Climb walked down a dark alley towards a large building complex.
It was surrounded by imposing walls, which sealed it off from the surrounding area. It felt like a prison, or a fortress. His mind raced with dark thoughts like What sort of illegal activities are going on inside? Even the magical lamps installed on either side of the door could not dispel that mental image.
"That's it. I'm sure of it," Climb muttered as he hunkered down.
A voice answered from the empty air beside him. "Agreed, leader. Judging by the feel of this place, that should be it. I'll go take a look around, then."
The person who replied was a former orichalcum-ranked adventurer who possessed thief-type skills. After he was done, Brain — who was travelling with them — added:
"Be careful. You might be invisible, but some warriors can see through it."
"Of course. Our enemy is the Eight Fingers, after all. I'll be operating under the assumption that they have thieves or magic casters on my level. So I hope the two of you will pray for my success."
With that, the presence beside Climb began fading away. While he could not hear anything even while craning his neck to listen, perhaps a thief on par with him might be able to hear soft footsteps drawing away, heading towards the residence.
This left Climb and Brain.
Suddenly, Climb heard a whisper. It appears just centimeters away from his ear.
"It's a free real state."
Climb jerked back in shock and drew out his sword.
A very familiar laughter answered him. The empty air beside him shifted and turned into a very familiar little girl. "You should…" she laughed some more. "You should see the look on your face!"
The boy sighed a little and sheathed his sword. "Lily…" he muttered though he's feeling quite relieved at the same time. "What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I'm your back up!" Lily turned towards Brain. "Isn't that right Brain?"
"That's right, Lily sama," Brain replied.
Climb looked between the two of them. "Why do I feel like something happened between the two of you," he said. Then he looked at their target. "Anyway, this is just a scout mission, we're not going to charge in guns blazing."
"Wrong," Lily replied. "This is an infiltration mission," she pointed at one of the windows. "You will sneak there and rescue Tuare chan. I on the other hand, will be dealing with the Six Arms," she pointed at the front gate.
"Six Arms? Tuare?"
A third party answered Climb's question. "Yes, the Six Arms," the thief from earlier revealed himself. "Or at least what's left of them. They seemed to be getting ready for something. Tuare is locked in that building, she's our target," he looked at Lily. "Evileye sama is waiting in the roof to grade your performance."
"Thanks, I'll be sure to put up a show," Lily replied.
There was a long pause before the thief said something. "Lily san, are you sure you can handle it? This is the six arms, each one of them are Adamantite level," he said.
"I already told Evileye that I'm not going to hold anything back so…" Lily smiled and the thief suddenly dropped down on his knees. "Does that answer your question?"
The thief nodded hastily and he suddenly regained the power to stand back up. He looked at Brain and Climb who were just looking at him in slight pity. Mostly Brain who knows the true extent of Lily's power.
"Well, I should be going now. When the screaming starts that's your cue to go," Lily said.
Everyone just watched mutely when the little girl walked towards the fortress like she owns the place. Then she begun conversing to someone near the gate and they let her in.
"Wh-what was that?" the veteran adventurer whispered.
"Welcome to the club man," Brain replied. "Don't worry, we've all been there before, I don't even blame you for dropping down like that. Even I didn't stand a chance," then he looked at Climb. "Except for Climb here."
The thief looked at him with wide eyes. "You withstood it leader?" he asked.
"Ah, well, it wasn't exactly Lily's killing intent, but… yeah, it was something similar."
"Should we go now?"
"No, let me… Let me have a moment to catch my breath," the thief replied.
[LINE BREAK]
A man led me down the path in the yard.
Considering this yard was the property of a criminal organization like Eight Fingers, it did not feel particularly gloomy and the vegetation was neatly trimmed, as though they had a skilled gardener taking care of things.
After following the path for a while, we made it to a vast space resembling a training area.
There were several bonfires blazing away merrily, and bright red firelight illuminated the surroundings.
There were about 30 fresh meat, with many men and several women among them, and they all had wicked smiles on their faces.
I've never seen a group of so many people eager for death before…
I looked around and there doesn't seem to be anyone that's anywhere above level thirty. But I did find the so-called Six Arms.
One of them is literally just an Elder Lich wearing a hooded robe. The robe was black, stitched with a bright red flame pattern below the waist.
Their sole female was dressed sheer silks, and looked to be agile. She wore gold bangles on her wrists and ankles, which rang with crisp metallic sounds as she moved. She had six scimitars at her waist.
The next man was dressed in a cotton suit. He also wore a gold-stitched jacket and a vest. His weapon was a thin sword whose blade seemed to be extending from a rose blossom.
