The playful sounds of dancing drops came upon the umbrella, dripping as if their sole purpose was to bring a sense of ease and calm to the morning. And as the rain became more intense, it began to soak the bottom of each pale black pant leg, deepening the cloth to a stronger hue, bringing Draven's black boots to a glossy water shine.
Presently, Draven was on his way to King Richard's castle. To reach the castle, Draven had to first enter the noble district. Then, through the straight lane paved with silver stones, he could either walk or hire a horse carriage to get into the castle grounds.
Since the heavy rain was pouring down from yesterday, the streets were mostly empty, and there weren't many customers in the shops on each side of the road. Moreover, because he was still in the commoner districts, the buildings had a kind of dull old look to them.
Except for Draven, a few bulky men staggered on the streets, probably due to the overconsumption of booze. Draven ignored them and kept his hood on to cover his face.
"What do you say we teach them a lesson?" Margoth's voice sounded in Draven's mind as he walked past the drunken men,
"We have to keep our heads down. According to the map we took from Martiland, there is a pine forest east of the castle. If we reach the forest, we can fly to the castle's top and breach it through the roof,"
Walking on the empty streets, Draven explained his plan to Margoth,
"What about guards and defense arrays?" asked Margoth,
"No defense arrays. King Richard holds a grudge against the gifted ones. So his castle has no magical arrays, only guards,"
"Any guards with superpowers?"
"No, but they all are extremely trained in long and close-ranged combat,"
Draven learned all this information about Veland when he visited the kingdom so many years ago. At that time, he was chasing down a supervillain belonging to the superhuman class.
(Special Humans => Enhanced Humans =>Superhumans =>the Supremes)
He was yet another scholar who turned evil because of his hunger for power. The scholar built a device called Siphon Harness that allowed him to absorb the etherian energy running in gifted ones' bodies.
The device powered up his armor, giving him superhuman strength and durability. Additionally, he fired powerful beams of energy and force blasts from his gauntlets, allowing him to fly via boots.
His armor and inhuman intellect made UFH classify him as Super Human.
He was terrorizing Kingdom Stegia in the name of Van Krieger until Draven stopped his madness once and for all. Their final battle happened in Veland because Van Krieger had a secret laboratory in Ingfast city, which happened to be next to Veland's capital.
Draven doubted the people of Veland had forgotten the battle that lasted half a day and turned half the city into ruins. Thinking about the battle, Draven realized how immature and hot-headed he was. If the current Draven battled Van Krieger, the collateral damage would be much much less than before. Of course, the current Draven would have killed Van Krieger instead of trying to capture him alive.
"Sounds simple enough. How do you plan to interrupt the power flaw? Destroy whatever device that's generating the etherian energy?"
"No," Draven shook his head,
"Destroying the generator would render the city's most important places defenseless. We can't let the Clown take advantage of the situation. So we're just going to interrupt the power generation temporarily,"
As he was walking in the rain, the straight lane ended up in a huge metal gate. Draven's view of what's on the other side was blocked by twelve feet gray stone city walls surrounding the noble district. Fortunately for Draven, he didn't plan to go through the metal gate. Instead, he looked around and noticed no one in the streets. Then, he teleported near the city walls. In a blink of an eye, Draven crossed a hundred-meter distance thanks to the short distance teleportation power he absorbed from Harvey.
"This power really comes in handy," Margoth said,
As he reached the city walls, he stood between the walls and a shabby two-story building.
In front of him twenty meters was a muddy river running with full might because of the continuous heavy rain. The river was dangerously turbulent. In case anyone stepped into the river, the current would take them straight to the ocean if they didn't die by hitting the countless boulders in the river path.
"Guards!" Margoth shouted in his head as Draven saw a group of three fully armored soldiers standing in a circle. Draven quickly teleported behind the building to hide from their sight,
"Man this weather sucks,"
"No, that General Barton bastard sucks. He put us outside because he caught us gambling last week. This is a punishment,"
"Damn it, Clint. Shut up. If someone heard us and ratted us out to the General, we are dead,"
The three soldiers seemed to be in a bad mood. It was logical considering the water, and they had to stand completely drenched in the heavy rain.
