Chapter 8 – Rescue Mission

Aenon (About 2 hours ago)

“You want me to what?” Aenon asked in confusion.

“I want you to infiltrate the mayor’s mansion and rescue Eskad and his party,” Agatha repeated.

“That part I get. But you also something about explosions and mayhem,” Aenon said with a frown, although she couldn’t really see it.

“Oh, yeah. I want you cause as much chaos as possible,” she replied casually as they made their way to the city, which he could now see in the distance.

“There might be casualties in the ensuing panic,” he said.

“Oh, I am counting on it. But I am sure you can manage to target only the guilty parties, correct?” she said with a smile.

The smile made Aenon uncomfortable. It was as though she knew his abilities better than he knew them himself. Yes, he could pinpoint the people who had dabbled in soul harvesting for power. But the fact that she knew about it unnerved Aenon. When he didn’t respond, she suddenly stopped and turned to him.

“Look, I do not have enough time to explain in detail, but long story short, I have glimpsed into your soul. I have a rough picture of your nature, and a rudimentary guess about your power. Although, I must admit the creatures following you were a nasty surprise. Anyway, in conclusion, I know the kind of man you are and am confident you can handle it and would not go overboard,” she said. Her emphasis on the word ‘man’ made it quite clear she knew his age too.

“Sure,” Aenon finally responded with a nod. “But how am I supposed to sneak in? I know nothing about the defenses of the building, or the number of opponents.”

“As someone who has snuck in and assassinated the ant queen, I am sure you will be fine,” she winked at him and resumed running.

Aenon grumbled internally but silently followed. She wasn’t wrong, but it would have been nice to get some intel. As they approached the city gates, Aenon reduced his speed and cast Illusion to become invisible. He trailed the soul mage by about 5 feet, always staying within her shadows in case he needed to meld into it. He had not tried jumping into another person’s shadow yet, which in hindsight was a dumb move. He should have experimented beforehand, in case the spell worked differently.

As they approached the wall, Aenon noticed the first difference between the old Jadefall, and this fort city. The walls were humongous. They were at least a dozen feet think and had huge artillery weapons mounted at strategic locations. Giant catapults, cauldrons, and even ballistae. Not to mention the subtle hints of mana formations that he found all around the wall, invisible to the naked eye but not his mana sense. One thing was certain, sieging the town would be an exercise in patience. There was no way the town would fall that easily, or quickly.

The one weakness he found was the lack of a water source. He hadn’t seen one on the map, and since the city was a raised plateau, he wasn’t sure any river could pass through. But once they entered the town, which was way easier than expected since Agatha dismissed the guards approaching her, his doubts were dismissed. Only to be replaced with fascination and wonder. Because it wasn’t anything like he imagined.

There were waterways and channels everywhere. He even saw a huge water fountain somewhere in the distance along the main street they had entered through. He didn’t know what the source was, but he was sure it involved some magic or magical artifact. The city itself was quite big and was extremely prosperous. If one neglected the mass of homeless refugees who were no doubt from his old village. They were all sheltered in tents along the side of the road.

“Not a pleasant sight, is it?” Agatha sent him a mental message.

“Yeah, I can see that you have had your work cut out for you,” Aenon replied while surveying his surroundings. It had been a while since he had seen such a large crowd gathered in one place.

She was probably not expecting a response since she turned to look in his direction with wide eyes. She turned away when she realized that from other people’s perspective she was staring off into open space. As they moved, Aenon took note of the homeless crowd. Yes, they all seemed poor, but well fed and energetic. Which explained the cold gazes they were receiving from the locals. Supporting such a large crowd obviously was straining the city’s resources and supplies.

They continued their march, before reaching a large gaudy mansion. Aenon didn’t know any other way to describe it. Everything within sight was gold colored, including its walls, roof, and even the grills. There was a large statue standing in the middle of a water fountain, also gold, that depicted a man in a valiant pose with his sword held high. Although, there was something about the statue’s smile and pose that made Aenon doubt that the man was anywhere close to the physical perfection being shown here.

