Chapter 86
Never underestimating those who watched from the shadows, Siglorr vowed to never allow history to repeat itself. He used his foresight as a weapon and his paranoia as a shield. Every outward sign of their success was accompanied by a covert line of protection. He ensured it. The sleeping quarters of the servants were only decoys, visible to any unwanted visitor. In order to ensure that his people could quickly flee to safety in the event of crisis, their actual, secure dorms were situated deep within the compound, just next to the main entrance to this same bunker. That careful preparation was about to be put to the greatest test tonight.
Elaria Syrune walked toward the entrance that led toward their underground bunker.
Wrenla Bouldergrove dragged her tired and sleepy body, as she never took a break ever since Dane asked her to make potions from the lotus plant, and because she wanted to prove her worth, she and her 2 young human female assistants were all worn out and needed to be carried by their parents. Into the bunker, the alarm was silent, but the flashing red illuminating crystal was continuously blinking. They knew what to do.
Many people knew the sad tale of the Bouldergrove clan's rise and fall. Their legacy is known by all to have fallen many times due to their creations, many merchants, and forgers. Their clan's accomplishment in forging great artifacts: Siglorr Bouldergrove had the privilege and honor of seeing his grandfather's and father's creations. His grandfather was renowned for making artifacts that helped many kingdoms prosper. One of these products was the transmission mirror that changed the way these kingdoms functioned; war and invasion of outside forces were stopped, and trade flourished. However, the downfall of the Bouldergrove clan began when jealousy and greed consumed some merchant partners and aristocrat families, leading to betrayal and corruption.
Despite their once great accomplishments, the name of Bouldergrove became tarnished, and their legacy was forever marred by internal strife and external threats. Siglorr Bouldergrove saw how his father faded into obscurity and vowed to never wield a forging hammer, while his grandfather fell ill and left the living realm carrying all his knowledge of creating artifacts that to this day nobody could copy and replicate.
Every time Siglorr would start to gain prominence, an unseen group of influential people would ruin them by destroying their forge and their home and stealing all their hard-earned creations by force, but now Siglorr made sure to prepare for the worst possible scenario. Their first attempt was stopped when Dane killed the monsters that unexpectedly climbed their war force at night..
This was a sign that those people that ruined his clan were active again, so he hired people that had skills in manipulating elements and secured their loyalty with a magical contract. These were the human personnel they hired. All family members of each of these skilled workers were also hired and given work inside the war forge. The twenty-acre plot of land was big enough to accommodate them safely until the time they have to move.
Dane knew that Siglorr just temporarily established the war forge to start his plan of earning enough gold to fulfill his bigger dream of establishing a city where all skilled artisans can work freely and be protected from those who are vile and greedy. When he heard Dane wanted to gain more manpower, he was hesitant at first, knowing they needed a vast amount of gold and land to settle in.
But the meeting with Dane made him and his entire clan agree and all realize that their skills and craftsmanship could be put to good use in building a prosperous city. Siglorr saw the potential for growth and success in Dane's vision and decided to join him, as their dream was similar, but as for now they need to set things in order; all their wealth and products are safely stored in the bunker.
The bunker was layered with enchantment to withstand a strong earthquake and magical bombardment above. Siglorr wasn't like his grandfather, who created high-tier artifacts with ease, but he knew how to craft weapons and useful artifacts that could rival his grandfather's and father's creations.
All the war forge personnel, even the guard, remained inside the bunker, leaving all of their personal belongings above. The moment those mercenaries breach their wall, they will only find an empty fortress. Siglorr was determined to protect his family's legacy and ensure that their resources remained secure, no matter the cost. Dane was with them as he told them all his summoned companion will handle the treat.
Elaria Syrune was still sleepy when she heard a loud commotion above her head, then she realized she was with Olmar, lying on the ground under the war forge. She sat up, and she looked like she was still half asleep. She rubbed her eyes and asked the young lady that was also seated near her what was happening.
The young woman beside her was Anika Roughbrook; she was the hired helper on the farm that was part of the Gypsy caravan that settled near the cursed forest that first saw the unknown Dane Lazarus when he was entering the cursed forest for an unknown reason.
Anika Roughbrook was hired because her entire family was skilled in elemental control; her father, Adam Roughbrook, has the skill to manipulate rocks and compress them into one solid block, while her mother and younger brother can manipulate fire, and she has a skill in cultivating plants.
Adam Roughbrook was a bit weirded out, as the young elven lady was, like, unaware of what was happening. Anika held the war forge lady and told her the war forge was being attacked by mercenaries. Elaria Syrune smiled and said, This is what we were trained to do. The chieftain was adamant in training all of us, as he was very vocal about the possibility of attack from those greedy merchants, greedy nobles, and aristocrats.
