Chapter 119: Pantry Raid

Chapter 119: Pantry Raid

Combat Initiated

Combat Resolved

Calculating

Skirmish

Exp +480

Leadership Role

Bonus Experience for Leadership Role: 100%

Exp +800

Achievement!

Force a higher Tier Class in both Tier 1 and Tier 2

Permanently reduce the requirements for unlocking Classes

Combat Initiated

Enemies Defeated

Exp +276

Exp +284

Exp +268

Exp +260

Exp +292

Exp +300

Exp +284

Exp +272

Exp +320

Exp +312

Exp +280

Exp +284

Exp +300

Combat Resolved

Calculating

Large Scale Battle:

Defeated

Exp +7,000

Calculating

Leadership RoleVisit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

Bonus Experience for Leadership Role: 9%

Exp +1,530

Combat Initiated

Enemies Defeated

Exp +100

Exp +98

Exp +104

Exp +110

...

Exp +100 x114

Combat Resolved

Calculating

Skirmish

Exp +110

Leadership Role

Bonus Experience for Leadership Role: 85%

Exp +212

Combat Initiated

Enemies Defeated

Exp +100

Exp +106

Exp +102

...

Exp +100 x89

Exp +288

Exp +260

Exp +272

Combat Resolved

Calculating

Small Scale Defensive Action

Exp +340

Reivyn nodded his head at his Stats, satisfied with his growth. I lost about six Levels from not turning my Experience Siphon off. About 40,000 Experience got drained into my Bloodline, and the next six Levels would be 40,600 Experience.

"Yes, sir," Jekle nodded his head.

"Good. Has everyone taken the time to eat and review their Notifications?"

Everyone nodded their heads.

"Then, let's get to work."

Reivyn crept over the edge of the hill, observing the base camp below. They had traveled in three separate groups, approaching their target from different directions. They had moved along different routes than they had used to escape the noose the enemy had tried to entrap them with, but, because they were much smaller forces, they were able to move at a much faster speed.

Reivyn had set a pace that would cause them to pant with exertion without unduly draining their Stamina. They would have time to recover what they spent while they reconnoitered the base camp.

Reivyn focused his gaze, using his Night Vision in accordance with his Light Affinity to get a bright view of the target below. Smoke billowed up from craters in the ground, and the fortifications that his scout had told him about were demolished. He didn't spy any prisoners or anyone who looked familiar, and the enemy force occupying the base camp was still busy adding new defenses.

There were at least several thousand people in the base, and most of them were in little tents, resting. A couple hundred of the soldiers continued to dig ditches, build short walls, and observe the nearby terrain.

The base camp wasn't in the worst position possible, like Captain Sanjin would have chosen, but it wasn't in the best spot either. Reivyn, and his two other squads, had access to hills that had higher elevations than the base, so they were able to peer down on it.

Reivyn had taken one squad to lead himself, and the other two squads, as he called them, were actually a combination of the other squads from the platoons.

Reivyn descended a bit down the hill, out of view of the enemies occupying the base. He didn't know the method to create the magic necessary for long-distance communication, so he had come up with simple signals to give to the other two squads. Reivyn channeled his mana to create extremely tight beams of light, and he directed them toward the other two squads. The light didn't disperse, and it was covered by the terrain.

He sent one, quick beam to each side, signaling for them to wait until further notice. The signals he had come up with were simple: 1 Beam to wait, 2 Beams to converge together on his location, 3 Beams to evacuate, and 4 Beams to execute their plan. He didn't want anything complicated, so they kept it as simple as possible.

Their mission wasn't to do any damage to the enemy's defense. They were just going to sneak in, grab some storage pouches, and sneak out.

Reivyn had issued an order of complete silence until they were long gone from the base, so he didn't discuss his thoughts on the state of the base. It was clear to him that another surviving remnant of the battalion had either walked into the trap and fought their way free, taking the prisoners with them, or they had deliberately assaulted the base to free the prisoners. Either way, there were no longer any prisoners in the camp.

One less thing to worry about, Reivyn thought with relief. That was going to be the trickiest part of the plan, much like the original plan to free the civilians. Now that we don't have to worry about that, it'll be a lot easier to secure some supplies, as long as they're still there. If not we'll have to locate and steal some of theirs.

Reivyn sat back, having a scout keep watch from each of the locations so they didn't get snuck up on, and they waited until the activity in the camp died down as they finished their fortifications and went to sleep. They weren't going to be assaulting the enemy, so it didn't matter if they had some simple defenses erected as long as they could sneak through.

