Chapter 428: Infiltration
The entire desert trembled because of one human's furious steps.
Jeci moving through the storm was like a storm splitting the red sand in a certain direction, behind her was a hill of sand and dust that rose like angry waves.
She was more than just a running warrior, she looked like a powerful force of nature that no one would dare to go against.
Even from afar, the substitute gatemen were already glaring, with their weapons at hand pointed forward in alertness of any strange attack.
"It looks like a storm coming," one said to his partner.
"I do hope it stops at that," the other said with a paler expression laying on his face.
Suddenly the storm disappeared and everything calmed down, the rising waves of dust from afar slowly settled down.
Both of them examined the distance with meticulous caution, before the one that had first spoken said again.
"Looks like it's gone?"
"Hm, looks like it..." the other one's voice came thicker, testifying that he might be older.
To them the storm had died down, but Jeci had perfectly executed the cover she needed to escape their sight.
The storm cloud was no coincidence, it was meant to be a distraction for them. So, they wouldn't even see her coming.
It was a bit risky because she stood the chance of being noticed, the Empire gatemen were always trained specially in perception.
The fact that she was not perceived informed her that the original gatemen must be dead which meant Northern was inside the empire already.
She clicked her tongue in frustration, her face wearing out from so much mental stress. 'How could he do this to me?' She thought as she ran forward.
This time, her steps were light, but she was fast, running steadily but with the legs of wind.
Perspiration trickled down all over her face, even the back of her clothes was damp, but she kept going forward with a light frown on her face.
After a while she got to the wall curving outside as usual, she looked up and narrowed her eyes. Then she ran her hand across the wall surface, closing her eyes.
She tried to focus more on her sense of touch than any other sense. And soon, she felt something.
The overall surface of the wall was flawlessly smooth, it was like the skin of a clean cold metal, but there was supposed to be a place which was uneven, slightly bulging out.
Jeci opened her eyes the moment she observed it and frowned.
She pushed the bulge inwards.
Immediately the sand began to leak downward as a door opened on the ground, revealing some dark and decrepit stairs.
Jeci made sure she looked back, and confirmed that there was no one there before jumping into the underground stairs.
As she descended the stairs, the entry point automatically closed. As the bulge slowly pushed back forward, sand moved to cover the surface of the opened ground, as if being carried by an invisible force.
After a while, not even the most brilliant of detectives would suspect that there was
something like an entry point in this place.
About an hour later, a couple of persons stood at the edge of the desert.
They were:
Raven, who compared to other times was clean, her face neatly shimmering in the dim night. Her crimson eyes however were vicious and void of emotion.
Equipped in black, lithe armor, with a black cloak like darkness fluttering over her body.
Helena, who wore a green light attire, what covered her body was just a tight fitted short that stopped just above her knee, her upper attire resembled a kimono in the sense that it also had a collar that crossed over each other-her toned muscles were on display.
Her eyes were tentatively staring forward.
There was Ryan, John-who was the razor teeth, short guy with spiky blue hair.
And the last person was Erikson, whom by all look and form was "timidity" in person.
He even seemed to be more timid than Ellis and also socially awkward.
One would never see a guy like him around the crowd, in fact, he was rarely seen at all.
Raven had insisted that he become a party leader at the time. And even though everyone at the end agreed to it, they still believe he's pretty useless.
And right now, Raven had insisted that Erikson come with them.
Everyone does not understand why she would ask for such, even Erikson himself does not understand. But she still insisted.
They all lined the edge of the point where the red desert that led to the empire walls started.
"It's indeed a beautiful place. Enormous!" Helena exclaimed.
Raven glanced at her with a look of disapproval.
"What?" Helena groaned.
"You clearly have not actually been to the academy, if you think this is amazing. Indeed, the walls of Luinngard Empire are magnificent but the academy..." her words got caught in her throat as she tried to speak.
Then John continued for her, "It's enormous..." he looked at her with a small frown leaving his face.
Raven gave a complimentary smile and focused her gaze forward, towards the curving wall lining the horizon.
Helena shrugged and spoke after a couple of seconds of silence.
"So, are we going to stand here and watch all night?"
Raven creased her brows, "Of course not." Her eyes turned to her left and right, observing everyone beside her.
Then she faced forward and said, "We need some sort of distraction. Helena, your talent involves something around the atmosphere you find yourself in right? Do you think you can
do it?"
Helena's brows came together, 'How the hell did she know that?' her thoughts trailed off.
She stepped forward either way and crouched, touching the sand with both of her hands.
Her eyes started to emit an amber glow, the markings on her face immediately grew, crossing over themselves on her face. From each side of her jaw, over her eyes to her forehead.
She closed her eyes and opened them.
Immediately the sand began to rise like waves, and began to surge forward powerfully.
John's eyes widened, "Oh bless my mother, what did you do?"
Helena looked at her hand, "Well, to be particular, I can change the properties of my surroundings, but certain conditions have to be met."
She looked at the mighty desert wave of sand surging forward like a tsunami and added, "What I did was give the desert the property of water, and made it quite chaotic."
"That's impressive," John complimented.
"She is impressive," Raven agreed, "we have to go now."
In that moment, all their gazes became obstinate.