The sun was already going down by the time Grey pulled himself away from the squires. The rays pierced through the tall windows, bearing down as though it was midday. It was probably all the gold and marble that made it as oppressive as it was.
’This is stupid.’ Grey thought to himself.
Of course, he wasn’t thinking about the fact Baron Giyoto was certainly still waiting for him. The old bastard could wait. He was actually thinking about trying to sneak into this place.
The squires were actually quite excited about getting their own spatial items. From what Grey could tell, Terran probably didn’t expect Globb’s tool kit to have anything of use. Given he was a rich prodigal son, he definitely had plenty of spatial items himself, so he had thrown it into the pile with everything else.
When the next cycle of Holy Knights were coronated, the odds that the tool belt would be taken weren’t high, but it wasn’t a non-zero chance.
However, if Grey went along with this cycle and became a Holy Knight quickly, there was a good chance he could use his good relationship with the other squires to get first choice. At that point, he could get the tool belt without taking all that great a risk.
It wouldn’t cost him anything but a little patience.
But the problem was twofold.
First, every second counted for Grey, especially when everyone seemed to have a reason to want to kill him.
And second, if he sped up his Holy Knight trial, then he would be a lot weaker than he could be, which would limit the Abilities he could otherwise gain, and thus further limit him in the future.
Regardless of what road he was going to choose, it would end up with him being impatient about something, so though Grey thought this way was stupid, he decided to go about it anyway.
If he died in the attempt, fine. He had already set a convenient checkpoint.
Though the worry about the lingering effects of death loops was still at the back of his mind, at this point he had to take advantage of the only real trump card he had.
If he could come back from the dead, then it made most sense for him to ride that train until the wheels came off.
With a swipe over his face, pixels of violet and red bloomed. The Skrill Mask and Grey’s mechanical jaw took shape on his face.
Soon, he entered a series of hallways where the tall ceilings of the Church Palace began to lower. There was also a slight slope to the floor as well. It seemed they were going underground.
’Everything is so extra here. Haven’t you heard of fucking stairs?’
Grey came to a stop at a corner. He slowly leaned his head over and spotted a pair of guards.
As expected, the path forward was blocked.
His head snapped back, but he cursed inwardly. His stealth wasn’t exactly all that great, he was pretty sure they had noticed something already. He heard one of them walking.
’Well, balls to the wall it is, then.’
Grey grinned.
The old man had been beating him up for two days straight, someone was going to have to pay for that.
He opened up his palm and the fang daggers slipped into them seamlessly.
The instant the guard rounded the corner, he was already attacking. The aura of someone of the Established Class radiated from him, and he was clearly quite decisive.
The walk here had been so calm, but then he suddenly exploded forth as though his only intention was to rip Grey to pieces.
’Shit. How much noise do I want to make?’ Grey dismissed the thought the moment he had it. ’Fuck it.’
He raised both his fang daggers up in a reverse grip, blocking the blow with ease even with so little room for error. He hadn’t used his blood to extend the blades at all.
Unfortunately, despite the easy block, his low strength stat was really biting him in the ass.
Grey used the wall for leverage so that he wouldn’t be sent flying, flattening himself against it. With a slight shift in his steps, the guard was thrown slightly off balance. Attacking from around the corner wasn’t the most coordinated option in the first place, so Grey instantly found a weakness, flashing arcs of electricity dancing in his eyes.
The moment he got a hint of leeway from the wall, he put his Chad Suit on and his STR stat explosively increased.
He took a step forward as the guard swung his blade again, but the knight’s sword didn’t make it far. The guard hadn’t expected Grey to suddenly get so close, the momentum of his swing didn’t even get the chance to pick up before Grey caught the guard of the knight’s sword with his dagger.
In a swift motion, Grey cut his other dagger around the latter’s throat, hurriedly sticking his fingers into the gap so that he couldn’t make a sound.
He slowly lowered the man to the ground and then waited.
"Deak?"
As expected, the soft voice of the second guard came a bit afterward.
’What the fuck kind of name is Deak? Your parents really hated your ass.’ Grey thought, looking at the corpse by his side.
The sudden whistling wind of another blade abruptly cut off the rest of Grey’s thoughts, but he was already prepared.
He ducked.
BANG.
The sword clattered against the wall.
"Too much fucking noise you idiot." Grey berated, sweeping a leg at the guard’s ankles.
The guard toppled over like a house of cards. He didn’t get to say much of anything else either because Grey’s dagger split his forehead in two.
Getting up and smoothing his linen shirt over with bloodied hands, Grey moved forward.
’I’m really going to need to find new clothes if I want to get out of this one.’ Grey thought to himself.
He made it to the path the guards were blocking. But they weren’t standing in front of a door.
’Oh look, finally a normal set of stairs.’
There was little "normal" about them, though. They were formed of worn stone and compared to the rest of the Church Palace, it was practically ancient.