Chapter 3.2, Infiltration

It was a quiet night. No intruders had dared to set foot in their territory. He looked at the starry sky, enjoying the view from the watchtower.

Then there came a sound behind him.

He took arms and looked behind, only to find his comrade, holding two cups of hot soups, one in each hand. He breathed a sigh of relief and received a cup from him.

His comrade reminded him that his shift had ended. He thanked him for the soup and moved out of the watchtower.

The new occupant of the watchtower placed his cup on a small table. He positioned a chair to his liking and sat down, watching the north side of the camp.

As he was about to a sip, he saw a strange flash in a distance. He stood up and squinted his eyes, focusing on the source of light.

An object flew by and struck into one of the pillars that linked between the roof and the floor.

He turned to look at the object.

The object was a throwing knife.

As he pondered over where the knife was coming from, a mysterious black figure appeared out of thin air next to the throwing knife.

Instinctively, he reached out for his blade, but it was too late.

The intruder was agile. He wrapped his arms around his neck, choking him. The grappled tried to break free from his grasp but failed to do so, and he fell unconscious.

The intruder slowly laid down his victim to the ground and went over to one of the pillars of the watchtower to retrieve his throwing knife.

“I’m in. Any strange movements?” said Jayce, utilizing his telepathy enchantment.

“What was that?! You just threw a knife at one of the watchtowers and disappeared next to me. Not to mention that’s one hundred and fifty metres!”

Jayce couldn’t spare a moment to explain everything to her, not while he was deep in enemy territory. He could barely imagine Alice sat on the tree branch, pouting her side cheeks and sulking.

“I will explain everything later. For now, our top priority is the prisoners’ safety. Takedown any enemies that I marked and wait for my signal.”

Taking Jayce’s words, Alice returned her attention to the task at hand. She scanned the entire camp with the enchanted monocle that Jayce had lent to her a few moments ago.

“For now, the bandits’ activity is normal. The prisoners are located twenty metres east of your position. Two bandits guarding them and another five bandits are in your path.”

“Thanks for the update. On my way to the objective.”

He slid his throwing knife back to his sleeve.

Hidden under his sleeve was a stone that mainly used for magic gloves, but it could only store a few items.

He activated his stealth enchantments and took a peek below the watchtower, finding himself a guard below the watchtower. He checked his surroundings again, making sure no one else except Alice seen him.

At the right moment, he leapt off the watchtower. He landed on the bandit below him and slammed the bandit’s head first to the grassland.

“Don’t worry, you’re in the clear,” said Alice, keeping an eye on his surroundings.

Without a moment to waste, he hid the unconscious bandit to one of the nearby tents. He took a nearby rope to tie the bandit and placed him into one of the empty crates. He kept his stealth enchantments active, moving from tent to tent as cover.

Alice did a great job of providing directions to avoid contact with the enemies. She took into account every possible movement made by the bandits. He was glad that he’d made a right decision to went off by himself.

The moment he got closer to the bandit camp for reconnaissance, he felt something disturbing from the middle of the camp, so he chose to enter the camp by himself.

He arrived at his objective.

The prisoners’ conditions looked dire. They seemed to be fed, but the bandits might have fed them rotten foods.

Feeling disgusted by their actions, he kept his emotions in check, he had to keep his mind rationale in these situations.

“By any chance, you could cast a spell that isolates and muffles any sounds in a certain area? If so, can you cast that spell around the hostages’ cages and the two bandits guarding them?”

He knew she heard him so he waited. If she couldn’t cast that spell, she would have declined his request a while ago and he would have taken another approach.

While waiting, he unsheathed his blades, checking their conditions. He began to wonder whether these scimitars will suffice to take down the bandit leader. That was if their plan failed and he had no choice but to face the bandit leader.

“The barrier is now active, you have one minute.”

Without holding back, he sprinted towards the guards, holding one throwing knife and his blade.

One of the guards, farther away from him, noticed him. He unsheathed his sword and called out his comrade, but the comrade wasn’t able to hear anything from him.

Jayce threw a knife towards the unaware guard and swung his blade to his opponent who noticed his presence. The bandit fell unconscious by the throwing dagger.

One down.

The last bandit met Jayce’s sword with his.

Jayce swiftly unsheathed his other sword with his free hand, slashing his opponent’s legs. That attack brought his opponent down to his knee and he immediately took him down with a strike to the head with the pommel of his blade.

With that, both bandits had fallen unconscious.

When he approached one of the cages, he placed a finger to his lips, gesturing to the prisoners to be quiet.

“I’m here to help,” he reassured the prisoners.

The prisoners silently nodded.