The final man wore a suit of unadorned full plate armor, and his sword was securely stowed within its sheath.
The four of them advanced on me. Their killing intent is comparable to that of a dying rat.
They scoffed at me.
"To think that he would send us a hostage instead."
"Maybe it's a bargaining chip?"
"Well, she's rather tempting…"
I rolled my eyes a little. "Wow, such evil, much scary," I said sarcastically, making sure everyone hear that. "Is this it? Seriously? You're joking right?"
The four of them glared at me. "Looks like someone needs to teach you some manners little girl…" the sole woman said as the scimitar started float in midair.
I raised an eyebrow in interest. "[Dance] huh? Not bad," then I felt a familiar presence. I grinned and turned around before waving my hand. "NOTICE ME SENPAI!!!!" I can see my senpai face palming in midair.
Then I turned back to face the Six Arms. "Sorry, I'm being watched right now you know? This is my Blue Rose entry exam," I told them before taking out my machete and my staff. "So please don't embarrass me…"
[Boost Magic - Quick March] [Boost Magic - Dance] I whispered and the staff in my hand glows a little. [Delay Maximize Magic - Spark] [Delay Boost Magic - Change Temperature]. I threw my staff in the air and it pointed at the crowds in front of me. "[Boost Widen Magic - Create Water]!" I exclaimed in the end.
A torrent of water shot out of my staff and started showering the Six Arms and all the people around them. They all just held out their hands with a confused look on their face. "Geez brat, you made our clothes all wet," the man in cotton suit said, though it seems like his clothing are waterproof.
"Tch, you're going to pay for this," the other man muttered. Followed by the rest of the people around me.
"Yeah, yeah," I stepped to the side and dodged a strike from a flying scimitar. "Impatient now are we? We still have twenty seconds, chill," I told them. Then I held out my machete and said. "[Maximize Magic - Magic Weapon] [Boost Magic - Change Temperature] [Maximize Extend Magic - Spark]," the machete in my hand turned bright purple with flashes of electricity coming out of it.
Then, I vanished. Although the usual Quick March only give twenty percent speed boost, using metamagic I can boost the efficiency up to 500% and…
Well, judging by the skull flying behind me and the shocked look on everyone's face, they did not have a counter against that one. "Huh, that was easy," I said, turning around to face the now three arms. "Well? Don't you have more tricks up your sleeves?"
A bunch of scimitar flew towards me. I just raised my hand. "[Boost Magic - Heavy Cargo]," I muttered and the scimitars dropped on the ground. "Is that it? Seriously? You are embarrassing me! In front of my senpai, no less!"
I dashed towards the woman faster than humanely possible and stabbed her through the chest. It wasn't a clean stab. My 9000 degrees super sharp electric machete shreds through her flesh, boils it down, fried her entire body, before exploding in the inside.
The shower of blood and gore sent the goons running away like a headless chicken. But before they can go far. "Ah, right, I almost forgot, [Destruction Water]," I muttered and dried off my entire body. My staff is still flying around spraying everyone with water.
The world turned white as each and every single one of the goons were fried with lighting and boiled with scalding hot steam hotter than fire. The steam from both the blood and water formed thick mist that covers the entire yard.
The thick red mist picked up the sparks and turned the red mist into red thunderclouds. I laughed a midst the screams and cries of agony surrounding me. "Goddamn rule of awesome, heck yeah!" Another flash lightning struck the yard and a screaming was silenced.
I looked at the rest of the Six Arms. They're staring at me as if facing the devil himself. "Well?" I raised my arm and my staff returned in my grasp. "But still, it's still amazing that you guys…" I noticed their fancy clothing and their blistering face. "Ahh… Waterproof enhancement. Expensive stuff, I need some of that."
The man in iron clad armor took out his weapon. "Ta-take this, [Void Cutter]!" he exclaimed.
I froze a little after hearing that only to find out that it's literally just an iron whip. I rolled my eyes and parried the strike with my machete. "That is one hell of a name for a weak ass strike," I sidestepped a sword strike from behind and struck an idiot with my machete.
Another explosion gore soon follows. A sword clattered on the ground and it seems to have all sorts of enhancement inside it. Then I walked towards the last man standing. "Listen, you are going to die," I told him.
It's a simple fact and the man nodded a little in defeat.
"Then why don't you just put down your weapon?" I asked him. "Make this easier for the two of us?"
"[Void Slash]!" The man exclaimed before his head dropped down on the ground.
"I'm not letting you alive long enough to swipe a stick and call it [World Break]," I muttered to myself before looking at the building. "Now where is that Zero guy I've been hearing so much about?"