As both Archie and Jas approached the camp, Archie put away the bundle of Molten Webs he had braided together and took notice of the surprisingly normal mood that surrounded the camp. The Warriors and Vanguards were alert, patrolling around the camp, while the mages and archers were manning the walls, shooting at the beasts that tried to get close.
It looked…normal, which was why Archie was confused. Shouldn’t everyone be way more tense than normal? They were about to go on a raid to kill Oliver, destroy the cult, and rescue the people he had kidnapped and experinted on tonight.
Seemingly sensing Archie’s confusion, Jas responded, “They don’t know about the raid.” His voice was hushed, and his mouth was covered with a dark grey scarf that he put on when they tree-hopped through the jungle. “We don’t know if we have sleeper agents within our camp, so only the people who are going to raid with us know.”
Sound logic, Archie rembered what Michael told him about the night Oliver brainwashed people to go berserk. “How are we going to get out then?” Quieting his own voice as both he and Jas passed through the camp, waving at the guards watching over the entrance. “I doubt twenty-sothing people, all E-Grades, leaving all at once won't draw so eyes.”
“We have a workaround,” Jas whispered, glancing at Archie with just his eyes for a mont.
Taking the hint, Archie continued walking through the camp with Jas until they reached two dium-sized brown tents that stood side by side. They looked like any other tents surrounding them, except for the thin shroud of mana surrounding them.
If this were the Archie that had just arrived from his Solo Tutorial, he wouldn’t have noticed the shroud and would have gone past it, without noticing anything. But ever since he got into the habit of constantly sensing the mana around him and practicing his mana control daily, his mana control and mana sensing had grown leaps and bounds.
So, seeing a dense shroud of mana that covered two tents in an area where active mana was absent rang a few bells in his head. The feeling it gave off reminded him of the fog that he was encompassed in when he was in the dinosaur dungeon. But there were two major differences between the two; that instead of fog surrounding the tents it looked like a normal pair of brown tents, and it was a lot weaker comparatively.
While he was still unable to see past the illusion, he still had a way to check out what was hiding from him. Activating Vital Sight revealed forty people standing both in and outside of the tent, but hidden from view.
Hinting at definite illusionary magic at work, and most probably the ‘workaround’ Jas was referring to. It was definitely sothing that would work to help them sneak out of the camp and into Oliver’s cult.
“This it?” Archie questioned with a pointed look at Jas.
“You sure seem to always be one step ahead,” Jas smiled and looked at Archie with bemusent. “I had this whole thing with Michael to see what look you’d make.”
Jas raised his hand and pushed aside an invisible sheet, revealing the inside of a large tent. “I guess that’s ruined, though.”
“You just gotta practice your mana manipulation,” Archie chuckled as he entered the tent after Jas.
Looking around, Archie observed the mix of familiar and unfamiliar faces seated around the large wooden circular table that looked…That looks way too finely made for soone to have made it.
Looking under the table revealed a large stump that held up the tree’s face. That’s a fucking tree a live one! Soone did that!
Ignoring the looks he got from people around him, he looked at the people furthest away from the entrance of the tent, aka where the head honchos typically sit.
At the heads of the table sat Michael, who was pointing at a map, marking locations, and discussing them with a few nearby people; Sarah, engaged in conversation with other healers—evident from their white robes; an elderly man in grass-stained leather armor with a gardening shovel resting beside his chair and a green-tipped wand lying in front of him, nursing an apple; and a man with dark circles under his eyes, wearing a blacksmith's apron, who appeared to be staring at Archie with... begrudging acceptance?
The hell did I do to him? Archie thought, looking at the man wearing a blacksmith’s apron. Staring at the elderly man, Archie felt a sense of kinship with him, sensing sothing he felt from both Thalindra and Bralmir, a Nature Affinity. Albeit a weaker one, but a Nature Affinity, nonetheless.
“Move over,” Jas grumbled as he moved past the people who were standing around. He then lightly patted Michael’s shoulder, gaining his attention from the map and the people he was conversing with, “Got him.” Jas interrupted before sliding into his own seat, adjusting the scarf around his face.
