and I can’t feel any energy reserves. And the memories I looked through didn’t know their location either. That must mean they’re quite well-guarded.” Denmac added.
“That works for us.” Helios said. “If the facility was out in the open, even the smallest commotion we caused would be a problem. But if it’s a secret location, perhaps we can get into combat without immediately alerting the whole city."
The group walked with their disguises on that made their auras feel like that of agents, huddled together, traveling slowly beneath the stealth barrier. They weren’t in a rush for now, so they focused on being careful rather than speedy.
It was inevitable that they would encounter many agents throughout the city, but they didn’t bother attacking anyone they didn’t have to. Instead, they relied on stealth. There were enough agents around that even if they were sensed, they wouldn’t necessarily raise alarms.
But that would only work while they were in random, unimportant parts of the city. Anybody could blend in when no one was really on the lookout for intruders. The real challenge was still ahead.
“We’re close. The reservoirs seem to be somewhere underground.” Lunaris said as she looked around. All she could see around them were normal, boring houses. “I guess the entrance must look quite ordinary.”
They hadn’t walked for long, it couldn’t have been more than two miles. And yet, for them it felt like an eternity. Huddled together and moving slowly, every step felt exhausting as they constantly scanned their surroundings, reacting to every sound or fluctuation in aura.
Lunaris knew for sure that they were very close to their destination, and yet there was absolutely nothing that would indicate that there was some sort of facility around here. There weren’t even any guards around, if anything the area looked a lot more boring than the rest of the city. If it weren’t for the constant pressure of the Darkness upon them, they’d think they were in a regular city of some boring country.
Stolen novel; please report.
“If this thing is working right, then the energy reservoirs should be right beneath that house.” Lunaris pointed straight ahead, at a house that seemed no different from the ones around it. Just a simple brick building, covered in the goo and tar that permeated the entire city. “You know, this is making me more anxious than if there were a thousand agents guarding it. I don’t know what kind of defenses they have, but if we move any closer we’d probably walk right into their wards.”
“Being completely stealthy will certainly be a challenge.” James acknowledged. “But at least we have several other people with us this time, and they’re a lot more competent at stealth than we are. And as a last resort, we can just try to kill anyone who stands in our way.”
“And let’s not forget that we can always run away.” Denmac whispered sheepishly. It was embarrassing to keep bringing it up. But as a mercenary, way too many times he had seen people die when they could have just run.
“How do we get inside?” Helios asked. “They definitely have people guarding the goods. Even just getting through the door will probably alert them of our presence. They’re the master infiltrators, not us. I doubt we can do this silently no matter how powerful our barrier is.”
“They’d probably send news of our coming as soon as they detected us right?” James asked. “But they’d do that through magic, it’s not like they’d use a phone or something. Can those messages be intercepted?”
“They can, but they’re incredibly fast. One would have to focus all their attention, waiting patiently for the message in order to catch it.” Lunaris informed him.
“I can do it.” Denmac volunteered. “I’d have to drop any barrier I have on us, that includes the stealth, but I can intercept the message.”
The group didn’t jump into action, instead stopping to think about their options.
Dropping the stealth barrier was definitely a risky move. But so was relying on it. It was actually very unlikely that they’d be able to sabotage the containers without being detected at all, no matter how good they were at stealth. So perhaps this option was better.
“Ok, please do that.” James answered as he weighed their chances. “So our stealth will be much flimsier, but instead we can keep them from alerting the rest of the city of our presence once we are detected. What about the actual noise? If anybody outside the facility hears explosions or whatnot, then they’d know something is wrong.”
“I can deal with that.” Bacchus raised his hand. “I have runes that can dampen sound over a pretty large area. But for them to be effective, I also need to focus exclusively on them. So I’d be out of the fight too. And there’s also a limit to the noise it can block. If the explosion is big enough, it will definitely be heard.”
The plan was full of ways it could go wrong, but they had no choice.
Still, James was actually quite impressed. It was very nice to have more people on the team. With so many skillsets at their disposal, they at least had some options. If it were just him, Lunaris and Helios, they’d just have to spray and pray as usual.
“All right. Thanks guys.” James nodded thoughtfully. “Then I propose we just rush in. Denmac, be ready to intercept any message they will send. And Bacchus, start blocking sounds right away. Focus really hard on that, forget about fighting.”
They all nodded and prayed for a second, and thus the first part of their mission began. It wasn’t the best plan, but it wasn’t the worst either. Technically, it should work as long as James was strong enough to defeat whoever they’d find within the facility.
They waited for a short while until no random agents were passing by on the street, and then they made a beeline towards the house.
Using his great physical strength, Helios kicked the door in with one great swing of his foot. The sound of that kick would’ve been enough to alert half the city, but Bacchus was already channeling his runes at full focus, blocking both the sounds and the tremors from leaking out.
Not two seconds passed by before Denmac was already forced to intercept a dozen swift, almost invisible bundles of mana flying out of the house, containing messages alerting of an attack. But Denmac was ready. He was floating in his sleeping bag, fully focused, looking passed out with his eyes rolled back as he focused his divining powers to the max, intercepting dozens of messages a second.
As soon as Helios knocked the door open, a blast of Dark energy struck him. But after three months of tank training, his shield blocked the attack instinctively.
James wasn’t about to let them attack again though. His Chaos Javelin was already formed in his hand, and as soon as Helios blocked the incoming attack, James let loose the red flash.
Fractions of a second after the red lightning was released out of James’s hand, a blood-curling scream rang out.
With a thud, the guarding agent fell, with a gaping hole where his head used to be.
Three more guards charged at Helios. But while he blocked them with his shield, James easily dropped them down on by one with his Chaos Javelins.
“Where’s the rest of them?” James asked frantically. Even inside, it still looked like an ordinary house.
“I sense the energy beneath us. The facility must be underground.” Lunaris shouted.
Trusting Denmac and Bacchus to take care of the any sounds or messages, the team trampled around the house without any regard for stealth.
Lunaris found a trapdoor leading underground. With Helios and James leading the charge, they immediately rushed through it without any concern about what was waiting for them downstairs.
And yet, what they found was enough to stun even them for a second.
From this close, they could feel the energy clearly, unobstructed by any obfuscating wards. The aura from the energy alone gave them a pounding headache right away.
As soon as they went through the trapdoor, they could see that the facility was hundreds of times bigger than the house that served as a front door.
And yet, there was nothing else in all that space but thousands of giant cylindrical containers, holding the endless amount of energy obtained through countless atrocities.
What caught their eye weren’t only the containers though, but the three giant agents gorging themselves in a hurry, devouring the contents of a broken container.
They weren’t even looking at the intruders, even though they were definitely aware of their presence. But instead of dealing with them right away, they were consuming the energy without pause.
And what was worrying was that they were growing. These agents were already two times taller than any agent or person they had ever seen before, and they were visibly growing larger by the second.