Demon King of the Royal Class

Chapter 158

Ssssshhhh...

On a rainy night...

The rain poured down on a stormy night, which, despite having made the journey more challenging, now provided the best conditions for the task at hand. The sound drowned out any noise, and visibility was poorer than usual.

Eleris did not object to the decision made by Ellen and me.

The plan was simple.

The adventurer-robbers were patrolling in the darkness, probably to kill any other clueless adventurers who stumbled upon them silently and efficiently. Luckily, it seemed like no other adventurers were around Klitz Point because of the bad weather.

Just as they utilized the darkness, so would we use both the darkness and the noise to our advantage.

“I’ll use a scroll,” Eleris announced, pulling a scroll book from her belongings.

“A scroll?” Ellen asked, puzzled.

Eleris nodded firmly, her expression serious.

“It’s a night vision scroll.”

Night vision magic...

There couldn’t be a better spell for the current situation. This would make our operation much easier. While they could not see through the darkness, we would be able to.

‘A scroll, though...?’

Although she was disguised as a low-level mage, the scroll book was probably a cover for when she needed to cast a high-level spell. The scroll Eleris held likely contained no real magic at all. She would cast the spell herself while pretending to use the scroll.

She had come up with a plausible excuse. Scrolls were expensive, so one couldn’t use them carelessly. If she suddenly used a high-level spell, she could say it was for emergency use.

Eleris unfolded the scroll, and soon, she cast the night vision magic upon Ellen and me.

Now, I could distinguish some contrast within the darkness-filled world. It felt slightly different than looking through an infrared camera. It was an odd feeling, similar to when I first received underwater breathing magic.

We couldn’t see through the rain, but now, the darkness was no longer an issue.

Ellen looked me straight in the eyes. “Let’s go.”

“Alright.”

My heart wasn’t racing. Instead, my mind calmed down, and my heartbeat was even more steady than usual. It seemed odd to be so much calmer in what should have been a tense situation.

I wondered if it was the effect of the “Divine Spirit” given to me by Olivia. It was not only supposed to grant resistance to mental magic, but also strengthen mental fortitude. I couldn’t be sure.

In any case, I felt like nerves or anxiety would not get the better of me and cause me to make a mistake.

Eleris decided to watch the situation from the rear. We agreed to bring her in once we had completed an initial assessment of the internal situation.

I looked back and saw Eleris looking at me with a forlorn gaze. It was the kind of look one gave when they had to send someone they cherished into a place they’d rather not let them go to. Feeling a mix of emotions, Ellen and I stepped onto the hilt of the knife we had stuck into the palisade earlier on and infiltrated Klitz Point once again.

Things were different this time around.

Thanks to the night vision magic, we could discern objects around us.

There were people moving about with lanterns tied to their waists, presumably continuing the work of moving bodies. They couldn’t use torches because of the rain.

It was a situation we needed to avoid for now. We lowered our posture and started to assess the situation at Klitz Point.

The bodies were piled up on one side of the base like luggage. We watched this scene unfold from the cover of darkness.

How many people died here? There were easily more than fifteen people moving around. Five were digging in the ground.

It seemed they were planning to dump all the bodies into a hole and then cover it back up.

Noise also came from inside the buildings. There were likely others clearing up the bodies and erasing bloodstains. They were probably hastily covering everything up with carpets or whatever was at hand.

These people only needed to deceive the convoy for a very short time. The building with lights seemed like an inn.

They had various means at their disposal when it came to attacking defenseless people, whether it was poisoning their food or ambushing them in their sleep.

Just from the bodies being moved around, there were about thirty corpses.

How many supplies were there in the supply convoy to justify killing so many people?

Ellen and I avoided the people with lanterns and other places that were illuminated more brightly. We hugged the wall behind the inn, which we presumed to be their hideout.

The sounds of raucous laughter and people making jokes could be heard from within.

—Wahahaha!

—Ah, it sure would be nice to take all of this with us.

—Hey, just take it! What’s stoppin’ ya?

—You’re right!

It seemed some were having a drinking party while the others were working. These were probably the higher-ups of the group.

The men were drinking, and that only made them easier targets for us.

“There must be at least twenty of them,” Ellen murmured softly.

“It seems so.”

Twenty or so murderers, experienced in killing other humans. The convoy escort was made up of fifty novices.

With the element of surprise, their annihilation seemed certain.

But there were just two of us.

The enemy was unaware that their base had been infiltrated, but could we really kill them all in the middle of the night?

“Once all the work is finished, they’ll likely head back inside the inn. We’ll wait for that, then handle them all at once.”

For now, we had no choice but to wait for the rats to gather in one spot.

***

We hid silently in the darkness until their work was completed.

I didn’t know the precise duration of Nightvision. However, Eleris had cast the spell while pretending to use a scroll.

That was why, even after more than two hours had passed, it was still effective.

Or, perhaps, since she was watching from afar, she could recast the spell on us from a distance if it looked like it was going to wear off. Either way, there was no need to worry.

After the individuals carrying lanterns had all returned to the inn, we initiated our plan of action.

The rain was still falling.

“There should be entrances to the north and south, one each. Let’s start with the northern entrance.”

At the northern entrance to Klitz Point...

There, possibly to ambush any unsuspecting adventurers who might enter, stood two sentries without lanterns.

They were looking north, probably to spot the light sources that any unfamiliar groups of adventurers might be carrying.

