The early morning sunlight streamed through the wooden windows of Verdant Province's town hall. Golden motes of dust danced in the beams of light that fell across the large desk.
Outside, the air was filled with the sounds of hammers and saws as laborers raced against time to build the second layer of the city wall. However, inside Lloyd Weston's office, a heavy, tense silence prevailed.
Spread across the oak desk was a large roll of parchment. It was the 'Estate Blueprint' of Viscount Morgan, the perverted noble. Marcus Grey had used a hefty sum of money and his connections in the underground merchant guild to acquire it just in the nick of time.
"Lord Lloyd, sir, this is the complete layout of the Morgan estate."
Marcus traced the paths on the parchment with a slightly trembling finger. "The estate is situated on a hill, surrounded by a three-meter-high stone wall. There are patrols of twenty guards per shift, around the clock... And here, sir... the entrance to the dungeon."
The middle-aged merchant's finger stopped at a black square symbol in the deepest corner of the manor.
Lloyd crossed his arms, scrutinizing the blueprint. The throbbing pain in his temples from forcing the system the night before still lingered in waves. His mana status bar had slowly regenerated to [25/100] , which was still nowhere near enough to use [Micro-Management] in a large-scale battle.
Twenty guards... a stone wall... plus a hilltop location that offers a visual advantage, Lloyd coldly assessed the situation in his mind.
As a former RTS world champion, he knew all too well that ordering troops to charge blindly into an area uncleared of the 'Fog of War' was the height of foolishness. No matter how strong the heroes were, if they stepped into a trap or an ambush in a confined space, a total party wipe was highly likely.
"Sending Frank to smash the front gate will only alert them, and they might kill the hostage to silence her..." Lloyd muttered to himself. "This has to be a pure 'Stealth Mission'."
"Excuse me, sir? Stealth?" Marcus frowned, not understanding the strange term.
Lloyd didn't answer the middle-aged merchant. Instead, he turned to look at the female knight in her cracked armor and the elf girl who was sitting on the windowsill, swinging her legs.
"Elisa, Sylvie, I have a job for you," Lloyd said evenly, but his voice was brimming with authority.
Elisa Blackwood, who had just sworn fealty to the province the day before, instantly straightened her back. "Give the order, Lord Lloyd. Whether it's leading a vanguard charge or taking the head of a perverted noble, I am always ready to be your sword."
"Calm down, Commander," Lloyd gave a faint smile. "I'm not sending you to hack anyone down just yet... What I need is 'Intel'. I want you and Sylvie to infiltrate Viscount Morgan's estate, confirm that the demon slave is still alive, and find the safest escape route back."
Elisa's eyes widened slightly, her deep purple irises flashing with surprise. "You... trust me with such a crucial mission? I've been with you for less than a day, and I'm a wanted fugitive... Aren't you afraid I'll use this opportunity to escape?"
In the royal court of the Veltine Empire, nobles were always suspicious of new knights. Being assigned important tasks required years of proving one's loyalty. Yet, the young man before her was handing over a life-or-death mission so effortlessly.
"In my domain, trust is not measured by time." Lloyd met the knight's gaze with unwavering resolve. "I saw the spirit in your sword, Elisa... And more importantly, as a former Commander of the Magic Knights, you are better equipped than anyone to analyze guard patrol patterns."
Lloyd turned and nodded at Sylvie. "And when combined with Sylvie's forest camouflage skills... you two make the most perfect 'Scout Unit' Verdant Province has right now."
Sylvie hopped down from the window, landing soundlessly on the floor. "My, our Commander is quite the sweet-talker! You got it! Sneaking into people's houses at night is exactly what a wandering elf like me does best!"
Elisa slammed her fist against her left chest with a solid thud! "Orders received! I will not let you down!"
Ding!
[System Update: Sub-Party Configuration Initiated]
[Members: Elisa Blackwood (UR) / Sylvie Evergreen (SR) ]
[Mission Objective: Infiltrate Target Area / Gather Intelligence]
[Mana Deducted: 5 points]
[Current Mana: 20/100]
Lloyd pushed through a brief, sharp spike of a headache. He watched his two top-tier units step out of the room with swelling anticipation.
"Whatever you do, do not act rashly..." Lloyd gave a final warning. "If you get caught, the entire extraction plan will collapse, and we'll instantly become sitting ducks in a two-front war!"
The darkness of the night swallowed the forest surrounding Viscount Morgan's estate.
