In all honesty, Isaac never expected this to be a stealthy operation. He was an armour-clad warrior whose footsteps reverberated when he so much as jogged. As such, entering the castle, disposing of the target and leaving without anyone ever knowing he had been there was unattainable; that was the realm of phantoms.
Still, it would be preferable if he could finish what he had come to do before the townspeople got here.
He jumped off the wall, landing in the courtyard with a thud. Then he set his eyes on the guards. A third of them carried longbows and crossbows while the remaining two thirds hoisted spears. Each of the guardsmen expelled raspy breaths, some had shaky hands; Isaac could even make out a sheen of sweat on their foreheads. The way the spear-bearers gripped their weapons was enough to tell him of their expertise, or lack thereof.
Seeing him standing before them, half the castle guards snapped out of their stupor and yelled ferociously as they moved into action. In the back of the group the archers loosened their bows in his direction. One of their arrows flew off course, the other would have hit him in the chest had he not raised his hand to swat it away; not that it would have done much damage if it had landed.
Just then, the first of the spearmen reached him and thrust at him. Although the attack was decent. it lacked speed, enabling Isaac to dodge to the side easily; straight into the tip of another spear. His hand shot out and pushed the javelin out of the way, causing the man to lose balance and fall forward with a yelp. Isaac's hand flew out again and aimed for the back of the guard's neck. He went down without resisting.
Isaac's gaze shot back to the first guard who reached him and saw that he was preparing another attack. He stepped to the side- allowing the spear tip to pass him- and pounced on the guard, knocking him out with a chop to the temple.
Isaac could not help lament as he caught yet another spear and rendered its owner unconscious. These castle guards were ordinary men with standard physiques; a punch from someone like him would break their bones or outright rapture their organs and kill them. To prevent such a scenario he made sure to hold back as much as he could.
Three spear guards were down. The remaining spearmen moved to surround him while the archers kept trying to snipe him. None of the arrows reached him as he managed to swat them away. Several quick glances around and he saw that the seven spearmen had completely enclosed him in their circle. He did not give them a chance to make their move though as he jumped into the air, utilising a backflip to get himself out of their enclosure. This act caught them off guard and did not register for several seconds. When it did though, they grunted in frustration and scrambled to surround him once more.
But he was not having it this time. In his steel helm, his lips curled downwards as he marshalled his mana to activate {Chill}. The tips of the spears and projectiles flying at him suddenly lost momentum, veered off course and tumbled to the ground. Taking a quick glance at them, he spotted ice crystals on their weapons. As for the guards; they had frozen in the place, their bodies shivering; from cold or fear or both.
{Chill} generated a cold aura around him while inducing fear at the same time. Isaac had to admit that the effect of the ability was not bad.
A flash in the spearmen's direction and he saw their shaky hands had dropped their weapons. It was the same with the archers, as they had too had let go of their bows and crossbows. This sight caused his frown to deepen. Despite its usefulness, he had no fondness for the ability. The similarity between {Chill}'s fear effect and that of {Dread} was a stake that drilled into his core what he had become.
The soldiers were no longer in a state to fight. Where once they howled battle cries, they now whimpered with clattering teeth. Some of them- after dropping their weapons- even turned around and tried to run away. It was with minimal effort that he reached them and knocked them out. The same was done to all those he passed by. Within seconds he was the only one left standing.
Isaac moved on, approaching the pair of large wooden doors that led inside the castle itself. He placed a hand on each door and shoved. However, the doors did not budge. Another push, harder this time, and they remained unyielding. They had likely been barred from the other side.
This time, Isaac raised his boot and kicked in the middle of the doors. On the other side he heard something snap as the doors finally moved. They only managed to open a couple of centimetres though; the bar still held. Another kick and the bar twisted even further. He could now see its twisted form through crack of the doors. The third kick completely broke it as the doors flew wide open.
There were more guardsmen in the entrance hall wielding swords and spears. Leading them was a helmed figure donning polished steel armour with a sword and shield, both of which were too large for someone with a standard physique to lift simultaneously. The man's equipment ousted him as a knight. Although Isaac could not see the man's expression, he could practically feel his intensity as he stepped forward.
"Who are you?" the man demanded. "Why have you come?"
Instead of replying, Isaac charged him while pouring more mana into {Chill}. A similar occurrence to what happened outside swept the hall as the guards dropped their weapons. Unfortunately, it was only a few of them. These men, from their posture, appeared more trained than the ones he had encountered outside. Even more unfortunate, the armoured guard did not seem the slightest bit affected.