The poor soldiers didn't have anything above their heads to save them from the rain's wrath. The bad news was the three soldiers, and the mighty river stood between Draven and the pine forest on the other side of the river.
However, the good news was that Draven saw no soldiers on the other side except a few archers walking on the city walls. He could easily hide from the archers in the woods. From the woods, he could survey the patrolling archers, and when the time comes, he could fly to the castle's top.
"Well, at least we are not out there searching for the murdering maniac,"
Draven stood behind the building and couldn't help overhearing their conversation,
"Whoever he is, he did more good than all of us put together,"
Another soldier disagreed with the soldier who called Draven a murdering maniac,
"What are you talking about? He massacred people,"
"People? He didn't kill people. He killed beasts. You think Scarface, his men, and the thieves were people. How many people did Scarface kill?"
The soldier who supported Draven rebuked while the third soldier remained without taking part in the conversation,
"If everyone began to kill everyone, the world would turn into a graveyard Clint. We have laws and justice system for a reason,"
"It's a joke. That's what it is. Don't get me wrong, I respect the law and everything. But I am sleeping much better knowing Scarface, and the thieves guild is no more and my family is safer than ever,"
"Looks like we are getting some supporters Draven," Margoth was amused by their conversation,
[Ding! Legend increased]
[The host has earned 20 Legend Points]
"Here is that damn sound again!" Margoth shouter as soon as the system sounded in Draven's head,
"So let me get this straight? The more we spread our name, the more points we earn?" Margoth asked Draven,
"Seems like it,"
"Then we definitely need a moniker. Something that would strike fear in our enemies' hearts. Don't go with idiotic names like Angel of Lotus. Saying it makes me wanna puke,"
"Why don't you shut up and come up with a name then if it's that important to you?" Draven wanted Margoth to shut up so he could focus on his surroundings.
"I will. Just try not to get yourself killed,"
As Margoth went silent, obviously thinking of a name, Draven tried to find a way to reach the other side without getting detected by the soldiers. However, if he left the building's cover, there was nothing for him to hide behind as there was only a grassland before the soldiers. Thus, he would be detected if he decided to walk or even teleport.
"There is only one way to deal with them, Draven," Margoth coldly said as Draven sighed. It was really unfortunate that he couldn't teleport from where he was standing to the other side of the river. Otherwise, he wouldn't have chosen violence.
The two soldiers were having a heater conversation when Draven suddenly materialized behind their fellow soldier. The two of them gasped, but before they could react, Draven grabbed the soldier's head and banged it with the other one's.
Bang!
The metal helmets collided, producing a muffled banging sound. Draven's force knocked them out cold despite the helmets covering their heads. The third soldier, against killing people, tried grasping the sword in the sheath hanging from his waist.
The soldier was slow, at least compared to Draven. Draven had already unsheathed the sword of a knocked-out soldier and dashed at him way faster than the soldier.
Bang!
Draven then hit the soldier in the face with the back of the sword. Due to the force behind Draven's hit, the helmet caved in, and the soldier collapsed to the ground, losing consciousness.
"System, do you have ropes?" Draven wasn't sure the system would give him a rope to tie them together. But the system did tell him anything is possible with enough legendary points. Because of the system's words and Draven didn't want the soldiers to wake up and alert the others, he swallowed his doubts and asked the system.
[Searching the system store…]
[System has found a suitable item asked by the host…]
[The hemp ropes would cost 70 Legendary points]
[Does the host wish to purchase the hemp ropes?]
"Holy shit" Margoth was completely stunned and so was Draven.
"Yes" As soon as Draven said yes, he saw the Legendary points decreasing from 300 to 230 in the corner of his vision. The very next moment, he felt something materialize in his hands,
He looked down and saw a thick roll of hemp ropes in his hands. It just appeared in his hands out of thin air, just like the healing potion.
Instead of wondering how it happened or how the system worked, Draven quickly tied the soldiers together by their legs and arms. He also wrapped the ropes around their mouths so they wouldn't be able to shout for help.
It was fortunate that the soldiers stood so close to the city walls and away from the view of the archers on the walls. After tying them up, Draven made his way to the river while sticking close to the walls.
Whoosh!
When he reached the river, the red wings came out of his back, cutting through his brown robes. With a single flap of his wings, Draven crossed the river while avoiding the archers on the walls.