From an outsider's perspective, Michael's entire body was as natural as the paint on the wall. If they looked directly at him, they would notice nothing and simply thought that he was part of the wooden ceilings up above.
His mastery over mana allowed him to be completely devoid of it as well. There was no Light mana emanating from his body, mistaking him as a non-living being, as an object.
Of course, he could have just used the Orcs' Shadow Skill to obscure himself, but he thought that this was a better stealth option overall.
"We have arrived here to solve the situation. And solve it, we will," said the hooded figure.
Thanks to Narito and Sasuki's timely report, Michael was able to witness the arrival of the hooded figures in the City.
"Any idea who they are?" he asked the Orcs, using the 2-star spell [Variable Sound] to transform the waves of his voice into a straight line that directly transmitted the sound to their ears without any leakage.
"Rumor has it that they are part of an elite task force from the Hephaestus company trained to be elite soldiers," Narito replied, showing Michael the written reports of his Orc subordinates.
Instead of sending a blacksmith, they sent out soldiers instead. This told Michael one thing: they planned to use strength to showcase their dominance, especially after their failure in the tomb campaign.
He heard from Fudge that Butch's main goal during that time was to be the first one to conquer the tomb, which would gain them a lot of reputation within Angora City.
But with their failure, they lost some of that reputation which directly led to their sales plummeting down.
And now, the Hepheasteus company sent down elite soldiers to remedy this failure.
"The owner of the HammerStone company is quite disappointed. He fully expected you to be able to reach rank #494 this month around. But it seems, it's more likely we get rank #496 instead."
Butch bowed his head, ashamed. "I wish to convey my deepest apologies to the owner. As a direct descendant of Hephaestus, he deserves only the best of the best. This failure is mine."
The hooded figure nodded, accepting Butch's apology.
"But not to worry. We shall solve this problem in a matter of a few days, or else we would not have been called the Stone-Cold 6."
The rest of the HammerStone employees hid their gasps at the revelation of their name. Their reputation as fearsome warriors triumphed even that of the Knights of the Order. Rumor has it that they could even defeat those that were one star higher than their own level!
Soon, hopeful smiles flashed across the faces of every HammerStone employee. With the appearance of the Stone-Cold 6, Angora City would hopefully see the strength in their company again.
Michael noticed that there were only five of them here in this room. Meaning, there was one missing.
"I have already sent out one of our own to fulfill the first mission," said the hooded figure. "Establishing dominance in the Knightly Court. Stone Cold 6 will bring triumph against the Knights, that you can be sure."
Michael nodded to the two Orcs in front of him. They heard everything they needed to hear.
They sunk back down to their shadows and disappeared, with no one the wiser.
…
…
…
Meanwhile, back in the Knightly Court, the friendly competition between the different Knight factions were routinely going on their way.
The Way of the Spear, the winner of the previous fight against the Sword Knight, was now the reigning champion within the Court.
He raised the green flag with the insignia of a spear stitched on the front, with the crowd cheering him on for his dominance.
However, before he could be crowned as the winner of this competition, there was just one faction left remaining. It was the Way of the Axe, led by none other than Sir Jon.
They were the true reigning champs of this competition. Sir Jon, specifically, had been quite the tough opponent to beat.
It was even more apparent as the two Knights fought. Sir Jon's axe was as heavy as a mountain, yet his swings were so fast as if he was wielding a rapier instead.
It didn't take long before he won and became the champion of the competition!
But just as Sir Jon was supposed to raise his flag in victory, someone from the crowd suddenly threw a cold blue glove towards the arena, landing just in front of him.
Sir Jon eyed the glove and then looked towards the crowd.
He knew what this meant.
It was a formal challenge!
"I humbly ask for your teachings," a hooded figure asked.
As a proud Knight, Sir Jon never shied away from a fight. He swore an oath to always honor a challenge.
"Very well," Sir Jon said, scrutinizing the hooded figure. "But I will not hold back my strength, even for someone that is one star below my level."
Even at a distance, Sir Jon was able to discern that his challenger was only a 4-star realm fighter.
"It's only fair," the hooded figure smiled.
Then, he jumped onto the arena, taking off his hooded robe all in one move.
He revealed himself to be a bald, manly figure encased in intricate icy blue armor. His muscles bulged perfectly in the metal, as if it was molded specifically for his body.
The number 5 was stamped on his back armor.
"What do I call you?" Sir Jon asked.
"You can call me Five," the bald man replied.
The crowd cheered in an uproar. The sudden appearance of this new challenger excited them to no end. Just from his armor alone, they knew that this would be an extremely entertaining fight.
"Woah! Look at his armor. Isn't that the emblem of the HammerStone company?"
"Oh yeah! It's stamped on his chest!"
Soon, everyone knew that this new challenger was adorned with a full HammerStone armor set.
Only the result of the duel would tell if the armor could withstand the heavy cleaving strikes of the famous Sir Jon.
…
…
…
Meanwhile, Zion, Grieve, and Fudge, finally returned to the arena after exploring every single barracks in the Court. They became quite preoccupied with stuff since Fudge insisted on visiting every corner of the Court so that he could spread his clones everywhere.
"Aw, look Fudge! You made us miss the fight," Zion said, his shoulders sagging in disappointment.
"It's not my fault!" Fudge said.
As the two kept arguing, Grieve walked forward and looked through the crowd.
Eventually, he saw a strange sight.
Everyone in the crowd was silent, as if they couldn't believe what they were seeing.
Grieve looked down and saw Sir Jon on the ground, with his axe split in half. He was panting, while looking up at a figure in front of him.
"He lost…" Grieve uttered.
Zion and Fudge eventually caught up and saw the scene for themselves.
"Huh? How could bro Jon lose?" Zion asked.
Just then, the figure who won the fight suddenly faced the crowd.
"This is dominance! We are the best fighters in all of Angora City! HammerStone group will prevail, and no other company is better than us!"
Zion was triggered by those words.
He was about to jump in, when all of a sudden, he felt a tap on his shoulder.
He looked behind and saw Michael.
"Before you go, I have a few gifts to give you," Michael said with a smile, raising his hand to bestow some new skills for Zion.