Chapter 313: Lone Assassin vs the Fortress

Luke crouched atop the fortress watchtower, his epic skill already dismissed. Wasting mana here was not an option. The soldier he had just killed was gone, tucked neatly into his storage item. Almost seventy enemies held this fortress. He had to move fast. With Shadow Camouflage active, he scanned the ground below. Eight targets in sight. He triggered Advanced Stealth and crept along the wall, low and silent. The tower sentries came first; they were the ones with access to the alarm bell.

He froze. Below him, a handful of men were chatting like it was just another night.

“I’m telling you, man, I’m way stronger than last time,” one bragged, laughing.

Without a word, Luke summoned his Soul Cat. It leapt from the wall and slipped into one of the men’s bodies. Vision shifted; now he could see and hear everything from within their little group. He continued along the battlements, soft as breath, careful not to draw a single glance. Up ahead, two sentries occupied the next tower: one carving a scrap of wood, the other cradling a crossbow. Both distracted.

He crouched to a stop and cloaked himself again in shadow.

“It’s been a while since that Bastion guy showed up,” muttered the woodcarver.

“I just want to see what drops in the reward event,” the crossbowman replied. “Never even seen one of those chests up close. This time, I’m getting one.”

Confirming through the infiltrated body that the group below was still lost in conversation, Luke moved.

He rose from the darkness with his kukris drawn and sprang. The first blade drove diagonally through the artisan’s skull. Spinning behind the second sentry, he dragged the other kukri across the man’s throat, silencing him before the scream could rise.

Before either body hit the floor, they were gone, swallowed by his storage item.

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

From this tower he could see another watchtower further off, two more guards posted there.

Not yet, he thought.

Below, a lone soldier knelt at a campfire outside the old leaders’ tent, stirring a pot. Luke dropped from the tower, landing without a sound thanks to Advanced Stealth. He melted back into the dark, closing the distance fast. One hand clamped over the man’s mouth, the other slashed clean across his neck, dragging him into shadow.

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

Peering again through his infiltrated host, he saw the group still at ease, laughing and talking. He glided along the walls, a living shadow. Four of them together. Ahead, a fifth man chopped wood, probably training his profession.

Four. If one yells, it’s over. Waiting isn’t an option.

Flattening himself to the stone, he crept forward, pausing between steps to renew his camouflage. But the torchlight ahead would shatter his invisibility. He drew a steady breath and triggered Dark Dash. His body blurred forward, unseen. He emerged in the middle of the men and pointed his hand toward the ground. Black roots erupted like serpents, coiling around their throats and faces, choking off every shout.

They writhed, their muffled cries turning to wet gasps. Luke activated Thorn Mutation.

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

The fourth man still breathed inside his heavy armor, roots cinched tight around him. Luke closed in and drove his kukri through a gap the vines had forced open.

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

Every corpse vanished into storage before a single body hit the ground. The fifth soldier, still chopping wood, hadn’t noticed a thing. He was out in the open, bathed in torchlight, too risky to get close. Luke drew Angelica’s bow, inhaled slowly, and aimed. One arrow. Measured. Perfect.

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

That side of the courtyard was clear. Half the work done, and the tension in his chest eased just a little. Staying low, he sprinted toward the next watchtower. He hugged the wall of the fortress, moving in the shadow of its main building. The front courtyard lay empty, but across the open space he counted at least ten more scattered enemies. Caution would be everything.

Pressed flat against the stone, he tracked a lone soldier patrolling the wall above. If I shoot with the bow, he’ll topple over the edge and crash outside. Too loud.

Without a whisper, Luke pulled a kukri, tightened his grip, poured stamina into his arm, and hurled it. The blade spun over the soldier’s head.

He stretched out his hand.

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[Magnetic Return activated]

The kukri reversed midair and came screaming back.

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

It buried itself straight through the sentry’s face. The body pitched forward, inside the courtyard. Luke dashed, leapt, and caught the corpse before it struck the ground. Silence held. He exhaled, eyes sweeping the fortress. This night was going to be long.

***

Luke was already inside the main building. His steps made no sound, senses sharpened, perception field stretched to its limit. He swept every corner with his eyes before turning it. The courtyard guards were all dead now, only three remained outside the walls—and those weren’t his problem. Someone else had been assigned to handle them.

Footsteps echoed ahead. He froze, Shadow Camouflage sliding over him like a second skin. A man walked past, muttering under his breath, eyes glued to a clipboard. He never saw Luke at his side—the perfect overlap of Basic Shadow Camouflage and Shadow of Ignorance. Neither mundane sight nor magical senses could pin him down.

As soon as the man passed, Luke slipped behind him and drove a kukri straight in.

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

He moved on through the hallways until he spotted another figure lounging in a chair, boots propped on a table.

“Randall!” the man shouted. “Bring me my damn food already!”

Luke pressed himself against the wall, waited, breathed… then flicked both kukris.

They spun through the air, one burying itself dead-center in the forehead, the other plunging into the heart.

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

Before the body even slumped, Luke had it stored away.

Footsteps again. Someone in the corridor.