Atticus's Odyssey: Reincarnated Into A Playground

Chapter 1385  Informant

Thora stared at the devastation in front of her with a conflicted look.

The night air was cold, chilly. The silence of the night had shattered, replaced by an unending chorus of shouts and panic.

'This is insane.'

Earlier, she had been in one of the will guard temples in the main base, 'praying' when an alarm had blared, signaling a threat.

Thora wasn't a devout believer, at least not yet. But she believed that it was important to keep up appearances, especially in a rigid environment like the will guard. Also, she had been curious to see if acting like a believer would truly make her one.

Regardless, even she had been surprised at the haste at which she left the temple. The thrill had gotten to her, she realized. She had joined the will guard for years now, but rarely did anything occur.

Upon reaching outside, she had been shocked to find out that the threat was closer than she thought. Right in front of their base.

And not just that, the battle was already over. What was left behind was a wasteland of crumpled buildings and scattered debris.

The other initiates and even many wardens had taken to the streets, intent on locating the group that had dared to wreck such devastation around the will guard main base.

Thora had resolved to stay behind. Rather than go on an obvious goose chase, she was more interested in figuring out what occurred here. Who caused this?

'They used a barrier.'

This assumption was the only logical one. Otherwise, it was impossible for the base not to notice a fight of this magnitude until it was over.

'I need to find out what's going on.'

Thora's curiosity had gotten the better of her. She had perched herself high on a tall broken building, overlooking the wasteland.

Her eyes scanned the surroundings, searching for her targets. It soon settled on two figures.

'I knew it.'

In her years of joining the will guard, this past week had been the most thrilling. First had been the call at the gilded debt, where she had witnessed that anomaly. The boy that had fought two freaking sentinels, and still lived to tell the tale.

It was the same sentinels that Thora had now focused on. They stood in the middle of the wasteland, clearly engaged in a conversation.

'Is it you again?' Thora had been pulled, drawn, awed, when she met the boy's eyes. She knew instinctively that he would give her the thrill she needed.

'I need to hear what they're saying.'

Thora's eyes suddenly flashed brown, and she felt her awareness submerged into the ground. It spread, until the whole wasteland was covered.

'Good.' Thora was glad that they hadn't bothered to protect their conversation. She listened carefully.

"…they've escaped. What now?" one was saying.

"We keep searching and never stop unless we find them. The Judicator doesn't accept failure."

A tense silence settled on both.

Thora sucked in a cold breath. 'Judicator…'

If the sentinels were legends, the Judicators were titans. According to what she knew, they were located as high as the crown. Above the verge and span! They were the overseers of large clusters of worlds and were responsible for passing verdicts in high profile cases.

In simple terms, any case a Judicator was either involved or interested in was a case of the highest magnitude.

Thora calmed her beating heart and continued listening in.

"What about the one who informed us of this ambush?" the first sentinel said.

"A warden," the second responded. "I sent for him already. We need to see if he has any more useful information."

Thora suddenly caught sight of a man approaching the sentinels from a distance. She narrowed her eyes.

'What the hell.' Though she couldn't see his face, there was just no way she would mistake that relaxed posture and weary aura.

She vanished from her position, and suddenly appeared directly behind the man.

"Initiate Thora, reporting for duty!"

The warden flinched, clutching his chest as though he was having a heart attack.

"Jeez, what the hell, Thora!"

Thora still kept her salute, eyes straight, posture rigid.

"Reporting for duty, si—!"

"Yeah, I heard you the first fucking time!" the warden blared. He took in a deep breath, settling down his raging heart, then glanced at her.

"Alright, report noted. Now go join the search with the others and leave me alone."

"No can't do, sir! No initiate is allowed to carry out missions alone."

"You're not alone! You have the whole will guard carrying out the search with you. And…" he squinted his eyes. "Since when do you care about following such rules?"

Thora had always begged him to handle missions alone, but he always refused. The last thing the warden needed was being forced into doing unnecessary shit.

"I've taken over a new leave, sir!" Thora said. "The rules of the will guard are absolute."

The warden grimaced. He could see it in her eyes that she wasn't going to drop this. Gritting his teeth, he turned and continued walking.

"Just make sure you shut your mouth."

Thora cleared her throat. "Yes, sir."

A few seconds later, Thora witnessed her usually laid back superior come at a perfect attention in front of the two sentinels.

"Sir!"

Seeing no other choice, she also did the same.

The sentinel acknowledged them with barely a nod. "Warden."

To Thora, their voices sounded piercing. Like each syllable cut through the deepest part of her soul. Thora could see the warden lower his head, as though to submit. But to her, it was grating. She felt something inside her roar defiantly. Regardless, she shoved it all down. For the sake of this, she had decided to ignore how she felt.

The sentinel didn't even spare Thora a glance. They only focused on the warden.

"You informed us about this ambush earlier. How did you come across this information?"

"An informant in the resistance, sir!" The warden straightened.