Chapter 1373 The Raid

One of the primary elements of a successful raid involves a clean entrance, one with the ability to catch the enemy off-guard.

As soon as it was confirmed that the individual who posed the biggest threat to them, Zenonia, had left the compound, Eeshoo decisively gave the group the signal to go.

To avoid the hordes of Nightwalkers heavily filling up the area, the group ultimately had to go through what used to be the underground city sewer. Moreover, even though the area was not under the Nightwalkers' watchful eyes, they still did not dare to make a sound for fear of the sewer being filled up with the creatures.

With Atlas's [Seismic Scan], it took them a few minutes before they finally arrived under the compound gate, the exact location used by the last acolyte to escape. However, the formation that was supposedly broken stood stable in its position like brand new, as if it was never even damaged in the first place.

As expected of the highly disciplined race. Only two days had passed since that acolyte made his escape, yet the area had been completely restored.

Abrafo gritted his teeth. With the last ounce of consciousness he had remaining, he unhesitatingly performed his skill on the formation. Little by little, he carefully dismantled the internal structure of the formation.

After the half-machine acolyte made sure that the path in front of them was clear, the group carefully stepped further through the maze following behind the dark-skinned acolyte.

Although he had broken these formations before, it proved to be a heavy burden for him in his current condition. When they finally arrived at the final wall, the dark-skinned acolyte collapsed to the ground.

Emery swiftly moved forward to check his condition and was ready to heal the man when Eeshoo stopped him.

"We have no time, we have to leave him here," the Nephilim protégé said and turned toward Atlas. "Give him the vest."

The vest he was referring to was none other than the black vest prepared as part of their exit strategy, a simplified combat suit similar to the one they previously wore at the mid-term test.

The vest contained a function that allowed acolytes to be teleported out of the planet. Although this function would only be able to work with the absence of an active barrier blocking it, this vest was the least they could give to ensure everyone's safety along with other precautions.

However, after Emery helped Abrafo wear the vest, the wolf acolyte decided to pull him up and carry him on his back once again. This action drew a dissatisfied glare from Eeshoo, but Emery did not back down.

"Let me carry him. I promise it won't hinder our task," he said, meeting eye-to-eye with the Nephilim protégé. He was unwilling to leave the young man down here.

In the end, Eeshoo reluctantly nodded and turned his attention back to their mission. As soon as he faced the last wall blocking their path, he took a deep breath.

The two grand magus' distraction and the Zodiac city King's attack on the border, everything was under way to create this one opportunity for them to enter and secure the prisoners from harm.

"All right, let's begin," the Nephilim protégé said as he let out a long breath.

After carefully examining the area and making sure that no one was above or near the vicinity, Eeshoo used his weapon to cut a clean circle for a hole. Following his signal, the others went through the hole and quickly arrived at a secluded corner of the compound.

They soon secured the area, and with a slight nod, all of them went in separate ways.

<Best of luck to all of us>

Now that the first element of their plan, the clean infiltration, succeeded, they immediately moved on to the second vital element: Securing the captives from danger.

The 30-mile-wide compound was three stories tall with a huge basement below. Although the building could be considered an enormous construct, it was still small enough to be within the range of any magus' spirit reading.

However, with the [Invisibility Capes] on them, the spirit reading of any magus apart from them would be greatly hindered, from a hundred miles down to only a dozen meters. This allowed for their spiritual presence to be hidden while simultaneously allowing them to detect the position of the guards and magus.

A grand magus was present on the third level of the compound, a dozen magus mostly on the second level, and three hundred saint-level guards spread throughout the lower levels. Among the three hundred, a majority of the guards were stationed on the first level with the rest being underground, guarding the 15 cells that each held from 100 to 200 acolytes.

The raid group's number was certainly incomparable to the individuals guarding the compound, but if they could execute their plan perfectly, they would be able to gain no less than 2000 reinforcements right away—the imprisoned acolytes.

Following their plan, Eeshoo and Magus Xion went together to sneak toward the upper levels while Emery, Silva, and Atlas each went toward three different locations. Despite this, all of them had one thing at the top of their minds: Do not get caught.

If any one of them were to be found, the presence of all of them within the compound would immediately be exposed.

While the current task at hand was already difficult for them, it was much more difficult for Emery. Not only did he have to move carefully with the powerless acolyte on his back, but he was also not allowed to use any spells. Fortunately, although the maze-like structure of the underground area was quite an inconvenience, it aided him in evading the dark elves' patrols.

After a few minutes, he successfully arrived at his target destination, a door to one of the cells. The door was tightly shut with no gaps, and a heavy mechanical lock secured it.

Seeing this, Emery took a deep breath and silently took out the next item for the mission, a palm-sized piece of technology. Supposedly, he only had to attach the gadget to the cell door's control panel and it would automatically work to open the door on its own.

As this technological gadget was far from his area of expertise, he could only hope that it would work as intended. With a hint of nervousness in his eyes, Emery carefully attached it to the door's control panel, and…

The little gadget made a whirring sound for a while. It wasn't loud, but the elves' acute sense of hearing managed to clearly capture the sound. Moments after, Emery could hear footsteps coming toward him, and it didn't seem like their number was small.

"Damn it!!"

Emery clenched his fists. He was preparing himself for an all-out fight when he heard a click from the cell door behind him.

It was unlocked.

Without any time to think, he swiftly grabbed the device, opened the cell door and snuck into the room. Leaning on the shut door, he could feel his heart racing as he nervously hoped that the elves wouldn't find out about him. It was only after he heard the sound of footsteps going further away that he felt relief slowly wash over him.

When Emery turned back, he was immediately met with dozens of acolytes staring at him. One of the captured acolytes in particular had his eyes open wide, staring at him with shock and disbelief.

"My bro… Emery, you're here…"

As those words came out of his mouth, Gerri the Violet Flame had a look of complete joy on his face. Seeing that the newly-arrived acolyte came fully equipped, the other acolytes in the cell also felt hopeful.

Without giving Emery a chance to speak, Gerri quickly jumped and hugged him. He seemed to have a lot to say, but Emery quickly silenced him before he could say another word.

"I'm here to bring you all out. For all of our sakes, stay quiet and quickly hand these out," Emery whispered.

The items he handed were ten storage rings, each filled with weapons, health potions, and a dozen black vests for the acolytes here to wear.

While Gerri nodded and distributed the items inside, Emery looked around the cell to find his friends. He found some familiar faces among the acolytes, but none of them were the people he was looking for.

Afterward, Emery appointed Gerri as the group leader and gave him one of their communication devices.

"Now I need you all to stay here until you are given the signal, do you understand me?" Emery sternly said as he scanned the acolytes in the cell.

Although they could not wait to get out of this place, most of the hundred acolytes were weak and tired. They had no intentions of questioning him, especially with Emery's current status as a famous top acolyte in the academy.

Upon receiving their affirmation, Emery left Abrafo for Gerri to take care of before he quietly snuck out of the cell and reported the status of his task.

<Cell number one complete>

At the same time, Silva and Atlas gave the same report. Three cells secured, with twelve more to go.