Chapter 41
Attack In The Night
image [https://i.ibb.co/XbZYYF1/Ch-41-Pic-1.jpg]
It was the next night after the day the group had made their plan of attack and they were hiding behind the corner of a building near Lune’s military base. All four of them were on the lookout for any vehicles that would be heading towards the base for them to initiate their plan.
“Alright, you remember the plan, Arnie?” Erin asked. “As soon as a vehicle gets close to the gate, you need to activate your invisibility spell and run over there. Then you just have to sneak in as quietly as possible and deactivate the fence once the guards have gone back to their normal stations.”
“Got it. I’ll make sure no one notices me,” the cat boy said confidently.
“Remember, if you think this is getting too risky even for a second, I want you to run back here and forget about the mission,” the redhead added. “We don’t want you to risk your own life unnecessarily.”
“Erin, even before we met each other, I was risking my life,” Arkay said with a smile. “Remember that I’ve been robbing heavily guarded mansions and military buildings. Risk is something I’m used to. The only difference now is that I’m targeting someone far bigger than before.”
Despite not liking the idea of sending her young friend to such a dangerous place, Erin couldn’t help but smile at the cat boy’s confidence. She just hoped that she wouldn’t come to regret asking him to join their group.
“Awww man! I was thinking about asking you to not go through with this, but how can I do it now that you’ve shown such a cool side of yourself!?” Ryle whined as she pulled Arkay into a hug, causing the boy to blush. “I was going to tell you to leave this whole matter to big sis here, but now I can’t bring myself to do it!”
“Alright, I think that’s enough,” Lexton said as he pulled Arkay away from the blonde. “Our friend here has a big job ahead of him.”
“Jerk!” Ryle whined as she stuck her tongue out at the kobold.
“Yeah, whatever…” Lexton mumbled before turning his attention towards Arkay. “You can do this, Arnie. Just remember to stay calm and this will be an easy job for you.”
“I’ll do that,” the cat boy said. “Thanks, Lex.”
Just as the group finished their talk, a military truck suddenly came into their view, approaching the gates of the base. It was now time for them to initiate their plan.
“Here’s your chance!” Erin said to Arkay.
As soon as he heard it was time to act, the cat boy nodded and cast his spell before running out of their hiding spot. Just as he stepped out into the street, Arkay’s body seemed to completely vanish, like he was never there to begin with. The only one who could still tell that the cat boy was anywhere near them was Ryle, whose nose was able to pick out Arkay’s scent.
However, just as the cat boy disappeared from view, Lexton noticed something that made his eyes go wide from shock. There was a special logo on the side of the truck that had just arrived. The logo itself depicted a shield that had four emblems on it. These emblems were a halberd, an icicle, a wolf and a tiger.
As soon as he saw the logo, the kobold recognized it and realized the danger they were. He tried to stop Arkay from going, but by then it was already too late. The cat boy had gone in and they could only hope for the best.
“Man, that spell of his is really something. I doubt they’ll even realize what’s happening, when Arnie gets into action,” Erin said with a smile, before noticing the distressed state the kobold was in. “What’s wrong?”
“I fear we might have made a terrible miscalculation,” Lexton said with a horrified look on his face. “Arnie’s in grave danger now.”
“What!? The hell are you saying!?” Ryle asked upon hearing that the cat boy was in danger. “I thought you were onboard with this plan and said he could pull it off!”
“I was, but I didn’t think that truck would be coming here,” the kobold said as he pointed at the vehicle that had just arrived. “If I’m right about who are in there, then we probably should have just forgotten about this whole mission completely.”
“...Who are they?” Erin asked, fearing what they might have gotten themselves into. “Some sort of a special unit?”
“I guess you could say that. They are called The Four War Maidens,” Lexton answered. “From what I’ve heard, they used to serve another lord, who was a true nobleman that helped his subjects. However, when The Five Overlords began their conquest, he was betrayed by one of his closest servants, Lune.”
“Hang on, you mean to tell me that those four got screwed over by Lune as well!?” Ryle asked. “Why are you afraid of them!? Can we just ask them to join us, so we can go after Lune together!?”
“That’s unfortunately no longer possible,” the kobold began to explain. “Once Lune took over, he put those four through a special training regiment designed to break their spirits and turn them into his loyal dogs, which consisted of physical and mental torture, along with mind-altering drugs. None of those four are the noble warriors they used to be, but mad dogs looking to cause death and destruction whenever their master orders it.”
“If such people were here, why didn’t you tell us about it!?” Erin asked.
“I heard that they were sent to suppress an uprising away from here, so I didn’t think that they would be here any longer,” Lexton answered. “They must have finished their campaign much earlier than expected! To think that they would return now…”
“Hey, what the hell are we gonna do now!?” Ryle asked with a hint of panic in her voice as she was worried over Arkay. “Arnie has already gone there! How can we get him back!?”
“I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do, except hope for the best,” the kobold said. “Let’s hope that Arnie either doesn’t get noticed or that he realizes the danger and comes back to us.”
Erin cast a worried look towards the gate, knowing that somewhere in that area her young friend was risking his life for them. Even though she knew that it was pointless at this point, she couldn’t help but regret coming up with this plan in the first place.