Those moments he forced us to follow the evacuation procedures the moment the silent alarm activated will now save everybody's lives. Elaria Syrune was proud of what his adoptive father did to secure everybody's safety. Until she stopped talking in the middle of her sentence and remembered a fatal mistake she just made, she suddenly stood up and called out for Sullty and RinRin. The two were sitting at the back with their families. Elaria Syrune dashed toward them and asked a very important question.
"Excuse me for being rude and interrupting, but did you remember to grab the lotus potions before you guys evacuated?" Elaria's heart raced as she waited for their response, hoping they had not forgotten such a crucial step in ensuring their creation during the evacuation.
However, they pointed out that she was the one who put in extra time to finish the potion and take a sample to present to their benefactor, Dane, at the gathering hall a few hours ago. Her heart sank knowing that he left all 110 small bottles on her table at the small potion cabin near the farming area of the war forge.
She panicked, knowing those potions were important. She needed to get those potions before the attackers took them. She spent hours refining the lotus plant to get a potent potion that is worth more than 10 gold coins, as it was a mid-tier potion. The 110 small ampule-sized bottles
It was just lying on her work table unguarded; if somebody with mana detection skills can see it, they will instantly see its worth.
The lotus potion can heal any known illness in the human and tower realms alike. Elaria Syrune knew this because she created it out of respect and determination to prove herself to Dane.
But she just can't ask this adoptive father, who was standing beside Dane, the person she deeply respects and admires, that she forgot to safeguard the potion before going to the gathering hall to show her sample potion.
She looked around nervously, hoping that nobody would notice her for doing the unthinkable, but Anika noticed her, as she knew something wasn't right. Elaria Syrune was really easy to understand, as she was very open and frank when it came to her social interaction and behavior with the war forge personnel. That facial expression said it all; if Elaria Syrune was in trouble or had made a mistake, she really couldn't hide it, but because most of the clan members and the war forge personnel were focused on what was happening above, they didn't see her expression.
Elaria Syrune casually walked toward a particular area of the bunker that has a height of 5 meters and has a width of 10 and a length of 40 meters, with all their wealth, artifacts, and provisions secured inside two types of enchanted colored containers that have a measurement of two by five feet in height, width, and length. The containers that were colored yellow were meant for food provisions. While the black ones are for their gold and their created artifacts, the enchantments were cast with durability, weightlessness, and security.
and the identities of the key holders of the black containers were the clan's most fiercely guarded secret. The storage containers were stacked on top of each other; all 250 containers are secure under the bunker.
These were normal containers, as Siglorr Bouldergrove was still in the process of refining his own dimensional storage item, similar to what his grandfather made, and that is the twin dimensional transfer sack bag.
The containers were placed near the bunker's hidden exit doors, going out of the war forge. The exit was created with two paths; one is leading toward the edge of the small forest where they are currently located, and the other is located under a dummy shop that was created to look like an abandoned store that sells dried fish. The smell of the shop was created by a potion so that the gated community residents will not be suspicious of the hidden exit. As the smell of the old shop makes most of the residents avoid coming near it,
This was done to ensure an additional escape route, as the store was situated 25 meters from the area of the Forest Road Pathway leading toward the war forge main gate. The mercenaries that were hired to attack their home started to climb the wall, not knowing the entire forge castle was empty and the only creature waiting for them was a fifty-foot-long metallic serpent. Twenty medium-sized horned owls and a 2-foot-tall fox—the three were getting impatient as they were unbound, and this was the moment the 3 waited for. Being separated from the main host didn't affect them that much, as Dane's mana was stronger now their physical manifestation was ready to strike. The mercenaries will soon realize their mistake as the creatures patiently wait.
The vibrations above were felt below; the mercenaries might be trained to move swiftly, but they still walked on the ground. The war forge has two well-skilled workers among them who can manipulate rocks and soil. These people can feel the attacker's movement; their skills might be seen to be useless in battle, but like what the Lazarus Guild was doing, Siglorr Bouldergrove was the first resident of the tower to see the real value of these mid-level skills.
As the ten mercenaries finally stepped over the war forge grounds, they meticulously opened the main gate. These were seasoned veterans that had accepted many tasks; their reputation in the underground world is well-known for their precision and efficiency in completing missions. As they removed the locks of the main gate, then opened it, and entered with intent to fulfill their task and at the same time gather artifacts for their own, their leader was called Gasphar, and he was a former war veteran that served the current king of Solnara, Cererindu, but he was removed from his position due to a disagreement with a certain noble family regarding his secret relationship with their family member.