After about an hour of twiddling his thumbs, Reivyn once more crested the hill to glance at the camp. The sounds coming from it had lessened considerably over the last ten minutes, and he figured it was about time to make their move. He wanted to strike when they were the weariest and least observant, so they had to time it for when more people were asleep, and before the changing of the guard, if possible.

He peered down at the camp, and sure enough, there were far less people keeping watch of the surroundings. There were a couple of patrols with torches making their rounds around the perimeter, reminiscent of his time in the Lord's Retinue. There were a couple of short towers erected on the corners, as well, and there were men on top of the towers. They didn't have any actual, solid walls, and so there were no soldiers keeping watch atop them.

Reivyn continued to watch the watchers, trying to spot any weaknesses they could exploit. After several minutes, the man on the watchtower closest to them yawned before slouching down, resting against the railing.

Bingo, Reivyn thought. He waited until one of the outer patrols made their way across their path, and he descended back down to give the signal to sneak into the camp.

After verifying his other two squads began their movement with his brighter vision, Reivyn signaled for the squad following him to move out.

Reivyn had had the soldiers eschew their armor, and they had doused their clothes before rolling around in some mud. They had caked their clothes in dark dirt, and Reivyn had used his Mana to create lines and streaks in the caked-on mud in order to break up the outline their bodies would make. He instinctively knew, from his Dreams, that the strange clothing of his Dream-self had been intended to hide them from observing eyes.

The creation of the designs had netted Reivyn a new Skill.

New Skill Unlocked!

Tier 2:

Camouflage (0 ->1)

Reivyn low-crawled with his squad across the open ground between the hill and the makeshift walls. There was no Skill, that Reivyn knew of, that governed one's ability to crawl, but his Athleticism and, strangely, Balance and Acrobatics Skills directly affected his speed and maneuverability. Reivyn had to hold himself back, though, or he would have quickly outpaced those following him.

He still took the lead and stayed out in front of everyone. They silently made their way to the wall, and Reivyn crouched down to assist the others with scaling the wall. Each squad had to operate independently at this point, and they would only converge to help run interference if an alarm was raised.

Reivyn and the others already had locations in mind to check, from their memories of the layout of the camp when they had still been there, and Reivyn directed his squad to advance to the first location.

They tip-toed their way down the alleys, staying crouched down and avoiding any light sources. Reivyn's Silent Step, Sure Step, and other Stealth related Skills played a crucial role in his ability to move quickly and silently. The other squad members clearly had lower Skill Levels, despite being selected for the fact that they had them at all.

Reivyn had warned the squads not to split up further once they had begun their mission, so Reivyn didn't take advantage of his superior speed. He remained with his squad, leading them to the first place to investigate.

As he had suspected, the enemy force didn't change up the layout of the base camp, except for some minor differences where they had set up their tents and expanded the borders to accommodate the larger population. They quickly found their first target, wagons set aside to hold physical supplies and storage satchels. The first location was a bust, though, as there was nothing remaining in the back of the wagon.

Reivyn shook his head to the squad members and immediately led them off to the next target: the tents nearby where the enemy might have moved the goods.

This was an opportunity where it was safe to split up a little bit. There were several tents nearby, and Reivyn had the squad break up into four groups. Three of the groups had three members, and he selected one other person to accompany him. He deliberately chose the squad member with the lowest Stealth Skills, as he was just going to use him as his lookout as he snuck into the tent.

As the other three groups coordinated their efforts to silently enter the tents they had selected, Reivyn crouched through the opening of the largest tent, the flap being held open by the lookout. He didn't want to risk unnecessary movement and noise, so his partner would just hold it open as he stood outside, only letting it close after Reivyn backed out.

Reivyn scanned the interior of the tent. It was furnished more than he would have expected. Several pieces to make it more homey were strewn about the inside, and a man lay sleeping on a cot in the center of the tent. There was a foldup table and chair to the side, and Reivyn spotted a small mound of storage pouches gathered together behind the man.

Reivyn snuck his way around the man, careful not to jostle anything or make any noise. The man was lying on his side, turned away from Reivyn, and Reivyn gently moved around toward where the pouches were. It was pitch black inside the tent, Reivyn using his Night Vision and Light Affinity to find his way, so he didn't have to worry about casting a shadow over the man's eyes. A change in the lighting, if the man was a light sleeper, would definitely stir him awake.

Reivyn reached the pouches in short order. He grabbed the one on the top and quickly inspected it. He nodded his head as he sensed the inside was filled with foodstuff and water skins. He didn't bother checking any of the other pouches, as they had a time limit on their mission.