The man roared and charged Isaac, coming at him first with his shield and following up with his sword. Isaac jumped back on both occasions to avoid the attacks. His hand flew to his back and grasped the hilt of his broadsword, freeing it from its sheath as he brough it before him.
Due to the effects of {Corrupt}, the sword had long swapped its original shiny colour for an ebony hue. Just seeing how it had changed, he had to struggle not to grind his teeth. The sword had been in his possession since he was a Paladin squire. He kept it after leaving the Order; even when its enchantment dissipated. The weapon had been with him for years, his most faithful companion. Seeing what had become of it, the urge to lop of Sage's head off overcame him. If only it were possible to go through with the act.
The man raised his shield and charged him again. This time Isaac defended with his weapon, but had to move back to avoid the sword swing. He further stepped back to avoid a spear coming from the side, though this attack was far from accurate. He got to the spearman and knocked him out before raising his sword to catch another blow.
These movements were repeated over and over with Isaac occasionally veering off course to knock out more guards. By then he had figured out the extent of the knight's- whose continued failure to end the fight was sparking an ever-growing frustration- physical prowess. His physique was better than the phantom's, but not by much; it was still at Grade 4.
"Just who are you!" the knight shouted when Isaac defended against another attack. Seeing Isaac move away to knock out another guard, he released an exasperated breath and attacked once more; more furiously this time. "WHAT DO YOU FUCKING WANT?"
This time Isaac caught the knight's sword in his gauntlet and sent him scuttling away. Then he shot past him and put his focus on the guards.
In the beginning there were around twenty guardsmen in the hall, but after some time passed the number had been reduced by three quarters. Despite their numbers, it was hardly a chore to put them down. By the time the knight recovered he was the only foe left standing. {Chill} seemed to finally work on him, as he stepped back with his shield shaking slightly.
Seeing his demeanour, Isaac went on the offense. The knight yelped and thrust the shield between them, but Isaac grabbed it around the edge and shoved it out of the way. In response, the knight retaliated with a sword thrust. However, Isaac moved his leg fast, his boot catching the last guard's wrist, resulting in the knight letting go of the weapon. The sound of the sword clattering to the floor reverberated around the entrance hall just as Isaac smashed the hilt his own sword against the knight. The blow caught the man on side of the head, sending him wobbling backwards. A second strike in the same spot had him drop to the floor. To make sure he stayed down, Isaac kicked him in the same place.
After that, there was silence.
With sword in hand, Isaac walked over to the next door and pushed it open. He found himself in the audience chamber, a large room with a blue carpet and a throne at the end. The place was empty though. Barring the door he had just come through, there were three other doors; two on the sides and one behind the throne. Isaac might not have been familiar with castles, but he had visited Count Dickmund's residence countless times, so he was familiar with this arrangement in the audience chamber. If he were to guess, the door on the right likely led to the kitchen while the door on the left led to the guard's quarters. The door behind the throne room was where the baron entered to hold court. He chose this one.
He found himself in a corridor with stairs at the end. Quickly ascending the flight, it did not take him long to reach the second floor. Just like the first floor, there was no one. They had probably scurried off to hide when they heard sounds of battle. Hopefully they knew about the castle's secret tunnels because if Isaac did not find his target here, he would need their help.
The second floor was not big, so it did not take him long to open all the doors. There was a washroom, a privy and several bedrooms; he found no one in any of those. Only one door remained closed, Isaac was already preparing himself to go and look for someone who could guide him around the castle.
That proved unnecessary.
The room he entered this time was a class above the others in luxury. First off, it was lined with satin sheets and gold embroidery. There were countless silver ornaments around the room, including a mirror in a silver frame. A black curtain hung over what was likely a pair of massive windows, preventing light of any kind from entering the room. A human would have trouble seeing in this place, no matter how good their physique was; however, Isaac could make out the details almost as well as he would be able to if he was outside.
One the large bed in the centre lay a bare-chested young man. He had dark hair and a strong jaw women would find attractive. As for the colour of his eyes, Isaac was unable to tell due to the fact that he had them close while resting his head in the lap of an incredibly pretty red-haired woman in a blue dress, who was stroking his head lovingly.
The two of them did not pay Isaac any mind until he had taken a few steps into the room. Then the woman looked up at him, her crimson eyes glowing in the dark. She had pale skin, almost as pale as Isaac's, full lips the colour of blood. Those cherry lips quirked upwards, exposing two long canines.
"So you're the intruder?" she inquired in a sultry voice.