"W-why are you grinning like that?"
Hebi, as per usual, was spending a great deal of time and energy watching and observing her saviour's behaviour and character. Seeing as the others were occupied with checking their own status and miniscule equipment, as it was now the 7th day, thus it was time to depart from their miraculous safe-haven deep within enemy territory, Hebi was the only one to notice the somewhat sadistic grin, the lips that were trembling in excitement as Asai was at the forefront of the group.
Above them, a large portrait of the man in a three piece suit remained motionless, whilst another large portrait that was larger than a human depicted the outside world. The rough-buildings, huts and occasional dekan passing relatively close by. Evidently, just like the other portraits that acted as one way windows, they were unable to see the humans within.
"Because, the instant we're all out of this dungeon, Dolos will warp the dungeon into one filled with beasts and Victor and I will cause an artificial dungeon break by forcefully feeding the portal with our mana. The instant the portal starts to shatter and tear, we'll be making a swift escape whilst the dekans will find themselves suddenly occupied by beasts and monsters."
"Everyone ready?" Victor shot his glance over the group, receiving quick nods of affirmation before gesturing to the duke to proceed.
Having restored their bodies to better states than before, back when their systems were lacking in calories and nutrition due to the minimal meals that were provided during their imprisonment, the men were now more energetic and lighter upon their toes. Which translated to better sneak and marching speeds to escape. And whilst they weren't gifted with armour comparable to Robin and Asai's leathers, they now had basic leather boots and cloth tunics to protect their bodies from the elements.
..
With everyone outside and concealed behind the urban structures, Asai and Victor were both quick to cut wounds across their palms, flexing and squeezes them, encouraging the bleeding to proceed quicker as droplets of their blessed bloodlines fell into the gravity from within the dungeon like a black hole. As tints of golden and silver began to emerge within the swirling energy pool, rapidly increasing in density as it silently shook, the two men swiftly departed as the group began to once again traverse the shadows and alleyways.
Perhaps architecture and planning wasn't their forte at all, as the city of Rev'Deca was riddled with weaknesses, gaps, back-streets that provided them great amounts of cover to the east, to friendly land. Although, if approached from another perspective, an invading force would find such a messy layout to be disadvantageous to march an army through. As guerrilla warfare would cripple the hostile force with ease.
Just under half an hour of their sabotage and hasty retreat from the scene of the crime, war horns were repeated bellowing out their screeches as patrols were quickly swarming over to the location, finding hundreds of crocodiles slithering all across the location and consuming both flesh and buildings regardless of their density and lack of flavour. Just as the dekans did, the crocodiles that were first to arrive, the first to consume and absorb the weaker general population of the city grew in size. Growing to sizes that rivalled even the evolved dekans as they too, stood upon their two rear legs.
With such chaos erupting and emerging from the middle of their glorious city, the humans were afforded concealment under the panic and rustle of battle.
..
With the passage of time streaming in acceleration, with no lunch or dinner breaks and hardly any conversation between the members who were maintaining peak concentration towards their objective of being concealed, in respect to their current situation and predicament as demanded. Hebi had completely lost track of time as her focus faltered sporadically, only to continuing following the backs of the humans, shifting pass buildings and structures that held no notable individual significance to extinguish them from all others they had passed.
Not wanting to be the weakest link, to be the only being in need of rest and thus halting the entire group's efforts to escape hostile lands, she grit her teeth as determination filled her mind and ushered her forwards.
Whilst such willpower and desire to remain consistent and in line with the group's efficiency of speed was admirable, her muscles politely disagreed by becoming two left feet, tripping her as she fell face first into the mixture of dirt and twigs. The sudden crackling of the branches halted the entire party as they froze as if their hands were caught within the cookie jar.
Feeling the tension, the deafening silence and the pain upon her cheeks and palms, Hebi quickly rose as she pushed herself off the twigs.
"S-sorry! I-"
Robin's hand was first to latch onto the woman's mouth, preventing her from speaking another word. Whether it was an elven trait, due to their innately longer and bigger ears or not, Robin launched a set of throwing knives over Hebi's shoulders, causing the woman to flinch due to the sudden aggression and killing intent that was sent flying through her general direction.
A sudden thump, and two dekans crashed into the dirt before them just as the snake woman had done just moments prior.
The duke launched himself forwards and instantly plunged his dagger deep into the heart of the dekan that swerved around the corner of a building, curious as to the weird sounds she was hearing and the actions of the other two who were ahead of her just by a few steps.