“I am gonna throw up,” Aenon said in a flat tone.

“Imagine having to walk past this eyesore every morning,” Agatha responded mentally. Aenon could almost imagine the sigh from her tone. “Anyway, this is it. I am going to take care of things from my end and try to keep him tied down. You are free to cut loose. Here, I will grant you a quest to make this official. Just… avoid any innocent collateral.”

“I don’t like collateral damage either. Don’t worry,” Aenon responded while opening the System approved quest that he just got.

Quest

You have been tasked with uncovering a nefarious plot by the assistant leader of the adventurer’s guild in Pinespire, while also rescuing one of the top parties of her branch.

Objectives:

Rescue the hostages (0/4)

Bonus Objectives:

Find out what is going on and who is behind it (0/1)

Reward: Variable

Failure Condition: Loss of the entire party, or the collateral deaths of innocent bystanders.

Accept: Y/N

He quickly read it before clicking accept, as it was a basic and straightforward quest description. He was about to ask something when he noticed the soul mage had already started walking away towards a building opposite the mansion. Her soul was cloaked again, and so Aenon had not sensed her walking away. He ignored her and refocused on the mansion. This would be his second infiltration mission, but it had some key differences.

First was the minefield of spell patterns he could detect using his mana sense. He wasn’t aware of what each did but based on their placement he could kind of guess. The ones on the walls were probably some kind of alarm, while the ones on the ground could be potential traps. He could be wrong, and it might be a mix, but he didn’t want to trigger them to find out which was which. Agatha had given him a rough plan of what she was about to do, and if it went as expected, Aenon was on a timer. He had to sneak in and secure the hostages before she came to the mansion after whatever preparations she needed.

The biggest threat that Aenon was worried about was the person that was in the topmost room. His soul sense was picking up quite a few weaker individuals there, but one of them was way stronger than the others by a huge margin. It wasn’t in terms of levels though, there just was something off that Aenon couldn’t put his finger on. He decided that his safest course of action was getting to Eskad and the rest without detection. He took a lap around the building’s perimeter, hoping to survey the place while trying to locate any weaknesses to exploit, and came up empty. Whoever had designed the defenses was no slouch.

Undeterred, he kept scouting the place. Waiting patiently for any cracks in the defenses. There was an airtight patrol crisscrossing all over the building’s exterior. Under normal circumstances, he would just knock out a few guards and try to sneak in. But he couldn’t risk raising an alarm. In missions such as this, an alert patrol could mean one of two things. He would either have to face off against the unknown power, or the immediate execution of all hostages. Neither of which was a suitable outcome for him.

He wanted to test something though, so he melded into the wall’s shadow and approached one of the spells. He asked the wolves to back up and carefully passed over the trap. And… nothing. There was no reaction at all. The implications puzzled him. Did this mean his shadow magic was rare, since he didn’t find any counter measures for it? What even was his magic. He didn’t really see a spell associated with it on his stat screen either. Whatever it was, he would worry about it later.

For now, he had a broad smile as he quickly navigated the shadows to enter the mansion. And like a ghost he slipped through all patrols and went straight for the basement level, where he sensed his targets were held. There were sections where the shadows didn’t connect, or doors that were locked magically. Unfortunately, he had to reappear to pass through but overall, it was much easier to sneak inside the mansion than outside. Perhaps the architect of the security system didn’t expect anyone to get this far.

Within 15 minutes he was outside the cells holding the hostages. And the sight infuriated him. The dwarves and Elara were tied up using chains to the side, while Eskad sat unconscious on a chair. There were no physical injuries on them, but Aenon sensed their souls were extremely weak for some reason. He wasn’t sure what the big man had endured, but it had done a number on him. He dived into a shadow and appeared on the side of the bars and kneeled next to the berserker first.

His vital signs looked stable, but no matter what he did he couldn’t wake the man. The same was the case with the other three. He wasn’t sure what to do when four of the wolves emerged from his shadow. They were not fully sapient but had some intelligence in their eyes. The wolves approached the unconscious victims, and bit down lightly around their necks. To Aenon’s amazement, they dragged the bodies into the shadows and merged in with Aenon’s.

