"Where is he?"
In a control room with many real-time changing and shifting spells, many hooded figures hunched and monitored the situation outside.
The Assassins of Layla.
Or so they were called.
"It appears the scout that has infiltrated has retrieved the 'product'"
Tap!
Tap!
The bulky man in the middle tapped his heel aggressively on the floor.
"Okay? So where is he!"
Altering the spell slightly, she changed the view from the current live slaughter that occurred on 'B1' to 'B3'
There, a man shaved away at the wall, slowly and delicately bringing their unconscious, promoted product along.
"How...the hell is he fine"
The man with a bulky frame brought a hand to his face, seeing how the scout was utterly fine from staying so close to the cursed subject made him frown and start pondering his real identity.
"We don't know"
He glared at the incompetent subordinate of his.
"Then find out!"
He pointed at the man shown on the spell, all turned their gaze towards him.
"This man just waltzed through every goddamn security measure we ever had installed and made it look like we never placed any security in the first place!"
Everyone felt ashamed when their leader pointed it out, not one of them stood out in refusal to what he said.
"Haah, brats these days"
He skillfully moved on and focused on what could be done right now.
"Right now, that girl he has on his back can not go anywhere, by going back he would be caught by our allies fighting against the intruders"
Though they were being repelled quickly, they still had the firepower to handle at least one man.
"They wouldn't risk her going into the crossfire after going through all the trouble of saving her"
Everyone in the room nodded along with what he said.
Clearing his throat once, he spoke again to the one handling all the surveillance.
"Now, Gaia the Cold Metal. Where is he?"
He asked the most important question that needed to be addressed no matter what.
Suddenly, right outside their base, the intense pressure of an Archmage had taken their breaths away.
But just as suddenly as it appeared, it disappeared just as quickly.
Finding him was of utmost importance and probably the most important thing right now. But nothing could be done if they didn't even know where he was.
"We can't find him, not even a single trace"
As if he had disappeared completely.
The bulky man brought a finger to his lips, the rest of his hand propped his chin.
Tap!
Tap!
His foot still rashly tapped on the mahogany floor, a subordinate of his silently pulled a gray carpet to muffle the sound for the other nervous members.
'How annoying...'
He watched as the man displayed in the air digitally through the 3rd star spell 'Spectral Surveillance' and his swift movements despite carrying another on his back.
"Deal with him appropriately"
With those words said, he walked off.
He felt that this mere scout would end up a giant headache to deal with later on.
So was it not better to end him now? When they still had control over the battlefield.
*
"Huuu"
I exhaled and took deep breaths.
'That took way too long'
But in the end, it was worth it.
'I'm not about to lose my perfect score of flawless completion of my client's request just because of some sharp pebbles'
I stare at the thigh I punctured a hole in.
'They will never know'
It was completely healed by now anyway.
I never scammed them, I mean. There isn't much evidence to take anyway, right?
If it's not there, it was probably never even there in the first place.
"Still, what kind of traps have they set?"
One did not need to be a genius to know that this place looked to be infested with traps.
'They had quite the strong illusion magic'
The debris from before appeared to be real, but that was not real.
'On the map, there didn't seem to have any closed off areas on the way to the secret path'
And the ceiling was not weak enough to break under some small tremors.
'A kind of spell that restricts access to those unaffiliated and hands access only to those that are a part of the group'
An interesting spell for sure, artistically believable and powerful enough to trick all of the senses of any living organism.
I couldn't brute force my way in there no matter how much I wanted to.
It made me slightly excited for what was to come.
'If they have such powerful illusion magic, they should also have pretty interesting traps'
Traps would inconvenience me greatly, but if it were a real good one. I'd decide to let it slide and applaud.
"Well, let's save the jokes for later~"
First I needed to get out of here.
'I'm still fairly far away from the secret path'
I also needed to be high alert for anyone that might pop out of the wall, floor or even vent.
Walking, the floor slowly transitioned to ceramic.
The corridor had piles of accumulated dust randomly blow into my eyes on occasion.
Lights flashed and blinked faintly across the corridor.
Lacking the sparkling shine hitting my pupils, I had to squint and carefully make sure not to trip over.
Deliberate, small pushes through the growing and frequent darkness dragged what seemed a two minute walk would cross to 18 minutes.
The growing sense of unease and unknown choked me, pressing a heavy pressure onto my heart.
B-a-Thu-mp!
My foot stepped on a ceramic tile, the hollow feeling when stepping on it made my heart skip a beat.
Click!
"...!"
Pushing down, the plate clicked and a mechanism fired.
Dim, nonexistent lights glowed and overloaded my visual sensory. Blinding me for a split second....making me forget I had stepped onto a trap.
Whoosh!
Something sliced through the air, from behind me to be exact.
Tok!
I stomped with my metal heel and sidestepped to the left.
Having shoved myself out of certain danger, I pressed my body on the wall.
Click!
Which was the wrong option in this situation.
Another mechanism roared to life.
Again, from behind me.
As if my movements were read.
To protect the target, I reflexively turned around and—!
Bang!
Took the full brunt force of the attack. It felt as if a hammer had stricken my arms and ribs.
"Ugh!"
My body, like a doll hit by a baseball bat, was launched through the air, rolling into the other wall, shielding the young girl cradled into my embrace.
Crash!
Slamming head first into the wall, the hard surface rocked my head and whole body.
Pain seared into my body, pouring evenly to the damaged areas.
I stopped moving, waiting to see what might occur next.
Eventually, as the silence pressed on without anything particular happening.
A sigh escaped my lips.
"That...could have gone worse"
I stood up, leaning against the wall my hand firmly pressed on for a—
Click!
'Ah?'
There was another?
A motor inside the wall roared to life, it grinded and spun wildly like how a madman would have designed it.
The wall lifted from the ground, like a vertical revolving door. Only that this one didn't have a floor, but an endless pit.
Naturally. I...fell down.
I mean, what do you want me to do? I was practically human!