A light drizzle began to fall, casting a thin veil of mist over the hill. The cold, damp atmosphere made the towering grey stone manor ahead look as ominous and eerie as a graveyard for the living.
On the thick branch of a large oak tree, merely thirty meters from the estate walls, two figures lay camouflaged in the shadows.
"Twenty guards. Exactly as the intel stated."
Elisa whispered faintly, her deep purple eyes tracking the enemies' movements through the rain. "But their patrol isn't random... There's a gap during the shift change at the western watchtower. About fifteen seconds."
Sylvie, crouching beside her, raised an eyebrow in amazement. "Whoa, you spotted that with your bare eyes in the dark? Worthy of a former Knight Commander. Your eyes are pretty sharp."
"I was trained to plug the security holes in the capital's walls. This much is basic," Elisa replied calmly. Despite wearing heavy armor, she flawlessly manipulated her mana flow to envelop her body, completely muffling the sound of metal scraping against metal. It was an advanced technique of the Vanguard class.
"Alright, fifteen seconds is more than enough for us to vault the wall," Sylvie grinned cheekily. "Try to keep up, Commander!"
The second the guard on the western wall turned his back, Sylvie darted from the branch like a phantom. The elf's slender figure stepped onto a crack in the stone wall and propelled herself soundlessly over the three-meter barrier.
Elisa gritted her teeth, channeled purple mana into her toes, and leaped right after her. While not as nimble as Sylvie, she managed to land on the grass inside the estate with a sound no louder than raindrops hitting leaves.
The two wove their way along the neatly manicured hedges, pushing deeper toward the rear of the manor.
The deeper they went, the more suffocating the atmosphere became. The fragrant scent of decorative roses couldn't mask the faint, metallic stench of iron and blood wafting from the direction of the dungeon.
"Do you smell that..." Sylvie pinched her nose, her face contorting. "Alchemy potions mixed with rotting blood... These nobles really are as sick as the rumors say."
"Stay alert... The patrols here are more frequent than outside," Elisa pressed Sylvie's shoulder, forcing her to duck behind a marble statue.
Two guards in soaked leather armor walked by, carrying a magical lantern. Their grumbling reached the ears of the two intruders clearly.
"Damn it! Why do we have to walk in the rain guarding the back door?" one guard swore. "The only ones in there are old Albert, the Viscount's crackpot alchemist, and that freak."
"Shut your mouth. If the Viscount hears you, he'll cut your tongue out!" the other guard warned shakily. "You know how much he invested in extracting 'Pure Mana' from that demon's blood... Word is the elixir of life that old man is brewing is almost finished."
"Elixir of life, my ass... All I hear is that bitch screaming enough to make my skin crawl every damn night!"
The two guards walked past, complaining until they were out of sight, leaving Elisa and Sylvie staring at each other in a mix of shock and fury.
"Extracting Pure Mana from blood..." Elisa ground her teeth, her hand involuntarily gripping the hilt of her black greatsword so hard her veins popped. "They're using a demon slave as a living 'Mana Farm'?! That's a severe felony under Imperial Law!"
"In a world where nobles write the laws, justice is just a scrap of paper," Sylvie gave a cold sneer. "Let's hurry. We need to confirm the target's condition before the boss makes his decision."
They crawled low until they reached a narrow air vent at ground level, barred by rusted iron grating. A dim, golden-yellow light spilled from the gap, accompanied by a nauseatingly thick stench of blood.
Elisa and Sylvie peered down through the iron bars.
The sight that met their eyes made even the minds of battle-hardened warriors shudder with pity and sheer rage!
Inside the damp cellar, surrounded by shelves of bizarrely colored alchemy potions, a frail young woman was pinned to a stone altar in the center of the room. Her arms and legs were shackled, and massive 'Mana-Suppressing Chains' were brutally pierced directly through her collarbones!
Her bright purple hair was matted with blood and filth. Her face, beautiful as a goddess, was deathly pale. In the center of her forehead sat small, pitch-black horns—the unmistakable mark of the Demon race.
And the most horrifying sight of all... a hunchbacked old man in a black cloak was using a small silver scalpel to slowly slice open her wrists!
"Scream... scream louder, you filthy demon!"
Old Albert, the alchemist, cackled with a shrill, piercing voice as he collected the golden-red drops of blood falling into a glass vial. "The more pain you feel, the denser the mana in your blood becomes! Your blood is the key to Viscount Morgan's immortality! Heeheehee!"
