Chapter 45: Mysterious Persons
Rol watched the figure until the dark swallowed them completely at the base of the left citadel.
He stood there for a moment with his perception still extended, trying to pull any more detail from the distance. Nothing. The dark mana radiating from the castle interfered at this range like static over a comm line.
The figure was gone not to be seen, unless they go near the citadel itself.
He retracted his perception and turned what he had over in his mind.
It was most definitely a person. A young boy who was only recently awakened, by the mana density.
They had crossed the courtyard alone, in a dungeon that had a three-star rating, well that made them either real fools or brave men with skills to back that bravery.
’That person clearly saw us,’ Rol thought, smiling. ’And that bitch ran away, what does he think am I?’
That was interesting. An Exterminator who was registered or affiliated, even if with some other agency, would have come over, wanting to know the rank and composition of the other team inside the same sealed space. It was basic operational protocol and it was also basic survival instinct: more people meant more coverage.
Instead this, mysterious person had seen them and run the other direction.
’Heh, it seems they are unregistered, ’he concluded. ’Independent and unaffiliated, inside a three-star spot dungeon. And they are still alive, which means they are either very skilled, very lucky, or both.’
He would deal with the unknown individuals question when he reached the castle. Right now there was a more immediate—
"Captain."
It was Shigo’s voice.
Rol turned and gritted his teeth instantly.
From the road that came in from the right Citadel’s direction, they came. The hollow clatter of bone on flagstone was unmistakable. Their empty sockets tracked the three of them from across the courtyard and they did not slow.
There were thirty of them.
Some with weapons — swords, mostly, dark-bladed and age-worn, the grip-bones of the sword-carriers fused around the handles in the way of things that had been carrying the same weapon long enough that separation was no longer a concept that applied.
Others were bare-handed but the fingers were elongated and fused at the tips into something that was functionally a blade achieved through a different method than forging.
Rol observed them as they appeared, his eyes glowing with a faint grey glow. A practical use of his talent.
After clearly observing the nearest one, he found that these things had no life mana. The dark ambient mana of the dungeon was everywhere, but nothing was coming from these specifically.
’They are undead, being controlled by someone.’ He narrowed his eyes deeper, taking a few steps away to maintain distance and desperate to find their weakness before engaging them.
And he indeed found it.
A point of density inside the ribcage — small and tight, almost invisible against the background noise of the dungeon’s mana field. Sitting precisely where a heart would sit in a living creature.
An anchor.
’So that’s the method,’ he thought. ’The two ahead of us found the anchors. yeah, one of them is skilled and has a talent similar to mine.’
He sorted out all the information and settled into his stance.
"They are undead," he commanded. "There’s a mana core in the ribcage, acting like an anchor in the heart position. That’s the kill point. Destroy the anchor." He looked at the approaching line. "Hues, left. Shigo, right flank. Stay mobile and keep your distance."
"Understood," Hues said. He had a long blade out, wide and slightly curved, designed for sweeping strikes rather than thrusting. He was already moving to the left, circling to open the angle.
Shigo said nothing. He was already on the right, skill active — Rol could see it in the faint shimmer around hia hands, the reinforced mana settling into the skin and bone in preparation for contact work.
The skeletons reached them.
Rol moved first.
He went directly at the nearest three straight through, which was the fastest way through any group that was coming at you without having any tactical instinct.
He hit the first one with a straight punch, the air around his fist shimmered and distorted as if his fist was bunning and releasing fumes, the bones too moved towards his punch even before he had even touched them.
The skeleton was lifted off of its legs and started spinning in air, crashing others coming around him and them broke into several parts.
The anchor collapsed into itself and the bones never moved again.
The kill was clean and immediate.
He was already moving to the second.
The sword-carrier swung for his neck, he leaned under it and came up inside the swing’s arc and drove two fingers towards the ribcage rather than a full fist, the bones around his fingers broke and splintered moving in a circular path in a certain area, even the anchor collapsed and the bones fell.
From the left flank, the sound of Hues working — the wide blade taking limbs to create openings.
He couldn’t attack the anchors the way Rol could, but he had figured out quickly that the goal was ribcage access, and he was creating that access with the blade.
"Anchor’s behind the fourth rib on the left," Rol called out, knowing how his people fight. "You will never hit it with a blade use your talent."
"Got it," Hues called back, already applying it. His sword instantly got surrounded by a purple glow of mana area, cutting anything it grazed into a thousand pieces.
He swung with his blade, and all the skeletons on him were hit directly where they should be, his talent cutting the goddamned anchor to a thousand pieces and the rattling of hundreds of bones could be heard. \
Then suddenly, the earth shuddered again, but this time directional and close, coming from the left.
The intact lower bridge of the left citadel. Its links grinding and swinging wildly.
This time the source of the shudder was from inside the left citadel.