Chapter 470 - Gravelhands

POV Dennis Dalton

Using [Haste], I reach the top of the building where Aaron is already waiting. Like me, he’s wearing clothes woven with experimental threads made from an alloy of multiple metals Nat spun. These threads allow us to block our mana signatures much more efficiently, as well as hide heat and signs of movement, from footsteps to disturbed air.

Just these damned modified clothes are considered of mid-epic rarity, similar to the masks we’re wearing, the ones that don’t even show our eyes but allow us to see through.

(Clothes alone might not be enough,) I receive the message and a sigh.

(Sneaky mode?) I ask.

Waiting for an answer, I glance at the city stretching below us. The place where we spent the past few months. Hollowgate is one of the three biggest cities in the central region, well-known for the mines it stands over as well as some ancient ruins.

Thousands of prisoners move throughout, weaving between the hundreds of buildings scattered across the landscape. Some structures look to be on the verge of collapse, while others resemble fortresses built right into the city. A few tall towers rise above the scene, and a deep pit—dug by one of the groups—gashes the ground. A tall mountain occupies part of the city, with a smaller fort nestled against its base—our target this time.

(Sneaky mode,) Aaron confirms.

After that both of us vibrate our mana in the way Nat taught us and circulate it inside our bodies with the modifications we made. In combination with the clothes, our presence becomes almost imperceptible. Adding [Sensory Deception], Nat says we can easily hide from people 50 levels higher, with rare exceptions.

As planned and using the mental map we made before, we pass by the guards and then through the protective web over the tall buildings and areas within. It’s one of the most defended places within the city.

The first obstacle is the outer circle on one of the walls, and we reach one of its anchors. There on the wall, an intricate set of inscriptions is engraved with molten metal. The requirement to pass is akey tied to your mana signature.

We already have the key we stole from the guy; the hard part is using it.

(Together,) I receive from Aaron.

I send confirmation, and through [Connection], we combine our minds’ calculative powers, working on the key, connecting to it instead of the owner. Something we wouldn’t be able to do alone is dealt with quickly, and we pass through the now deactivated defenses with hastened movement.

There is barely anyone here at this time and we have noted the position of the guard posts we are now avoiding. So we enter the building after breaking through protections in a similar way, quickly running through the hallways made out of white stone on black floor. Our steps echo from the empty walls, and I feel my heartbeat quickening.

The same feeling I’m getting from Aaron.

With the same method, we once again connect to another door, opening it together and then again deeper inside.

We avoid a few guards, while others pass by, oblivious to us as we blend in with the furniture. Occasionally, a scan from the protective array sweeps over us, but it always misses, thanks to our masking. We’re not using the key anymore to pretend to be that guy—he probably didn’t have access here anyway.

Then we get stuck in front of the last door deep inside of the fort. The door is made out of silver metal with beautiful engravings on the surface that are as beautiful as they are functional.

(Even he wouldn’t be able to open it.)

(Please don’t say things like that, or he will pop up out here, smack your head, and open it while practicing with evil cubes.)

(Fuck, that could really happen. Creepy orb?)

(Yes, but be careful, and please, don’t lose the box this time. He’ll be furious if it happens again.)

(Don’t even remind me.)

With that last confirmation, I reach into my pocket and pick out the small box densely covered with inscriptions and made out of one of the most durable metals, with a thin layer of voidcopper.

I unlock it with my mana signature, and it opens up, revealing a gray orb as big as a grape that seems to be made out of smoke.

Inside, the box is made out of Lily’s bones, which also bear plenty of inscriptions. Even now, I don’t dare to touch it with my fingers, and instead, move it closer to the door, extremely carefully blowing into it while deactivating the inscriptions.

The gray smoke flows through the air, meeting the silver door, desintegrating the metal at the merest touch, eating through the defenses as if they are not even there.

Lily’s [Disintegration] is just like that.

We watch the process from multiple big steps away until the smoke disappears entirely. Even then we wait for a bit to be sure.

Only then do we move close, pushing on the door and entering the room.

It’s the storage of the group called Gravelhands we are currently visiting, one of the best in the entire city.

(Quick.) Aaron throws a bag at me, and I grab it, piling the materials inside. Some metals, some threads, scales, weird leather.

Meanwhile, Aaron moves to the corner where the more valuable items seem to be.

(Fuck, that’s a lot; I bet we’ll get some nice shards out of this as well!) he says in between looting.

(Would be nice if he made us an arcane item.)

(Dream on; you saw how many items and materials he needed to make just that one, and it still blew up our old base.)

(Angry Kittens are indeed a menace.)

(For Angry Kittens!) Aaron cheers, his hand holding some weird metal.

We both giggle and then receive a signal from one of the traps we left in our steps.

(Not good.)

Again and again, the traps get activated, and then multiple detections wash over us, the defenses of the room trying to reactivate without any success.

Without any need to talk, we pick up everything we collected and rush outside, reactivating Sneaky Mode and [Sensory Deception].

We pass through the first wave of guards easily, none of them directly noticing us, and we avoid another one by going through the window.

Then one of the guards notices us and does something that strengthens the defenses of the area around us, destroying our camouflage. He attempts to disrupt our mana, but we do it to his instead, and he rushes us, immense mana flaring up around his body, creating huge mana arms.

(Teleportation?)