Gasphar was stripped of all his military achievements and cast out and became a slave. He became a ruthless killer for hire when he found out his beloved killed herself because of false information. He killed his owner and took over the entire organization by force. Gaspar stood five foot eight and was slim but had a lean, muscular physique. His piercing blue eyes and long greyish hair, and his body, including his face, bear the marks of torture and suffering. This made him a striking, feared figure in the underworld, instilling fear in all who crossed his path. Despite his tragic past, Gasphar's reputation is driven by hunger to become strong so he can eliminate the Noble family that drove his beloved to kill herself.
Skill in speed made him an effective killer; he expanded his force by recruiting criminals that nobles and aristocrats imprisoned illegally and those who have grudges toward the upper class. Information that the warforge that had taken the room near the gate was conducting business dealings with nobles and aristocrats, so with this fake information, Gasphar took the mission as a personal vendetta against those who supplied the nobles weapons and artifacts.
The information was far from the truth. The war forge never sold weapons. They hide all those weapons under the bunker, knowing what the noble might do if the countless spies that came to them confirm it. The Brilliance Guild. Spent 200 hundred pieces of gold coins to hire Gasphar mercenary killers. Gaspjar's hate toward anything connected to the nobles made him blind.
As all his men scoured the war forge grounds, and with their weapons drawn, they meant to kill everybody. The structure of the forge wasn't that tall, nor was it filled with security features; the war forge was just an ordinary castle that had intricate, lavish designs outside, but as they entered the main gathering hall, it was plain and was really lacking in anything that would deter intruders.
Gasphar's mercenaries quickly realized that their target was not as heavily guarded as they had anticipated, making their mission easier to execute. However, their overconfidence in the lack of security features ultimately led to a few of his warriors getting killed as the Dane-summoned familiars have started their hunt. While this was going on, Lirael Schafer, sub-captain of the Brilliance Guild, was already walking toward the war forge with a smile on their face. These guilds weren't really that fond of doing anything that was honorable or earned merits for accomplishing something that would benefit mankind. The members of the Brilliance Guild were all sadistic, pompous brats that sadly gained a skill after their predecessors died in setting the foundation on their behalf.
These arrogant players were just flaunting their so-called power to those that don't bow or kneel down at their feet. The face they created was to show they were a guild that focuses on helping lesser players to improve, but in reality they only cared about their own sadistic impulses and domination within the tower. Their selfish actions were the reason Lirael Schafer hired Gasphar in the first place; she came back at the dead of night and just ignored the huge announcement about the removal of the creatures residing at the gorge and marched with twenty of her fellow guild members to trample the war forge resident and take all of the artifacts they created for her own.
The deal was fifty-fifty, but Gasphar never actually planned to honor this; they were hired but never signed any contract. Gasphar knew that those that hired him were vaguely similar to the noble he hated so much. The battle that started was filled with confusion and disbelief, as they never expected to get attacked by a monster lurking inside.
The mercenaries that separated from the main group scattered all over the area. As they kicked and forced their way into the sleeping quarters, they saw no one; the only thing they could hear were sounds of fighting that were heard happening in the war forge.
The horde owl attacks the hired killers with poison feathers. Some were able to block the attack, and others managed to survive, as they carried potion antidotes with them. Each time one of them killed the owl, it would just drop on the castle floor and melt, but soon it would come back as if nothing had happened.
This was the similar case with a fifty-foot-long serpent; many would get injured, but as soon as the serpent's head gets cut and falls onto a solid pavement, it will instantly melt and come back alive looking more deadly, as if it evolved and adjusted its figure to compensate for its weakness.
The number of the Horned Owl of twenty has now doubled, and the flying creature was more agile and attacked in different combinations, from firing projectiles to using its sharp claws. But even with their attacks, it seems the mercenaries were able to defend themselves, losing six of their members to death. The fox that Dane named Kitsune also had the same issue.
The tree summed familiars were strong , they could easiliy kill a monster that was level 15 but facing a more trained enemies, they lacked the strategic skills necessary to outmaneuver and defeat them. This weakness became apparent as they faced off against the experienced mercenaries, resulting only to significant casualties among the enemies ranks.
Gasphar saw that the monster that was inside the war forge was their only defense measure. But the confirmation that the place was filled with many people before they attacked only man they were hiding. Gashar smiled and told his remaining men to focus on the enemy and pointed out the targets were hiding within the war forge grounds. Gasphar assured his men that those creatures were just a distraction, a strategic trick to make them believe the place was abandoned.
While this was happening, Elaria Syrune used the secondary escape tunnel and proceeded to go out from the secret underground bunker and come out from the old dry fish store and reenter the war forge and carefully go into her cabin. Elaria Syrune was skilled in illusion spells, but she hardly used them, as she never had to use them in the past. The fear of disappointing Dane was much heavier than the realization that going out was a foolish thing to do. But she thought entering her work cabin in a swift manner while using her illusion skill would be effective to retrieve the 110 potion ampules on her table.