"Ugh... ah..." The demon girl could only whimper in her throat. Her eyes were vacant and devoid of life, like a doll whose soul had been completely drained. Her body was covered in countless scars from being cut open time and time again over many years.
"You sick old bastard..." Elisa hissed through gritted teeth. The knight's killing intent flared so violently that Sylvie had to quickly grab her arm.
"Don't! If we bust in now, the boss's plan is ruined!" the elf girl warned, even though her own blood was boiling just as fiercely.
However... in the split second that old Albert pressed the blade deep enough to sever a major artery...
An unforeseen reaction occurred!
Jolt...!
The demon girl's frail body convulsed violently as the silver blade cut into the artery. Her once-vacant eyes snapped wide open. Her dry lips parted in a silent scream. But what poured out from the wound... was not just thick red blood!
Flash!
A brilliant, radiant golden light erupted from her wound instantly!
It was not the murky black or cloudy purple mana mist characteristic of the demon race. It was a current of pure, blinding energy, like the light of the midday sun. The golden light flashed so brightly that the dim dungeon was instantly illuminated as if it were daytime!
"Wha—! W-What is this?!"
Old Albert yelped. The frail body of the alchemist was blasted backward by the wave of golden mana, crashing into a potion shelf!
Crash! Shatter! Smash!
Hundreds of glass vials shattered and tumbled to the floor. Chemical liquids spilled and pooled together. The golden energy wave was so intense it cracked the stone floor and made the air in the dungeon vibrate!
Yet, this supernatural phenomenon lasted only a fleeting moment.
Rumble...!
The 'Mana-Suppressing Chains' piercing her collarbones and binding her limbs began to glow crimson red, like iron heated in a forge. The magical runes on the links flared wildly. They ruthlessly absorbed and suppressed the erupting golden light, forcing it back into the girl's body!
"AAAAAAHHHH!"
A scream of excruciating agony echoed from the demon slave's throat. Her body writhed on the stone altar. White smoke sizzled from the wounds in contact with the searing hot chains, before the golden light completely died out. Her body gave one last violent twitch before she fell completely unconscious.
Old Albert slowly pushed himself up from the pile of broken glass. His wrinkled face was twisted in fury.
"You lowly demon! You dare thrash and resist me?!"
He limped over and kicked the unconscious girl hard in the ribs. "Your demonic bloodline is stubborn! But the more you resist, the more potent my elixir becomes! Just wait until I finish upgrading these magic chains. I'll bleed you entirely dry, just you wait!"
Above the air vent, Elisa and Sylvie, who were secretly watching the scene, had their eyes widened to the point of popping. Their breaths caught in their throats.
Elisa bit her lip so hard it bled. Her hands shook with a furious urge to draw her black greatsword and sever that sick old bastard's head right then and there. But Lloyd's command, echoing in her mind, anchored her sanity.
'If you get caught, the entire extraction plan will collapse.'
"Commander..." Sylvie whispered, her voice trembling. The elf's eyes were full of astonishment. "Just now... did you see that light? I'm an elf who has lived with the mana of the forest my whole life. I swear to you... that was not demonic mana!"
"I saw it..." Elisa swallowed hard, cold sweat beading on her forehead. "I used to be the Commander of the Magic Knights. I've clashed with demons countless times... That power just now. It was purer and more potent than even the Holy Magic of the High Priests in the capital!"
The two locked eyes, coming to a terrifying realization of a certain 'Truth'.
The slave chained below wasn't just some ordinary demon captured to be a lab rat. She was 'something' much greater and far more dangerous! The latent power hidden in her bloodline was so colossal that even high-tier magic chains could barely keep it contained!
"We need to report back to Lord Lloyd immediately!" Elisa kept her voice low. "If that madman successfully extracts her mana, or if he accidentally unseals all her power... this estate... no, this entire region might be wiped off the map!"
Sylvie nodded quickly. "Let's go! If we dawdle, she might succumb to her wounds and die!"
The two figures retreated from the vent silently. Using the darkness and the sound of the rain to mask their movements, they flawlessly slipped past the patrolling guards. Vaulting the three-meter stone wall back into the dense forest, they sprinted to their horses, galloping through the night to return to Verdant Province as fast as possible!
Two hours later, in the makeshift accounting room of Verdant Province's town hall.
An oil lamp cast a dim light, chasing away the shadows. Lloyd Weston leaned back in his wooden chair, a cup of cold herbal tea in one hand. His eyes stared blankly at the map on the table, as if he were running combat simulations in his head. Marcus Grey and Frank stood by his side, waiting for the report.
