Now that they were inside the complex, it was time for them to find the place where their armor and weapons were being held. The space between the mansions was dark and silent, and they would be safely concealed within here as long as it took for them to reach their destination. However, it did not connect with the other alleyways, and they would need to find a way out of here before long.
The mansions themselves were all built in an array around the center, and they seemed to be all constructed in the same way. There were no windows on the bottom floors for some reason, and the mansions expanded as they went up into the sky. Most of them were hundreds of feet high, and they were far larger than they had any right to be, extending upwards rather than to the sides. This area had limited space, and as such, the various abodes of the well to do of the city had to expand towards the sky rather than across the ground. In any case, Jonathan and Edgar were not here to debate the finer points of city planning. They were there to reclaim their lost possessions and escape the city before they were killed by Granath and his forces.
As they slunk through the city, they made their way towards the center slowly but surely, avoiding the many patrols of guards that circled the city. They were still dressed as guards, but it was too suspicious for them to be on their own, especially if they were heading through the shadowy places of the city center. The guards were all high leveled, and the ones here were even more so, which meant that someone might be able to break through the effects of their masks. If that happened, it would be game over.
However, they were able to avoid the greatest concentrations of guards, and were able to find their way to the center safely. The mansions grew larger the further they went, and the power of the guards that they saw went up as well. As they neared the palace itself, they saw their first Tier 2 guard. A giant of a man, clad in dark armor, strode at the head of a hundred odd group of guards, each to his footsteps shaking the ground. He wielded a ten foot long sword, which was propped up on one shoulder, and the aura of power that streamed off of him in waves was so strong that Jonathan could feel it even from hundreds of feet away.
However, it was nothing compared to the aura of pure dread that was coming from the palace in the center, an aura of rot and ruin that promised utter devastation to all who faced it. That was the aura of Granath the Despoiler, lord of the Ash Heaps.
Jonathan shuddered as he felt the effects of the aura on him, Granath was a monster beyond anything he had ever felt before. Compared to the aura of the guard captain in front of him, who was already too strong for him to fight, it was like a bonfire next to a torch. Edgar stood petrified next to Jonathan, frozen by the confluence of the two powerful auras. Jonathan reached out and touched the man’s shoulder, causing him to snap out of his state. Jonathan could not see his eyes, but he could tell that Edgar was petrified by what he had felt. However, Jonathan was made of sterner stuff. He had suffered the wrath of the System itself. This was nothing. Besides, it wasn't like any of this overwhelming power was directed at them. It was simply like ambient noise, albeit noise that was extremely loud.
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Edgar eventually got over his fear, and he shook his head to clear the lingering fugue from being exposed to such powerful auras. Without saying a word, the two men kept on their way, waiting until the patrol led by the Tier 2 man had gone.
They dashed across the main thoroughfare of the walled city a moment later, crisscrossing their way across the hundred foot wide street. Jonathan had no idea why the street was so large, but it seemed to lead directly into the palace itself, heading through a vaulted arch that was almost two hundred feet high. Either this building was built for giants, or Granath was very fond of large things. Given the stories that Jonathan had heard about Granath and his massive size, he was guessing that it was the former of the two options.
Now that they were standing in front of the palace, rather than regarding it from afar, it was even larger than they had expected. The palace soared upwards, over a thousand feet into the air, and the towers and turrets that adorned its surface were even larger. Unlike most buildings in this city, there were actual decorations on this palace, and they seemed to be made out of rock from the dungeon, now that Jonathan was able to get a good look at it. There were hundreds of statues around the top of the building, which he instantly realized were from the medusa’s grotto in the dungeon. It looked like Granath used the dungeon more as a source of decoration than anything else.
“Alright. We’re here. Are you ready to go in?” Jonathan asked Edgar, noticing that the man was still a little pale from his close encounter with that guard captain earlier. The aura from Granath was still there, but it was mostly background noise by now, and both men ignored it.
“I guess so. I needed a moment to get a grip on the situation, but now that I have acclimated to the presence of such a powerful being, I am feeling a bit better. The only time I felt anything of this magnitude was when some imperial tax collector came to my kingdom, and that man was only mid Tier 2. Granath is far beyond that.”
The man fell silent, and then started walking towards the palace. It seemed that he had found his courage, but needed to move now before his terror overcame him. Jonathan followed the man, looking out for guards. However, none came in the time that he took them to walk through the titanic archway, and they quickly secreted themselves behind a set of statues in the corner of the courtyard.
The palace proper started a few hundred feet away, but the front area behind the gates was dominated by an ornately decorated courtyard, filled with statues and other monuments to Granath’s wealth and power. In the very center was a statue of a massive worm-like creature with a humanoid head, that Jonathan could only assume was Granath. It was a terrifying image, no matter who it was.
The sound of metal clad feet reverberated across the courtyard, and another platoon of guards came stomping through the area, heading out into the streets. This one was not led by a Tier 2, but the woman who did lead still projected a palpable aura of a peak Tier 1. None of the fights that could be found in this place were ones that Jonathan and Edgar could win. As much as it pained Jonathan to think it, he was nowhere near ready to take on Granath yet. It would be like a dog trying to fight an elephant.