On the other side of the battlefield, Brunar and Troni were holding up well. They were starting to feel more pressured but the sudden "Bloody cross" from Maynard lessoned that.
The goblins had started to pay more attention to Maynard's battle after the surprise attack. All the goblins were frightened when they saw one of the captains in three pieces by the wayside. Their morale was starting to be affected and they focused more on preserving their lives than immediately killing their opponents, playing into the adventurers' plans.
"Brunar!"
Brunar slew a goblin before he turned around while delivering a crossbody slash to a now visible target.
The partially paralyzed lv. 20 goblin was caught off guard by the slash attack across its back and had no way to defend in time. Digging a few centimeters into the goblin's flesh, Brunar quickly offed the goblin before he returned to face his side of the goblin encirclement.
"Thanks," said Troni while he cut off a goblin's arm and kicked its torso back into the crowd.
"Master's showing off again," mentioned Brunar.
"Yeah, so what? He always gets excited at times like this," replied Troni.
Brunar blew hot air from his nostrils as his blade began to glow. "I won't let him steal all the limelight!"
Troni sighed and let Brunar do as he pleased. This was a common occurrence among the samurai party, so this casual conversation did nothing to impede the onslaught of goblins.
"Aaagghh!"
A sudden whine caught the goblins' attention again as the goblin encirclement looked back at the captains that they respected and revered. What they saw was a big blow to their self-esteem.
One of the goblin captains had tried to hold back Rydel while the other did his best to contact the two remaining captains. But no opportunity was given. Instead, the captain with a contact crystal still in his hand screamed in pain as that same hand was sliced off at the wrist thanks to Maynard's "Sudden death."
"I told ya, it's too late!" berated Maynard. "Ya got to try harder than that!"
*****
In the outskirts of the palace, a figure would appear and disappear sporadically among the shadows. The lanky figure always stayed hidden, never revealing himself.
Keeping an eye on the palace's outer walls, Rydel noticed the increase in commotion. He soon heard a voice in his mind.
'We're doing well out here. One down, four to go.'
'Keep it up, you old demon,' replied Rydel with a smile.
The hunter watched the palace guards as they became more uneasy. Soon enough, the palace doors swung open and a fresh batch of a few dozen guards ran towards the front gate.
Pushing the front gate shut, the two guards in the immediate vicinity didn't notice the throwing knife that wedged itself on the ground exactly where the doors would meet.
Unable to closes the doors enough to lock it, the guards began to inspect the doors. But before they could find the knife blocking the door, there was a knife that slit each of the two guards' throats. Their silent death went undiscovered as Rydel leaned them against the wall and tilted their leather helmets down to cover their eyes as if they were sleeping on the job.
Thanks to his nightly adventure before, he had already mapped out the best route towards the inner palace.
Rydel snatched his knife off the floor and crept into the outer walls of the palace. Thinking on his feet, he dashed across the corridor and into a small room. Once he was alone in the room, Rydel placed his hand on the floor and activated his "Predator sense" skill.
With "Predator sense" he would be able to feel the movements, smells, or sounds of anything in his immediate vicinity. Also, he could feel movements and vibrations further by focusing on a particular source, like how he was feeling all the vibrations in the stone floor.
Sensing a few targets, Rydel readied himself and took action. One guard walked past the door but was unsuspectedly pulled inside and silenced immediately.
Rydel resumed to dart through the hall with throwing knives at the ready. A couple more guards around the corner had knives lodged in their throats before they even noticed Rydel appear.
Wanting to create somewhat of a commotion in the outer palace, Rydel left those guards there for others to find and worry. Three more guards were silenced before he found the entrance to the inner palace. Not wasting a second, Rydel put his hand back on the floor and reactivated "Predator sense."
Unlucky for him, he felt two guards slowly walking down the corridor on the other side.
He planned to create a few problems within the outer palace before he hid away inside the inner palace. While investigating the inner palace with his "Predator sense," he was going to map out his next plan of attack from there.
However, if he were discovered entering the inner palace, then he'd be in trouble. The guards of the inner palace were stronger and had better armor. There weren't as many, but they were more troublesome. If his original plan could work, some inner guards would need to go investigate in the outer palace, thinning the ranks and making it easier for Rydel to reach the throne room.
Thinking on his toes, Rydel hurried into a nearby closet of sorts. It was like a mix of a mini armory and a clothes rack.
He waited inside for a couple of minutes, giving any guards a chance to pass by. Rydel reluctantly used "Predator sense" again, leaving him with one last use for the day.
This time he was luckier. There were no guards present on the other side of the door to the inner palace, but a guard was rushing to the aid of his fallen comrade. Not giving that goblin guard a chance to act, Rydel bolted out of the closet and jabbed a knife into the back of the goblin guard's neck.
As the guard drew his last breath, he tried to reach out towards Rydel, who quickly opened the doorway to the inner palace and slid in while closing it behind him.
Glad to have that over with Rydel dashed into the nearest empty room which he located with the previous "Predator sense." Rydel let out a deep breath as he collected his bearings and prepared for the palace to go into a frenzy.
Rydel was glad that the palace was lacking guards thanks to phase one going well. He sent out a message.
'Just entered the inner palace and the outer palace is about to get hectic.'
'Thanks, captain, I'll start phase three shortly.'
Jack was near the outskirts of the palace but kept Bowser and himself hid in an alley. The resplendent bracer was active, making sure to cover them both.
When Jack had vanished that morning, Bowser wasn't on his shoulder, but in his coat pocket. He discovered that lv. 1 companion mirroring wasn't going to let Bowser become invisible, only illusory in appearance.
However, he fixed that soon after finding this alley to relax and wait for his turn to act. While waiting, Jack was checking the system notifications and his own stats. After quickly claiming the achievement [Find the goblin city] he was rewarded with fifteen skill points. Jack also noticed he now had an achievement specifically to save Slivia, which reminded him how serious this mission would be.
With thirty-three skill points to spend, Jack upgraded his companion mirroring to lv. 2 for twenty skill points. Ten skill points then went toward upgrading perception to lv. 2, leaving Jack with three skill points to spare.
With companion mirroring up to lv. 2, they tested Bowser's invisibility. The fox was able to fully disappear that time, but the light didn't bend around him as smoothly as it did with Jack. But they didn't care about that because Bowser would only be using this to dash from one part of the city to the next. At high speeds, it was just as effective as Jack's stagnant invisibility.
Also, Jack and Bowser were happy to reach lv. 15 while they waited for phase three to begin. The weathered jade would be wearing off within the next two hours, so this couldn't have been any tighter. Jack was still tired due to having little sleep, but he felt it was worth the EXP.
Now at lv. 15, he was confident in Bowser's ability to handle the distraction on his own. In his fire form, if he doubled in level like the first time, Bowser would be at lv. 30. And if Jack activated his companion bloodline skill and it went the same as last time, he'd reach lv. 18. It wasn't as nice as Bowser, but three levels meant a lot for the current Jack.
'You know what to do boy, so go and let loose,' said Jack while rubbing what he assumed was Bowser's back.
'Yup, yup,' said Bowser with excitement.