Chương 285: Chapter 273

The entire area could be described as desolate. With the setting sun casting long shadows and increasing the number of dark corners, the flickering light from the castle, combined with the odd refraction from the illusion spell that hid the area, worked together to create a sinister and desolate atmosphere. Still, Sam and Tim were having a good time.

They flitted from cover to cover, both using their respective spells to stay hidden – Sam silently wondering how high his stealth skill would go – and to increase their speed while keeping an eye out for scouts, lookouts, and guards. Surprisingly, they found nobody on their way to their first stop. Naturally, they found magical and non-magical traps aplenty, including some clever mines made with some basic engineering, but they were very badly hidden. At least to the two of them…

Finally, they arrived halfway up the mountainside, parallel to the partially rebuilt castle, once again sheltered by some of the rocks fallen down in ages past, allowing them to take a good look at the situation from a vantage point. Tim, without saying a word, poked Sam and pointed at a certain section. Sam squinted, then brought the binoculars made by Liz to his eyes and took another look. Tim had pointed out the proper entryway to the illusion-covered area.

The two trees were surrounded by a palisade, with countless guards covering it, patrolling around and simply watching it with eagle eyes. Luckily for them, the barrier was concentrated around the two trees, so the view around was distorted, only allowing the NPCs and players to see splashes of color around the two trees.

Fortunately, it seemed they hadn't seen the two of them examine the entrance, which meant they were confident in it, and they only needed the guards to take out those who managed to figure out the opening sequence. The cult probably couldn't fathom that somebody would try to enter at any other location.

"Probably not our exit location then…" he murmured quietly, keeping his voice low. Tim just snorted, equally quietly, then pointed to another part of the defense. Sam moved the binoculars and took in the specified area. He saw the side of the castle, covered in planks and some scaffolding. He could even spot a few tools lying here and there, next to some piles of materials. They probably started repairing it, but abandoned it for whatever reason.

The main point was that it was unguarded and pretty well situated for entry. Too convenient some might say…

"Trap?"

"Mhm. Standard trap," Tim replied.

"You wouldn't believe how many people fall for it…"

"Hehe…" Then Tim pointed out another part of the castle, this time a part of the wall that looked perfectly well-maintained, decorated with torches and whatnot, and even a few guards patrolling it. Sam followed his friend's index finger and saw that he was pointing out a door near that wall. It looked reinforced, but just during the short time he watched, he saw several guards go through it without a care.

"You want to go through the guard barracks?"

"Mhm. We usually used NPCs for the basic tasks, including guarding and other service jobs. Nobody liked standing around…" came the reply. Sam said nothing, he just kept observing the guards. He watched them walk along the wall, turn, walk back, and so on. However, after half an hour, he couldn't help but frown.

"Don't they look a little robotic?" he asked and Tim instantly zeroed in on the guards.

"Damn! What do you think? Golems? Automatons? Illusion?" Sam just shook his head.

"Why not something simpler? They are possessed… Increased security, less cost. A win-win for a demon cult."

"Then there is no chance we can blend in…" Sam couldn't help but agree. There was no way they could imitate the wooden way those NPCs were moving around. Or the general stench of demonic mana that was sure to envelop them.

"We need another way in…"

"Full frontal?"

"Without knowing what we are up against? I would like to at least try to figure out what those idiots are doing…" Sam replied, then he had an idea.

"Can't you call your contact? Maybe they know a spot?" Tim sadly shook his head, not even taking his eyes, and his binoculars, off the castle.

"During operations like this, it's total blackout. We had software installed that would log all calls. One call and the boss would be alerted."

"What if you call them?"

"Do not disturb is on…" Sam thought about it for a moment.

"Can calls from family go through?"

"What? You want me to have his mom call him?" This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"I mean…" Tim just let out a sigh.

"He is an orphan. No parents to use. Close friends and girlfriends are not whitelisted on the DNB list unless engaged or proven that the friend has some health condition that needs constant contact."

"Wow… that's paranoid."

"Heh… all those rules are because most of those things had ruined an operation…"

"Well, then back to looking…" Sam grumbled good-naturedly and raised his binoculars again. Five minutes later, he found it.

"North, over the wall. Small cliff," he spoke in a clipped tone. Tim instantly moved and examined the area Sam pointed out. There was a small cliff, or more like the remnants of an old rock slide, that jutted out in a way, that would allow them to shimmy down on the side and land inside the walls. Granted, only if there were no more magical defenses that Sam couldn't infiltrate.

"I don't see anything better. Let's go!" Once again, they were off, running between rocks and the few sparse trees, employing the full extent of their power to stay hidden, their attempts once again empowered by the fact that most of the guards seemed to be running on some predetermined path that didn't include looking outside and that the owners of this ruin didn't expect people from anywhere else but the gate between the two trees.

