Chapter 377: Relief and Suspicion
(Basement Level V, Inside the Vault, Timer: 28:19)
"Got to start working... Step 1, retrieve the damn keychain," Leo muttered to himself, as his face flustered red just at the thought of what he was supposed to do next.
He glanced around again, eyes narrowing, as he once again made sure that there were no recording devices watching him....
As although he had already confirmed that he was in the clear with [Absolute Vision], the idea of doing the deed openly, still made his skin crawl.
’I know no one’s watching. But still this—’
He couldn’t bring himself to do it in plain sight.
This had always been the worst part of the plan for him, as he had secretly hoped that there would be a guard keeping watch so that he never had to complete this part, however, fate seemed to have other plans.
It seemed like today, fate itself wanted him to perform the humiliating act of pulling a swallowed object out from the one place that no self-respecting person ever wanted to reach into.
And to top it all off, he had to do it alone, in a room filled with priceless artefacts and reinforced mana-glass pedestals, that were each worth at least a few hundred million MP.
’I’ll die from embarrassment if Chaosbringer or anyone from The Uprising ever finds out that the mighty ’boss’ once took a dump in a treasure vault,’ he thought grimly, as just the thought made him shiver involuntarily.
’I know I probably don’t need to, but it’s still probably best to go ahead with the contingency I planned, for the sake of my own self respect....’ Leo thought, as he dashed towards the nearest object, while simultaneously using [Mirror World] as he summoned a perfect clone that instantly mimicked his posture and expression.
Then in that same split second, he activated [Vanish], shrouding his real body in invisibility as he crouched low, and went the other way from where the clone was heading, hiding himself behind one of the artefact pedestals, as he squatted in dumping position.
On one hand, the clone took over, walking with a natural gait, hands behind its back, as it inspected the stasis fields and the magical items on display with calm interest.
And on the other, the real Leo pulled his robe aside, crouched lower, and braced himself mentally.
’Alright. Let’s just do this. Easy. Quick. Clean.’
He pressed both hands against the cold metal floor, took a deep breath, and began to apply pressure—slow, deliberate, and increasingly awkward.
His jaw clenched. His legs trembled slightly, while the gown clung unhelpfully to his thighs.
’God, this is the most humiliating thing I’ve ever done.’ He thought, as seconds passed, but nothing happened.
He pushed again.
Still nothing.
And then—
*Plop*
A soft metallic sound hit the ground beside him, and Leo almost sighed in relief before he even looked down.
There it was. The small, black keychain, covered in a thin layer of mucus, but thankfully, only mucus.
’Praise be to the gods of digestion,’ he thought, as he picked it up with two fingers, carefully avoiding direct contact, and immediately activated [Dark Flame] to burn and cleanse the object.
*Woosh*
He was careful to not damage it, only activating the flame for a split second before stopping, as he ensured that the enchantment on the small keychain remained intact.
’Yep, Never doing this again,’ Leo concluded, as he did not even feel proud of what he achieved, as he instead preferred to scrub this memory out of his mind forever.
Then, without wasting another second, he straightened his spine, took another deep breath, and began scanning the vault for the best place to set up a Dimensional Portal, as after looking around, he saw a few empty object pedestals in a corner, which were probably capable of suspending an object in upright stasis, but were currently out of commission, because they had no treasure to hold.
’That seems perfect!’ He concluded, as disguising the frame like a treasure felt like the best course of action to take.
Twenty-seven minutes left.
He noticed on the clock, as he hurriedly made his way towards one of the empty pedestals, and began activating the keychain in his hand, so that he could pull out the mana frame from inside it, as instructed by Master Argo.
—-----------
Meanwhile, back at the upper levels of the Guild Headquarters, Antonio leaned back into his leather chair with his legs propped lazily over the polished long desk, as in one hand he held a half-filled porcelain cup, and in another, a small gold-framed artefact, which looked like a mirror no wider than a palm, but with glowing runes etched along its sides.
The glass shimmered faintly with green and gold as it pulsed in sync with his mana, showing a perfect bird’s-eye view of the vault chamber below.
He swirled the tea in his cup, watching Leo’s movements with mild interest.
"Hm... he’s scanning the ceiling first thing, is he?" Antonio mused aloud, as his fingers tapped the rim of the cup twice.
"Can’t say I’m surprised. Assassins love to map the kill zone first."
He gave a low chuckle and sipped from the cup, his eyes never leaving the reflection.
"Looking for a camera? It was never in the walls, kid," he whispered, amused.
The mirror in his hand was a (Semi-Divine) artefact that could show him the birds eye view of any place he had personally visited in the past 6 months, regardless of how far away it was.
And since Antonio had been to the vault in the past 6 months, he could see every action Leo performed in there clear as day.
He watched as Leo after searching the space for cameras, burst into a blur of motion, rushing towards the left most artefact in the room, as he paused only when he reached it, before beginning to lean over it, as he read the description plate attached below.
On one hand, it looked fine, nothing too suspicious, but on another, something about his sudden motion felt... off.
For the briefest moment before he began to run, barely a split-second, his form seemed to flicker unnaturally, like a ripple of water beneath moonlight.
To Antonio’s trained transcendent eyes, it looked like a split.
But with the mirror in his hand showing only 120 frames per second, he couldn’t be sure of what he saw, like he would have, if he were watching this unfold live before his actual eyes.
"The hell?"
Antonio’s smile faded slightly as he leaned in, narrowed his eyes, and tapped the side of the mirror twice.
The feed remained perfectly stable.
No glitches.
No more random splitting.
And yet, what he had just seen was unmistakable.
"Hm... Am I being too paranoid?" he muttered, his voice lower now, eyes sharp.
"Or did the kid just try something funny?"
He sat still for a long moment, weighing the variables in his head.
Then he sighed and stood up slowly, placing the mirror gently back into its velvet-lined case.
"Better to be safe than sorry," he said, walking around his desk as his longcoat brushed the sides of his boots.
The elevator ride to reach the vault would take a long time, because first, he had to go down to the lobby, then a switch to Elevator 3, and from there, a full descent to Basement Level V took a minimum of twelve minutes to complete, meaning Leo could very well be out of the Vault by the time he reached, but Antonio decided to go anyways.
As the Guild’s vice guildmaster , he had to confirm that everything was okay with his own eyes, for if Leo was really trying something funny, then he had to be punished before he succeeded in harming the institution.