Chapter 82: Interception

The plan was simple...

Take the Advanced Heaven Shrounding Plate and activate it to hide their movements. Stay away from the direct line of fire and observe the situation from afar. Find a hole in their defenses, there would be some due to how hectic the situation is, and once it is discovered, use that to infiltrate the city.

Once they're inside the city, they must find an inauspicious spot to set their temporary base. They must make sure to hide their movements and be extra careful because everybody would be on high alert. Once their guard was down, blend in and re-establish the presence of the cult in this city.

Really, they have all the means to achieve their goals. They've been given sufficient supplies to ensure the success of the plan. They were careful all the way through and so far, nothing went wrong.

So why...? Why is it that somebody was waiting for their arrival? This person even seemed amused at the way they hid themselves when it shouldn't have been possible for them to be seen!

The first half of the plan went through smoothly...

Superhumans of the Black Thread City were indeed too busy to notice their movement. Hell, even if they weren't, the Heaven Shrouding Plate should've essentially turned them invisible to all senses.

The Demon Hoard was strong, as expected from a Lv.3 intensity Black Sky. The humans were holding on but the cultist knew that this was just the beginning. They've seen the part of the horde that humans haven't seen yet and truthfully, it'd be difficult for this city to get out unscathed from this attack.

If they turned out to be weak and couldn't handle the rest of the horde, then it's perfect! This city will turn into ruins, a place that will fall under the hands of the cult! It'd be great if the Black Sky swallowed this entire city!

And so, using the gap in their defenses from their observations, they infiltrated the city. They had a close shave with Francine. She seemed to have sensed them briefly and that made them nervous. Fortunately, though, her instincts were no match against the prowess of the Heaven Shrouding Plate and they successfully moved past her.

Inwardly, they were already feeling jubilant. They managed to get into the city because of that. They kept their guard up of course since the City Lord was around but deep down, they were already grasping their success since not even the City Lord could see through the tool they were using.

...the City Lord failed to sense them back then, with the improved version of the tool, it should be even more difficult for that old man to sense them. That's why they were already thinking that they've succeeded.

But just as they were about to search for a spot to set up a temporary camp, they encountered him.

Nobody saw where he came from. He wasn't deliberately hiding, but if it weren't for someone from their side spotting him, they would've missed him altogether.

The man wore a mask that covered half of his face. He had long crimson-red hair, wearing a scarlet combat suit with pauldrons on the joints. A sword was slung on his back and on his waist, a pair of guns were holstered. He sat by the roof with an amused expression, looking down at them. Yes, he's looking at them.

"So, what's it going to be gentlemen?" He asked them with a mocking smile. "Are we going to fight to death or y'all just content looking at my handsome visage? Either way's fine with me, so you pick."

"Kill him! He's alone!"

There's really not much to say after that. This was their only way out. So long as this man was around, none of their plans would work. The longer they wait, the more dangerous their situation becomes.

As soon as their field leader made a decision, all of them came at the man with the intent to kill. There were no traces of mercy in their movements. Each one was determined to end the existence of the man before them to ensure their safety.

Sadly for them, this doesn't change anything. They should've known that a man who could confront them fearlessly must be really confident about his chances.

They shot him with bullets, magic, poison-coated weapons, etc. Some even scattered traps around him, hoping to limit his movements and make him suffer, others charged directly at him with cold weapons oozing with sinister intent.

There were around 20 of them around, and each one attacked the man with the intent to kill. Sadly, before any of their attacks landed, the man disappeared like a ghost, leaving behind an afterimage that seemed to be mocking them.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

They didn't even see that coming. None of them saw how he moved or when he drew his guns to fire a hail of bullets towards them. It happened so fast that none of them were able to react to it.

As a result, all of them were injured. Some were shot at less-threatening spots while others were immediately killed on the spot.

The sense of crisis escalated like no other. But before they could even make any sort of plan to respond to this, their enemy was already moving.

Again, everything happened way too fast. They only saw a flash of light zooming past them, and that's the last thing they saw.

All 20 cultists who were initially jubilant of their success at infiltrating the Black Thread City, died with overwhelming regrets. If they had it their way, none of them would be a part of the cult, much less be here to do this thankless task that led to their deaths.

After dealing with the pesky cultist under a fake identity, Cedric sighed in relief before cleaning up the scene.

Once he was done, he surveyed his surroundings one last time to make sure that he didn't miss a spot. Satisfied, he dashed back home, not even bothering to lend aid to those fighting atop the city walls.

...they don't need his help right now, anyway.