With a tight grip crushing her mouth to prevent her from screaming and alerting the others, a dagger inches deep into her chest, the struggling pounding of her heart and weakening of her body, her body slowly died out as Asai's abyssally black eyes were the last thing she could see before perishing. Feeling her muscles go limp, and her heartbeat ceasing to exist, the human threw her corpse into a gunk pile nearby before he crept a little further out towards the main street, scanning the area to ensure that the three who had just died were the only ones within ear shot.
After doing so, he went to retrieve the throwing knives from the corpses only to realize that the two dekans were in fact a frail blue skinned woman and that of a small scrawny child, perhaps no less than 12. Both having a blade struck precisely between the eyes, granting them near instant death. With no items to identify them as warriors or combatants in any capacity, as the most they had upon their bodies were twigs and firewood, Asai had to close his eyes momentarily to regain himself.
Hearing the light footsteps approach, the gentle pitter patter that he recognised to be Robin's, Asai was quick shift gears as he began to retrieve the blades before throwing the two smaller corpses into the pile of trash and gunk, something that existed around nearly every corner as the dekan kingdom was lacking in plumbing and sewage control.
Returning to the group, and returning the knives, the man decided to keep the information to himself as he returned to the forefront. Only now, he had a bitter taste within his mouth, as questions of morality twisted and churned within his mind from the death of innocents.
Hebi wanted to further apologise, in worries that she would be abandoned at the next chance, but Robin gestured to her that it was fine, pushing her from the back and ushering her onwards.
Whilst the silence was now more deafening than ever, no one from the group blamed the woman for her slip up, as it was only a matter of time before someone tripped or stepped upon something. In fact, Istvan and Ian who weren't gifted in stealth and sneak were quite grateful that they weren't the first one to falter and be caught.
As for Asai, his mind was no occupied with both maintaining their stealth and navigating the urban layout of Rev'Deca, and the moral dilemma that was sprouting like a weed within his consciousness. If ordered to kill all dekans, even the innocent, the young, the elderly and the children, would he be able to fulfil his duty as a sword? He wondered. Finding himself to be a hypocrite, as he found pleasure and exhilaration in killing the evolved dekans, who were greatly lacking in their ability to show emotions, but finding it disheartening to kill dekans who's only difference was that their skin appeared light blue, when compared to humans.
As such, Hebi's worries were unfounded, as the humans weren't deliberately ignoring her, but simply focusing on their every step as to not break any twigs and sticks.
"W-why are you grinning like that?"
Hebi, as per usual, was spending a great deal of time and energy watching and observing her saviour's behaviour and character. Seeing as the others were occupied with checking their own status and miniscule equipment, as it was now the 7th day, thus it was time to depart from their miraculous safe-haven deep within enemy territory, Hebi was the only one to notice the somewhat sadistic grin, the lips that were trembling in excitement as Asai was at the forefront of the group.
Above them, a large portrait of the man in a three piece suit remained motionless, whilst another large portrait that was larger than a human depicted the outside world. The rough-buildings, huts and occasional dekan passing relatively close by. Evidently, just like the other portraits that acted as one way windows, they were unable to see the humans within.
"Because, the instant we're all out of this dungeon, Dolos will warp the dungeon into one filled with beasts and Victor and I will cause an artificial dungeon break by forcefully feeding the portal with our mana. The instant the portal starts to shatter and tear, we'll be making a swift escape whilst the dekans will find themselves suddenly occupied by beasts and monsters."
"Everyone ready?" Victor shot his glance over the group, receiving quick nods of affirmation before gesturing to the duke to proceed.
Having restored their bodies to better states than before, back when their systems were lacking in calories and nutrition due to the minimal meals that were provided during their imprisonment, the men were now more energetic and lighter upon their toes. Which translated to better sneak and marching speeds to escape. And whilst they weren't gifted with armour comparable to Robin and Asai's leathers, they now had basic leather boots and cloth tunics to protect their bodies from the elements.
..
With everyone outside and concealed behind the urban structures, Asai and Victor were both quick to cut wounds across their palms, flexing and squeezes them, encouraging the bleeding to proceed quicker as droplets of their blessed bloodlines fell into the gravity from within the dungeon like a black hole. As tints of golden and silver began to emerge within the swirling energy pool, rapidly increasing in density as it silently shook, the two men swiftly departed as the group began to once again traverse the shadows and alleyways.
Perhaps architecture and planning wasn't their forte at all, as the city of Rev'Deca was riddled with weaknesses, gaps, back-streets that provided them great amounts of cover to the east, to friendly land. Although, if approached from another perspective, an invading force would find such a messy layout to be disadvantageous to march an army through. As guerrilla warfare would cripple the hostile force with ease.
