178. Augmentation - 21

178. Augmentation - 21

The silence that filled the plains following my declaration was beautiful. It was a daring declaration, but the shift from blue glow to golden seemed to imprint the desired message.

Naturally, fighting against a thousand soldiers just by myself was dangerous, no matter how overwhelming my stats were at this current point. All the Baron would need was to ask the mages to contain me with their spells while focusing on ranged attacks. A simple strategy, but more than enough to deal with a foe with superior Agility but lacking in Strength.

Well, I would have just dropped a smoke bomb and retreated with my Speed, but they didn't know that.

Unfortunately, it was clearly the first time Baron Tarug had been facing such a challenge, and his purple face suggested he was more focused on the utter disrespect my words implied. "Kill him!" he ordered, his Charisma pushing his army forward wildly, trying to overwhelm me with numbers.

A big mistake.

"You have chosen death. So be it," I declared as I moved forward. Though, before I even engaged them, I noticed that the Somaton agents moving next to him, arguing with him that I shouldn't be killed, but taken prisoner.

It was interesting, but as I found myself amid the chaotic charge, I had to focus on the present. I once again focused on my Agility, letting its fluidity and control wash over me. A slash, and one of the valuable master skill holders lost his life before he could even react. A second ended up with a dagger in the eye and then, I moved deeper into the formation, leaving the first line of master skill holders behind.

Once I reached the expert skill holders, whose stats were even lower than the master skill holders, it turned into a real massacre. My blades danced, each swing delivering death. I didn't even need to parry their attacks.

Strength might be critical when dealing with monsters, but Agility reigned supreme in melee combat.

I had been prepared for a much more arduous battle, but the Baron's incompetence turned the affair into a true massacre. His emotional state was already compromised, but even more, I could see that he never truly tested his command skill which was obviously another gift from Somaton so he did not understand how to maximize the benefits of his new skills.

As a result, the more I fought, the more I felt pity toward his poor soldiers. War was an ugly business, but that didn't mean mercy wasn't useful.

I decided to end it.

Without a warning, I blasted my Charisma, which was already far stronger than the Baron's. It destroyed the hold of the command skill and the encouragement that came with it, replacing it with a supernatural fear, overlapping with their natural terror.

The army pulled back for a moment, which gave me the path I needed. Before they realized what they had done, I was already in front of the Baron.

"Pathetic," I said as I stood in front of him, feeling furious. A pathetic leader, sending his men to death, and all without doing even the slightest bit of the work himself. Now that he stood in front of me, he looked petulant rather than afraid.

Like he didn't even believe I would kill him.

"I ... s-" he started. He was hesitant, but I could see that it was not the terror that was holding him back, but some kind of petulant frustration. Like he had just lost in a game of chess and didn't want to resign.

Unfortunately, it was my move.

That was all he could say before I swung my blade, decapitating him, much to the shock of everyone.

It looked like he had already received the news of Zolast's overwhelming victory.

"We lost, my lord. The army is scattered, and B-Baron Tarug is dead."

"They were supposed to have only three hundred soldiers. How could you lose to that force? Did that mysterious knight appear again?" he asked, his tone resigned. "Was he holding back just like their priest?" Another extended silence. "Enough! Stop wasting my time."

"No, my lord. It was the Steward," one of them spoke. "Alone."

This time, it was King's brother that fell silent, which stretched for several seconds. "Explain," he ordered, his voice no longer angry, but with a dangerous chill.

"It all started with a confrontation over the silver mine" the guard started his explanation. It was a long explanation, far longer than the fight itself, revealing every single detail.

"Explain to me how he dodged all those attacks," he said once they finished the explanation, but his voice was even more tense, which surprised me slightly, because I had been expecting him to question the fate of the baron, or even my killing performance more. Yet, he focused on the way I dodged, with a lot of detailed questions to predict my reaction speed, my flexibility, and other technical details.

The more I listened to his explanations, the more I realized I might have revealed another dangerous ability. At first, I assumed he had been trying to understand how high my Agility was, but soon, I realized those questions were more targeted.

They were the questions I would ask if I was trying to distinguish my performance compared to Limenta.

Dangerous kinds of questions.

"Pathetic," he called once the explanation was finished. "A thousand-strong army, and you can't even push him to his limit," he said, frustrated. "We don't even know his true capability."

I needed it to be poked, so I carefully manipulated one of the agent's emotions, boosting his courage and curiosity at the same time. "My lord, we already know that he has Awakened " he started, much to the shock of his partner.

"Of course we know that!" he shouted from the other side. "What I need to know is how close he is to a domain."

"What's that, my lord?" he asked.

"Something that would cost you your head if you dare to speak of it with anyone," he said. "Still, you need to understand what it is if you are to look for it. A domain is the next stage for an Awakened stat." He paused for a moment. "From now on, you two have a new mission. Observe him carefully, and try to understand the range of his abilities, and report everything unusual about his Agility usage, no matter how trivial."

"As you wish, my lord," he said. "How about the rest of the mission?"

"Stop targeting House Maell for the moment. The church is far stronger than we expected, and no other Baron would dare to challenge them after they killed that idiot Tarug. I will arrange someone more competent to handle that."

"As you wish, my lord," they said at the same time, and I sneaked out. Even with Concealment, it was hard to avoid their attention when they weren't completely distracted. Anything I might hear from the follow-up conversation wasn't as valuable as a chance to find their main base of operations.

Bypassing the wards was even easier from the inside. I moved away.

Wondering what exactly a Domain was.