Night soaked the Skullcrusher's Trail at the northwest corner of the Outpost Ruins.
Only outside a rough stone warehouse built against the cliff at the trail’s end were a few torches flickering, barely pushing back a sliver of darkness.
Two Blacktooth mercenaries leaned against the warehouse’s rusted iron door, bored and yawning.
"Hey, did you hear?"
One mercenary, his face patterned with tattoos, picked at his teeth with a dagger. "Over in the eastern swamp, a new force seems to have popped up. Sounds like they're a real pain."
The other, a slightly chubby mercenary, snorted and patted the hilt at his waist.
"Heard those goblin trash who escaped from underground brag about it. Said the poison bees explode, slimes can fire cannons... Damn, the most ridiculous part is they swore up and down that the lord of that territory is a slime. Ridiculous."
"Slime? That slick, squishy thing that gets flattened if you step on it?"
Scarface laughed. "If that thing can call itself king, I’ll be crowned the White Horse King tomorrow. Goblin intel keeps getting more unreliable. No wonder Lord Blacktooth only uses them as cannon fodder."
Not far away in the shadow, almost melding into the darkness, Yano and Kane held their breath and hid.
A twitch pulled at the corner of Yano’s mouth as he silently mouthed to Chen Yu perched on his shoulder, "Boss, they seem to be looking down on us a bit."
Chen Yu’s gel body rippled slightly, emitting a soft hum.
A slime, huh.
Looks like they need a lesson.
Kane lowered his voice, his gaze scanning sharply around the warehouse. "Your Majesty, this is more troublesome than expected. The two guards at the door are just for show, but there's a hidden sentry in the roof shadow, armed with a military crossbow."
"There are warning Magic Formations arranged around the warehouse. Their energy fluctuations are subtle, but they can't fool my senses. Forcing an entry will definitely trigger them."
"Also... I sense at least two spellcasters inside. One might be proficient in divination-type spells. Stealth infiltration will be extremely difficult."
Yano frowned. His Level 3 Stealth could hide him from most physical guards, but it was hard to evade detection from a Magic Formation.
"What do we do then?"
What to do?
By Chen Yu’s style, he’d summon his Magical Creature Army and plow straight through—no stealth needed.
But the territory was too far;
the Magical Creature Army couldn’t get here. Right now they only had Yano, Kane, and Chen Yu’s own strength.
Fine, Chen Yu would handle it himself.
Just as Chen Yu was thinking about using Chaos Preach to slip in, Kane suddenly pressed down on Yano’s shoulder and pulled his breathing in to the utmost silence.
"Someone's coming!" Kane’s voice was as soft as a mosquito.
From the other side of the darkness, three figures glided out like phantoms. Their movements were so fast they left afterimages and quickly reached the warehouse.
[Ambush]
One of them scaled the roof like a gecko without a sound. In a shadowy flash, the hidden sentry with the military crossbow slumped down without even a sound.
Almost simultaneously, the other two shot toward the two mercenaries at the door like arrows loosed from a bow.
A glint of cold light, a dagger precisely slitting across Scarface’s throat, and another short sword plunged into the back of the chubby mercenary, severing his life instantly.
The whole sequence happened in the blink of an eye;
the ridicule on the mercenaries’ faces hadn't even had time to turn into shock before it froze forever.
The three mysterious figures dragged the bodies quickly and stuffed them into nearby bushes, and unknown powder wiped away the blood on the ground in an instant. Every trace was erased in a very short time.
Kane and Yano looked at each other, then both glanced at Chen Yu lying on Yano’s shoulder.
"Boss, was this your backup plan?"
"No." Chen Yu wobbled his gel.
"Looks like we’re not the only ones watching this warehouse."
"Then what do we do now?" Kane asked with his eyes.
"Of course we watch the show." Chen Yu’s tone was leisurely, as if it were the most natural thing.
After all, what use was that shabby scroll anyway?
He was just here to gather intel and to give the Blacktooth mercenary group a little trouble.
If someone else was willing to do the work, he could lie back and enjoy the fun.
However, while Chen Yu relaxed in those few seconds, the situation changed dramatically.
[Alarm Spell]
A sharp magical alarm sound rang out from inside the warehouse—the internal warning Magic Formation had been triggered.
"Enemy attack!!" Roars erupted inside the warehouse as blades were drawn with clattering metal.
But the three intruders were frighteningly professional.
They seemed to have expected to be discovered. After breaking in they did not linger but charged straight for their objective.
A brief, fierce clash of combat, the boom of spells, and a couple of short agonized cries came from inside.
Only two or three minutes later, the warehouse back door was violently flung open and a flat wagon pulled by two packhorses barreled out, piled with heavy wooden boxes.
