I continued forward, slipping out of the illumination cast by the torches along the wall and disappearing into the darkness of the night.
For the moment, my target was still Cole, that was what I had told myself all day.
Get inside. Find him. End his life. Leave.
Simple. At least, that had been the plan before i actually got here.
The reality was considerably more complicated than my childish plan, the Baron's estate was enormous, from outside, the walls and manor had made it look impressive, but from within, the sheer number of people living and working inside the grounds became apparent, it was like a village living within the town.
Worse still there were guards and knights practically everywhere, not enough to make infiltration impossible, but enough that walking around normally would have been suicidal, before my personal enhancement.
Fortunately, I wasn't walking around normally, my job had been changed to Shadow, adding to that imperceptibility and life Obfuscation.
I had become like the wind, able to slip through anywhere, whisking my way through the pathways and hallways of the barons estate, passing right under the noses of guards standing at their posts looking out for intruders.
But they might as well be asleep at their posts, cause i was able to slip right by them without even causing a raised eyebrow let alone a turned head, or a double-take as one of them thinks they saw anything.
"Think the Baron will be entertaining again tonight?" The first guard laughed.
"Probably. He was in a good mood earlier."
"That's because of the girl."
My body went rigid hearing their conversation.
The second guard snorted. "That poor thing." his works clearing said mocking the girl,
The first shrugged. "Poor? Ha! She was always made to be a whore, now she just knows it for herself."
The two stopped talking walking away while laughing at their poor joke.
I remained motionless after hearing what i had, my heart had begun pounding, the girl, they were talking about Walter's daughter.
I had hoped she would be somewhere here, i'd hoped I could find her before anything happened, but judging from the way those guards spoke... I was already too late.
Leaving them behind i walked furhter into the estate, choosing to go to the main building, the guards had mentioned the Baron when talking about what happened to the girl, if that was the case, perhaps Cole kidnapping this time wasnt for himself, but instead was by order of the Baron.
Stolen novel; please report.
If that was the case, then Cole would be joined by another in death here tonight.
Still clinging to the shadows i managed to scale my way into a main floor window whose shutters were still open to the night air, but tucked behind the door as i heard a pair of people talking as they approached from down the hall outside the room.
"Another ones been picked up?."
"Yeah seems they found a new young toy in town, from way i've heard it, everyones been taking numbers on who gets to go next."
"Ugh, men are disgusting, remeber when it was your turn?"
"Don't remind me, afterall only ginger could ever enjoy being used like that, if only we could do something to prevent the girl from going through anymore."
The women passed by and turned the corner their voices fading away into the distance, their words adding to the horror i had already become privy to, it seems it wasnt just Cole and the Baron, if anything this entire estate was corrupted.
And if their words rang true this wasnt the first time they had done this, kidnapping town girls to become their personal prostitutes and once they found a new one, the previous model would be turned into a servant to the estate, no doubt still used for nefarious uses just as a far less frequent interval.
In my heart i had already passed judgement on all the men in the estate, they all had a hand in these crimes and this entire estate would be better off becoming a crater, a tomb their souls could reside in for all eternity.
That was when a knight rounded the corner, a tell-tale smile spread across his face, as he was readjusting his pants.
"Damn, that was great! We should do this more often." He said, practically humming with joy.
But the girls face, the saddness etched upon it the last time i saw her, flashed before my eyes, and before i knew it i was moving.
Leaving the room, following close behind the man, the assassination skill highlighting eight points on his body as optimal targets for my strike, larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular subclavian, artery, kidneys, and heart.
Each one i could tell would be an instant kill it i hit it, and that was what i wanted.
Having learned from hunting animals, the first hit was always free, in that if you stabbed there was no blood until after you pulled the blade back, or went for a second strike.
Hesitating only briefly, before deciding I didn't need to think about it, my body simply knew what to do.
One motion. Silent. Fast. The knight's body stiffened. His mouth opened.
But only a quiet gurgling sound came out, his body meanwhile started to crumple towards the ground, but i caught him before he fell complelty, using my enhanced strength to lift him up and move him to a dark corner, before retracting my dagger.
For several seconds, I simply stared at him, at the piece of human filth i had just rid the world of.
My heart was hammering, at the first bit of murder i had committed in my life, this wasnt self-defence as i saved the village from bandits, this was ending an unnamed criminal and preventing even more harm from coming to the people of this town.
Blood had been spilled and it wasn't even Coles, but the more i heard of what was going on around this estate the more i felt every single one of the men here needed to die.
Having ended the knights life, i gave my status a quick check and was surprised to find i had gained two levels from his death, this gave me two more points i could invest into my status.
And i knew just where i was going to be putting them, i wasnt going to be keeping them reserved for the future but instead using them right away to purchase a new skill, first unlocking Intuition, and then right after opening up the Instinct skill.
With how corrupt this estate was, i didnt have the time to listen to all the rumors, instead i would be going on instinct, hopefully with this skill i could sense how black someones soul was, or how covered in blood their hands were.
Making my decision to act easier, and so began the night of blood that would become an event talked about for generations by the people of YY Town as they spoke of the spirit of vengeance and the tidal wave of blood that washed this estate clean.