The Guardians' Throne - The First Magic Swordsman

            Unfortunately, Zaos and Aleni didn't get any more intelligence in the next few days. So, it seemed that he was going to invade the castle completely in the darkness, in the literal and in the non-literal sense.

"I still think that it would be better if I were to go," Aleni said.

"Your opinion is very valuable," Zaos said. "That being said, we are a team and we will share the tasks in a fair way. While you may have the skills to accomplish the mission, I have the tools that will make things easier for me."

"I can use them too," Aleni said.

"This conversation isn't going anywhere, you know," Zaos said and then checked the capital through the window of their room. "All right, I will leave now. Stay focused since we don't know what might happen."

            Zaos jumped from the window and landed outside without making any noise while he was wearing his dark cloak. While he was expecting to fight, he wasn't wearing any armor either. He couldn't afford to make much noise, so that was a given.

            When Zaos approached the castle, he saw numerous guards patrolling around. Unlike the time Aleni invaded the mansion of Meriton Melvins, the guards weren't moving. They were just walking a few meters in both directions to keep themselves wide awake. In contrast, they constantly keep moving their eyes in all directions.

"As expected of royal guards… they are a real pain in the ass," Zaos muttered.

            Fortunately, Zaos had the right tools to create a path without alerting or wounding anyone. He used Mist, and after a couple of minutes, a good part of the castle's surroundings was covered by a slightly thick mist. As if they were prepared for that kind of occurrence, they used their magic weapons that had the fire attribute to dissipate the mist. It seemed that mists weren't that rare… they used that without worrying about the attack of enemies, after all. Regardless, when they cleared the area, Zaos had already jumped over the walls. Aside from enhancing his legs with wind and earth magic, he also used two rings that boosted his strength.

            Zaos didn't notice when he walked around the castle the other day, but the garden was large. However, it seemed like it had been neglected for several months. The grass was pretty tall, and there were many dead plants around. Zaos wasn't exactly a lover of flowers, but that made him a bit sad since his mother looked after her garden quite a lot despite her weak constitution.

            Maybe it was due to their confidence in the number of guards and the height of the walls, but Zaos only saw a few guards protecting the entrance of the castle. In any case, Zaos managed to move across the garden without alerting them. When he approached the castle from the left side, he confirmed those unusual presences again… Aleni's instincts were right. Zaos could feel the presence of the revived followers of the demon god. Weirdly enough, they were underground…

"I wonder if they can feel my presence like this as well… they should be able since their power is in a different league than their descendants," Zaos thought.

            If they could, Zaos had to hurry, but if they couldn't, then Zaos would alert others by being hasty. Looking at the people's movements inside the castle, Zaos confirmed that they didn't notice anything, so he decided to proceed slowly. He opened one of the many windows of the castle where he couldn't feel any presence nearby. Thanks to the darkness, he couldn't see much, but he didn't have to use Light in the Darkness thanks to his Magic Perception…

"If I were a king… where would I create an entrance for an underground compartment of the palace?" Zaos rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

            Zaos thought of the throne room, but that seemed too obvious… Still, he didn't know that castle, so he might have started from the center of the castle. The more he moved, the more Zaos noticed that the castle was quite empty. The place should have many servants. Still, he couldn't feel their presence… that made sense since some underlings of the demon god with weird appearances were living in there.

            Thanks to that, Zaos managed to reach the throne room without bumping into anyone. That only made him become more cautious, though. Since the security was severely lacking inside the castle… he was expecting to find some demon-looking humans and even fight them. Still, while that was convenient, it smelled like trouble.

            After moving around for a couple of minutes, Zaos noticed that a part of the floor behind the thrones had strange marks. When he approached, he noticed that those were pretty linear… it certainly looked like a secret passage. However, Zaos had no idea how to open it.

"What now?" Zaos thought. "This should be something that can be opened from inside and outside…"

            Using brute strength to open the passageway wasn't an option since it would alert everyone inside and outside the castle. In the middle of the night, noise could cover large distances, after all.

            After a while, Zaos noticed something odd in the walls. The candles were quite inclined… he facepalmed when he saw that. It seemed so obvious in his head… Regardless, it seemed like those two had to be moved at the same time, but they were too far apart for Zaos to be able to do that by himself… After fixing them, Zaos touched one to pull the candle and aimed his index finger toward the other.

            Zaos fired an Earth Bullet that ricocheted in the wall and then hit the other candle, making it inclined forward. When that happened, Zaos pulled the other candle, and the passageway slowly opened.. It was quite shocking that his aim could be that good in the darkness, but Zaos didn't have time to feel proud of himself. The passageway was opened so silently that it made Zaos wonder about the level of technology inside the castle… it certainly was more advanced than anything he had seen until now…

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