The three assassins leaped onto the wagon, cracked the whips, and the carriage sped toward the darkness at the other end of the trail.
"Stop them!" the Blacktooth mercenaries who poured out shouted in disarray.
The Blacktooth response was swift. About seven or eight elite members vaulted onto nearby snarling lizard mounts and roared in pursuit.
A ranger in the group drew his bow mid-charge;
the arrowhead shimmered with faint magical light.
[Lightning Arrow]
"Whoosh!"
The arrow ripped through the night and struck the hind leg of one of the wagon’s packhorses. With a thundering crack it exploded in a burst of blinding light and force. The warhorse screamed and toppled.
The enormous inertia sent the wagon tipping over;
wooden boxes spilled everywhere. One crate burst open, revealing scrolls wrapped in dark red leather.
"Charge back!" the driver-assassin snarled.
The three quickly rose from the overturned wagon and stood back to back. Facing the surrounding Blacktooth mercenaries, their poisoned daggers and short swords gleamed with deadly cold in the dim light.
Battle erupted instantly.
These three were masters at assassination—precise, efficient, every strike aimed at a vital point.
Kane observed that their fighting style was heavily offense-oriented;
they seemed poor at defense and parrying.
As if they had never considered defending at all.
A burly Blacktooth mercenary seized on a tiny gap during one of the position switches, a murderous glint in his eyes. His longsword sliced with a gale toward one assassin’s throat.
[Fatal Slash]
The sword moved fast and brutal, and it looked like it would land.
But to his pupils’ sudden contraction, the expected feeling of blade cutting flesh never came. Instead, it felt like hacking into hard rock.
Sparks even flew off the sword tip.
Where the assassin had been struck, the skin at his neck at the instant the blade touched it took on a bizarre texture like granite.
"Damn it! Stone Descendant!!" the mercenary screamed in terror, his voice cracking from fear.
His cry turned into a last word. The "Stone Descendant" assassin countered with a swing;
the dagger severed his throat like a viper.
Having dealt with the pursuers, the three assassins seemed slightly wounded and breathed heavily.
They did not hesitate, quickly collecting most of the scattered scroll crates. With a few leaps they melted back into the darkness, fleeing deeper into the ruins.
Hidden in the dark and watching the whole scene, Yano jolted, his face a mix of shock and bewilderment.
Petrified skin... the Stone Descendant designation...
No, they are Stone Descendants—then who am I?
What the hell. Could those three have ties to the Belmont Family?
Or could the truth be that his ancestor had been promiscuous outside, leaving illegitimate children and spreading the Belmont bloodline?
Chen Yu noticed Yano's flustered emotions.
"Go. Follow them. I want to know who they are too."
"Kane, pull back to the base first."
"Thanks, Boss!" Yano nodded, then sprinted toward the direction the three assassins had vanished.
...
As the three assassins raced through the ruins, trying to shake off any tail, they heard footsteps behind them and abruptly halted.
The leader spun suddenly and his sharp eyes beneath his hood scanned a broken wall behind them.
"There’s a tail we missed." His voice was icily calm.
The other two split apart with practiced coordination, like ink dropping into water, silent as they looped to the rear.
Yano had just caught up when a cold murderous intent exploded from his right-rear.
One assassin materialized like a wraith and plunged a dagger straight into his back, aiming for a lethal spot. The speed and angle were far sharper and trickier than when they’d dealt with the mercenaries earlier.
To the assassin’s eyes, the man in front of him seemed totally unresponsive. Instinctively Yano turned, even reaching out with his hand in a reflex to grab the poisoned dagger.
To the assassin, that move looked like suicide.
A faint flicker of doubt crossed the assassin’s eyes, then instantly shifted to unparalleled shock.
"Clang!"
A crisp metallic clash rang out. The moment Yano’s palm met the blade’s edge, his skin suddenly turned gray, rough, and hard—its hardness rising multiple tiers—and he forced the deadly stab to stop, catching the dagger in his palm.
What?!
The assassin jumped back and stared at Yano’s hand as its color slowly returned to normal. Then he jerked his head up, trying to see the face beneath the hood clearly.
"Henry? You snuck out after us?!" one of the assassins blurted.
"Who’s Henry?"
Yano stopped and slowly pulled back his own hood, revealing a face that was completely unfamiliar to the assassins.
Instantly, all three who had regrouped stood frozen.
"...Who are you?" the leader’s voice was heavy with confusion and caution.
There were never many Stone Descendants to begin with, and inside the castle they saw each other constantly;
they all knew each other well.
But they had never seen this face. They did not recognize this man.
So where did this Stone Descendant ability come from?
This is bad. Did the ancestor have an illegitimate child out in the world?