A few days passed, and Amadeus's plan was slowly taking shape. With the slaves on his side, all that remained was to steal from the Vault and defeat the two commanders and the leader.
"Big brother Amadeus, everything is ready," said Arne. "Good, then let's start," Amadeus replied, eyeing the Vault.
Over the past few days, Amadeus had convinced the slaves to help him in his mission to save them from this quarry. Thanks to their assistance, Amadeus not only had help with his plans but also received valuable information about everything happening in the quarry.
Now, Amadeus knew the daily routines of all the commanders, guards, and the leader, allowing him to pinpoint the perfect time to strike the Vault.
One Day Before the Heist
Amadeus gathered the key slaves who would relay the plan to the others and began explaining the strategy. They would use the time when the two commanders and leader were busy, and with the elite guard shift change.
The elite guards couldn't be distracted for long, and they wouldn't move from the door until they saw their replacements coming. At that time, Arne would enter the Vault to deliver food to the Vault manager, while the slaves started a fight to draw the attention of the elite guards.
This would leave Amadeus with just five seconds to slip through the door opened for Arne before it closed behind him, all without the elite guards noticing.
"Brother, it's impossible. You have to be far from the elite guards for them not to notice you, which makes it harder. How are you going to cross that distance in five seconds?" Bertram asked, worried.
"Don't worry. You, of all people, should know how fast I am," Amadeus reassured him.
The Day of the Heist
The plan was executed flawlessly, and Amadeus managed to enter the Vault unnoticed. Now, all that remained was to deal with the Vault manager.
Amadeus moved silently, following Arne from a distance, finally reaching the manager. "What took you so long?" the manager demanded.
"Sorry, the cook was late today," Arne replied. The manager began eating, losing all awareness of his surroundings.
[Weapon Equipped: Orc Sword]
Amadeus dashed toward the manager and, with one swift slash, decapitated him. The manager's head rolled to the ground, and blood covered the desk. "You killed him? I thought you would knock him out," Arne said, shocked.
"It was the only way to ensure he wouldn't interfere with our work," Amadeus replied. In truth, he could have knocked the manager out, but the manager's death was necessary for the next step.
Amadeus was amazed by the amount of mana crystals in the Vault—mountains of them, but all low-tier blue crystals. "This can't be everything. Do you know where they keep the more valuable crystals?" he asked.
"Yes, sometimes the manager has me take food there so he can eat and count the crystals," Arne said. He led Amadeus to a secret room hidden behind the mountains of blue crystals.
The room was filled with red crystals and other colors like purple and orange, each rarer than the last. Amadeus picked up a purple crystal to inspect it.
[New Item]
/ Epic = Resource
- Purple Mana Crystal = High-quality mana crystals that can be used to greatly increase mana or enhance epic and legendary weapons with a dark element.
"Interesting. So the color represents the element it belongs to, and the rarer the element, the better the crystal. Red is fire, white is air, and so on," Amadeus said. He then stored all the crystals from the secret room in his inventory.
[New Items]
/ Resources
- Purple Crystals = 100
- Red Crystals = 1000
- White Crystals = 1500
- Golden Crystals = 10
- Brown Crystals = 1200
- Deep Blue Crystals = 1400
- Colorless Crystals = 1
[Item Info]
Colorless Crystal = The rarest kind of crystal, considered a miracle to find in such a weak realm. It can be used to increase godly mana or enhance a godly weapon.
Note = It's useless if consumed by humans, so it is advised not to give it to followers.
"A miracle, you say? I think I'm just lucky," Amadeus said.
"It would be a waste to use something so rare to increase mana when I can use devotion points for that," he thought. He then returned to the main room with Arne, who was astonished at how all the crystals in the secret room had disappeared.
"Big brother, you have to be quick. The time the manager usually takes to eat and for me to take out the plates is almost over," Arne warned.
"Don't worry, it won't take more than a second," Amadeus said as he touched one of the mountains of blue crystals. Suddenly a red glow covered the place, and all the crystals vanished, leaving the room empty.
[New Items] / Resource =
Blue Crystals = 100,000
Do you want to consume the crystals? (Yes) (No)
Amadeus pressed (Yes).
- Starting to convert the crystals.
- Converting done.
- User mana state has increased / Mana = 1 -> 100
/ Godly Body Activated
- Mana = 100 -> 1000
"Just a thousand? I thought it would be more. I guess it's because blue crystals have no element, so they barely have any mana," Amadeus thought to himself, while Arne ran around frantically after seeing all the crystals disappear.
Arne wanted to ask Amadeus about where he got the weapon or who he made all the crystals Vanishe but he thought it would be best to trust Amadeus and keep it a secret.