He searched the bandits’ body, looking for a key. At last, he found it and quickly unlock the cages. He told them to stay close and keep themselves out of sight from the bandits.

“Alice, What’s the security status on the gate lever?”

“I will give an answer to that later. I’m moving to another location to get a better view,” responded Alice while jumping from tree to tree.

Jayce took another look at every prisoner at presence. Every single one of them looked ill, but they were still able to walk.

As he examined them, he found himself a prisoner with a bandage covering his eyesight. Strangely, the bandage was clean, must be a new prisoner perhaps. Either way, he had to help him out.

He approached the blind prisoner, offering him a hand to lift him up. However, the blind prisoner declined his offer.

“I may be blind, but I can handle myself,” said the blind prisoner.

“My apologies. My name is Jayce. We’re here to help. What is your name?”

“Aiden. So, are we ready to get out of this place?”

When Jayce was about to ask Aiden a question, he received an update from Alice.

“Jayce, there are four guards around the gate lever. Two guards on the top platform watching outside the perimeter while the other two guards guarding close to the lever. Any plans?”

“Any signs of our target?”

“Not yet.”

He thanked her for the update and resumed his conversation with Aiden.

“Sorry about that. I just received an update from my partner. Apparently, there are four guards guarding the gate control. I will open the path for everyone. So—”

“Let me help,” Aiden interjected.

“You’re unarmed. I wouldn’t risk having—”

“I won’t cause any burden to you and your partner. You have my word.” His tone suggested he wasn’t fooling around.

Jayce pondered for a moment, thinking every possibility of how Aiden will help them out. He reached a conclusion.

“Okay. If you want to help, there’s only one condition. If I told you to run, you run. Understood?”

Aiden nodded to his condition.

With Alice’s information and navigation, Jayce, Aiden, and the prisoners reached into one of the tents that seemed to be the food storage, located five tents away from the gate. Jayce, Aiden, and a few able prisoners took and distributed the food from the storage to the prisoners.

The prisoners were happy when they received their proper meals. While they were eating, Jayce withdrew and distributed a few medicines from his magic gloves to prisoners who required immediate treatment.

He couldn’t take any chances, so he gestured them not to speak as they were still in poor health conditions. He told the prisoners to stay in the tent while he and Aiden will head to the gate.

Twenty metres away, Jayce and Aiden waited for the right moment. Jayce had asked Alice to cast another sound-isolation magic around the upper level and make a distraction around the guards guarding the lower part of the gate.

After isolating the sounds around them, she then cast an illusion spell to the bandits.

To the bandits’ perception, they heard someone knocking at their gate. When the bandits turned their gaze towards the gate, Jayce and Aiden immediately sprinted toward the bandits. Jayce knocked a bandit out with a chokehold, while Aiden did the same. After knocking them unconscious, they dragged and hid their bodies in a nearby tent.

Jayce turned around to check on Aiden, who was nowhere to be seen.

Where did he go?

He quickly scanned his surroundings, trying to locate Aiden’s position. When he caught on Aiden in his field of vision, his eyes went wide, nervousness descended upon him as his pray his action will not jeopardize their quest.

Instead of taking the stairs, he was climbing the wooden frames that act as a support of the gate platform. Despite his physical physique, he climbed up efficiently and silently, finding and making use of every possible foothold that suits him.

He analyzed Aiden’s apparels, from top to bottom, he didn’t have a single enchantment applied to his apparels, which led him to believe that Aiden relied solely on strength alone. He began to grow suspicious of Aiden.

Is he…?

Meanwhile, Jayce’s target was about to turn his gaze at Aiden. Jayce quickly activated his muffle enchantments and sprinted at his target, unsheathing an obsidian scimitar with his right hand.

Instead of using the chokehold technique, he used his momentum to kick the back of his target’s knee, bringing his target down to his knee and struck his head with the pommel of his weapon.

Thankfully, no sound was made from both Aiden and Jayce’s target. They moved on, looking for the winch to open the gate.

The winch was massive, about one metre across, and it took both Jayce and Aiden to operate it.

When the gate was finally opened, one of the prisoners, who saw the gate opening, signalled others. With that, they ran out of the camp with every strength they could muster. However, the sound of the opening gate brought attention to the bandits.

When the last prisoner exited from the camp, Jayce turned his gaze toward Aiden,

“Aiden, thank you for helping the prisoners to escape, but it would be best for you to get yourself out of here.”

Upon hearing that, Aiden retorted.

“No, I should be the one thanking you. Also, I’m not leaving without my gears.”

“This is not the time—.”

Before he could finish his sentence, there came a war cry. They looked further south. There was a figure wielding a greatsword and other bandits followed behind him, weapons ready.