Ali was delighted once he was reunited with his companions after his kidnapping. After he shared his experience, the four of them went to the cafeteria for a small feast. While they ate, he asked what had changed in Vliland since he last left. To his surprise, there was an official announcement of the White Lillies disbanding. There hadn’t been confirmation within the ranks of the Dark Cult so he was told to not take the matter seriously. This could entirely be a ruse that would allow White Lillies members to operate in the shadow with more impunity.
Or my kidnapper might belong to the White Lillies.
Given how few people knew about the Dark Cult, Ali couldn’t fully eliminate that possibility. If his kidnapper and many key White Lillies members were killed in that stronghold, then the crime syndicate would have to disband. If the matter was true, then only the Lightning Clan and Thunder Badgers remained. Since he left, the conflict between the two syndicates only escalated. The Thunder Badgers had the advantage initially but the Lightning Clan rebounded recently with a series of key victories. Those two syndicates still posed a serious threat to the Dark Cult. Kamis confirmed that they would need to take action against both of the syndicates soon, thus they requested reinforcements.
“I heard the leader of the reinforcements is a brother of Menna,” said Kurata. “If the rumors are true, then those two fighting together would be a terrifying combination. We don’t have much to worry about with them both present.”
The group finished eating before they went to Menna to accept their next mission. To their surprise, they were assigned as a vanguard to deal with the Lightning Clan. Menna stated that she had confidence they could do well and the actual combat would be an excellent chance for them to learn and improve. The thugs shouldn’t pose much problem to them as seen during their intelligence gathering. The stronger foes were far fewer in numbers and could be defeated with teamwork. The four of them had earned their chance to take a first jab at the enemy.
Without trap abilities, I’ll have to go back to working side by side with Tian and the others.
During preparation, Ali pulled Kamis aside and told his companion about the seal on his trap ability. The two of them were working on strategies that made use of traps but now they had to rethink their approach. The two of them would have to adapt mid-battle and see how combat developed. In addition to the four of them heading into combat, there were two dozen Dark Cult members who were also part of the vanguard. As soon preparation was complete, they headed out into the streets.
I cannot believe how chaotic the streets are compared to when I first arrived. All these people…
The streets were far more crowded than before. There was obvious fear in the eyes of the refugees who were unsure what future awaited them. He also heard that, as the rivalry between the Lightning Clan and the Thunder Badgers escalated, the civilians only suffered more. The numbers of refugees dying in the conflict resulted in too many corpses to count. It wasn’t uncommon for mass burning of corpses to keep the corpse count under control. The dead was so common that the general population was no longer bothered by the concept of death.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“Run!” shouted someone. “Lightning Clan is here! Lightning Clan is here!”
At the mention of the crime syndicate, the civilians all got up and started running. The crowded street instantly turned into chaos as panic was everywhere. All the Dark Cult members jumped onto the roofs of nearby buildings but the civilians weren’t so lucky. Countless were trampled to death as the people fled in fear. Deaths and cries of pains were left behind once the civilians fled the scene. After a short pause, the Dark Cult members began running atop the roof towards where the Lightning Clan thugs were supposedly at.
I see them, Ali! They are just concluding their battle with Thunder Badger members. They…have no losses.
No losses? For the thugs? Something is wrong…
Ali quickly relayed the information to the other cult members. Upon hearing this, the others stopped in their tracks. The group knew better than charging in against a foe with unexplained strength. After a quick meeting, the members agreed to allow Tian to continue surveillance while they waited for an opening. They had to figure out what was turning the fortunes of the Lightning Clan around recently.
“Seems like a new battle is inevitable,” said Ali as he leaned against a wall.
The group found an empty courtyard and took the chance to rest. Meanwhile, the teenager relayed the battle to the others. The battle went poorly for the Thunder Badger members from the start. as they suffered casualties upon first contact and it went downhill from there. While the thugs finished off their foes, Ali asked Tian to focus on the member who never once engaged the enemy.
There’s something odd about this person…
He might be the reason why the thugs are so strong. Let’s keep an eye on him.
Ali watched the man carefully but he couldn’t see anything unusual. The man just stood there like a statue during combat and walked like an golem. After a few minutes, his attention returned to the thugs. Normally, thugs would happily be boasting about their victories and their kills. Yet, these thugs were completely emotionless.
Tian, try to get in front of the group so we can look at the thug faces.
Once he got a look, Ali gasped loudly, getting the attention of others.
“The thugs look like walking corpses,” said the teenagers when the others asked for clarification. “There’s no sign they are alive.”
“Is the suspicious person someone with necromancy skills?”
“Given how well they fight, I don’t doubt it. I just don’t know if we can kill this individual.”
From his earlier observation, it was clear that these corpses did a very good job protecting their master. They didn’t hesitate to get in the way of attacks since they no longer had to fear death.