It took a good while to find them, but I was eventually able to track the two individuals after I decided to go after them. It was very fortunate for that they hadn't managed to get very far away from the inn just yet.
I made sure to burn the image of their specific robes and their general stature into my mory so I wouldn't lose them in the streets.
Right now, I am tailing along behind them from a safe distance, hiding my presence and masking my mana as best as I could.
They had been so slippery and hard to find before that I didn't want to risk anything going wrong, especially the possibility of being discovered and letting them get away again.
The two of them were walking quite casually through the village, and it seed like nobody else was paying any attention to them at all; it was as if it were naturally difficult to notice them unless soone was deliberately trying to.
It looked like they were talking to each other as they walked, but from where I was positioned... I couldn't hear a single damn thing about what they were saying.
It was an incredibly frustrating situation to be in, but it's not like I could do anything to get closer without being spotted.
Anyway, the two of them eventually took a sharp turn into a very cramped pathway located in-between two small houses. I silently followed after them, sticking to the shadows.
Jerusha, Lycus, and I had already searched the entire village from top to bottom before this, and we hadn't seen anything suspicious. But now, I was starting to think they used so kind of trick to hide their base from our sight.
It's not a far-fetched idea at all— I an, that's really the only logical reason why we couldn't find even a single trace of them until now, even after searching for them non-stop.
As I continued to follow the two... I saw them finally reach a dead end and co to a complete stop right in front of it.
'What are they going to do now that they've run out of path?'
I wondered to myself.
Then, at the very next mont— Fwish~
They both just simply stepped forward, and they phased right through the solid dead end as if they were nothing more than ghosts!
"...!"
My eyes widened in complete shock as I watched that happen. I imdiately ran toward the exact spot where they had been standing just a second before, and as I stood in front of a cracked stone fence that was about as tall as — I began to study it.
I couldn't feel any mana or any kind of magical energy coming off the structure at all.
'Is this so kind of high-level illusion?'
I have two main guesses as to what this secret entrance would be made of; it's either high-grade alchemy, or a system of runes and ancient symbols.
I had studied both of these subjects back in the academy, I attended all of the classes about them.
They both require the use of physical diums, and once they are properly activated— a continuous supply of mana is no longer needed to keep them running.
'This entrance seems to be very high-level work... they must have so kind of specialist working among them.'
Anyway, I quickly looked around my surroundings. I was trying to find so way to tell the others that I had found their base here.
But I can't find anything that would work as a signal...
Also, there is a very high chance that I would be detected by so kind of alarm as soon as I actually went through their secret entrance.
"..."
My face distorted in a mix of confusion and annoyance. I honestly don't know what the right move is to make now.
'Should I head back to the inn and gather the others so we can attack together...?'
But if I did that, there was a chance the enemies might not be here anymore by the ti we finally got back. I felt my head start to ache a little from the stress of it all.
But in the end—
"Fuck it."
TAP-
I just tossed all my worries aside and took a determined step inside the secret entrance.
... ... ...
I passed through the stone fence as if there was nothing there at all, and on the other side; I was greeted by the sight of a long, dark tunnel.
The only source of light in the tunnel was a few torches mounted on the dirt walls. It was a simple, one-way path that led straight ahead.
'This place looks like it was really hastily made.'
I looked around at the walls, and without wasting any more ti— I went and ran straight through the tunnel.
... ... ...
"Huh?"
It wasn't long until sothing new blocked my path; it was a heavy tallic door this ti that seed to use mana sensing to recognize specific people.
'This thing wouldn't let in unless it recognized my mana as one of them... It's a clear product of magic engineering.'
Fortunately for , though—
"I'm actually quite knowledgeable about this specific subject."
[Magic Engineering: Level 52 (6%)]
I took out [Nyx] from my spatial storage, and after taking a few seconds to analyze the components of the tallic door— SLASH!
I swiftly swung my sword, cutting down the specific parts that were keeping the door locked without accidentally activating its self-destruct function.
THUD-
The heavy tal doors fell forward onto the dirty ground with a loud, ringing sound.
BAM!
Then I kicked off from the ground and continued my advance into the enemy's base.
*****
Raye ran straight forward as fast as he could without any hesitation after he had taken down the door, and in a matter of seconds—
BOOM!
He reached the very end of the tunnel, which led to a wooden door that he just kicked open with a loud bang.
Behind the wooden door, a large room spacious enough to house an entire family was revealed to him. And there—
"Huh...?"
Raye saw a group of six people. This included the man and the woman he had seen back at the inn, the ones he had followed all this way.
"W-Who are you?!"
The woman he followed exclaid, the surprise and shock visible all over her face.
The six people inside the room aren't wearing their robes anymore, probably because they felt they didn't have to hide themselves in here.
And now that those robes were gone— SWOOOSH~
Raye can feel a very thick and heavy demonic energy coming off from them... every single one of them in the room was pulsing with it.
He looked at each of them with cold, completely emotionless eyes. And instead of giving the woman an answer—
"Is this all of you?"
He asked that.
"Yeah, this is it. What are you going to do about it?"
The man he had followed answered him, stepping forward toward Raye with a wide, arrogant grin on his face.
SWOOSH~
A strong wave of dark demonic mana began swirling violently around his body and was slowly being compressed into his hands.
"..."
Raye just looked at him with a blank stare, and then, opening his mouth—
"[Flash]"
He muttered that.
S L A S H—!
Raye's figure completely disappeared from where he stood, and he reappeared a split second later right behind the man who had been taunting him just now!
"Huh...?"
The man was completely shocked.
He tried to turn around quickly so he could counter—!
Or at least, that was what he had planned to do... but his body wouldn't move.
And instead— Thud!
His head fell clean off his shoulders and bounced off the dirt ground.
He was dead before he even realized what happened.
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