Michael turned to face Archie, who stood awkwardly in front of the table, as everyone who heard Jas turned to face him. Thank god for this mask, Archie thought as all forty people in the tent turned to face him.
“Hello, Archie,” Michael greeted him, his tone steeled, his previously warm personality gone. “I was hoping you’d show up a bit earlier.”
“Ah, I was caught up in a dungeon. My bad,” Archie replied, his eyes darting around to Identify everyone within the tent. It seed that everyone in the tent was around level 60, so a tad higher, while the rest were 58-59s. “But I’m here now and stronger than before.” Archie smiled, trying to elevate the serious mood that fell atop the room.
His response prompted everyone in the room to use Identify on him, confirming his claim. As they did, Archie felt small pricks of mana brushing against him from multiple directions - each one revealing where the spell had co from, and by extension, who had cast it.
In that mont, it finally clicked how Oliver had located him so easily during his earlier spying attempt. Back then, Archie’s mana control had been terrible; he would have barely been able to sense the subtle prodding of mana that ca with an Identify. But since he'd been committing to daily mana control exercises, his mana sense had been steadily sharpening.
That also ans that his mana manipulation is way better than my own if he was able to do so from that far of a distance, Archie realized. The mana pricks he felt touch him were faint; if he were to be identified from afar, maybe from two hundred to three hundred ters away, he wouldn’t feel it.
So, if Oliver was able to pinpoint exactly where he was from the mana prick from well over a couple of kiloters away, then that ant he had far superior mana sensing than his own. And using that logic, he most probably has just as good, if not better, mana control.
Michael stared at him for a bit before looking across the table, staring at everyone before nodding to one of the mages to his left. The mage responded by raising his wand and charging a bit of mana into it before firing a spell at the map Michael was previously looking at.
After the spell hit the map, Archie sensed mana hovering above the table entirely, flashing white before a 2-D holographic map covered the table.
Looking over the holographic map, Archie saw a few circled places on the map. One was surrounding Oliver’s cult, and a couple more were highlighting a couple of points within the cult, potentially weak points within the cult.
However, one larger circle in particular stood out as it covered a large portion of the jungle that overlooked Oliver’s cult. The area where he fought and killed the Mid-Boss, the Verdant Serpent.
“Before Sunrise, we will begin our raid to kill Oliver and all his demonic servants,” Michael stated as his gaze flickered from the map to staring into the eyes of everyone, lingering on a few individuals in particular.
I thought we were going to raid Oliver’s cult by nightfall? Archie wondered. I distinctly rember being told it was at nightfall…Maybe sothing ca up.
“Initially, the plan was to approach the cult from the left side and scale down the cliff with Lucien, Benjamin, Harper, Helena, and Lucas to use their Wind magic to take us down safely,” Michael stated. “Omar, Ashley, Emma, Mathias, and Leo would use their Light magic to shroud our forms, essentially making us invisible.”
“Unfortunately, however, we don’t know what happened on the left side cliffs, sothings decayed that side of the jungle almost entirely” Michael continued, “Because we don’t know what’s caused that and where it is, we had to scrap the previous plan and decided to go in from the right side.”
Just as Michael was about to continue, Archie cleared his throat, grabbing everyone’s attention, wondering why he was interrupting the raid brief.
“Yes, Archie,” Michael responded, turning from the map to Archie. “Was there sothing you didn’t like in the plan?”
“No, I don’t have any complaints so far,” Archie blinked, ignoring everyone’s eyes on him and focusing on the vital sparks and energy that flowed within Michael. He wasn’t sure why, but whenever he saw vital energy with his Vital Sight, it felt calming. Kinda like how people calm down when they listen to rainfall.
“It’s just that, that’s where I fought and killed the Verdant Serpent,” Archie continued, pointing at the large circle on the left side of Oliver’s cult, the part of the jungle that overlooked the cult. “It released so sort of decaying rot explosion move when it was getting into its second phase. So, unless there is a new type of creature that can do that, then it should be cleared…But, I haven’t been there as of late, so I really can’t tell you if there is a new creature that can spew rot and decay as much as the Mid-Boss did.”
Michael stared at Archie blankly for a mont, seemingly digesting the new information before nodding. “Is there anything that you noticed when you were there?”