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Aenon smiled as he got a quest update, checking off the rescue portion. Now he just needed to get out and focus on the bonus objective. It had taken him roughly 30 minutes to get this done, meaning as per Agatha’s schedule, he had another hour, and a half left. He quickly got out without raising an alarm. When the guards finally saw the empty, but locked cell, all hell would break loose.

Stil, he needed to move on and do some digging. The city layout was straightforward, and he could sense that the buildings closer to the mansion housed the richer nobility. And if he knew anything about the rich and powerful, they always had their fingers dipped in devious political schemes. So, he scouted the surrounding buildings that looked like they housed the rich.

What he found made his skin crawl. More than half of the upper echelon that he observed had at least some traces of soul fragments on them. From this distance he couldn’t clearly see the fragments, but their presence was unmistakable. It was totally possible that just like Eskad, they were unaware of the true nature of Mave’s healing and had unwittingly hired the elf. But the amount of soul fragments was exponentially higher than Eskad and his party. This put Aenon in a dilemma. Even with his upgraded soul sense, he would have a hard time distinguishing who was guilty, and who was an innocent victim. He needed actual physical proof, and a way to identify his enemies.

He had marked five buildings with people who had significantly large quantities of soul fragments on them. He left one of his wolves in the shadows of each, while himself going for the one with the highest concentration of soul fragments. The house was also lavish, but not at the mansion’s level. With just a cursory glance, he found a safe path and snuck in with ease. A family of 4 lived here, along with an army of servants and waiting staff. The key difference being the family’s soul was completely covered with the fragments. The husband-and-wife duo had the most, and while the son and daughter, who were in their 20s by Aenon’s estimate, had lesser but still significant soul fragments. Lucky for him, except for the servants, no one else was awake.

He used his stealth skills to the max, as he made it to the room that looked like a study/office. There was some magical lock on the door, but his mana manipulation skill along with the arcane knowledge made it easy for him to pick the lock. He started going through documents and ledgers for any kind of clue, but the amount of information was just too vast. He gave up after 5 minutes and changed his strategy. He broke into the couple’s bedroom instead.

He locked the door and sealed it using some ice and pulled up a chair next to the bed. Before unleashing his presence, he cast Kingdom of Darkness. He didn’t have to worry about the sound, since it seems the couple had thoroughly sound proofed their room. The moment his presence fell upon them, the two sat up on the bed, with the wife shrieking at the top of her lungs.

The man was a bit calmer, until his gaze turned to where Aenon was sitting. The reaction was near instantaneous, as the old man froze. The wife screamed for a bit, before she too locked eyes with him and choked up. Aenon stayed silent, just sitting there menacingly for what must have felt like an eternity. It was just 15 minutes.

“One question. One answer,” Aenon finally said. He added his soul presence to his words as well. He needed to drive in the point, should the couple decide to do something stupid like mislead him. The two shivering humans didn’t move an inch as they stared into the eyes of the predator before them.

“Question one, are you aware of the soul fragments that are artificially boosting your stats?” Aenon asked while reducing the pressure from his soul presence.

“I… I… No…, the man stammered in response. But his reply was cut short when his wife screamed from his side.

“Aaaaaaargh,” she screamed as shards of ice pierced their way out from within her left hand. Aenon also muffled the sound using some air manipulation, and since the husband was unable to see her, it made it appear as though the voice was coming from a far-off distance in the ethereal darkness. And few things were as terrifying as a woman screaming bloody murder from somewhere in the dark.

“Lie to me again, and it will be your turn next,” Aenon said in a cold voice.

“Ye… yes,” the man frantically nodded. Aenon could easily detect lies based on the man’s emotions. And this time he hadn’t.

“Good. Next question. But this is for your wife. And if she dares lie, or try to delay, you will learn why she screamed,” Aenon said while turning to the whimpering woman. He pointed a finger at her, freezing her arm completely. The pain was gone in an instant, but the loss of feeling in her arm, brought a new layer of horror altogether. “How do you partake in this boost of yours.”

