A few hours before.

  "Agh?!"

  Another battle was happening.

  Other teams that had left the stronghold were now under attack from two coldblooded people.

  Especially for Illyan, who wanted to test his saber fencing, flow, and blood energy abilities, these fights were welcomed, making his bloodlust rise.

  Since Aurelia didn’t want to waste any more mana, Illyan decided to use more power.

  For the first time in a while, he used his full power as he burst with blood energy, empowering his wind sshes, which killed two acolytes from a distance before he closed in with an instant burst from his legs.

  "What is goin—agh!" Like a god of death, he harvested the living with each swing while dodging every possible attack with minimal movement.

  Aurelia, attacking from the other side, only killed a few before she realized the entire team was culled down.

  Seeing Illyan covered in blood, with no emotion in his eyes, made her quiver a bit; this was the first time she realized that Illyan was truly a killer who could take hundreds of lives without blinking an eye.

  Killing was normal, but for most, it was also mentally exhausting.

  But she sensed that Illyan looked more empowered rather than exhausted.

  That made her wonder what kind of life he had lived before.

  Remembering the blemishes on his body, now much fainter since Illyan had followed her advice, made her think…

  But while her mind was chaotic and full of thoughts, her movements weren’t slow at all.

  Once they had killed everyone, they took a solution that she used to force down each corpse’s throat. After a few minutes, she drained the corpses’ blood into vials, now concentrated with all the life force and other energies that hadn’t yet dissipated from the bodies.

  This technique had been created by her family generations ago and was meant to use fresh bodies as materials.

  While revolting, she was a pragmatic person and wouldn’t abandon such a convenient technique just because of her disgust.

  The blood itself was also highly concentrated, as the volume shrank sharply, so they quickly collected every st droplet before leaving.

  In this manner, they hunted down all six teams that had left the stronghold.

  With their speed, it didn’t even take two hours.

  "With this much, we should be able to gain the authority for the stele," Aurelia said as she cleaned her sabers.

  "Hmm… Then we don’t need to csh bdes with the people in the stronghold at all. As long as we sneak in, we should be fine," Illyan said.

  "What about the acolytes?" he asked as he packed everything up.

  "They were hurt and exhausted, so it shouldn’t be surprising that it took them a long time. At their pace, they should be close enough," Aurelia said, pondering.

  Then she took out a shriveled head by its hair from her bag and infused mana into it. The head started to swirl in the air and turned toward the acolytes while opening its mouth.

  Aurelia read its lips before nodding with satisfaction.

  "They are very close to the stronghold but not inside yet. If we hurry, we will arrive just on time." She smiled as she stored the head away.

  This head was a magic tool that Illyan had obtained from one of the acolytes who bred the centipedes a year ago.

  He didn’t have a way to use it without mana, so he lent it to Aurelia for now.

  "Then we should go. If we miss the chance, it will be annoying."

  Without wasting any more time, they left the pce they had fought and ran toward the stronghold as fast as possible.

  …

  Soon, Illyan and Aurelia arrived closer to the stronghold, still hidden by trees to avoid being noticed by the guards watching from the walls and watchtowers.

  They decided to wait outside, anticipating the surviving acolytes would report everything, as these men still hadn’t entered the stronghold despite the time that had passed.

  It took a while before they were allowed inside, which Aurelia interpreted as them using telepathy for the advantage of surprise.

  Eventually, the acolytes entered the stronghold, with both the gang members and acolytes leading them inside.

  "Are they hiding the fact that everyone died, or do they pn something?" Illyan muttered to himself.

  "Hah, it’s probably a trap. There is no way an acolyte would grit his teeth and endure when the one attacking them is just some fighter gang. They’re probably seething with rage," Aurelia smirked, thinking about their pitiful pride.

  Illyan nodded. They seemed quite arrogant. It wasn’t the obvious kind but one deeply seeped into their bones as if they believed they were superior beings.

  Fortunately or unfortunately, their waiting was cut short sooner than expected. The guards originally watching the passage toward the stronghold were retreating as Illyan heard faint noises of clinking metal and battle cries.