Archie thought for a mont, replaying that day in his mind; “Oliver has far superior mana sense than I do, and I assu he has just as good, if not better mana control.”
“How do you know that?” Michael pushed.
Archie used Identify on Michael, revealing that he was a level 61 human. “Did you feel that?” Archie asked Michael.
“Barely,” Michael answered, confused at the sudden prick at his mana. He knew what Archie did, it was sothing he’d felt prick his mana every so often, he was out in public. Everyone would constantly Identify the other, him, especially since he was the camp’s leader. “But yes, I could feel that you Identified .”
“Well, I did that to Oliver when I was spying on his camp from a cliff overlooking it - just minutes before I got attacked by the Mid-Boss,” Archie explained. “I used Identify on him, and within an instant, he sensed it, pinpointed my location, and sicced the Mid-Boss on , which I’m pretty sure he’d brainwashed. The fact that he could detect that tiny prick of mana from that far away shows his mana sense is a lot stronger than we thought.”
“So, you think we shouldn’t use light magic to shroud ourselves?” Omar asked inquisitively. “Because it would give us away?”
“I don’t know,” Archie replied, shrugging his shoulders. “Explain to how the light shroud would work.”
“I cover myself, or a group of people in a bubble which refracts light to create an illusion to make us invisible,” Omar explained, whilst taking out a dagger and holding it in his open palm. He then cast a spell on the dagger, making it disappear.
So, the sa thing for what they did with the tent outside, Archie concluded. “So the sa thing you guys have for this tent?”
Getting a nod from Omar and the other Light Mages, he then asked another question, “How do the Demonic Humans, Thralls, and other people from Oliver’s cult react when you attack them with Light magic?”
“Definitely worse than other types of magic,” Omar responded, getting what Archie was referring to. “So, you think that they might be more susceptible to detecting Light mana?”
“I an, considering Light is the opposite of Dark, then yeah, but I can’t be 100% sure, considering we’ve just entered the system where anything can happen.” Archie replied, lightly shaking his head. “But I think we can use it to get close enough to their camp, so long as you have a way to conceal it.”
The man wearing blacksmith overalls, Eric, cut into their discussion; “You’re referring to the exhaust residue Light magic has when making an illusion? Like the one around this tent?” Seeing a nod from Archie, he continued, “I had the sa thought a few days ago and found a workaround. I was going to ntion it, but you beat to it. My girlfriend and I made sothing to counteract its effects.”
Eric reached into his pocket before throwing a tallic device to Archie, who Identified it midair before catching it.
Bracer of Light Stabilization (Common):
A bracer made from steel and mana crystals. Forged by Eric Hardwin, an E-Grade Mana Artificer, and Angela Smith, an E-Grade Armorsmith. The bracer acts as a stabilizer for Light mana. Effects: Soul-Bound, Self-Repair & Light Mana Stabilizer. Provides: 40 Int & 25 Wis. Status: Perfect. Requirent: Lv 55 , Light Affinity & Humanoid Race.
This looks cool as shit, Archie thought as he looked over its runic script. Ah, I see how they did it. Basic regulator synced to…I guess that’s the rune for light mana.
“Try it out,” Archie said before tossing the Bracer of Light Stabilization to Omar. But just as he turned his head to the side where Omar was, he saw another vital spark signature, the forty-first.
Archie imdiately Identified Michael to grab his attention. As Michael looked at him with confusion, Archie gestured to the number of people in the tent and held up the number forty.
Getting a confused nod from Michael, Archie discreetly took out his dagger and flung it to the person crouched outside their tent.
The dagger flew through the air and sank through the tent, producing a surprised gasp of pain. Archie kicked off the ground, lunging at whoever was spying on them.
Archie grabbed the person who was spying on them by their neck and flung them into the tent, ignoring the sounds of unsheathed swords and spells readying.
Turning around, Archie looked at Michael, who shoved the hilt of a dagger into their spy’s mouth, preventing them from biting off their own tongue.
“Looks like we’re going to be moving up the schedule,” Michael said as everyone Identified the spy.
[Dark Rogue Lv 54]
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