The woman tried to frantically rub her frozen hand to thaw it out. But it was useless. She finally turned towards the grey eyes floating in the abyss and replied, “There… is a… potion. We get… one bottle every three days.”

“Guess you are lucky you have an honest wife,” Aenon sneered. But then he realized that they could only see his eyes. So, he used some illusion magic to conjure up a creepy smile on his mask. A grin that displayed inch long teeth going from one ear to the other. The effects were far stronger than he anticipated since the woman passed out cold from shock, and the man wet the bed.

“So, back to you and I am going to list all my questions now. Who supplies this potion and where are the records?” When the man didn’t answer, Aenon stood up and walked closer, only stopping an inch from his face.

“The m… m… mayor. The records are in my private safe on my bedroom wall. The combination is 4697. Please don’t eat me,” the man closed his eyes and begged.

Aenon walked to the safe and observed it for a minute. Checking for any magical traps. When nothing showed up, he entered the numbers, and it opened. The safe had some rare valuables, but he only picked up the book. That was the jackpot he was looking for. It detailed the shipments and supply schedules to multiple parties within the city, other noble houses no doubt. He had almost shut the book, when something caught his eye. The fourth page had a schedule too. But it didn’t list potion quantities. It listed people, with their gender, levels, and dates. The earliest date was roughly a week after the refugees had come in. And the last line had Eskad’s description with yesterday’s date.

For the second time, Aenon lost all sense of where he was, or what was in his surroundings. He turned around and the moment his gaze fell on the man, he froze in utter horror, not even daring to breath. And just like last time, Aenon was on autopilot. He let his instinct guide him towards his paralyzed prey.

He walked up to the man, but didn’t say a word. Instead, he reached out with his soul sense and gazed directly into the man’s soul. What he saw confirmed his suspicion. These soul fragments were not from plants or seeds. They were human, dwarves, and a variety of races he didn’t identify. But most fragments were human.

He raised his hand and unleashed pitch-black chains that wrapped the two before him before dragging them down into his shadow. He then threw caution to the wind and jumped out the window, landing on the road below with ease. People ran away in a panic when they saw him. Or more accurately what was happening around him. Even though it was early in the morning, multiple shadows were spreading out from his feet. Like dark tendrils of a deep-sea creature, they thrashed about, warning others not to approach. One brave city guard tried charging in but was immediately swallowed up by the shadow. The others dropped their weapons and fled after that.

Aenon calmly walked towards the mansion, completely tuning out the entire world. All he focused was the man sitting with Agatha in the mansion. Somewhere deep down he knew, this wasn’t Agatha’s plan, and he was going off script. But he didn’t give a damn about it. He approached the main gate only to find it locked up with several mages standing on the other side, chanting something.

“Cute,” Aenon thought as he unleased a spell of pure destruction towards the barrier between him and his prey. He didn’t know what spell he had used, but it packed a punch. It blew up the gate and continued till it hit the mansion.

BOOM

The spell didn’t hit any of the guards, and yet they all dropped their weapons and backed off. When Aenon finally entered the room where his prey was holed up, he retrieved the nobles from his shadow and tossed them to the ground. He looked at Agatha, who had a deep frown on her face. She had her soul cloaked like before but this time, he could right through it.

She was shocked when his gaze penetrated her veil like it was nothing. He detected anger rise to the surface as she tried to push back, but he didn’t budge an inch. He looked within her soul, for any traces of soul fragments for he needed to be sure. When he didn’t find any, he relaxed and retreated. Agatha crashed to the floor, sweating and exhausted.

Finally, his gaze turned towards the man, no, the scum he had come here for. He was cowering in the corner, hiding behind a table. Aenon was about to attack and eradicate the trash, when he felt something hit his soul. He turned in confusion towards the only other soul mage in his vicinity. Agatha was standing and had a staff in her hand. A staff she was using to attack his soul.