Amadeus made Arne watch him to test his loyalty and if he wasn't well the end of Arne is clear because the thing that Amadeus hates the most is betrayal.
"We're done. I thought you would take some of them, but you took all of them! And you killed the manager! Do you understand the kind of trouble we're in?" Arne exclaimed.
"Don't worry, it's all part of the plan. Let's go, our time has run out. Did you eat the food as I told you?" Amadeus asked.
"Yes," Arne replied, so the guards would think the manager died after finishing his food and Arne left.
Arne stumbled near the right elite guard, who immediately said, "Move." The command was sharp and authoritative, making Arne flinch and comply. Meanwhile, Bertram engaged the left guard, a man he often did small jobs for. Bertram's familiarity made it easy to capture the guard's attention, distracting him with casual conversation and exaggerated gestures.
Seeing his opportunity, Amadeus seized the moment. He took a deep breath and dashed toward the door with all the speed he could muster.
As soon as Amadeus made it out the door, the right elite guard sensed movement behind him. Reacting instinctively, the guard swung his sword toward the door with incredible speed, the blade slicing through the air with lethal precision. Without looking, he aimed to eliminate the perceived threat.
Amadeus, relying on his heightened awareness, narrowly dodged the strike. The force of the guard's swing brushed past him, close enough to feel the rush of air. Without losing momentum, Amadeus threw himself over the edge, plummeting toward the bottom of the quarry. The drop was dizzying, with the ground rushing up to meet him as he descended from the 20th floor.
The elite guard, now standing at the doorway, paused and scanned the area. Seeing nothing
thinking he had imagined the disturbance, he sheathed his sword and dismissed the incident from his mind. Meanwhile, Amadeus landed with a landed on a lower platform, his body absorbing the impact.
When the guards came to deposit the collected crystals at the end of the day, they found the vault empty, the manager was killed, and the quarry entered a state of chaos. Guards pulled the slaves from the sleeping quarters and gathered them at the quarry center.
The quarry center, which was the bottom floor, had a big stage reserved for punishing slaves. Commander Geoffrey stood on the stage and said with a menacing voice, "You all know what happened. Since the thief can't be an outsider, the only suspects are you, the slaves. Until you reveal the culprit, we will kill one person after another, even if we have to kill all of you. It doesn't matter to us."
"Where is Amadeus?" a slave asked.
"I don't know. No one saw him after the guards started gathering us," another slave replied.
"Did he use us and run away?" asked a third slave.
"No, he can't just leave us. He promised us," Avice thought to herself.
The guards dragged three slaves onto the stage, their rough handling showing no mercy. Despair filled the crowd, the oppressive atmosphere heavy with fear and a sense of betrayal. As one of the guards raised his sword to execute a slave, a voice suddenly broke the tense silence, "What do you think you're doing? You have the wrong person."
All eyes turned to the source of the voice. It was Amadeus, who had suddenly appeared among the slaves. "Amadeus, I knew you wouldn't betray us," Avice exclaimed, her voice trembling with relief.
"Why, do you know who it is?" Geoffrey asked, his eyes narrowing with suspicion.
"Of course, I know him," Amadeus replied, his tone calm and confident. He began walking towards the stage.
Standing on the stage before the gathered slaves, Amadeus faced Geoffrey with unwavering bravery and declared, "It was me."
One of the guards, clearly annoyed, approached Amadeus. "Such bravery from an insignificant creature," he sneered. With a swift motion, the guard swung his sword at Amadeus. However, before the blade could make contact, both the sword and Amadeus vanished in an instant.
Suddenly, a voice from behind the guard said, "Did you lose something?" The guard spun around to see Amadeus standing there, holding the sword and casually playing with it like a toy.
"You lowly slave, how dare you!" the guard shouted, his anger flaring. He charged at Amadeus, but before he could get close, Amadeus's swift sword strike cut him in two. The guard's body fell to the ground in two pieces, leaving everyone in stunned silence.
"Stop him!" another guard ordered. Ten guards rushed towards Amadeus. However, they proved no match for Amadeus's skill and speed. In less than ten seconds, all ten guards lay dead, either decapitated or cleaved in half by his precise strikes.
The slaves' despair quickly turned to joy and hope as they watched Amadeus's display of strength and courage. They began cheering for him, their voices rising in unison. "Leave the center and go hide until I tell you to come out," Amadeus instructed them. The slaves obeyed, quickly dispersing and leaving the center empty.
"I guess that leaves only you and me, Commander Geoffrey," said Amadeus, his gaze locking onto Geoffrey's calm face. Geoffrey remained unaffected by the death of his men, his expression cold.