Meanwhile with Arkay, the cat boy was using his invisibility to get close to the truck as it stopped right in front of the gate. The sound of the vehicle’s engine was enough to cover most sounds he made, but Arkay still made sure to be as silent as possible. At this point, one minor mistake could easily get him detected and possibly cost his life.
As soon as the gate opened and a guard walked up to the truck’s driver, Arkay began to hold his breath in order to create as little sound as possible. His spell might deceive sight, but people’s other senses wouldn’t be so easily fooled, so he had to do his best to avoid being detected by them.
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As the guard was talking to the truck’s driver, the cat boy put his experience as a professional thief into use by quickly and quietly sneaking past the guard. Once he had done that, he easily made his way pas the gate and inside the base.
Now that he was inside, Arkay began to quickly look around himself for a place to hide. His spell wasn’t going to last much longer, so he needed to find a spot where he wouldn’t be noticed. The cat boy spotted a dark space between two of the nearby buildings with a couple of trash cans as well. He then quickly sprinted over there and hid behind the cans before letting his invisibility go, as he was now hidden in the shadows.
With the cover of darkness now shielding him, Arkay started to analyze his current situation and how to accomplish his next objective. He needed to get back to the guard station, so that he could turn off the electricity to the fence and allow the others to get in. For a moment, he simply hid in the darkness, memorizing the positions of the guards, cameras and watchtowers that were around him. After he got the hang of the routine these were moving in, he waited for the best moment to move out. Once it came, he cast his invisibility spell again and took off running.
Navigating through the patrolling guards and spotlights from the watchtowers, Arkay made his way to the guard station at the gate. As soon as he reached it, he pressed his body against the wall and began to slowly move closer towards the window. When he got there, he started to prepare his techomancer magic and had it move inside through the cracks in the window.
Now came the tricky part, as Arkay couldn’t tell where the fence’s control panel was exactly. He was used to using his sight to direct his magic, but now he was basically moving blind, forced to rely on his knowledge of the guard station from what he had seen. It took him a bit of time, but he was finally able to make a connection with an electric device. Once this happened, information rushed into his head, showing him everything he was now connected to. He had gotten what he was looking for.
The guards themselves didn’t notice anything happening, being too occupied with their card game and conversation. From what Arkay could tell, they were talking about some special new arrivals at the base, who were apparently very scary to them. That was unfortunately all the cat boy could gather, due to being preoccupied with his magic and couldn’t hear all that well due to the window being closed.
Whatever the case was, Arkay had accomplished his mission. The electricity of the fence had been turned off without anyone noticing. With his first objective accomplished, he sent out a signal to his comrades by lighting a small flame on his hand to tell them that he had succeeded, before rushing back to his hiding spot.
Looking around, Arkay quickly spotted his companions getting over the fence. With the electricity off, they could now touch it without being fried. First, they sent Lexton out with a pair of cutters to cut some of the barbed wire at the top. Once this was done, he got down on the other side, thus allowing the next one to follow up behind him. After the kobold, it was Ryle’s turn, who was then followed by Erin, who also place the barbed wire back in such a way that it wouldn’t look like it had been cut through.
The three newcomers quickly spotted their young friend and rushed to his side. Now the whole team was gathered and they could get to the next phase of their plan.
“Awesome work, Arnie!” Ryle whispered with a big grin as she hugged the cat boy tightly. “You’re the real MVP today!”
“I agree with Ryle. Good job, Arnie,” Erin said quietly with a smile. “I was worried over you, but I’m glad to see that it was unnecessary. You’re a really amazing guy.”
“T-Thanks,” Arkay said with a blush on his face.
“As much as I’d like to join the celebration, I’m afraid we don’t have the time,” Lexton said in a serious tone. “We may have passed our first obstacle, but there’s still a lot ahead of us.”
All eyes turned on the kobold, as he said this. Being reminded of the struggles ahead brought them back to reality and they started to make plans for their next move.
“Alright, so how do we move from here then?” Ryle asked. “I’m all for busting through the front door and taking down everyone that gets in the way, but I doubt the rest of you are fine with that idea.”
“Good to see that you’re at least somewhat learning. Luckily, we won’t have to run around completely blind, as I managed to get my hands on this a couple of days ago,” Lexton said as he pulled a piece of paper out of his jacket and began to unfold it. “It cost me quite a bit, so we better make the best use of it.”
Once he was done unfolding it, the kobold put the paper on the ground for everyone to see. On it was a map of the military base. While it didn’t have that many details on it, it gave you a general idea of where everything was.
“You would be surprised by how many people want Lune dead and are willing to pay a lot of money for even the smallest pieces of info that could help them,” Lexton said with a smirk. “These things sell very well, so I was lucky to get my hands on one.”
The map had the watchtowers and buildings marked on it, along with a few other important spots. There were simple descriptions for all of the locations, which included things like main building, vehicle storage, training grounds and so on. Even if it didn’t go into too much detail, one could get a good idea as to where everything was.
