( Jhonny's POV )
No sooner had he left the Ocean Leviathans' camp, Jhonny had already set his eyes on the next target - the Frostwolf Marauders' base.
The distance between the two bases was relatively low, but it would still take a normal individual about 2 hours to get there, but distance did not work the same way for gods who could literally leap over mountains.
With a hop, skip, and jump, he traversed the landscape, grinning all the while reaching the Frostwolf base in under 15 minutes.
The Frostwolf Marauders' base was a formidable sight, with towering walls of ice and intimidating guards, their breath frosting in the cold air.
Jhonny scouted it for a while and then without missing a beat or wasting time on second thought, he walked straight through the ice wall.
Without a crease on his stylish Italian suit, Jhonny walked through the Frostwolf base as if he owned the place. Killing any giant daring to look his way with a casual flick of his palm, as five very deadly daggers would pierce the critical points of the giant dropping it dead.
Once Inside, he quickly located the orb, its glowing blue light illuminating the surroundings.
But a swing of his cane later, and the light was gone. "Cold as ice," he quipped, leaving behind an eerily silent base.
Next up were the Crimson Shadows. Known for their stealth, their base was naturally well-hidden.
But, hiding from Jhonny English?
The master assassin himself?
The luckiest man to ever live?
It was simply impossible
With a casual flip of his walking cane, Jhonny disappeared into the shadows, reappearing right next to the orb. And just like that, it was lights out for the Shadows.
The Assassins on guard did try to ambush Jhonny, but Jhonny assassinated the Assassins without so much as a splatter of blood dropping on his white shirt.
" Rookies in the first year of the elite academy are better fighters than you lot " Jhonny said with disgust as he moved on to his next target the Greengale Phantoms
Finding that orb was as easy as a breeze for Jhonny and a sweep of his cane later, and the once brightly glowing orb was dark, leaving the GuardingPhantoms in disarray as to what just happened.
From start to finish, Jhonny had not even shown his face in this base, nor killed a single man.
" The hunters become the prey " Jhonny said as he left the base for the penultimate destination of his mission.
The fifth orb was guarded by the mighty Skyfury Eagles and the guards that Tweety had left back at the base were mostly her most trusted harpy clansmen.
Jhonny had a soft spot for the birds, but that didn't deter him from his mission, avoiding bloodshed as much as possible, he made short work of the orb, leaving the Eagles' base with an apologetic shrug as he told his pursuers . "Fly high, and touch the sky " before disappearing underground.
The final orb was the one guarded by Gurdan's legion.
Unlike the other places where defence was minimal, here the entire legion was present bar it's leader and the security was much tighter.
By now, word had reached Gurdan's base about the fall of the other orbs and the men guarding the orb seemed tense and ready.
They had cast a protective barrier spell around the orb and if anyone wanted to approach the orb, they would need to take time to deactivate the barrier first before they could touch it.
Jhonny frowned upon seeing the barrier, he had easily infiltrated the Mercenary base killing only a few thousand men on his way here, but the barrier was the first challenge he faced in this mission as his void form was unable to pass through it.
The sight of the orb, seemingly unreachable and encased within the formidable barrier, did not dampen Jhonny's spirits. Rather, he regarded it with the air of a man who'd just been presented with an exciting challenge.
"A little bit of theatrics, I see," Jhonny quipped, tapping his chin thoughtfully as he surveyed the protective barrier. As a beastman lunged at him, he sidestepped nonchalantly, sending him sprawling with a gentle flick of his cane. "Now, now, no interruptions please. This is a delicate process."
He approached the barrier, pondering over it. His gaze landed on a pebble by his feet. A light bulb went off in his head, and he stooped to pick it up. Turning to the bewildered guards watching him, he declared, "You see, every fortress has its weak point."
His next course of action was nothing short of baffling. With an aim befitting an Olympic gold-medalist, Jhonny lobbed the pebble at the barrier. It bounced off harmlessly, causing a ripple of laughter amongst the guards.
" Kill the idiot! " The Tiger-Beastman captain shouted as multiple elite level guards rushed at Jhonny, but a few swerves and formless transformations later everyone who charged at him ended up either hitting each other or exhausted from slashing at nothing as they looked at each other for solutions on how to handle this bizzare man.
Jhonny did not even pay attention to the guards, his focus only on the barrier as he tried to think of a solution to disable it.
Finally as he wasted enough time without thinking of a solution, he decided to do what he did best. Which was to bluff his way through bullshitting as he said"Ah, it's just as I thought " while winking at the stunned guards as if he had just gotten a profound enlightenment.
"In your haste to set up the barrier, you overlooked one thing. The strength of the barrier lies in the magic imbued in it, not in the complexity of its design." Jhonny said muttering words that sounded complex but really made no sense at all.
Jhonny bent down to pick up another pebble and held it up to the guards, his eyes gleaming with mischief. "This tiny pebble... its energy signature is vastly different from the surroundings, and that's enough to destabilise your hastily-constructed magic barrier."
Jhonny exclaimed with confidence, but internally he was thinking ' Oh lord almighty, please bless this pebble with your powers, don't make me lose face.
Abracadabra! '
With a casual flick of his wrist, he tossed the second pebble, which hit the exact spot the first one had bounced off. The barrier shuddered and somehow for some bizzare reason, started to flicker as its stability was compromised.
A couple of seconds later the barrier collapsed outright as both the guards and Jhonny were stunned out of their minds.
" Wait, that actually worked? Am I a secret genius? " Jhonny wondered as he examined his own hands as if looking at powers unknown and then looking towards the heavens to thank the lord almighty.
What had really happened was that the deflected pebble had fallen straight into the runic pattern powering the barrier, blocking it's flow of mana, but what it looked like was that Jhonny knew exactly what he was doing and had deactivated the barrier with pebble throws.
Jhonny's smile widened as he turned to the shocked guards, the final orb's light dimming as he struck it with his cane.
"Remember, boys, never underestimate a pebble," he said, strolling out of the base, leaving behind a wave of stunned guards and an extinguished orb.
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/// A/N - Chapter 11/20, enjoy ///