  "They’re already fighting? No, I don’t hear any explosions. There’s no way these acolytes wouldn’t use the chance to blow them up," Illyan muttered to himself.

  "I don’t sense any fluctuations either, for now. It’s probably a fight between the acolytes’ henchmen and gang members, a bde-against-bde type of fight. Maybe Varel already knows what’s happening?" Aurelia said, frowning.

  Illyan focused his senses on the stronghold.

  When his strong perception confirmed that the guards watching the stronghold had disappeared, he sighed.

  "Let’s go. There should be no one watching now." Saying that, he ran his [Nature Breath Method] and went from bush to bush, hiding masterfully from any watching eyes.

  Aurelia, seeing this, followed while imitating his moves.

  Soon, they reached a broken wall in some pces. Illyan used these holes to grip the wall and climb quickly to the top.

  Aurelia was equally swift as they finally got over the wall's edge.

  Nodding at each other, they stayed crouched as they moved to the closest watchtower, which was part of the wall.

  Fortunately, no one was there, so they entered without issue.

  "Look there. It seems you were right. These guys are being sughtered while the acolytes are somewhere else."

  Illyan pointed at the area where the fight was occurring.

  Most of the bodies lying on the ground belonged to the acolytes' men, who defended their masters. Only around a third of the dead were gang members, killed by their bdes.

  However, the remaining gang members showed no sign of celebrating or mourning as they turned their attention to the tent in the corner, bloodlust in their eyes.

  "So that’s where the acolytes are, then…" Illyan muttered to himself.

  "Prepare yourself. There’s a faint mana fluctuation—Boom!" Just as Aurelia pointed at the tent in the courtyard corner, it vanished in a series of chain explosions.

  Dust flew everywhere as powerful mana fluctuations filled the stronghold.

  Illyan and Aurelia watched in silence as they saw the injured Varel surrounded by acolytes.

  ‘This is truly terrifying. If I were in his shoes, I’d probably be incapacitated without being able to do anything,’ Illyan thought silently, watching Varel ugh in the faces of his enemies.

  But the next stage of the fight began as the rest of Varel’s subordinates attacked the acolytes.

  Seeing this, Illyan turned to Aurelia. The fight was interesting, but they didn’t have time to waste.

  "Let’s use this opportunity to sneak around and find the stele," Illyan said.

  "You’re right. Since the mana fluctuations are strong, they won’t be able to find us even with mind power. But we should still be cautious," Aurelia nodded as they jumped off the watchtower and made a small detour toward the stronghold center...

  …

  While Illyan and Aurelia were sneaking around, Svanor was facing a deadly crisis that threatened to consume him whole.

  Varel, the most powerful foe, wasn’t incapacitated as he had hoped, despite losing his leg, and many gang members remained outside.

  Svanor had been aware of this earlier but couldn’t say anything for fear they would figure it out; he had hoped the outside guards would at least halve their numbers.

  He had even informed a few of the lead knights, but…

  Looking around, he shook his head.

  The people the acolytes brought as "guards" were essentially just for running errands and shielding them from enemies who got too close.

  They were no match for the bloodthirsty maniacs who led criminal organizations with their bloody fists.

  "Fuu~ I don’t have a choice," Svanor muttered as he chanted incantations and beckoned some acolytes.

  They quickly retreated, running toward one of the wagons that they had brought with them to this pce.

  The gang members saw this and raised their bows. Unfortunately, their arrows didn’t bite flesh and blood but instead struck mana barriers.

  Before they could react, the wagon's contents were revealed as the acolytes forcibly opened it.

  “Grawgh!” Guttural sounds echoed as a dark blur moved from the wagons straight into the sky.

  After one, four other blurs appeared, and the scent of rotten blood permeated the area.

  “Hmm? The blood-sucking bats that we encountered in Faruin? Shit…” Varel muttered as he recognized the nature of the blurs.

  They were the corpses of bats they had killed in the city while cleansing it of monsters.

  Varel turned his attention to the wagon, waiting for another to appear.

  But Svanor, who was continuing his incantations, was starting to bleed from his nose and was swaying.

  Seeing this, Varel grinned.

