Chapter 53: Heartless task

Chapter 53: Heartless task

Sofias guess was that she had to at least kill the guy that had betrayed Aurelia, and maybe the rat that had been crying at his side too. Going so far as to kill them might even be unnecessary, but she had limited time, so straightforward solutions were better. She had other ideas like sitting on the throne, opening the treasury with the seal, or even completing a last revolutionary painting. Since the princess really liked her paints and brushes.

She hoped that it wasnt actually to make a dumb painting, or shed never get the rewards.

Reaching the capital shouldnt take long. She didnt even try to be discreet, she was going too fast for anyone on her path to see her as anything but a gray blur flashing across the land. With the countrys stronger Hero dead, there was no one who could stop her anymore.

I wonder if the others survived.

Finding the capital took her more time than expected. It turned out she didnt know the country as well as she thought, and her high speed did nothing to prevent her from getting lost.

[Trial completion : Survive the solstice (9 hours remain)]

It was her first time actually seeing the royal palace from outside. It was quite impressive, and so was the capital city beside it, though it didnt come close to Drakron or Einsen. How did such a big city even disappear? I've never even heard of anything being here. This whole region should be a forest in the real world. There was apparently a lot to learn about the Skyreach Kingdoms past. A trip to the forest would be in order once she got back. If I manage to return there without a boatThe original appearance of this chapter can be found at Ñøv€lß1n.

I need to find whatshisname and his girl uh Jevvin and Ellen? Well, it doesn't matter," she reflexively said out loud.

She had been crouching on top of a small stone houses roof, her sudden talking had alerted a passerby. The walking large-bellied noble in his forties had barely glanced at her, he didnt have time to scream before the shock caused him to faint and fall face first on the pavement.

Come on now, I dont look THAT bad.

Seeing her own reflection in the lake for the first time had been disturbing but she thought her appearance quite graceful. In comparison with the distorted thing she had killed in the towers basement, she was a peerless beauty. Having no face isn't that big of a deal... Instead she had a mouth with a set of sharp teeth and twelve eyes all spread all over her head, no nose, no ears, nor anything else. Or I got too used to seeing weird shit Well.

She would hit the palace at night, and if she couldnt find the targets, she would go straight for the church next. In the meantime. Im hungry.

Later that night, somewhere in the royal palace.

She thought about searching him for the royal seals, but ultimately didnt bother. She couldnt bring anything out of here anyway, and there wasn't that much time left.

Sofia ran through all the rooms in this section of the palace without finding her target. She paid more attention to details now, trying to spot rooms that looked occupied, or persons hiding, like behind folding screens. Yet her search was in vain as she could not locate her.

The only people she found were more and more guards, all fainting at the sight of her, three more even dying on the spot.

The system prompts revealed that this was not enough to complete the bonus task.

[Trial completion : Survive the solstice (4 hours remain)]

[Additional rewards task : Avenge Aurelia (Pending)]

Ive got four hours to complete this I should be in a hurry but I cant feel any pressure after that last fight. If I dont get it then I dont get it.

Well, it would be nice to get it though. Time to raid the church I guess, cant see where else she could be that I could find in so little time. Id ask around for her location if everyone wasnt collapsing whenever I came near.

The churchs main building in town had a high spire, looking exactly like the one that had presumably housed the Oracle back in the Holy-See. Even if the girl wasnt there, maybe the heroes would be, they werent a danger anymore, but they might not faint near her, giving her more opportunities to gather information.

She crossed the hundreds of meters between the palace garden and the Church in a single jump, landing with an acrobatic roll on the blue tiled roof of the Churchs main building. She walked to a towers window and tried opening it, it was the kind that doesnt open. Her nails cut through the glass like a hot knife through butter. It wasnt exactly silent, but it still made much less noise than any other way she had to get in quickly.

The Churchs interior was silent and austere, it had the same atmosphere that the Holy See had at night. She rushed up the tower first, not finding much besides an imposing belfry at the top. There were many more towers, it would be inefficient to check them all, so she descended to the main building instead. The Church was a large T-shaped building, each branch three floors high, from one point of the T to the opposite, it was probably five hundred meters long. Towers sprouted from all sides and the roof.

Entering the main building, she was instantly faced with a group of three patrolling paladins.

Two of them collapsed, like many that day, but surprisingly, the oldest of the bunch stood strong, she was a mature woman with a scarred face, her golden paladin armor boasted a long blue cloak draped over her shoulder and side, completely hiding her left arm.