Chapter 132: Going deeper
Luckily for him, even though this guy was unusually fast for his size, he still struck clumsily and couldn’t control his strength or movents very well. Thanks to that, Edward was able to dodge him without too much trouble.
Still, he couldn’t get bogged down in a battle with this guy. He had to get rid of him as quickly as possible.
He surveyed his surroundings. The walls, the structure... They were inside a massive underground complex.
The corridors looked like those of a castle, so perhaps it was a castle-like structure deep underground.
After assessing his location, he ca up with a plan.
He jumped to the side to dodge the big guy’s attack.
"You ungrateful bastard, is running away all you know?!" roared the big guy, leaping after Edward. "You’re like a cockroach! Catch this bastard!"
His thunderous voice was followed by a crash against one of the walls. The impact tore a huge hole in it, leaving him dazed. He looked ahead and saw the wall of one of the rooms in the area... Hadn’t they been fighting quite a distance from here just a mont ago?
His mind in a daze, he looked for Edward, but the other had already climbed onto his back and kicked him with all the strength in his legs, grabbing him by the neck.
The big man felt the world spinning, and his head soon slamd violently into the floor.
Although he reacted quickly, Edward had managed to break free from his reach and dodged the attacks of the others coming from behind, which struck the walls of the surrounding rooms.
"Sir, be careful!" one of them roared from a distance, seeing that their boss had been tricked yet again by Edward.
The big man’s fist slamd into one of the pillars supporting the room’s main wall. The pillar crumbled to rubble, and in that instant, Edward leaped behind the big man and shoved him hard against the wall.
A man over seven feet tall and weighing over 200 kg crashed into a swaying wall that was also being pounded by other n. Although the structure was astonishingly sturdy, all that damage eventually caused the surrounding walls to collapse.
Edward quickly leapt backward and dodged the remaining n, watching as not only the walls but also the ceiling gave way under the damage. Several thick pillars that supported much of the cave’s structure also collapsed, burying a large number of the cave’s mbers in an endless abyss.
Although the battle had been relatively easy, it had cost him precious minutes. The alarm had already sounded, so all the mbers of the Red Moon Cave were already on alert. He couldn’t afford to waste any more ti.
Edward spun around and dodged the attacks of those shouting curses at him, then leaped further into the long corridor. Without too much trouble, he managed to shake off his pursuers, but when he reached an intersection, he ca to a sudden halt.
Several powerful figures were erging from the staircase leading down. They were coming from the second underground level.
They were no pushovers. Among them was a general, who made no attempt to hide his identity. He was dressed in a general’s uniform. He was an astonishingly powerful figure.
"Shit." Edward finally understood the danger this cave posed.
When they appeared, seven of his own n also ca to his side and surrounded him.
"Young Lord, Lord Harry has already infiltrated underground. You should go ahead. He doesn’t have many n with him." One of them whispered.
Edward frowned. "Can you handle these guys?"
"Just delay him, sir. This is a force to be reckoned with; we don’t have that much power."
Edward clenched his fists slightly, but nodded. "Be careful. We’ll blow this place up soon."
The power of the cave had astonished him. For a single group to have a general and others of equal rank is not sothing just any organization can achieve. Add to that the Royal Force that’s on its way... and the situation becos deadly for all of them.
He knew that so of his n were going to die, but he didn’t want them all to die. It would be disastrous to lose all of Ashford and Smith’s n just to destroy this place. Even if he managed to destroy it, it wouldn’t be worth it.
Edward turned and ran in another direction, but just then, several n appeared from the other side and forced him to stop.
"Heh, Ashford scum, do you really think you can get away with this? You trampled our headquarters... I’m not one of the believers, but I’ll rip the head off anyone who dares to trample our holy headquarters—the place that will one day rule Línnava!" The man roaring on the other side had a cold, deadly gaze.
A blood-red spear with a golden tip glead in his hand. Resting on his shoulders was a massive bird: the Bloody Peregrine Falcon.
An anomaly.
