Chapter 102: Scythe (1)

The Sun had set for about a couple of hours, and Anton moved from Davin. He was wearing the clothes that he borrowed from the red-faced man, and he left all the baggage to Davin as well. There was no point carrying extra luggage in a mission that needs his swiftness and stealth.

The darkness was already intense enough to blind most people's vision, the perfect time to try out the skill he was training for a month. Shadow Stealth—it's the only skill he bought from the Omega store in the Sanctuary, and he had been trying his best to master it since. 

Anton moved through the grassland as it swayed by the chilly wind. The temperature dropped again, and the chilly wind rose by a fair margin. Even Anton felt discomfort running, but he got no time to slack.

After following the path he got from the red-faced man, he finally came across a fortress. A huge one at that. It covered over four hundred metres in a square while as tall as a couple of dozen metres. The light on each floor of the fortress showed it was a four-storeyed one. 

Wasting no moment, Anton moved to do his work. First, he would inspect the fortress to measure out the strength of the Scythe, then with a fair opportunity, he would slip in inside.

All he needed to make sure was none spotted him doing that. A fortress with two hundred people and moreover, it's the den of the participant that everyone had their cash on winning. Sound quite easy.

The Fortress was guarded well. After inspecting all around, Anton found dozens of guards on each floor guarding while most of them were on the ground floor. He did not see archers; they were probably hiding in better spots or higher ground that his vision could not reach.

He inspected outside for an hour more to notice a group approaching the fortress carrying in new slaves. It was an opportunity he was waiting for. Following with them would give Anton the chance to inspect all the slaves or captives in an easier way.

The group was stopped at the gate where they showed something, and it appeared they have code words for safe passing as well. Anton did not take chances here. The light was quite bright at the entrance while did not want to show his face as off yet.

Fortunately, Anton had another way, he was not any fool to go inside from the front gate. The guards were guarding in pairs, while in a few places there were more than one pair. After deliberating for a moment, Anton threw a piece of brick on the side he was standing, deliberately making a noise. He was careful not to call a pack of guards, though. 

The pair guarding there become alert as one of them went to inspect where the brick fell. 

The guard shrugged off, seeing its nothing serious. He did not even notice someone shadowed just behind him, not even a couple of inches away. 

Anton masked himself with the shadow element—the colour of the night before shadowing the guard that came in his way. The light here was not enough to clear out his shadow. Moreover, he was harmonising each of the steps with the guard, giving him no chance to be spotted in the dim light. 

"What was that?" the companion of the guard that stayed in the place asked.

"Nothing," the guard who Anton was shadowing said. "Probably some small animal." 

The two guards continued in their job, as Anton moved fast inside like a blurry shadow.

He was finally in.

Anton's plan was to search deeper in the Scythe's lair, but to do that, he had to go in first. His shadow stealth would be of tremendous help in this case. First, he shadowed a guard to go inside, then moved in his top speed before anyone could see him.

Anton moved to a shade in the dark as he started hearing of the people nearby. 

The men were taking the slaves deeper into the fortress as the laughter grew. That was the group Anton needed to follow to inspect all the captives.

"Man, this guy won't listen," a man said as they carried the slaves. "He should be fortunate he's still alive after what he did." 

''Just do your job," another one said. "Sir Ben told us to lock him up for now."

The folks moved, carrying the slaves away. While Anton moved right behind one of the fellows. The light was not that good here, though the guards were carrying oil lamps. Anton had it quite easy with his shadow stealth. 

He was moving with them because they said they were moving the slaves to their cell, where other captives would be. One of his jobs here was just to check if Wrik, Tanya, or others were captured here.

But even before he could go to the cells, Anton recognised someone among the slaves that were taken by the men. The one they were talking about just now was none other than Kevin. 

Kevin was chained as he was unconscious, carried by the men. Even in the dim light Anton could see the blood slipping out from his body. It seemed Kevin had the bad luck in their group. His arms were twisted around the back, and chained, giving him no attempt on motioning, while his legs were free. He was in no condition of walking as the guards were carrying him.

Anton did not try anything reckless, as others thought him to be. He knew when to rage and when to go silent. There might be others of their group here captured by the Scythe. His job was only to scout now, but he did not know he would just be scouting if he saw Wrik in place of Kevin.

The men went down carrying the slaves, and so did Anton, in their shadows. They finally stopped after reaching the underground floor with the prison cells. A few of the folks were locked here, where most of the cells were empty.  Anton left the group then, imposing as just another underling of the Scythe. He moved cell to cell as he inspected each of the captives. The light was not any better, only a small oil lamp in front of each cell.

Anton did not have much time, went from each cell to the next, scrutinising for a couple of seconds. If the build of the captive had any sign of familiarity, he would inspect it further for confirmation. After a few minutes, Anton reached the end of the cell, and fortunately, he did not find what he was looking for, but his expression was not any better. 

There was a ruckus where he left off Kevin with the other guards. It appeared the big guy had awakened. Anton moved swiftly towards the source of the ruckus. =

The men tried to put Kevin in the cell when the big fellow stammered a kick into the face of the guy carrying him. The guards were offguard as they thought the big fellow was injured heavily and unconscious. Who could thought he could still use his muscles?

Kevin could not move his hands well, or not at all, as they were chained, but his legs were rather free. There were four other men removing the one he put down just now. He was successful in dealing with another of them, taking advantage of their bilwilderment, but he could only go sofar. The other three guards recollected themselves instantly and pinned him down against the cold stone floor.

"Ugh," Kevin roared in madness, but he could not force out the three men. 

"Big boy, just give up," one of the men said. "This isn't worth it. Just be a good slave for a month and you will be free." 

"Yeah yeah. It isn't as bad as you thought," the other guy said.

Anton had entered an inner conflict now. He was deliberating over if he should help Kevin or not. He did not notice anyone in the prisons that he recognised, which made him sigh in relief, but seeing the struggle from the big guy, he became conflicted.

If he tried to help Kevin, then there's a good chance both of them would be captured and made into slaves, but there's a tiny possibility of running away as well if he played his cards well. But that was too low. If Anton was alone, he could say he could flee from a fortress holding hundreds of men, buts it's quite difficult considering another person.

Kevin did not stop roaring. With an impulse of strength, he almost carried the three fellows on top of him.

Anton did not deliberate anymore. He did what his heart desired, knocked out one of the guys while Kevin stood up as the other two fell on the floor. 

"Ai, Kevin, you look as terrible as the first day I remember," Anton said as he tried to unchain the big fellow.

Keven seemed to have not recognised him, almost making an attempt to attack Anton, but hearing the voice he stopped. 

"Is that you, Anton?" he asked in a struggling, gruff voice. 

''Who else could it be?" Anton broke the chain after knocking it a few times with the mana infused knife. "Let's go, we will have to flee for now." 

Kevin was about to nod when the wind rose in the prison cell. 

"I went away for a nap, and there's such a ruckus here," a voice called in the dim light as the sound of stepping on the stone ground echoed out. "Looks like another guest is here."

"Sir Ben is here," One of the men down yelled in cheers hearing the voice. "We are saved."