Elaria Syrune never thought of Lirael Schafer and the twelve members of the Brilliance Guild. Will be joining the mercenary force inside their home. They saw what was happening as the mercenaries were being attacked by odd, peculiar-looking creatures that they assumed might be summoned golems. So they all discreetly went over to the only place that was undisturbed. And not part of the main structure.
As they casually walked toward the right side, where it seems was used to grow crops and vegetables, one of their members cast a strong camouflage spell so they could walk undetected into the farming land of the war forge. The ten-acre land that was meant for farming had a small patch of various fruit trees that coincidentally hid the small potion cabin where Elaria Syrune worked as an extra precaution, as she handled the manufacturing and creation of mid- to high-tier potions.
Elaria Syrune was sure the moment she went out and circled back toward the war forge she could accomplish her task; her illusion skill was level 15, and she had eluded many residents of the gate community in the past while secretly gathering raw materials for her potions. As she came out from the closed fake dried fish shop, she activated her skill and ran toward the opened gate under the cover of the night. While she was doing this, Anika Roughbrook got worried, as she didn't seem to see Elaria inside the bunker. She stood up and checked the stacked containers at the back.
At the same time, the arrogant and entitled Lirael Schafer took a casual stroll on the small farmland when she was able to locate a hidden path leading toward a small hidden cabin among the dozen of fruit trees growing inside the far corner of the walled forge. A few of Lirael Schafer's teammates joined her as they walked toward the hidden path toward the 50-square-meter cabin.
While the other members just watched as the mercenary did their paid task, as they slaughtered the farm animals and burned the crops out of boredom. One of them saw something run behind them; the guild member smiled and mentioned to the rest of the Brilliance Guild that a little rat just entered their playground. Sadly, because their level was much higher than the young elf's, her illusion skill could be seen as if she were cloaked in a semi-transparent white ghost veil but still recognizable.
Most of the Brilliance Guild that joined Lirael Schafer were level 23, so the young elf that they saw running toward the fruit trees made the six remaining members on the burning farmland all smile as they found a new plaything.
Elaria Syrune saw the players were already trying to enter her workshop, so she carefully entered the cabin through the back window. She heard that they succeeded in opening the door, and as she hurriedly entered her workroom, she didn't hear the players that broke the door of the cabin come in, so she grabbed the potions and placed all the small ampules in the bag she was carrying, and thank the gods she was able to… when a sharp pain surged into her back, Elaria Syrune fell sideways and felt cold as red liquid flowed out of her body. .
"What do we have here?"
"Ah! Little thief, stealing my potion,"
Elaria Syrune, who was in pain, uttered a confusing reaction as she couldn't understand why she was being called a thief. The man standing over her laughed menacingly, his eyes glinting with malice.
"You thought you could steal from us and get away with it?" Elaria's mind raced as she tried to make sense of the situation. "Those are mine!"
"Sadly you are mistaken; these potions belong to us now."
"Sub-captain, look at these positions; they are all mid-tier and, by the looks of it are really expensive."
"What a great find," Lirael Schafer responds to the man that attacks Elaria Syrune.
"Better test if it's really effective?"
The man was about 25 years old and was bulky and stood about five foot two and had that nasty appearance and look in his eyes. He was Billy Crowley, a player that had the skill of casting electric shock by touch. He is a son of the oil tycoon and is known to be an abuser and loves to torture and molest young women. Billy Crowley took one of the potion ampules and broke one and forced the liquid into her mouth; they saw the recovery in the wound Billy gave her.
Lirael Schafer took the bag from Billy's hands and smiled as she walked out of the room; the other four female members laughed as one of them even told Billy to play with her nicely and learn to share. Elaria Syrune's wound was gone, but the bloodstainson her clothing remained. As she tried to run and take back what was hers, the female guild member kicked her in the stomach and cast paralyze on her body. She fell backward and gasped in pain; she couldn't move, as the spell had already activated. Billy was upset and told the female guild member that he didn't like broken toys.
The female just smirked and spoke, "You are such a perverted fat slob. The others will surely come to join you. That young elven underestimated us too much."
" young elf that was a big mistake, hope you are preaired to get stuffed by many men"
"Will you just leave so I can play with her?"
"Fine, fine, just don't kill her. As I said, cousin, learn to share with the other."
"Fine, fine, leave!"
Elaria Syrune saw the woman leave and even close the room door. She can't move as the man they called Billy is removing his armor and clothing. She was about to scream when Billy electrocuted her; the pain was so intense she nearly lost consciousness. Billy's sinister grin sent shivers down her spine as he approached, ready to fulfill the dark intentions in his eyes.