Edward quickly took several steps back. "The Bearer of the Blood Spear, the Dead-Eyed Bloody Elf." He recalled the title given to this man.
He wasn’t a human... he was a beast known as a Cursed Blood Elf. A type of cursed beast born from the union of elves with beings from the cursed lands.
No one knows exactly what combination gave rise to sothing like this, but they are among the few living beings in the world today capable of taming unsummoned beasts. The hawk on his shoulder is an ordinary beast that was tad by his strength; he is not a true summoner like the Beast Masters, but he still enjoys many of the benefits of being one.
This particular guy’s na is terrifying.
The Dead-Eyed Blood Elf... in the Western Province, he is one of the most dangerous Cursed Blood Elves. The problem is that they don’t live in the Cursed Lands. They don’t operate like cursed beasts; instead, they live among the population, hidden.
You generally wouldn’t run into one, let alone one as legendary as this one.
"Heh, so even the kids know
now." The elf laughed. His face bore a bloody scar that looked like a spider tattoo—the mark left behind from his battle against a powerful beast.
’This is bad.’ Edward couldn’t win against this guy even if he used all his strength, but the elf was still accompanied by powerful people.
And the n from Aurora behind him couldn’t do much against so many people.
"You must find a way out of here, young lord. We could focus on just one side..." one of them suggested, but just then, a tremor shook them.
’Are more coming?’ Edward frowned. He wasn’t afraid that his n’s morale would collapse with so many problems cropping up, but if things kept going like this...
He raised his head imdiately and stepped aside.
BOOM!
The ceiling collapsed in several places due to massive explosions, and a crowd of people fell to the ground, one after another. The resulting explosions reverberated violently, hurling the n to the sides and threatening to destroy the floor and send them tumbling down.
Edward smiled slightly. "You’re late," he muttered, though he felt a certain sense of relief.
Gideon laughed out loud before answering. "Courtesy of the academy, student Edward. I never thought I’d be on a mission with you." He landed gracefully atop the rubble, facing the cursed elf.
"Are there so few of you?" Edward asked, noting that only seven from the regint were present.
"Heh, though we aren’t nurous, this ti we ca to blow this place to smithereens. Go join your friend; we sent people to protect him," Gideon replied.
Edward nodded and looked at the elf on the other side.
"Leave these to us," Gideon said, seeing the concern in her eyes. "This will be a piece of cake. Stick to your plan; ours won’t interfere with yours."
"Heh, fine. I’ve always been told that the 101st Regint is worthy of respect. I must see that for myself today. Do they really deserve all that praise?"
Gideon smiled. "I’ve heard good things about you, too, student Edward."
Edward didn’t waste any more ti here. Ti was precious this night. He didn’t know where Count Hazzard’s forces were, but they couldn’t be far away.
He imdiately ran underground. His mission here was to steal the valuable information stored deep within the cave. Everyone knew they could use it if it were threatened, since the leaders of this organization weren’t going to let it be stolen.
That is precisely why the mission had to be carried out as quickly as possible without arousing too much suspicion about its objective.
That’s why he was running late.
After navigating several flights of stairs and dodging a slew of traps, Edward reached the bottom floor. If this building was castle-like, then it must have been an upside-down castle, for the corridors had grown smaller and smaller the further down he went.
As soon as he reached the lower floor, Harry and his n erged from the shadows. "This way, Young Master," they said, and after passing through a secret door that led to more stairs leading down, they stopped near a massive reinforced door.
"They’re already inside. This is the organization’s information office. Stealing all the docunts will surely be impossible, but we should be able to steal quite a few," Harry said.
Edward nodded. "What are your n outside saying? How long until the Count’s forces arrive?" he asked.
"We’d better answer that ourselves," interjected a young cadet from the academy assigned to the 101st Regint. "It looks like soone got in the way, because they’re more than 30 minutes late."
"Thirty minutes..." Edward nodded. "My calculations estimated an hour, so if everything goes well, we should have an additional hour and thirty minutes. I don’t know if it will be enough, but it’s ti to get to work and fight."
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