They were savvy enough to set up several traps, and locations that would be hard to infiltrate – not that unexpected by a guild that had the job to infiltrate places and kill people – but Sam hoped that there was at least a smidge of overconfidence somewhere in that giant-ass edgy castle… The two of them scaled the rubble-strewn mountainside without much trouble and soon they were lying on their stomachs and observing their landing destination.

It was a small, out-of-the-way open space at the back of the castle, that once may have housed something like a shed and a few boxes full of plants. Sadly, now all they could see was a rotting wooden structure, filled with equally rusty gardening implements, and a few mounds of old soil, covered in weeds and moss. There were a few rusty buckets filled with decomposing trash, but otherwise, there were no signs that anyone had visited the place in ages.

"What do you think? Trap or stupid?" Tim took a moment to think his question over, then nodded.

"I think it's viable. Do you sense any defenses?" Sam closed his eyes and reached out. He had to fight the urge to recoil at the thick soup of miasma that permeated the very walls and air of the castle, but he couldn't sense anything around their destination and the door leading deeper into the castle.

"Not a lick of magic. Unless they set up some mechanical triggers, we're in the clear," he reported. Tim nodded at hearing that.

"Then let's go, the guards just turned around," he said calmly, hurled himself over the ledge, and dropped quietly into the small courtyard they had been eyeing. Sam waited for a moment, trying to see if there was any reaction or response from the cult, but after a minute of nothing happening, he followed Tim, landing in the same courtyard, albeit with a somewhat louder thud.

His friend stepped up to the old door, grabbed the handle then let it go and reached into his inventory, retrieving a small flask of lubricating oil. Sam watched with a smirk as the assassin made sure all possible moving pieces were well lubricated before he once again reached for the handle and slowly turned it. The door was opened to a sliver, and Tim looked inside, before motioning Sam to follow him. The old door was then further opened and both of them slipped in, closing the door behind them.

Inside, they found themselves in an old corridor, filled with debris, stone, mortar, and enough cobwebs to make at least a dozen spooky costumes.

"Basement or the top?" Sam asked, his voice almost silent. Tim took up a thinking position before shrugging and motioning once again for Sam to follow him. He shrugged and did so. They crept along the wall, making sure not to step on anything (either an object or something alive), and headed deeper inside the rebuilt castle. It took around another half an hour to reach a cleaner and more organized part of the castle. This is where they first had to go around patrols marching around with almost mechanical precision.

They took a few looks in the rooms, but most were either abandoned or used as storage. Though Sam doubted that a secret cult like this one would use a random corridor accessible to anyone to hold their most important documents. No, he expected at least one undead abomination guard and at the minimum a lava waterfall.

In the absence of any clear objective, they started by sneaking to the very top, going through every corridor they could find, but the only thing they found were guard barracks, filled with NPCs sleeping with their eyes open, or sitting on the edge of their bed, unblinkingly staring ahead of themselves while the demonic miasma swirled in the air. Super creepy… Standing in a maintenance room of sorts, they had a hushed conversation.

"Basement?"

"Probably some big ritual room with carved demonic statues and the usual fixings you expect from a cult." Tim nodded then spoke up.

"We should split up…"

"Said every first victim in a slasher movie…" Sam retorted harshly. Tim just smiled.

"You're not specialized in stealth, so I can't be as stealthy as I am usually. Inversely, I don't have your staying power if they find us."

"Then you want to divide and conquer?"

"More like loud sabotage and quiet sabotage," Tim replied with a smile.

"Your…stealth is rather basic. I guarantee that they will find you when we go down. If not, then they're herding you into a trap." Sam's eyes widened in surprise and grinned.

"But they don't know we know they're going to do that…" Tim's smile matched his.

"Exactly." They spent a few minutes hashing out a plan, agreeing on some new code words and the like, then Sam blinked, Tim became one with the shadows and disappeared before his very eyes, even his fully focused mana sense could barely follow the thin thread of mana emanating from his friend.

'Man… can't wait until I have the same level of stealth…' he mused excitedly, before doing a few calming and focusing breathing exercises, opening the door, snuck out, and began heading toward the stairs they had discovered. It took some time to reach the ground floor, filled with barricades aimed at the giant gate that was also barricaded with tons of stone, debris, and other miscellaneous objects.

Stepping around the debris on the ground, and the patrolling NPCs, Sam soon reached the only stairs that seemed to be heading downward toward the basement. Taking a look around, he smiled, then launched himself upward, catching a wooden beam, then pulling himself up into a crouch. Apparently, there were several beams of wood coming out of the walls – probably remnants of old construction – that he could use to avoid directly taking the stairs.

With a quiet push, he was off, jumping from beam to beam, making sure to stay as silent as possible and checking for anyone noticing him after each jump. While he knew Tim was right, and his stealth skills were abysmal compared to the people holed up in this castle, it would still be a major embarrassment if he got caught right at the beginning.

'Hehe, nobody ever looks up…' he chuckled to himself as he leaped over an entire squad of guards marching up the stairs.