  “Hahaha, my boys, charge! This is his limit. He isn’t like Aziro!” Yelling this, he crouched down, tightening the muscles in his only leg.

  “Let’s dance,” he said as he licked his lips.

  Just a second ter, his leg sprang up like a spring as he disappeared into a blur.

  “Be careful!”

  Svanor, who had finished his chanting, turned his attention to Varel but was too slow.

  The closest acolyte to Varel was dead in seconds as two bloody holes appeared in his eye sockets.

  Others also charged, attacking other acolytes with cruel smiles.

  But the acolytes were also prepared, taking out their most precious tools and materials to use as mediums for magic.

  Gang members ran forward, their numbers thinning with each spell, but they didn’t falter.

  “Agh! Kill these bastards!”

  Yells echoed everywhere as blood spilled in every corner of the courtyard.

  Even the bats that fell from the sky to bite some gang members' necks were met with furious sshes.

  However, these bats didn’t care for such injuries, sucking all the blood and flying back into the sky.

  Since the undead bodies couldn’t digest the blood, they spat it back at other gang members in the form of blood missiles.

  Boom

  The sounds of battle shook the entire pce.

  Meanwhile, Illyan and Aurelia quietly slipped inside the rge tower at the center.

  They didn’t bother looking anywhere else since it was illogical to put the stele elsewhere.

  Fortunately, there were two entrances, so they could enter through the one farther from the conflict.

  Once inside, a stale smell filled their noses.

  The stronghold, much like the city of Faruin, had lost its splendor long ago.

  The interior was no different; any decorations that might have been there were gone, leaving only the old stone bricks.

  “Should we go up?” Illyan asked, looking at the spiral stairs winding along the walls.

  But Aurelia shook her head, giving him a questioning look.

  “That’s probably the first pce they checked when they arrived. If it was there, the acolytes wouldn’t just stand around fiddling with their fingers, don’t you think?”

  “Hmm… True. Then the only answer is the basement. But since I see no doors, I guess it’s cleverly hidden.” Illyan nodded thoughtfully as Aurelia’s words made sense.

  If Svanor had found something like the stele, even if he didn’t understand its value, he would recognize it as a magical tool and try to cim it for himself or Aziro.

  “We need to find the entrance as soon as possible…” Aurelia said, starting to look around.

  Illyan, however, stood still, examining the material the tower was built with.

  He noticed small shards of stone that had chipped off over time.

  “Aurelia, stop. This isn’t Faruin,” Illyan said with a grin.

  “Hmm?” Aurelia turned her gaze to where Illyan was looking.

  Seeing the shards, her green eyes widened.

  “Can you isote the sound? With the mana fluctuations from the battle, they shouldn’t feel anything, right?”

  “Oh, right. Yes, I can,” Aurelia replied, feeling a bit embarrassed.

  Searching for the hidden entrance was the most subtle and "perfect" way, minimizing the chance of discovery if they used proper methods, so she hadn’t considered alternatives.

  But Illyan had no such hesitation, immediately thinking of this crude method.

  Considering what they were doing, time was more critical than secrecy. They couldn’t hide forever.

  “I’ll use my mind power to isote this area for a few seconds—that’s my limit,” Aurelia warned, stepping closer to him to avoid wasting energy on distance and closing her eyes.

  “Sure thing,” Illyan said, pcing his hand just above the ground, his palm open.

  His blood energy surged, filling the muscles in his arm to their limit.

  “Then do it!” Aurelia instructed as the area covering Illyan wavered momentarily.

  Illyan wasted no time, smming his palm down.

  In the split second before the ground colpsed, he sent his flow into it, directing the kinetic energy to a focused area.

  Crack

  Instead of shattered stones flying everywhere, the ground cracked in a straight line before colpsing under pressure, revealing a dark space below.

  ‘There’s really something here,’ Illyan thought, noticing a spiral staircase leading down into the darkness.

  “Done,” he said, cpping his hands to remove the dust.

  Aurelia smiled at the sight.

  “Great, then let’s go.”

  Without hesitation, they both jumped into the hole Illyan created, disappearing into the darkness…

  Sorry for the dey. I didn't have access to my computer for the st few days. :)