EV B2 Chapter 44:

I was vaguely aware of Alana following me as I stormed out, my breakfast still untouched. I had just gotten a location and decided that it was going to have to be enough. As we broke out of the location, I felt Alana come to walk by my side and take my elbow gently.

"Miles," she said in a soft tone that made it really hard to hold on to my blind rage.

I growled in frustration before I looked down at her and felt some of the red haze fade from my mind. She gave me a tentative smile that betrayed not a single hint of fear but just a touch of concern for me showed in her eyes.

"Miles, we should probably think about this a little."

I knew she was right, but gods damn it, I did not want to think about this. I wanted to act. I had never had any trauma with kidnapping before. It wasn't like my children had been kidnapped. Or my wife. Sure, I had watched all the movies and wished I had a particular set of skills, but, well, I didn't really know why this was hitting me so hard. And why had Loki sprung this on me like this? It just seemed so... strange.

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to think about that, so I pushed those questions out of my mind. They didn't matter right now. No. It was much more important that I get Astrid back. After a second, I shook my head and responded.

"No, I—" I trailed off, not sure exactly what to say. I sighed. "Yes, we should think about it, but we need to get there and scope out the area. We can make a plan after we see it. But we need to get there first."

Alana nodded with her brows furrowed slightly. "Good. I just wanted to make sure we were approaching this with the appropriate mindset."

While we were talking, we had already started moving again at that point. I considered dumping my significant amount of free points into my stats. Still, I decided I would wait to see if I needed it. I was still not sure where to put them, even if I was now wary about how I should allocate them. I knew that I shouldn't probably hold on to them, as I had learned my lesson last time, but at the same time, being too powerful and standing out too much was not a great idea.

Maybe—maybe I should just say fuck it and stand out as much as I wanted because hiding wasn't really getting me anything. Or maybe it was still avoiding a lot of problems that I didn't even realize so far.

Still, I realized that I was starting to be distracted again, so I pulled myself back to focus as we approached a type of district that I hadn't really noticed too much in Valhalla.

There was a warehouse. It was not the modern kind, but rather one that blended in more, like the set prop for a movie, but with thick wooden timbers and empty crates of magical supplies, as I couldn't imagine anyone keeping anything of value in this rundown neighborhood.

Before we got too close to our target, we started to move more cautiously—Alana staying back, and I was covering both of us with illusion mana, trying to keep us hidden so far. And it seemed to be working. Working well enough for me to be able to get a decent look at the situation.

The street was relatively empty, but there was a thin trickle of people going down the roads. Nothing like the hustle and bustle of the major thoroughfares, where taverns, inns, and other variations of drinking establishments were. Even the more trafficked shopping districts saw much more activity than this. Now, it seemed as if this was more for just passing through.

My incisive gaze allowed me to check the four warriors that loitered around, walking in seemingly random patterns around the building. They were not too impressive. The one woman was a level 25, and I could feel a focus on fire magic from her. The three men were more standard warriors, ranging from the lowest level of 17 and then two warriors at 24.

I couldn't tell if they had classes or not, but seeing that these were the guards outside the building, I expected whatever was inside to be more difficult. Sadly, I didn't have much faith that Alana could do much to assist me, though I likely wouldn't need it to take these four out.

But I questioned if that was the best idea. I wished that I had actually learned how to use a bow, as range would make it much easier to get all three of these people at one time. They made sure that they were never too close to each other, though they did regularly intersect and exchange a few words—only a pair at a time. So there were never fewer than three separate groups of guards.

I let my vision dance around and see nothing else, but no major points of interest made themselves known. So I ducked back a little way to where Alana was hiding and conveyed the information I had found.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to quietly take them all out, so it's better if I just bypass them. However... I don't know what you can do, Alana."

She didn't look exactly happy, but couldn't exactly argue.

"You can leave me here, but I'm not going to just sit here. I am perfectly capable of slowing them down if they decide to come to reinforce you—inside the building while still remaining hidden. I can also raise the alarm or at least warn you if something happens," she said, and I nodded in appreciation.

Those were things I hadn't thought of. My mind was too busy trying to find ways to keep her safe, rather than finding ways for her to make my life easier. She would definitely be able to do that well, remaining relatively out of harm's way. It was good enough, at least.

"Okay," I said, and we spent a few minutes devising a hiding place where she could watch the entrance—the main entrance to the warehouse and one of the side entryways. There was a door in the rear that we would just have to hope wouldn't come through, but the odds of more than one coming from that direction were hard to say. It didn't seem likely, in my opinion.

And well, now that I knew what to expect, I would have an easier time getting in.

My entry, though, wasn't through the front doors. No. There was a window cracked open, and I didn't know if it would exactly work, but I had pushed my Dance of the Jester enough that when I used enough illusion magic and flashed through, I was able to squeeze through the gap that should have been impossibly small. I didn't fully understand how that magic had worked, but it had a little bit of something to do with convincing reality that I was smaller than I actually was.

It was only by a few inches, but I appeared crouched in the rafters, looking down at a scene that very well could have been from some B-list Hollywood movie.

She was alive. A weight lifted from my chest, and the tightness in my lungs that I hadn't even noticed vanished. In its place, a different emotion started off with a slow boil as I took in the situation.

Astrid sat tied to a chair, her face bloody but eyes unbroken as she glared up at a man who was examining his knuckles. Three various goons watched as a woman in tight leather bent down behind Astrid, checking the bindings on her wrists and ankles.

I was working on examining the levels when they first started to speak.

"I know you don't want to talk with me," the man said as he dabbed some blood off the back of his hand. "You've made that abundantly clear. I've also provided some gentle encouragement, but unfortunately, I can't take your refusal lightly. There is just too much at stake for me and many other powerful people who would be quite upset. And believe me, they would certainly be upset with me. But they wouldn't stop with little old me. They would eventually find their way to you. It would be much easier for you to just tell me what I want to know, rather than wait for them to come and find you and make you tell them what you know. Even if you were to get away, that would be your fate."

He said it in a voice that was surprisingly neutral for such chilling words.

"The Cult of the World Leader is not a group you want to fuck around with, and I don't intend on being on their bad side. Especially not just for your pride."

I had to choke back a chuckle mixed with a sigh of exasperation.

So that was Loki's angle.