The next morning, everything went as Elijah expected, he received the letter promoting him to Private First Class.
He also met the team once more, but this time with an extra.
Verayth agreed to all his weird demands, right down to all the supplies they needed and the time they needed to depart from the base.
Time seemed to pass quicker after dying multiple times for completely pointless reasons.
The team scaled the mountain without any casualties.
Ardyn praised Elijah for his bright ideas, and just like before, Elijah responded with the same weird sentence.
After descending the mountain, Sarah Elfin even helped Taelia untie the rope around her waist.
They even simultaneously glared at Elijah, but seeing as he didn't respond, the duo was perplexed.
The pain from the penalty may have disappeared, but Elijah's body still occasionally trembled.
His eyes had dark circles that resembled black paint underneath his eyelids. Ardyn was worried, and Ovarth was gloating.
The swordsman was still as silent as ever, while Verayth tried her hardest to care for Elijah, which pissed off Ovarth even more.
Elijah tried his hardest to keep the timeline similar to the first two. After all, he still didn't fully understand the Demon Lord Revival System. Who knew if behaving too differently would mess up their plans? But he still restructured his plan, the Demon isn't someone that fancies chance and luck.
...
The third day of the battle with the Thalorian advance force, the night had fallen, and the team once more prepared to infiltrate the Thalorian base.
Except Elijah wasn't going for the commander anymore. He already had the enigma, Sarah Elfin, next to him. As long as she stayed there, he wouldn't need to worry about the penalty anymore.
Verayth and Ovarth would go kill the commander, although Elijah found it strange that Ovarth didn't argue with him on that. He would have sworn Ovarth hated him.
The others would partake in another plan Elijah came up with: placing bombs in strategic locations like the weapons storage, artillery storage, and food supply tents. They would be having their hands full.
...
The two guards dropped, blood soaking the ground. Felik Aelar didn't disappoint.
Elijah and Sarah Elfin broke away from the team, their destination the Astral core-powered artillery machine.
The Astral core powered artillery unit caused the greatest damage to the Umbral kin forces. Even throughout the night, it never stopped dropping shells, preventing them from resting and continuously killing their men in the trench.
It definitely needed to go if they were to succeed in defeating the Thalorian advance force.
Verayth grabbed Elijah's hand. "Are you sure you two can handle it on your own? An Astral core-powered machine will not be lightly protected."
Elijah's dark circled eyes blinked. "It's fine. I can handle it. Besides, Sarah here can hold her own. We'll plant the IED and destroy the Astral core-powered artillery... That will be the cue for the others to detonate their IEDs, then we'll rendezvous with Felik and Taelia while they cover our backs."
Verayth was still reluctant, but in the end, she agreed to Elijah's plan. She held Sarah's hands and cautioned her to be careful, then set off with Ovarth to locate and assassinate the Thalorian commander.
...
The Astral core-powered artillery was a massive circular cylinder, armed with dozens of cannons. When activated, it could rain down hundreds of shells per minute. It was an ingenuity of the modern human race in this world.
But Elijah wasn't that impressed.
With sleek movement, he slit the throat of dozens of Thalorians. Everywhere they passed, they would turn off the torches, blanketing the base in silent darkness.
Luckily, the team more or less looked human, so unless a Thalorian spotted them in the open, they wouldn't notice the fact that they were Umbral kins.
Elijah and Sarah squatted not too far from the Astral core powered artillery. There were three men sitting around a small fire and roasting hunted meat.
They needed to get rid of them before safely securing their entrance into the Astral core powered artillery machine.
Elijah equipped the rose dagger, and Sarah Elfin unsheathed a short sword. The sword resembled a rapier, but it had a rose hilt.
One look and Elijah knew his rose dagger was from the same set as the rose sword.
They exchanged a silent glance, and Sarah went first, her speed just as swift as Verayth's. She moved so quickly, Elijah felt like he couldn't keep up with his naked eyes.
The Thalorians didn't see anything coming. One second, they were chatting and drinking, the next, the head of one of their comrades was sent flying.
They quickly reacted, grabbing their rifles from the ground, but before they could even raise them, a pair of blue eyes once more emerged from the darkness. This time, both the hands and head of one of the targeted Thalorians suddenly fell.
The last one was scared shitless, but before he could scream, a silent dagger wrapped itself around his neck, and with a glorified thud, his neck split apart, and came a shower of blood.
The blood doused out the small campfire, returning the environment back into the graceful embrace of darkness.
Elijah and Sarah didn't want to waste any more time hiding the corpses. The target was right in front of them, so they went straight in, pushing aside the thick iron door.
The interior was surprisingly modern in nature. Elijah even thought that he was sent back to modern day Earth, but he quickly threw that to the back of his head.
Sarah Elfin went ahead and began to set up the IED.
While she did so, a familiar voice whispered into Elijah's ears, but this time, it brought him both joy and relief.
[NOTICE]
Secondary Objective achieved.
The Enemy Commander Has Perished.
Elijah sighed lightly, evident relief spread across his face, but it was at that moment another notification came into view.
[NOTICE]
Hidden mission unlocked.
Mission Objective: There is a game called life. Even if you win, you will still die... Kill Sarah Elfin to activate hidden mission rewards.
[No penalties for failure]