After leaving the house, Mikael moved toward the Bastion. After a brief journey, he saw the Bastion's exterior. About two kilometers away stood a 20-meter-tall stone wall encircling the area in a circular shape.
But this wasn’t the real problem for infiltration. The real challenge was the armed soldiers stationed atop the wall, each equipped with automatic rifles. If that were the only issue, it might have been manageable, but the guards were alert, actively scanning for any potential threats to the Bastion.
Floodlights illuminated a 100-meter radius around the Bastion, and armed guards patrolled the walls, making infiltration nearly impossible.
‘If I try to get in, I’ll be detected even if I go at max speed. I’m not fast enough to cross the 100 meters of illuminated ground, climb a 20-meter wall, and do it all without being spotted…’
‘If only I could go invisible, but I haven’t learned any spells yet. So, I’ll need to find another way inside.’
Mikael circled the Bastion, looking for an entry point. All he found was a closed wooden gate, useless for a stealthy entry.
Realizing there was no obvious weakness to exploit, he began to strategize. ‘Maybe I could try digging under the wall? No, that would require a tunnel over 100 meters long, and it would take far too much time—not to mention, I have no idea if I could even construct a tunnel that holds up.’
‘Hmm, underground is out, but what about coming in from above? I’d need some kind of catapult… Yeah, that’s not happening either. Even if I somehow managed to build one, the landing would be painful, maybe even fatal.’
‘Underground and sky approaches are off the table,’ he thought, studying the wall carefully. ‘Maybe I could destroy the floodlights from a distance, then use the darkness to slip in. Better than the other ideas, but still risky. If I hit the lights, it’ll alert the guards unless they’re completely oblivious.’
With a plan in mind, he collected eight small rocks and positioned himself 120 meters from the wall. He identified the four largest floodlights, carefully practiced his throwing technique, and took a deep breath before launching the first rock.
Shatter.
The floodlight burst into thousands of small glass shards. The soldiers looked around, startled, trying to identify the source of the disturbance. Before they could react, a second floodlight shattered, followed moments later by a third.
"ENEMY ATTACK!" shouted one of the calmer soldiers.
He had barely finished his call when the fourth and final floodlight in that section was destroyed under Mikael’s assault.
Seeing the 100 meters that were once brightly lit now cloaked in darkness, Mikael seized the opportunity. While the soldiers were still in confusion, he sprinted across the now-shadowed ground. At the wall, he leaped with all his strength, managing to reach a height of 10 meters in one jump. As he began to fall, he stabbed his sword into the wall, anchoring himself. Using small irregularities on the surface, he climbed higher, driving his sword in repeatedly to pull himself up.
Twenty seconds after shattering the fourth floodlight, Mikael finally reached the top of the wall. Crouching low, he analyzed his surroundings. With the cover of midnight and dressed in black, he was nearly invisible, blending seamlessly into the darkness.
“Stay calm. Take out your flashlights and illuminate your surroundings. Stay alert for any potential attack,” shouted a composed soldier.
Seeing that the soldiers were about to light up the darkened wall, Mikael slipped past them and jumped down from the inner side of the wall.
Thump
He rolled upon landing to soften the impact, preventing any injury. Surveying his surroundings, he noted he had landed in what looked like a slum. Small, makeshift houses filled the area, crafted from metal scraps, bits of wood, and even pieces of plastic in places.
The street was little more than a narrow dirt path winding between these shacks. Thin, disheveled people in torn rags wandered aimlessly, their faces marked by hopeless, empty expressions. Unsurprisingly, there were no streetlights here, which suited him well for staying out of sight.
He glanced back up toward the wall and thought ‘I’d better put some distance between me and that wall. All this noise, plus the sudden floodlight outage, is bound to attract attention. I’m here to steal, not to fight.’
Moving stealthily, he began navigating across the rooftops of the shacks. Under the cover of darkness, he quickly crossed into a more developed area. Here, the buildings were complete, properly constructed houses, unlike the patchwork structures in the slums. Functional streetlights illuminated the streets, making it harder for him to stay undetected.
Nonetheless, he managed to climb onto the rooftops and continue moving deeper into this better-maintained section. After crossing a few houses, he stopped and thought ‘The infiltration is complete. Now, I need to locate the serums. Logically, they’d be in the more luxurious district.’ He looked toward an area where the streets were clean, well-maintained, and lined with villa-style houses.
The area was also patrolled by occasional guards and was well iluminated. ‘I don’t know where the serums are hidden, so I’ll have to ‘gently’ persuade someone who does.’ he planned.
Meanwhile, back at the walls, events were unfolding in response to his entry.
Clank, clank, clank.
The sound of metal boots echoed along the wall before a disgruntled female voice loudly exclaimed, “What the heck is this?”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
The soldier who had taken command when Mikael attacked approached, and made a military salute. “Captain William reporting to Colonel Aaliyah. There was an enemy attack that destroyed the floodlight, but after the initial assault, it has been calm for now.”
The speaker, now identified as Captain William, was a middle-aged man with a strong build and a serious demeanor that exuded authority.
In contrast, Colonel Aaliyah was a fairly young woman in her mid-twenties. She could be described as beautiful, with her long, silky black hair and piercing brown eyes. However, what was most striking about her was the serious expression on her face and the confidence she projected.
The Colonel frowned at William's report and said, “Nothing? Did you check with the other guards on the other side of the wall to see if they were attacked as well?”
