Chapter 271 - Attack

Zaos wasn't the type who would use tactics like that to decrease the strength of the enemy. He would instead meet them on the open field and show them the meaning of genuine fear. That was an excellent way to demoralize the enemy troops. Still, the situation was more complicated than any order, and so Zaos had to use such tactics.

The group rode South for several hours, and they only stopped to let the horses rest and drink some water for half an hour before they could move again. Although they avoided the town and villages in the area since some spies might be in those, Zaos still kept his guard up. They made use of Magic Perception in the darkness to make sure that they wouldn't miss anything.

Around two hours before midnight, they finally found Toules, the place as quiet as it could be, but Zaos could see some torches in the walls and some guards moving around them now and then. Fortunately, their awareness was pretty low. The darkness of the night would help in the infiltration, but the height of the walls was a problem. Zaos wasn't exactly a climber, and while the mercenaries probably could climb it, it wouldn't solve the problem. Once they burn what they had to burn, they will have to escape, and the wall will pose a problem to them again.

"Let's tie the horses in that grove over there," Zaos pointed to the place in question. "It is a bit far away from the entrance of the town, but if the horses make any noise, the guards won't identify it."

"How are we going to enter the town, Captain?" Someone asked.

"I will invade first and then look for some ropes for you guys to use is," Zaos said. "Don't worry, this will be over in the blink of an eye. Once I reach the top of the wall, you guys can approach it." 

Zaos didn't mention how he would deal with the guards at the top of the wall. In that area, they could see at least three of them, after all. Zaos approached slowly moved toward the wall, and despite that he didn't make any noise, he reached the place in the blink of an eye. The sky was a bit cloudy, so the guards never noticed one shadow approaching the wall.

Ignoring them completely, Zaos began to climb with speed unbeknownst to a man who was carrying such a massive a sword. He almost looked like a spider… and he achieved that because he used earth magic to enhance his arms. Even without looking directly at them, Zaos knew the position and which direction the three guards were looking at. So, he reached the top of the wall, and three didn't notice him. Only when he landed did they see him, but then Zaos threw three throwing knives enhanced with wind magic on their faces and instantly killed them.

Your Throwing Technique has reached level 10

Your Assassination Technique has reached level 10

When they fell, their bodies made some noise, but since they weren't wearing any armor. No one noticed anything. Zaos fixed their bodies against the wall so that if some people look in the distance, they only see three guards resting with their backs against the wall. 

Zaos looked around the area and then found a pretty dark city. Although there was plenty of room for the mercenaries in so many houses, they were concentrated in certain buildings. Pubs and in the red light district… for a town of that size, the red light district was pretty big. Zaos could sense some mercenaries sleeping in the nearby residences. Still, it was a low number, and few mercenaries were stupid enough to take residence so close to the walls.

In one of the stairs that would lead to streets down below, Zaos found some ropes and then tied up those in the walls before throwing them to his allies. While they were climbing, Zaos made sure to keep an eye on things, but as he had expected, not a single guard in sight approached the wall.

"Throw the bodies away, and two of you will stay here and act like the previous guards," Zaos said. "We don't know when we will find the places where they store their supplies, so we can't take any chances."

The archers nodded and quickly obeyed and then followed Zaos down the streets. Unfortunately, Zaos couldn't quite tell which building was being used to store anything in the wall, so he looked for the most guarded ones or the big ones. That would be a start.

While moving near the wall and behind the nearby houses, Zaos and the group tried to find those places. Usually, it would be better to use warehouses near the exit of the town. Still, since the enemies didn't expect to be attacked, they probably used the bigger ones in the center. That was a bit troublesome, but it was also worked well for Zaos because it meant that they didn't separate their supplies, and Zaos could destroy a lot of them with a single strike.

Near the walls, Zaos didn't find the warehouses, but he found a lot of places where the enemies' hoses were sleeping. Killing all of them was probably impossible, but Zaos could cause some damage by burning those stables down. Still, he decided to do that once they finished the main goal and while they escaped.

After looking for two hours, Zaos already sick of looking, but in the end, he found the well-guarded warehouses right in the middle of the town. Unfortunately, the place was quite close to some taverns where some mercenaries were partying… once they burn that, those mercenaries will alert the whole city, and the group will be chased by hundreds of enemies as they head toward the exit.

"We will split up and kill the guards around that warehouse," Zaos said. "It is a big one, so we won't have to look for others. We need to kill the guards at the same time in order to avoid alerting the others. That will buy us some time, and I will need some time to burn a building of that size."