Reivyn attached several to his person, and then slowly made his way back to his partner keeping watch. He handed the bulk of them over, and then he headed back for more. He silently arrived, once more, and snagged several more pouches. He wouldn't be able to steal all of them away, simply because he didn't have enough room to carry them.

Out of curiosity, Reivyn glanced over at the sleeping man. His girth was much larger than the wild soldiers he had fought against already. Not only was he much larger, but the blanket he was sleeping under was clearly high-quality silk. Intrigued at the discrepancy, Reivyn glanced at the man's face, and he noticed that there was a "4" branded onto the man's forehead.

This is one of the officers! Reivyn realized. According to this man's proximity to the supplies, he's probably a logistics officer. Their higher authority has so far been fairly competent, so if I eliminate this man, it might throw a wrench into their ability to project their strength.

Reivyn understood from his own Skills that there was a high possibility that the man would sense any hostile actions directed at him. Reivyn needed to strike him without alerting him to his presence. He had the Backstab Skill, which he assumed would work as a bonus to damage even if he wasn't technically behind the man.

Reivyn attached the satchels to his belt and robes, and he sidled over to the sleeping man. His sword was strapped to his back to help him sneak around, but he had sought out a long dagger to strap to his side for exactly this kind of situation.

I'm not stabbing the man in the cot, Reivyn told himself. I'm stabbing the ground beneath the cot. There's no hostile action involved.

Reivyn psyched himself up, convincing himself he wasn't attacking someone, but that he was simply thrusting his dagger down into the ground.

Reivyn used his Meditation to calm his heartbeat and breathing, and after focusing on his intent, he swung his dagger down at the ground. The man's throat just happened to be in the path of his dagger.

The dagger pierced into the man's neck, and his eyes snapped open in alarm. The man started to leap up, but Reivyn threw his body on top of him while simultaneously covering his mouth with his off-hand. The man was only able to groan in pain, and his eyes rolled about in panic as he tried to make sense of what was going on. Blood spurted out around the edge of the dagger, and Reivyn used his strength to slash his throat wide open.

The loss of blood pressure from the gaping hole had an immediate effect, and the man died in mere seconds. His Health pool, no matter how large it could have been, played almost no role in keeping him alive.

I never asked my dad how much damage a slash to the throat does, but it's apparently substantial, Reivyn thought to himself as he cleaned the blood off of his dagger on the man's silk sheets. It probably has devastating Health per second damage.

A Notification popped up in front of Reivyn's vision as he sheathed his dagger.

New Skills Unlocked!

Tier 3:

Infiltration (0 ->1)

Tier 4:

Assassination (0 ->1)

Reivyn noted the contents of the messages, and then he dismissed them immediately. The mission had been accomplished with a little bonus to damaging their logistics abilities.

Reivyn crouched back out of the tent, the lookout lowering the flap, and they waited for the others to exit the tents they had searched. Everyone came out of the tents, several of them carrying new spatial pouches, but not everyone had something.

Reivyn nodded his head toward the wall, and he lead the squad back to the outskirts of the camp. They weren't here to disrupt the enemy camp or steal all of their supplies. They had gotten far more than they had anticipated, based on the contents of the one pouch Reivyn had inspected, and the other two squads might have had success, as well.

It was a simple matter to make their way back to the wall, wait for the patrol, and then scramble back out into the wild. Reivyn led the men in another crawl across the open field, not trusting that the observation posts were still as unobservant as they had been on their way in, and they successfully made their way up and over the hill.

It was only a short while later before Reivyn spotted the other two squads returning to their positions, and he gave the signal to evacuate. There was no point in chancing being discovered by converging together at this point, so Reivyn simply had them retreat along the routes they had previously chosen during the planning session.

Twenty minutes later found the three squads once more merged together into one.

"We'll inventory the storage pouches once we make it back to the base camp," Reivyn kept it short. "I'll obscure our tracks on the return. Good job, everyone."

The supply raid had gone off without a hitch, and Reivyn was feeling more and more confident about using the company to harass the enemy from doing any more large expeditions. He obviously wouldn't just keep the men out in the desert. Now that they had supplies, he would be able to confidently send a small, fast group off to deliver news to Oreck, and possibly other cities.

It would be a long, grueling campaign, but they only had to hold out until the reinforcements from Wispan that Kefira had already called for showed up. If they were lucky, Oreck and the other surrounding cities would mobilize based on the new information before Kefira's older brother even arrived.