William replied, “I didn’t issue any special orders; I was waiting for a superior directive.”
Aaliyah sighed at his response before saying, “Give the order to tighten the patrols on the wall. We may be attacked again soon. Also, consider that this initial attack might have been a diversion, with the real assault happening at another location.”
William saluted before he began shouting orders to the soldiers.
Meanwhile, the Colonel inspected the floodlight to assess the damage and determine what had caused it. She ran her hand over the jagged edges of the broken lamp, noting that the glass shards touched her skin without cutting her. Then, she found a small object and pulled it out. “A stone?” she spoke incredulously.
She kept the stone in her hand and checked the other floodlights, discovering three more stones. Perplexed by her findings, she decided to ask the soldiers some questions to better understand the situation at the time of the attack. After her inquiries, she learned that the stones had been thrown from outside the illuminated area.
‘From outside the illuminated area to the wall, there’s just over 100 meters, which means that the person who threw these stones must be quite strong—at least a Tier 3 enhancer, and probably a Tier 4 or maybe even a Tier 5.’
‘No, it’s probably not a Tier 5; it’s more likely a Tier 4. I mean, which nearby bastion would allow one of their extremely limited Tier 5s to attack an enemy bastion, especially if the attack caused as little damage as this?’
‘Or maybe this is a diversion to infiltrate the Bastion. It would make sense if he first destroyed the guards' visibility before slipping past them.’
She turned and looked in the direction of the city, a battle-hungry grin on her face. ‘I hope you're not weak. It’s been a while since I’ve had a fight worthy of the name.’
She regained her composure and sighed. ‘I got too excited. There isn’t even any certainty that there’s an infiltrator, and even less that he could give me a good fight,’ she thought dejectedly.
Even without being certain, Aaliyah still gave orders for the soldiers to patrol the city more frequently and be on guard for a potential infiltrator.
Meanwhile, on Mikael’s side, he was unaware that he’d been ‘discovered,’ but even if he knew, he wouldn’t have been surprised. After all, he’d thrown stones to destroy the floodlights—and as far as he knew, neither zombies nor beasts would do something like that.
Mikael had a plan to infiltrate the luxurious area, though it would be challenging given the patrols and the bright lights.
He jumped down onto a street near the high-end district and began walking toward it, adopting a casual, slightly drunken demeanor. The look was somewhat odd paired with the sword at his waist and the backpack on his back, but in this post-apocalyptic world, it wasn’t all that surprising.
“Hic, hic, hic…”
Mikael stumbled along, but the soldiers on patrol only gave him a quick glance before ignoring him. After all, he seemed completely at ease, so why would they think otherwise?
After he’d walked a short distance, a lone soldier politely stopped him. “Sorry to disturb you, my lord, but why are you outside at this hour? It’s past curfew.”
Internally, Mikael broke into a sweat at the question, but he put on his best act, snapping, “Who are you to question me? I go out when I want, and no one says otherwise!” He feigned being out of breath before continuing, “Now get out of my sight before I have you thrown out of the soldiers!”
He visibly paled at the threat. “Sorry to have disturbed you, my lord,” he stammered, quickly excusing himself.
The other soldiers who witnessed the scene shot the newcomer a few pitying glances; they knew better than to question a noble—most of them were notoriously unreasonable.
Mikael ‘muttered’ to himself, but loud enough for the nearby people to hear. “These damn soldiers think that just because they have firearms, they can question me!”
He continued to stagger along until he was finally out of sight of all the soldiers. At that moment, he discreetly slipped into one of the most luxurious villas by passin by a window that was left open.
Mikael moved discreetly through the villa, quietly searching the rooms for any inhabitants. He opened a door slowly, peeking into the darkness to see that it was just a bathroom. He closed the door silently and continued his search.
One room, then another—finally, after checking all the rooms on the first floor, he made his way to the second. Upon opening the third door, he found an excessively luxurious bedroom with someone asleep on the bed.
Seeing this, Mikael entered the bedroom quietly. With his new angle, he saw who was sleeping: a heavily overweight man.
Observing the scene, Mikael thought, ‘Survivors are practically skin and bones, while nobles like this guy eat enough to become overweight... Great distribution of resources.’
Mikael approached the sleeping man and gave him a slap across the face.
The man woke abruptly, startled by the sting on his cheek, and sat up, confused by what was happening.
Mikael didn’t give him time to comprehend the situation; he pressed his sword against the man’s neck.
Feeling the cold steel at his throat, the man froze in shock. “What?” he stammered, terrified to see a stranger threatening him in his own bedroom.
Mikael spoke coldly, “I have some questions. And I can assure you, if you don’t answer, you won’t like the consequences.”
The man’s face turned red as he snapped back, “Do you know who I am? If you so much as touch a hair on my head, I’ll have your entire family wiped out.”
Mikael felt a flash of disbelief at his words. ‘This son of a bitch thinks he’s some young master in a cultivation novel?’ he thought, before grabbing the man’s head and lifting him off the bed with one arm. Then, with a swift move, he brought the man’s head down hard onto his rising knee.
Crack.
The man’s skull collided with Mikael’s knee, the sickening crunch of bone filling the room. He collapsed to the floor, trying to scream in pain, but Mikael was faster, clamping a hand over his mouth.
Mikael stared into the man’s tear-stained eyes and said, “I’m going to remove my hand, and if you try to scream, you’ll be dead before the guards even hear you. Understood?”
The man gave a fearful nod.