Rastel moved along the corridor as slowly and as quickly as possible. He could already see the doors leading to the main hall on the right side of the corridor as he crouched low.
'Of course, there are guards!' he hissed silently to himself.
There were two other doors closer to him situated on the left corridor. But if he moved any closer, the guards would notice him.
He looked at the ceilings and noticed that it was made from ordinary wooden boards. Without much thought, he went further down the corridor before climbing up a supporting pole to reach the ceiling.
Taking out the immortal's knife, he proceeded to saw through the boards with much welcomed ease as he created a rough opening to climb through.
'If the immortal could see me right now I bet he would be pissed! His successor is terrible at cutting!' he mocked himself as he pushed the cut-out board aside and climbed into the hot and uncomfortable hole.
After getting his bearings by visualizing the corridor and the rooms, he moved quietly towards the area of the first door till he noticed the point where he was sure the walls of the room were.
Taking out the knife again, he cut out a small hole and peeked inside. The room looked a mess, there was a large table with papers scattered all over, a bookshelf with half the books laying on the floor and a bed that was covered in layers of books and quills. He also noticed a covered shivering lump laying in a corner.
'Bingo! This must be the legendary beginner's luck, right?' he thought as he proceeded to create a wider hole for him to pass through.
Taking the board aside, he put his head through the hole and looked around to be sure it was safe before jumping down silently. He landed on a thick book with the cover reading "THEORY OF MAGIC" on it.
Looking around, rastel noticed that there were all sorts of books on magic, history and geography around. There were even a few maps and books of the political situation around the world.
"Hurr Hurr Hurr Hurr! Taking on this little side quest seemed to have paid off somewhat hasn't it?" he chuckled quietly to himself as he quickly took all the books into his inventory.
He approached the covered lump and took off the thick blanket used to cover it. A girl with disheveled black hair and dirty white priest robes greeted his eyes. She was either sleeping or unconscious.
He bent down and casted Insta heal on her just in case before attempting to wake her up. She stirred first for a bit before opening up her eyes. The brightest blue eyes rastel had ever seen stared up at him leaving him in a daze, before her eyes suddenly reflected great rage and she started struggling.
"Hey Hey! Calm down! I'm here to help!" he whispered fiercely at her while keeping a finger on his lips.
"Did you hear something just now?"
"What do you mean?"
"I thought I just heard a noise coming from the mage's room"
'Shit! They noticed!' rastel cursed silently as he desperately tried to calm the girl down.
He could hear the voices of the men guarding the hall and it seemed like they were about to investigate. He took off the gag from the girl's mouth as he whispered to her.
"We don't have much time, come. I'll take you out of here safely, I promise." He smiled to put her at ease.
The girl seemed to stop struggling as she looked at him and slowly nodded her head. Seeing her consent, he went on to quickly cut her binds. Then he bent down and turned his back to her motioning for her to get on.
"Hurry up, not much time left to run away now before those idiots come in and figure out what's wrong."
The girl put her arms around his neck as she got comfortable on his back. She looked at the relaxed face of this muan who had come to save her as her unease and fear gradually melted in the background.
Rastel stood up and made sure she was secure before scaling the book shelf with unsteady movements then leaping towards the hole in the ceiling.
"Eeek!" the girl suddenly yelped in surprise.
"What was that!?" a voice came from outside the door as it was slammed open!
"Fuck me…." Rastel muttered under his breath as he hurriedly entered the hole with the girl clinging tightly to his back with an apologetic look on her face.
Rastel didn't bother trying to close the hole as he hurriedly ran towards his escape route. The guards had been fast enough to see him entering the hole to escape. He could already hear them shouting through the hall to alert the rest.
"INTRUDER!!! INTRUDER IN THE BUILDING!"
He didn't waste anytime reaching the hole in the corridor. Quickly lifting the cover and throwing it away. He scaled down the pillar like a monkey with its tail on fire and dashed towards the kitchen with his fastest speed.
The girl clung tightly to his back as she heard the guards rushing towards their direction with reinforcements coming from gods know where. She closed her eyes tightly and prayed for their safe escape.
Gai was moving quickly along the nearly empty streets of laron. Everywhere was quite as though all the villagers decided to go to sleep at the same time even though the night was still relatively young. Only the occasional player passed by for whatever reason or the other.
Gai looked dashing in his clothes. He had on a pair of black trousers and a black shirt with white outlines. The clothing looked like what traditional martial artists would wear in the real world but there were some different touches here and there with the shirt looking longer to resemble a monk's robe.
It had short sleeves that ended just above his ankle. And just below that, gai has wound his arms up in bandages to shield them from serious injuries. He wore a black leather glove that only covered up to his knuckles and simple black leather shoes. He indeed looked very dashing, and expensive! These kinds of equipment would be expensive for players below level 20 but gai was wearing his without a hint of pride or concern on his face.
Beside him, Ann and Marco walked with equal purpose with the mage sporting a red mage's robe with inscriptions on it signifying its enchantment. The robe sported a black belt and black high heeled boots with a red ribbon tying her black her in a ponytail completed her look as she moved with a confident smile.
The swordsman on the other hand had a complete set of brown leather armor with black highlights and iron gauntlets and chest plate to complete the entire thing. A sheathed sword swung at his hips as he looked around warily at the surroundings.
They both also seemed to have compete equipment in relation to their classes. This was the reward they had received from the leader. One he had quite surprisingly given them before they completed their given quest. But now, they were about to use these gifts against the organization! Debts would be repaid!
Gai had told them about a mission that involved the entire village of laron. The villagers were tired, they wanted to regain their freedom and this night was the night! They had already met the contact the old man had pointed gai towards, the woman that ran the only inn in the village. They were to go and help an operation the villagers had put in place to free those that were captured.
The captured villagers didn't know it yet but they were actually to be used as bait. They would force a significant number of the guards out of the base while another force would go in to fight the leader. They didn't know who the other force would consist of, but based on their perceived strength of the leader, the force would have to be terrifying!
Although they had never seen the leader in action, based on gai's perception they were sure he was at the very least level 50! There was no player that had yet crossed the level 50 threshold, if gai's suspicions were true then hell would probably be let loose this night.
The reached the back door of the village hall that led to the kitchens with familiarity while ensuring they weren't monitored. Gai was just about to open the door when he sensed some commotion on the other side. He jumped out of the door just in time as it burst open and a bunch of people rushed out in a hurry.
Gai was first taken aback till he saw the last person coming out, a green eyed muan with a girl on his back.
"Muan?"
"Mad monk?"
Gai creased his eyebrows for a second before regaining his composure and gestured.
"Follow me"