Just under half an hour of their sabotage and hasty retreat from the scene of the crime, war horns were repeated bellowing out their screeches as patrols were quickly swarming over to the location, finding hundreds of crocodiles slithering all across the location and consuming both flesh and buildings regardless of their density and lack of flavour. Just as the dekans did, the crocodiles that were first to arrive, the first to consume and absorb the weaker general population of the city grew in size. Growing to sizes that rivalled even the evolved dekans as they too, stood upon their two rear legs.
With such chaos erupting and emerging from the middle of their glorious city, the humans were afforded concealment under the panic and rustle of battle.
..
With the passage of time streaming in acceleration, with no lunch or dinner breaks and hardly any conversation between the members who were maintaining peak concentration towards their objective of being concealed, in respect to their current situation and predicament as demanded. Hebi had completely lost track of time as her focus faltered sporadically, only to continuing following the backs of the humans, shifting pass buildings and structures that held no notable individual significance to extinguish them from all others they had passed.
Not wanting to be the weakest link, to be the only being in need of rest and thus halting the entire group's efforts to escape hostile lands, she grit her teeth as determination filled her mind and ushered her forwards.
Whilst such willpower and desire to remain consistent and in line with the group's efficiency of speed was admirable, her muscles politely disagreed by becoming two left feet, tripping her as she fell face first into the mixture of dirt and twigs. The sudden crackling of the branches halted the entire party as they froze as if their hands were caught within the cookie jar.
Feeling the tension, the deafening silence and the pain upon her cheeks and palms, Hebi quickly rose as she pushed herself off the twigs.
"S-sorry! I-"
Robin's hand was first to latch onto the woman's mouth, preventing her from speaking another word. Whether it was an elven trait, due to their innately longer and bigger ears or not, Robin launched a set of throwing knives over Hebi's shoulders, causing the woman to flinch due to the sudden aggression and killing intent that was sent flying through her general direction.
A sudden thump, and two dekans crashed into the dirt before them just as the snake woman had done just moments prior.
The duke launched himself forwards and instantly plunged his dagger deep into the heart of the dekan that swerved around the corner of a building, curious as to the weird sounds she was hearing and the actions of the other two who were ahead of her just by a few steps.
With a tight grip crushing her mouth to prevent her from screaming and alerting the others, a dagger inches deep into her chest, the struggling pounding of her heart and weakening of her body, her body slowly died out as Asai's abyssally black eyes were the last thing she could see before perishing. Feeling her muscles go limp, and her heartbeat ceasing to exist, the human threw her corpse into a gunk pile nearby before he crept a little further out towards the main street, scanning the area to ensure that the three who had just died were the only ones within ear shot.
After doing so, he went to retrieve the throwing knives from the corpses only to realize that the two dekans were in fact a frail blue skinned woman and that of a small scrawny child, perhaps no less than 12. Both having a blade struck precisely between the eyes, granting them near instant death. With no items to identify them as warriors or combatants in any capacity, as the most they had upon their bodies were twigs and firewood, Asai had to close his eyes momentarily to regain himself.
Hearing the light footsteps approach, the gentle pitter patter that he recognised to be Robin's, Asai was quick shift gears as he began to retrieve the blades before throwing the two smaller corpses into the pile of trash and gunk, something that existed around nearly every corner as the dekan kingdom was lacking in plumbing and sewage control.
Returning to the group, and returning the knives, the man decided to keep the information to himself as he returned to the forefront. Only now, he had a bitter taste within his mouth, as questions of morality twisted and churned within his mind from the death of innocents.
Hebi wanted to further apologise, in worries that she would be abandoned at the next chance, but Robin gestured to her that it was fine, pushing her from the back and ushering her onwards.
Whilst the silence was now more deafening than ever, no one from the group blamed the woman for her slip up, as it was only a matter of time before someone tripped or stepped upon something. In fact, Istvan and Ian who weren't gifted in stealth and sneak were quite grateful that they weren't the first one to falter and be caught.
As for Asai, his mind was no occupied with both maintaining their stealth and navigating the urban layout of Rev'Deca, and the moral dilemma that was sprouting like a weed within his consciousness. If ordered to kill all dekans, even the innocent, the young, the elderly and the children, would he be able to fulfil his duty as a sword? He wondered. Finding himself to be a hypocrite, as he found pleasure and exhilaration in killing the evolved dekans, who were greatly lacking in their ability to show emotions, but finding it disheartening to kill dekans who's only difference was that their skin appeared light blue, when compared to humans.
As such, Hebi's worries were unfounded, as the humans weren't deliberately ignoring her, but simply focusing on their every step as to not break any twigs and sticks.
