Dark Magus Returns

Chapter 1706: Don’t Get Caught (Part 1)

A great deal of careful preparation had been finalized by Kelly and Raze before they even set foot near the towering inner wall. Now, the enchanted mask was handed over to B, an essential tool for her to keep hidden just in case she needed to shift her appearance the moment she reached the other side.

They were essentially making B stronger by handing over a number of high-level items, despite the lingering uncertainty of whether she was truly a reliable ally. If one thing was certain, it was that she possessed an insatiable desire to cause destruction. For the time being, Raze was content to keep that destructive nature pointed directly toward the Grand Magus.

Still, the infiltration was fraught with danger. Mages had been spread across the length of the wall, their eyes perfectly positioned to spot anyone approaching the restricted zone. Even with B’s incredible speed, she was likely to be caught if she simply sprinted forward, even if she used her sword to phase through the stone.

The bigger problem was what came after. They had no idea what the layout or the security setup looked like on the other side. Simply appearing in an open field would lead to an immediate capture. The best thing they could do was create a distraction to draw those eyes away.

The issue was that the distraction couldn’t be too large. If it looked like a coordinated attack, it would trigger a high-level investigation that would inevitably lead the Noble Guild back to the bloody mess at the outer barracks. Raze needed something that looked like a common mishap.

That was why one of the sorting factories closest to the wall suddenly had a "little accident." Raze had paid a visit to the facility under a heavy disguise earlier in the day. During his trip, he had subtly drawn a magic circle near the engine room, pouring his mana into one of the enchantments used for sorting power crystals. By overloading the output, a high-pressure explosion was guaranteed to occur.

Suddenly, a roar echoed through the district. The roof of the factory building blew upward as raw, jagged energy spewed out into the sky. The large explosion was heard by everyone in the vicinity, and instantly, the mages on the wall turned their heads toward the rising smoke.

This was the chance. B sprinted across the open ground, a blur of motion. With her sword held tight, she activated its power, quickly phasing through the thick stone of the wall and emerging on the other side. When she landed and her vision cleared, the area and the colors looked similar to the outer wall, but the atmosphere was entirely different.

There were striking differences here. The roads were wider and paved with better stone, and the houses were far larger and more grand. Almost all of them were massive manors, each surrounded by its own personal space and gated gardens. There were very few large communal buildings; instead, everything looked like an improved, elite version of the city they had just left. There appeared to be no standard barracks or rough housing in sight.

’If I want to avoid getting caught, I should head into one of these houses for now,’ B thought as she ducked into the shadows of a nearby hedge. ’I can find out more about the situation from the inside, or kill a resident and disguise myself as someone higher up.’

B ran through the nearest gate, entering the sprawling front garden of a grand manor. She continued to sprint, leaping toward the side of the building and phasing right through the wall into a darkened room. She had to assume that there would be no one inside who could spot her immediately, or if there was, that they would be easy enough to silence.

Back outside the wall, the mages standing guard were debating whether they should report the factory fire or go see if anyone needed assistance. However, several water mages from the lower district had already gotten the flames quickly under control. They were nervously shouting up at the guards on the wall to de-escalate the situation.

"It’s okay! It was just an accidental high output at the factory!" one of the workers shouted, his voice shaking. "We will have it fixed as soon as possible!"

The men on the wall felt a surge of annoyance rather than relief. They had been ready to go into battle, only to find out it was a worker’s mistake. They decided to stay at their posts, grumbling about the incompetence of the lower ring.

"If the Dark Magus really does attack, I’m not going out there to save you lot," one of the men on the wall stated, leaning on his staff. "You can’t even do a damn simple job right."

However, the boredom didn’t last long. The man looked down at the communicator on his wrist, and a sudden, sharp alarm began to chime. All of the mages on the wall froze, looking at their own devices as a notification flashed across the screens.

At the same time, B was moving through the interior of the manor. The place was empty, eerily empty. There were no servants in the halls and no family members in the rooms. She imagined she would have to explore the area further to find a target or head toward the central district to find someone of importance to facilitate the group’s entry.

But as she took a step out onto the landing area that looked down onto the first floor, the front doors were kicked wide open. Several high-ranking mages charged inside, their staves glowing with offensive mana.

"The intruder is located in here! Search every room!" the lead mage barked.

B’s heart skipped a beat as she pressed herself against the railing. ’They know I’m here... but how? I didn’t trigger any alarms when I phased in.’

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