Science/Magic

Chapter 132: The Battle in the Mansion (2)

In the middle of the chaos caused by the multiple battles, Madeline advanced calmly. The catkin woman was completely unruffled by the cries of death and despair.

Occasionally, some blind men would attack the apparently defenseless woman, but a twist of her wrist and a slight movement of her body was more than enough for her to stab her daggers on them.

But soon, her leisure movements came to an end.

When she reached the main hall of the mansion, a man appeared in front of her, surrounded by several beastmen's bodies.

Madeline frowned seeing her dead subordinates. And when she looked at the man, she felt the power coming from his body.

A-Rank.

"Madeline Sharpclaw. Moonlight Glow." The man growled in a subdued tone. "Why are you attacking my home?"

"Are you the person in charge of this place?" Madeline asked.

"My name is Kevin, and I'm the owner of this mansion. Now, if you don't give me a reasonable explanation for this, tomorrow the entire city will know of your church's atrocities!"

Madeline smirked. "Heeh. A reason, huh? Well, I have one. Several days ago, one of my people was kidnapped while strolling in the city. And when we followed the traces of his kidnappers, we arrived at this place. Is that enough reason?"

The man's face changed. This was the worst situation possible.

They had kidnapped someone they should not. And that attracted the attention of a powerful party.

Such a blunder was enough to jeopardize the success of their plan.

Quickly, he searched in his mind for a way to resolve this situation.

"… I'm sure that was a misunderstanding. Miss Madeline, we both are smart people. Are you sure you want to start a battle against us just for a person? Let it pass. If you want, you can tell me his name and I'll get him for you, plus reasonable compensation."

Madeline nodded. "That is a good offer. However, you forgot something."

"… And what is it?"

"Why should Moonlight Glow agree when we can easily get rid of scum like you?"

Kevin furrowed his brows. He could see in Madeline's eyes that she was planning to cause a bloodbath today.

"Miss Madeline, do you truly want to do this? The forces behind me are not something you can easily offend!"

"Is it so? Heh… I want to see what kind of force is strong enough to threaten Moonlight Glow!"

With a bellow, Madeline kicked the ground and appeared in front of the man.

Her two daggers danced in the air, slicing towards his neck at breakneck speed.

The man reacted quickly. His sword slithered like a serpent, clashing twice against the daggers.

Just like that, their battle started.

…

At the same time.

As soon as the battle in the mansion started, Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying, plus Javelin and Illina, infiltrated the mansion.

Their task was to secure the safety of the prince while Moonlight Glow's men attacked the mansion, and if it was possible, they would protect the other slaves too.

Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying made use of Bloed's invisibility artifact to blend with the surroundings and move through the mansion unnoticed. Furthermore, Bloed also lent one of his artifacts to Illina so to complement her infiltration techniques.

Javelin, on the other hand, used an unknown technique to blend with the darkness of the night and disappear.

"Cats are nocturnal animals, huh." Bloed muttered.

The group followed Illina's lead to find the prince.

According to Illina, the place where the prince was kept was probably some kind of underground dungeon. Therefore, they first had to find the entrance to the dungeon.

In normal circumstances, just finding the entrance would take an enormous amount of time. However, Illina's nose was very useful in this situation. She filtrated the smells and searched for the places where people usually take great amounts of food to.

Using that as the criterium, and after ten minutes of searching and three mistaken places, the group finally found the entrance leading to the underground dungeon.

"Is this the place?" Javelin asked softly.

Illina nodded. "I can feel the fetid stench of waste and despair coming from that place. The entrance is definitively there."

Javelin nodded and looked at the place Illina was pointing. A warehouse-like building located behind the mansion.

"There are three people inside." Regina closed her eyes and said. "One B-Rank and two C-Ranks."

"Then that is definitively the place. The fact that there are still people guarding this place in this situation means that this place is important." Bloed opined.

Javelin thought for a moment before nodding. "Let's move then. Kill them as quickly as possible. It would be bad if the battle prolongs and attracts more people to this place."

The group nodded and moved.

Bloed was the first to act. Three slashes from his saber and a kick later, and the door of the warehouse fell.

And as soon as the door fell, the other four moved.

"What happened!?" The B-Rank asked surprised. But before he could understand, a dagger emerged from the shadows and stabbed his throat. It was Javelin.

The fate of the two C-Ranks was similar. One was beheaded by Regina's energy blade, and the other was crushed by a palm in his solar plex, courtesy of Liu Ying.

"Let's go." Illina did not bother to confirm the kills and searched for the entrance. Quickly, she found a door leading underground hidden below a carpet.

"Gotcha." Illina smiled. She then sniffed the air twice. "There are people below. They probably heard the commotion we did so they are waiting to ambush us."

"Four B-Ranks, seven C-Ranks, and several others D-Ranks and E-Rank." Regina said with a frown. "… Probably there is an A-Rank too."

"That is a lot." Liu Ying whistled in surprise.

"… We need a plan." Javelin furrowed his brows. "If we enter like this, we will be assaulted as soon as we open the door."

Bloed thought for a moment before speaking.

"Are the kidnapped nearby?"

Illina shook her head. "… No, their smell is farther away."

"I'll take care of this then." Bloed said calmly.

"What are you going to do?" Javelin asked curiously.

Bloed smiled. "Just watch." He then nodded to Regina. Understanding his intention, Regina took the metallic wolf, Leto, out of her spatial storage.

"A wolf!?" Illina and Javelin were surprised, but Bloed did not bother to explain it to them. Instead, he turned part of Leto into an energy gun.

It was the third form of Bloed's energy gun.

Blaster Mode.

Without hesitation, Bloed aimed at the door and pressed the trigger.

A loud roar sounded, and a bullet of super-compressed energy hit the door.

*Bam!*

The powerful bullet created a bowl-sized hole in the door, surprising both allies and enemies alike. Bloed could see the stunned faces of the people underground through the hole.

Unfortunately, they were not going to be surprised for long.

Bloed grabbed a metallic ball from his pocket and threw it into the hole.

"Hey, what are you doing!?" Illina asked in surprise.

"Cover your ears." Bloed just smiled and put his hands on his ears. Regina and Liu Ying followed suit without hesitation.

Seeing that, Illina and Javelin instinctively covered her ears as well.

The next second–

*BOOOOMMMM!!!*

An enormous explosion and a blinding light occurred underground.

The warehouse trembled strongly, and Illina cried in surprise. Even with her hands covering her ears, the strong explosion affected her greatly.

Fortunately, Bloed was there to stop her from falling.

"W-What…?"

"Stop daydreaming, let's go!"