“Alright, so where’s that Lune bastard then?” Ryle asked as she cracked her knuckles in anticipation. “I’m looking towards getting a hold of him.”
“He should be in the main building, but we can’t simply march in there,” Lexton replied. “The main building is the most heavily guarded place in this whole base. Going there right away would only get us killed.”
“Should we get some uniform to disguise ourselves?” Erin asked.
“I doubt that would work. Security is pretty tight around there, so simple disguises wouldn’t work,” the kobold said. “Not to mention, with The Four War Maidens there, us getting discovered would only be a matter of seconds.”
“The four what?” Arkay asked.
“...Oh right. You weren’t there,” Lexton said with a sigh. “Please listen closely and try not to panic…”
The kobold went on to explain just what type of people had been inside the truck he had sneaked past and just how much danger he had been in. The cat boy was, to say the least, quite shocked by what he learned, which turned his face pale.
“Y-Y-Y-You mean to tell me monsters like that were right next to me?” Arkay managed to squeak out. “I had no idea…”
“Yeah, you were kind of in the middle of infiltrating, so we couldn’t really call out to you,” Lexton said as he awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “Sorry about that.”
“It doesn’t matter now, though. We got inside thanks to your help and we are just a few steps away from completing our mission here,” Erin said with an encouraging smile. “You can leave the rest to us from this point on.”
“Yeah! Don’t you worry about a thing, Arnie!” Ryle said with a grin. “We can handle those “Four Battle Girlies” or whatever they are! You just hang tight and leave it to us!”
“...I’m afraid that he won’t be able to simply sit back and watch,” Lexton said in a serious tone, getting the attention of his comrades. “If we face those four together, we will only face one thing for certain. Death. The Four War Maidens have gone through countless battlefields, bringing death and destruction everywhere they go. Not only are all four incredibly powerful, but they are most lethal when working together. Facing them all would be a suicide.”
“Look, I get that you’re all worried about them and all, but aren’t you overestimating them a bit?” Ryle asked. “I mean, they couldn’t notice Arnie sneaking past them, which I could do easily. I doubt they’re as good as you say they are.”
“While I’ll admit that I am surprised they didn’t notice him, especially since one of them, Blair, is apparently an incredible tracker, we cannot underestimate them,” the kobold said. “What I propose is that we try to at least separate some of them from Lune. For that we need someone to cause a large enough distraction to draw the attention of those four.”
“I’m guessing that you already have a plan for this?” Erin asked to which Lexton nodded. “What is it?”
“Arkay is going to sneak into the vehicle storage. There should be things like robots and power armors there. Once he finds them, he will use his technomancer powers on them to make them move and start attacking the base,” the kobold explained. “With all the chaos he will surely cause, it will certainly draw the attention of The Four War Maidens. With them distracted, Lune should be defenseless, thus allowing others to go and finish him off.”
“Absolutely not!” Ryle said angrily. “I’m not putting Arnie into any more danger than he already has!”
“I have to agree with Ryle. What you’re asking in unreasonable,” Erin said with a glare. “Even if your plan works, it would make Arnie into a sacrifice! If you don’t think all of us together could take those four down, then I doubt he would be able to do it on his own!”
“Ummm… I-I did come here expecting danger, so-” Arkay tried to speak up, only to be shut down.
“NO,” both Erin and Ryle said sternly in unison, silencing the cat boy.
“If you’re worried about him facing The Four War Maidens alone, you don’t need to worry about that,” Lexton suddenly said, getting the attention of the others. “You see, while Arnie is doing his part, there will be another distraction happening around the prison. Not only will this prevent all four of them from going after Arnie, but he should have a pretty good chance of sneaking away as well, seeing as how he is skilled in that area.”
“I guess that’s at least a bit better,” Erin said, thinking about the plan. “But who is going to be causing that other distraction near the prison?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” the kobold asked with a smirk. “That will be my job.”
While the four companions were discussing their plans, they didn’t realize that there was actually someone looking for them. And this person was being followed by their own group of companions as well.
“Blair, what got into you suddenly?” one of the members of the group asked the person looking around the base. “As soon as we got to the base, you’ve been weirdly on edge and you’ve been constantly sniffing the air. Did your nose finally get messed up from sniffing around the ground all the time?”
“Hey, lay off her, Yin!” another one said to the first one, this one sounding a bit younger and more energetic than the first. “You know that her nose has never failed us, so we should see what she’s trying to find! It could be something fun!”
“Indeed. Your barbarian intellect may not realize it, but catching someone sneaking into the base would surely please General Lune greatly,” another one said, this one having an arrogant and cold tone. “I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not waste a good opportunity. So would you mind and cease your brainless complaining? It gives me a headache.”
“Up yours, Schwarz!” the one called Yin yelled at the one with the cold tone. “And Ray, why are you so into this? Wouldn’t you rather go and play with the prisoners or do something else that’s fun? We just got back from a long mission!”
“You forget that the most fun thing for me is to kill people with my baby! So if a chance for that comes up, I’ll gladly take it!” the one called Ray said happily. “Anyways, what are we exactly looking for, Blair?”
“I smell a cat. And it’s a very big one,” the one called Blair answered in a monotone voice.