If Ellen hadn’t looked ahead and Eleris hadn’t canceled her light magic, these men would have detected our approach.

“You take the right.”

“Got it.”

Ellen and I, each armed with a knife, slowly made our approach.

“Cover their mouths and slit their throats or break their necks. Don’t give them a chance to scream,” Ellen instructed, sounding as if she had done this dozens of times, even though it was also her first time.

The men were sheltering from the rain under a poorly-constructed roof at the northern entrance.

—Think anyone will come in this weather?

—If it starts raining on their way, they’d hurry here for shelter.

—Didn’t three guys leave during the day?

—Yeah, and Durtman kept whining about one of them nicking his shoulder.

—It’s his own fault for not killing the guy with one hit.

The men were casually making small talk.

Ellen and I slowly approached them from behind.

We weren’t here to knock them out.

“Argh!”

“Mmph!”

Thunk!

Ellen and I simultaneously pounced on the two sentries from behind.

We plunged our sharp blades into their necks. It was a chilling sensation.

The sheer foreignness of the feeling of severing flesh, combined with the action of forcibly silencing the noises from the struggling culprit’s mouth, was profoundly unsettling.

Ellen and I covered the mouths of the two men until they stopped struggling completely.

Of course, even with their carotid arteries severed, humans still remain alive for a brief moment.

That “brief” moment showed me just how much blood could pour out from such a small wound during that short span of time.

Humans die easily.

Yet, the vitality of a human being that is felt through the blood spilled in the moment of death was grotesque.

I clung on desperately in the brief moments leading up to the death of the person I had killed.

‘Do not move.

‘Do not scream.

‘Die quietly.’

I didn’t allow him the slightest bit of freedom until he stopped moving entirely.

The moment I confirmed his death, I instinctively knew.

I would never forget the sensation. Suppressing the struggles of one who was dying was such a chilling feeling.

“Let’s get rid of them.”

Ellen and I dragged the bodies, now motionless, and hid them in the bushes outside the base.

We had just killed people.

Our hands and clothes were smeared with crimson blood. It was then that I clearly felt the influence of the Divine Spirit affecting me.

In any other situation, my limbs would surely have been trembling at this moment. My legs would have felt weak, and I might have wanted to sit down. However, I didn’t feel any such physical effects.

I was just confused.

The fear that I could actually do such a thing enveloped me.

Ellen looked straight at me.

Her eyes were still calm. I couldn’t detect any excitement or stray thoughts in them.

Ellen then held my cheeks and brought her face close to mine.

“Don’t think about it now.”

She looked directly into my eyes. Now was not the time to think.

“We have to do what needs to be done.”

Ellen’s eyes, deep and serene like a lake, erased the remaining confusion in my mind.

It was possible to think, to be confused, and to be scared.

“Alright.”

But now was not the time to contemplate any of that.

***

There were a total of four sentries, two to the north and two to the south.

We killed the two at the southern entrance in the same way and carelessly tossed their bodies into the dense bushes outside.

We had already scoped out Klitz Point in its entirety in the darkness. The rest of them were all inside the inn.

There was no one stationed outside the inn. Therefore, I called Eleris, who had been waiting outside the base.

“We need to finish them all before the next set of guards come.”

“... Yes.”

Eleris’s expression was somber. Perhaps she’d seen the bodies left outside upon entering.

Since they wouldn’t keep the same sentries posted all night, others would come at some point to relieve them. We had even observed such a changeover happening earlier. How much time we had until the next shift change was unknown.

Now, we had to kill everyone inside the inn. If they were all asleep, the task would be simpler, but there could be some night owls among them.

Rats in a trap.

And a way to kill all those rats...

We could ambush those who were having a drinking party, but that would likely lead to a melee.

With Ellen around, an all-out fight was not out of the question, but that had to be the last resort.

If there was a way to overpower them without fighting, that would always be the best option.

While Eleris could potentially resolve everything with a single powerful spell, that was not something that could be considered. If magic were to be employed, Eleris would have to take them all down using only a combination of low-level spells.

Charging in and fighting was a last resort. Disregarding feasibility, there was a severe risk.

Eleris came up with a rather straightforward solution.

“How about setting a fire?”

We would set the inn on fire.

“It’s raining, though,” Ellen replied with a tilt of her head.

The buildings at Klitz Point were mostly made of wood. However, it is currently raining.

“The most dangerous thing about a fire isn’t the flame itself; it’s the smoke.”

“... That’s true.”

In fires, people often lost their lives, not due to being consumed by the fire, but due to suffocation caused by smoke.

“But won’t they just escape through the doors?” I asked.

Eleris shook her head. “That’s what we’re counting on.”

Eleris pointed towards the entrance of the inn.

“There’s a low-level magic called Dig. It’s a spell that digs up the ground.”

Dig...

A ground-digging spell.

“If a fire starts, they’ll definitely try to escape through the entrance. So, we’ll dig a big pit right in front of it.”

In the event of a fire, they would have to escape. In their panicked state, they wouldn’t check for possible dangers and would just run out the door.

Eleris planned to dig a giant pit in front of the inn’s only entrance. The people would fall into the pit while trying to escape.

Eleris had managed to come up with a way to accomplish this task within the limits she had set for herself. Using spells like Firestorm and other high-level destructive magics was not an option.

We would start a fire.

And then, we would dig into the ground.

Eleris had come up with the solution quite easily.