(The teleports outside from here are still blocked.)

We have done multiple runs like this. I guess it was about time one of them went belly-up, especially considering the value of items we took and the power of this group.

Our [Connection] activates, and we connect to the skill of the man attacking us. Both of our minds bear the effort of calculation, as we take over the skill, one of the huge arms punches its creator inside and three more start tearing a hole in the wall.

As the man gets thrown, we pass through.

Getting a warning, I move to the side without even checking and then send a similar warning to my brother, making him duck under the arrow. Another man and woman attack, but we get rid of them quickly, and then a few more afterward. Just a few months ago, they would've been a lot of trouble, but now it seems way too easy. For now.

Finally reaching the place where we passed into the inner layers of defenses, we stop.

A blue-skinned man with four arms stands there. In the darkness, only the flashing alarm lights and their piercing sounds break the silence. But the moment he stands before us, the alarms fall silent, as do the men and women who were pursuing us.

There is no need to hunt us anymore. The man in front of us is a Champion Candidate, the most powerful thylarin mage of the Gravelhands and one of the top 10 in Hollowgate.

(We can take him on together), I note.

(Not quickly enough. They’re already building up defenses around the fort.)

(Well fuck, I’m sending him the signal,) I say and pull on the thread tied to us and heading toward our base.

(This will be a mess.)

(It already is.)

“Tell me, are you the ones who kept stealing all over Hollowgate over the past two months? From Voidstriders, from Veiled Claw, Goldmere?”

“Also from Shadowcliff.” I note, proud of that one. It was the most difficult one so far.

The thylarin Champion Candidate laughs loudly, his blue skin shining in the dim light around us, and his four arms moving lazily. “That old fuck Drek even covered it up. Was he too ashamed to let people know?”

He doesn’t say more, and instead, an immense mana seeps out from his body, flowing from his heart through his chest and into his four arms that hold it, mold it, creating wisps that glow around him while he radiates that scary pressure.

“Now, I’ll take your masks and cut off your limbs, one by one. Then we’ll talk. What do you think, my friends?” he says, his tone dripping with menace.

Before anything can happen, I feel a mark on my forearm burn. It’s his anchor, connecting us with that invisible thread of his.

The protections around the area are ripped apart from the outside, as if the monster is forcing its way in, ignoring all defenses against teleportation. Then, without any warning, burst of mana, or disturbance, he appears at my side.

There isn’t even that crown floating over his head, left behind in our base, considered not needed. The same goes for that terrifying weapon he made.

His black hair is messy and his clothes look like he just woke up and threw them on. On his face is a mask similar to ours, hiding even his eyes and muffling his voice.

He quickly judges the situation, his stance lazy and nearly careless.

Maybe he really did just wake up.

“Let’s do it quickly, okay? Clear up the fodder; I’ll take the boss. No witnesses,” he finishes that with what sounds like a yawn.

In a blink, he disappears, standing in front of the thylarin Champion Candidate. It’s not even a teleport.

Layers of shields stack in front of the thylarin, and Nat twists his body, a smooth, nearly lazy movement tapping against the first layer that wobbles like the surface of a lake and then bursts open. The other barriers under it do the same.

The thylarin moves the disrupted mana, tendrils with glowing white tips attempting to pierce Nat, who moves from side to side in that twitchy, chaotic movement pattern that is impossible to predict.

An arm of the thylarin man is torn off, and I notice it’s a left one, stopping mid-air and floating there as Nat bulldozes through the barriers and fights the man.

Then I don’t have more time to spend watching and use [Haste] to avoid an attack. Multiple projections of me appear around, each with its own mana signature, heat signature, and even producing a small amount of kinetic signature. Aaron does the same, and we rush the men and women surrounding us.

I hold a short sword and dagger while Aaron prefers a single dagger.

Facing opponents that are more difficult, we opt for a quicker way, often swapping places. Aaron is better at facing certain builds, and the same goes for me. The bonus is sheer surprise each time we do that.

No one here is capable of matching our speed, even being at a higher level. Plenty of them have trouble even detecting us or are confused by our projections, so with the exception of two more powerful members, where we combine our minds to disrupt their mana, we deal with them easily.

When it’s all over, we return to the place where Nat is. He stands there, and I can sense him deploying his web to erase our signatures and anything that can be used as tracks.

I add him to our link, and he asks, (Done?)

(Now that everything’s in chaos, do you want to go and loot some more?) I ask in return.

(Maybe next time. I’m currently blocking three of their defensive arrays and attempts to teleport here. Probably around a few hundred people?)

(Well, fuck.)

(It’s fine, they suck at it.)

His mana touches us, and at the same time, I feel the pull on that thread and anchor tied to us, all three of us teleporting away while the thread dissipates in the air as we disappear, not leaving any signature behind.

We appear back in our base’s living room and throw the loot into yet another pile nearby before Nat quickly goes through it and picks two weird metals, seemingly satisfied.

“Just what I needed,” he declares and then, without any effect, disappears again, probably returning to his underground lab, leaving two evil orbs behind.

As we exchange glances, I send a message, (Lucky us, we didn’t get yelled at.)

(Yea, you think so? Check the orb.)

As I do so, I can only let out a deep groan at the new structure. It requires us to break through defenses and is filled with dozens of traps that punish each mistake, mimicking the one we missed that triggered the alarm.

***

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