“Enough, I needed to be sure you were not working with him.” he stated while shrugging off the attack. He tossed out Eskad and the rest at her feet before saying, “Check their souls.”

The soul mage was shocked he had weathered the attack so easily. But she lowered her staff as she bent down and placed a hand on Eskad’s forehead. Her expression went from concern, to shock, to pure fury within seconds. She turned to him with murder in her eyes.

“Who?” she asked but one word. Aenon tossed her the book without a word. The more she read, the angrier she got. Aenon heard a ping of a quest completion notification, but Aenon ignored it. Instead, turning his head to the side and focusing behind him. Without looking away he pointed at the unconscious party members, making them dissolve into the shadows.

“You deal with this scum. I’ll deal with this,” he told Agatha while turning back and staring at the door. She looked confused for a bit, but her attention shifted to her side as she detected the mayor trying to sneak away. She lifted her staff and aimed it at the weasel, locking him in place.

“What are you talking about?” she asked without taking her eyes off the mayor.

Aenon didn’t respond as he walked out into the corridor and closed the door behind him and sealed it in ice. His gaze didn’t divulge for a second, always trained at one singular point in space.

Clap clap clap.

“Bravo. Not even in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would find someone who could pierce my stealth on this backwards planet,” the elf said as he dispelled the spell and reappeared. “I would have said I was impressed. But your stupidity kind of offsets it. Since you decided to take me on alone.”

Aenon didn’t respond as he analyzed his opponent. This was by far the strongest opponent he had faced in a physical fight. And he realized why. The elf’s soul, it didn’t just have soul fragments. It had large pieces of foreign souls coating it. What level of boost he received due to it was anyone’s guess. And why did he choose to face him alone? Because there were things that might be revealed during his fight that he couldn’t afford to. His connection to the world tree for instance. He had a lingering feeling that this elf was related to the healer.

“A quiet type, huh? Or are you mute? I am sure your screams will be delightful though,” the elf taunted him with a broad smile.

“You related to Mave?” Aenon finally broke his silence. He wanted to extract as much information from his opponent before the fight started. Overconfident pricks like this loved tattling on their plans after all.

“Hah. Don’t compare me to that imbecile cousin of mine. Comparing him to me is like comparing a worm to a dragon,” he boasted while retrieving two daggers. Aenon immediately drew his own, remembering too late that his primary daggers were ruined. When the elf saw the horribly twisted daggers, he burst out laughing. “What do you intend to do with that scrap metal?”

“This is all I need to deal a worm like you,” Aenon responded with a mocking tone. Even though the weapons were ruined and didn’t have an edge, he could still use them for stabbing. And he needed a way to rile up the guy. Somehow, he felt that would be the key to victory.

As expected, the elf’s face turned red in anger. Aenon felt a faint mana layer of… something… coating on the edge of his enemy’s weapon. He was sure their rarity was quite high.

“You will pay for that disrespect. I will peel your soul, piece by piece. You will rue the day you decided to face the Soul Stalker,” the elf said with a malicious grin as he got into a weird stance.

With that the elf charged at Aenon at a speed that was too fast for him to follow. He tried blocking but failed spectacularly. He felt a deep gash on his right shoulder, inflicting pain. But when he looked at the wound, there was no blood.

“Get it now? My daggers, they inflict direct soul damage. And my second class gives me blindingly fast speed. Something a backward hick like you can’t even imagine. Painful, right? Ahahaha,” the elf cackled loudly.

It all finally clicked in Aenon’s head. These elves were masters of harvesting souls for their own power. That is how they drained power from their world tree, and that is how this rogue was sapping power from his enemies. And that must be what they had enticed the nobles of this city with. An easy source of raw power.

Aenon turned to face the face the elf without making a sound. Aenon had suffered far more soul pain than the elf could imagine. A minor cut like this was like a pinprick in comparison. Seeing him not having a reaction, the elf stopped laughing, a frown replacing it instead.

Aenon displayed his smile on the mask again while tilting his head and releasing his soul presence.

“A Soul Stalker, huh? Well, let’s see then. How you perform against the Void Stalker.”