Chapter 180 The Silent Aproach

"Does anybody see it!?" Leonard shouted out.

"It was here a moment ago!"

"It's too dark!"

Several soldiers shouted back with their version of 'no'. Some time had passed since the injured woman had turned into a red humanoid creature with wings and three eyes.

Her destination seemed to be the same as Leonard's party, Zoren city, and as such they attempted to follow her.

Unfortunately for them, once the sun started to set she became much harder to keep track of. Once the sun was gone and night had fallen, she disappeared from sight completely.

"Shit..." Leonard said under his breath. The squad was currently taking a break from riding, mostly to allow the horses a chance to catch their breath.

"We should push for Zoren. We know she's headed in that direction and we could get assistance from there in tracking and capturing her." Leonard said.

"We have no garuntee she's heading for Zoren. If we force our horses to continue without letting them rest, we would be risking their death. I for one do not want to explain to the Colonel why we felt the need to push our horses that far on a guess." Squad leader, Captain Yarm, said.

"From what I know, based on her appearance, she's become a kind of Imperium. She's bound to be more powerful than the average ability users and could do some serious damage if we don't warn our people at Zoren." Leonard protested.

"Are you suggesting that your own people would be incapable of stopping a single Imperium?" Captain Yarm asked with a suggestive tone.

"I'm not saying that. They will be able to take her down, the question is how many of them will die before that happens.

If she suddenly shows up without warning, several soldiers and Infernai will die before they can even begin to respond. It's worth getting reprimanded if we're wrong, because if we're right then many people will be saved." Leonard said.

He tried to stay calm while speaking but a bit of annoyance was creeping through into his words. To Leonard, it felt as though Captain Yarm just wanted to oppose his ideas in some misguided power struggle.

"We'll let the horses get their rest and then continue on to Zoren at a faster pace. You make a decent point but I will still do what I can to prevent the death of our horses." Captain Yarm said.

Leonard knew that he wouldn't be able to get a better outcome than that so he considered this conversation a small success and walked away.

The young boy, William, had been silent since his mother grew wings and flew away. He was sitting on the back of the cart with his arms around his legs, resting his chin on his knees.

He had a very distant expression on his face and didn't seem to register anything going on around him.

Since there would still be at least another hour before they set off again, Leonard decided that he should try speaking with the boy.

"How you holding up, William?" Leonard asked as he climbed into the carriage and took a seat next to the boy.

William didn't reply or even so much as look up to acknowledge Leonard's presence. He just continued to stare straight ahead with eyes that had been crying for hours.

"I know you're worried about your mom and maybe even a little scared as well, but it's okay to feel that way. I also get scared, everyone does, and being worried about your mom just shows how much you love her, right?"

Leonard's words managed to reach William this time and the boy turned his head towards him slightly.

"Will she be okay?" He asked with a dry and shaky voice.

"Honestly... I don't know. I won't make promises I can't keep, so I'm not going to tell you everything will be alright.

What I can promise is that I will do everything in my power to help your mom, no matter how difficult it is." Leonard said with a confident tone.

William had a very small smile on his face, it was a smile filled with sadness but it gave Leonard the impression that William was stronger than most and would be able to get through this.

***

After hours of searching, Leo wasn't able to find the captured civilians. He checked every building in the city, from the top floors to the basements.

There was one building that was giving him trouble however. It was the castle that was set up within the city.

Whenever a member of royalty would visit or live in a city, they would make use of the castle that was located in said city.

In this case, Duke Wesley would have been using it while he was here. With the number of cultists surrounding the building and walking around inside of it, it wouldn't be easy getting a good look.

'I can see into some of the castle from here but because of the castle walls I can't get close enough. I would have to be inside the castle or on its roof at the very least.' Leo thought as he looked at the castle from a high rooftop.

'It seems they've already thought about someone arriving on the roof, if the cultists walking around up there aren't proof of that then I don't know what is.' Dreifus replied with a sigh at the end.

'The Imperium should be somewhere inside the castle as well, if I alert them to my presence then I would be forced to fight over a hundred cultists and an Imperium.

While I'm confident I can handle those odds individually, if I have to do them at the same time it could become too much, even for me.' Leo explained.

'Then you need to avoid being seen as you get closer or there needs to be a distraction somewhere else in the city.' Dreifus suggested.

'No, I can't create a distraction. To draw the attention of those in the castle, it would need to be someone big. Even if they don't find anything, they would be on high alert afterwards, making our surprise attack tomorrow night less likely to succeed.' Leo replied.

'Then stealth is your only option. Other than doing nothing at all that is.' Dreifus shrugged.

'You know me well enough to know I won't just leave without checking. These people don't deserve what's waiting for them once they're taken to Trent.'

'Then how do you plan on getting closer?' Dreifus asked.

'I was planning on using Glide. I'll get closer through the air and land on the roof.' Leo answered.

'I'm sure you didn't forget this but you make quite a bit of noise when landing. You aren't able to land softly so it's already not an option since the cultists on the roof would immediately hear you.' Dreifus pointed out.

'Then what do you suggest I do instead?' Leo asked.

'Use Fly.' Dreifus shrugged. 'I know you didn't even consider it because of how much Energy it uses but if it gets you to the other side quietly then it's worth it.'

'I'll would still have a decent amount of Energy left even after I use Fly... Maybe it isn't such a bad idea.' Leo said, trying to figure out how much Energy would be used for this distance.

'It would take me about thirty seconds to fly to the rooftop, that would use one hundred and fifty Energy.' Leo thought as he checked his Energy.

[Energy 440/490]

'I would still have plenty left once I got there but every bit of Energy could matter if I fight a particularly powerful Imperium. The goal is to complelty avoid that outcome but if something goes wrong then it depends on their abilities.

If they use energy based attacks then it could be a problem since I can't absorb that. If they use physical attacks or throw things at me with telekinesis then I'd be in luck.' Leo thought as he pondered the potential risk.

'There's only six cultists on that roof. One at each corner and two moving up and down in the middle. If you take out the two in the middle quick enough, the others will be easy, making the goal of remaining stealthy achievable with little effort.' Dreifus pointed out.

'You are not wrong... Alright then, I know what I'm gonna do.'

'Are you going to use Fly to get there?' Dreifus asked expectantly.

'Yes and no. I'll use it eventually but I want to get closer first so I use less Energy. This way is much more effecient.' Leo said as he crouched down.

[Leap]

His body shot up into the air, arriving at an incredible height almost double that of the castle.

[Glide]

'What are you doing!? I thought we agreed that Glide would make too much noise when landing?' Dreifus asked as Leo started moving towards the castle.

'Just watch, you'll understand in a moment.'