Bang!
The door was thrust open forcefully. Elisa and Sylvie stepped in, their cloaks soaked with rain, but their eyes blazed with urgency and intense stress.
"You're back sooner than expected. How did the reconnaissance go?" Lloyd sat up straight, placing his teacup on the table.
"It's worse than the rumors," Sylvie reported with a voice full of disgust. "The guards are thick, true, but the most despicable part is that old man in the dungeon! He slits the demon slave's wrists every day to extract her mana and brew an elixir of life for his master!"
Marcus turned pale. "Elixir of life... So the rumors about Morgan's perversion are true!"
"That's not even the worst of it, Lord Lloyd..."
Elisa stepped closer to the desk. The former commander's tone was so dead serious that the tension in the room multiplied. "The moment she was cut... the power sealed inside her erupted! I swear on my honor as a Magic Knight... the golden light that burst from her body was absolutely not demonic power!"
"Golden light?" Lloyd frowned. "What do you mean, Elisa?"
"It was Light Mana, so pure it gave me chills!" Elisa explained, gesturing with her hands. "It was so powerful it blasted the alchemist backward and obliterated everything in the room, even though she was bound by high-tier mana-suppressing chains! If those chains hadn't forced the power back... I think she could have blown up that manor with her bare hands!"
Elisa's report echoed in Lloyd's mind.
The former RTS world champion's eyes widened. His brain rapidly processed the data he just received. The image of a demon girl possessing pure golden Light Mana... Two concepts that utterly contradicted the logic of any standard fantasy game!
"A demon... wielding Light Mana..."
Lloyd muttered to himself. The throbbing in his temples, which had subsided, began to pulse again. But this time, it wasn't the pain of mana exhaustion. It was an ultimate surge of excitement pumping adrenaline through his entire body!
In the world of [RTS Master System] , most demon units were dark elemental. But if a 'Mutated Unit' appeared, possessing mixed blood or abnormal birth conditions... they fell into the category of a 'Hidden Mythical Unit'!
Initiate predictive target data analysis... Lloyd whispered a command in his mind.
Ding!
[Predictive Analysis based on clues:]
[Race: Demon (Mixed Bloodline / Mutated?) ]
[Power Trait: Holy Mana (Contradicts racial trait) ]
[Estimated Talent Tier: UR (Ultra Rare) or higher!]
[Current Status: Oppressed / Awaiting Awakening]
"UR Tier... or possibly higher!" Lloyd clenched his fists so tightly his nails dug into his palms.
His deep blue eyes gleamed with the ferocious intensity of a predator staring at the world's most priceless treasure. "They don't know... Viscount Morgan and that old alchemist have absolutely no idea they locked a 'Goddess' in a dog cage! They think she's just a premium mana farm, completely oblivious that she's a trump card capable of flipping the fate of the entire world!"
Marcus and Frank looked at each other in confusion. They didn't understand words like 'UR' or 'Hidden Unit', but they could feel the intense, burning thirst radiating from Lloyd.
"Lord Lloyd..." Marcus asked shakily. "What... what are you planning to do, sir?"
Lloyd stood up and slammed his hands on the desk. Bang!
"We aren't going to wait around for them to bleed her to death! And I absolutely refuse to let her fall into anyone else's hands!" Lloyd declared fiercely. His voice brooked no argument. "Originally, I wanted to save her out of pity and to cut off the enemy's resources... but now, the stakes have changed!"
The young Baron swept his gaze across his top-tier subordinates one by one.
"That slave girl... is the most crucial 'Strategic Piece'! If she falls into the hands of Baron Reinhardt or the grey cloaks behind him, our province will be wiped off the map in an instant... But if we secure her... we will have enough power to slap that Imperial Inquisitor in the face and tear their rotten rules to shreds!"
Lloyd jabbed his finger onto Morgan's estate map, right on the dungeon's location.
"Elisa! Sylvie! Frank!" Lloyd's voice boomed, calling out his three commanders. "Prepare yourselves to the fullest. Get some rest and sharpen your weapons... Tomorrow, on the night of the new moon, we raid Viscount Morgan's estate! We are going to drag that slave girl out of hell... Even if it means burning that manor to the ground, I absolutely will not lose this trump card!"
The life-and-death gamble had begun.
If this plan succeeded, Verdant Province would gain two mythical-tier units back-to-back. But if it failed... provoking two noble houses simultaneously during such a critical crisis would inevitably bring unimaginable ruin upon the province!
(End of Chapter 18)