Chapter 343 - Memory

Although Zaos hurried, it took him three weeks to finally reach the next target. He had imagined that the place would have fewer guards since, by that time, everyone interested knew that the places that fabricated focus amulets were being attacked, and it wasn't a coincidence. Zaos didn't find the laboratory yet, but he could tell that it was still in the mansion of the most important lord in the area. Because… the place had close to one hundred guards at night.

"They don't seem like royal guards, so I guess the owner of the mansion hired them," Zaos thought.

Zaos could imagine how lucrative it was to sell focus amulets, so each of those families received quite a lot of money. Because of that, they could afford many guards. That was probably necessary because who knows what Dalyor will do with them if they lose their production.

"Ah, come to think of it, maybe the other places won't store so many focus amulets," Zaos thought. "It is a pity, but I can only carry so much with me."

Now then, how will Zaos deal with that problem? After doing some tests, he noticed that Sleep becomes less effective the more targets are in an area. Maybe Zaos can put all of them to sleep, but he will have to use half of his mana. Unfortunately, the sound of armor hitting the ground will wake up everyone in the house nearby.

After thinking for a while, Zaos realized that he couldn't just knock down all the one hundred guards. That was too naive. If he decides to fight, things will end in a bloodbath. While he wasn't against the idea of killing those who pointed their weapons toward him, Zaos knew that such a tactic would only make things more difficult for him in the next laboratories. Zaos could always find a solution in the magic book, but he decided to improvise. Nothing good would come by relying on a knowledge that wasn't his yet, after all.

After moving around the mansion from a big distance to check the guards' movements, he noticed that there wasn't a single hole in their formation. Unless Zaos could fly, he wouldn't pass by them. However, he had a certain idea. Zaos waited patiently, for several hours, until one of the guards finally felt the urge to water the plants. Those guys were pretty gross, so many of them took a piss and aimed at the walls of their boss' residence. Eventually, one of them who couldn't take a piss while others were looking left the area and looked for a bush. Zaos attacked him from behind and then tied up the guard and took his armor. Soon after, Zaos was wearing full plate armor and was looking like the other guards. When Zaos approached the walls while trying to fit in, one of the guards looked at him with wary eyes.

"Took you long enough, newbie," the guard said. "The boss doesn't pay to spend the night taking a dump."

Zaos had no idea what to say, and even if he had an idea, his voice might cause problems. So, he only sighed to fake some annoyance.  Fortunately, that had been enough to fool the guards around. Regardless, that group that was guarding that side of the walls still was pretty focused on the task. So, Zaos had to wait for a while, and then when he noticed that no one was looking toward him with Magic Perception, he fired an Earth Bullet toward the windows of a warehouse. The sound of the impact echoed in the distance, and then all the soldiers looked in that direction. In a moment of curiosity, they took a few steps forward to see well, even though the warehouse was more than one hundred meters away from them. Once that happened, Zaos used that chance to climb the walls.

In the end, he managed to infiltrate the place without alerting anyone. Still, he had to hurry. Zaos quickly looked around for an underground passage, but he didn't find anything. However, he noticed some presence once he got close to an underground warehouse. It seemed too obvious of a place to hide some shady work, but Zaos decided to check it anyway. The warehouse was used to store things to keep the garden tidy, and there wasn't anything suspicious there. Still, Zaos felt some presence close by, but not in the warehouse on itself. Zaos quickly found a fake wall behind some boxes that were guarding tools, and he slowly approached. However, before advancing, he used Sleep. That spell worked better in confined places, and he once again confirmed that when he saw the noise of things falling on the ground.

After taking just a few steps, Zaos found the laboratory and three alchemists sleeping on the ground. The place was an exact copy of the previous one, so it didn't take long for Zaos to find and take what he wanted. However, he noticed that the cells still had prisoners. He probably would have lost his cool if he had seen kids in those, but he didn't. Still, the people there were pretty close to dying…

"Come to think of it, it has been a while since I heard of those crimes of kidnappings…" Zaos said and then rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe the number of people with his gift stopped showing up in the kingdom now that the demon king is about to be reborn."

In any case, Zaos finished off the prisoners and the alchemists. Naturally, he took all the focus amulets in there as well and then spread the oil around the place and used Ignite. The flames quickly began to spread, but Zaos had enough time to leave the place. Not to mention, the smell of smoke alerted all the guards and made them head toward the gate.. Once that happened, Zaos had the chance of jumping over the wall and didn't have to worry about anyone stopping or seeing him.

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