The bodies of the Skylark guards fell to the ground, most of them unconscious. The thugs' leader had singlehandedly taken down a band of elite guards thanks to the Feather Shifter.
An artifact had managed to bridge the gap between ranks, something often thought to be what separated the victors from the losers, which went to show just how extraordinary these armaments were.
"Blow it up, Miles."
Just then, a sudden explosion erupted upon the hotel, forcing the entire building to shake rapidly. The shockwave stretched over to Percivale's room, instilling a sense of urgency in him.
One of the guards who miraculously managed to stay awake reached his hand out to the thugs' leader, uttering his last words.
"Wh-why… are you doing this? Who are you people?"
The thugs' leader merely laughed. "No hard feelings, it's just our job. Me? I'm Kowalski, the leader of the Night Wolves."
From inside of the hotel, near the reception desk, one of the women inside was hiding behind a table. When she saw how the last guard was being treated, she pulled out a gun and opened fire.
To no one's surprise, the bullets bounced off the Night Wolves easily, doing no damage.
"Another one. Gerrard, go rip her apart."
Kowalski gestured to another one of his subordinates, a man who had long, blade-like claws on each of his fingers. Without hesitation, he charged forward, planning on executing the woman in the most bloody way imaginable.
His arm reached outwards, the girl's face reflecting off his claws. Mere milliseconds later, Gerrard was sent flying backwards.
The man struggled to retain his balance from the sudden force, and fell on his back.
"Don't hurt her."
It was Percivale, who had descended from the upper floors to protect the woman.
Occasions like this were rare for someone who was as indecisive as Percivale. If someone were to present him with choices that held great weight behind them, he would most likely be unable to pick one.
But luckily, something had helped him in deciding this time. If he was to retreat, he'd most likely lose his only lead on the Feather Shifter.
"Mister Dignitas told me to be more decisive, so I tried my best."
He could ask Andrea for information on the Night Wolves whenever he wanted, as the daughter of The Unseen most likely had multiple spies set up inside Stardale as well. With their help, they would be able to pinpoint the Night Wolves' base of operations within a few hours.
But even if Percivale didn't act right away, he would've been forced to. The tremors from earlier had proven that the Night Wolves had the ability to bring down the o
hotel if they wanted to.
"Well, well, well. A Hero has come." Kowalski stepped forward, placing his hand on the kneeling Gerrard's shoulder.
"But don't you think you're a little too young to be stopping us?"
"I know I told you this before you chose to join the fight," Andrea whispered to him over the earpiece. "But I hope you know what you're getting into. I'll do my best to keep you alive, but remember that I'm not bound to a contract anymore."
Percivale silently nodded. He turned to the girl he had just saved. Her hands were on her head, almost as if she was using some kind of Mental magic.
"Don't use the elevators, guests! Please head for the exit in the backside of the hotel!"
"How are you doing that?"
The woman held her hand up, almost as if she was telling Percivale to quiet down. Luckily, Andrea was there to answer the question.
"The hotel is equipped with an intricately designed communications system that can receive messages from the staff. Basically, it's like a loudspeaker. I believe every luxurious hotel in Stardale has something like it."
Before they had realized it, a few of the Night Wolves had entered the vault. A few minutes later, they came out, bringing with them hordes of cash.
"Why does a hotel have a vault…?" Andrea questioned with an annoyed tone.
"Now that we're done here… time to bring it down."
Everyone could feel it. The air inside the hotel suddenly smelled burnt. Subtle electric sparks crackled everywhere, including the floors above. This incited panic, causing the evacuation to go much slower.
Kowalski's Affinity was of the Lightning attribute. As such, he could display greater control over spells of that type.
And it just so happened that the entire hotel was rife with electric power, not just in the air, but in the walls as well. The lengthy wires that stretched up and down the hotel carried with them an impressive amount of shocking power, which Kowalski, with the Feather Shifter, would be able to take control of with greater ease.
The Night Wolves' leader raised his hand, channeling all the surrounding mana, before simultaneously outputting as much as he absorbed in the other.
Bzzt! In the blink of an eye, the spell had caught the entire hotel in a dangerous area-occupying attack. The floors of the hotel were suddenly riddled with millions of volts worth of electricity, rendering them deadly.
Percivale reacted quickly and used his Spatial magic to invert gravity for him and the girl. Their bodies immediately felt weightless as they floated above the rigged floor.
The girl gasped, realizing something. She brought out her phone and started looking into the surveillance cameras. What she saw shocked her truly.
Hundreds of guests had fallen victim to the trap. Their burnt corpses lined the hallways, fried to a crisp. One could simply imagine how helpless they felt when they were paralyzed by the attack.
Everywhere she looked, there were dead bodies.
Percivale felt the veins in his head bulging as he struggled to keep himself level-headed. His shy expression almost completely removed itself as it was replaced by pure anger. Still, he spoke quietly.
"Why… Why did you do that? What was the purpose of that attack?"
He stared directly at Kowalski's eyes.
"Psh." The man merely scoffed. "Can't a man just enjoy a bit of destruction on his own time?"
"Anyway, I was planning on bringing the whole building down, but I guess I'm just not strong enough. Still, I reckon I did pretty well considering it's twenty-two floors high."
Percivale raised his hand, preparing to fire a beam of Spatial energy, only to realize that something had made its way into his palm.
His hand faltered, and in that brief instance caught sight of a small object designed in the shape of a wolf's head.
Two eyes shone from its front, igniting a sense of danger in Percivale's head. Before he could even react, the bomb erupted in a sea of flames. The area was shrouded in smoke in an instant.
"Let's go, playtime's over." Kowalski turned around, already heading towards the exit. "You did place the bombs, right Miles?"
Kowalski didn't even make three steps before a small beam whooshed past his face, narrowly missing his right cheek.
However, the beam randomly redirected itself the next moment, before shooting towards Percivale's direction. An audible cry of pain could be heard from inside the smoke.
Kowalski continued onward, not bothering to spare a glance. His subordinates followed afterwards, bringing with them the haul they had stolen.