Chapter 62 Oversight.

  Isaac and Lenna were sitting with their backs against the wall of one of neighboring buildings to their target. Isaac had just taken a bite of jerky and Lenna had just taken a swig of water from her waterskin when they both felt the telltale ripple of high level teleportation magic. “Shim.” Isaac swore and tried to forcefully swallow the half chewed piece of beef. ‘Shamesh, cancel th-’ Isaac’s mental thoughts were cut off by the ground rumbling like a troll’s upset stomach.

  “I guess we’re starting early.” Lenna said while she jumped to her feet and closed her faceplate.

  ‘I’m sorry, master, I didn’t have the time to cancel it.’ Shamesh sent Isaac with an entire wagonload of regret and worry.

  Isaac grunted from the emotional impact that was sent through their connection. ‘It’s fine buddy, but we need to hit hard and fast. Make sure no one else comes or goes through the circles.’ He replied to his physical shadow.

  “Isaac, we’re using a window, it’ll be faster.” Lenna informed him as he was replying to Shamesh. Isaac nodded in reply and Lenna took off in a sprint towards a first floor window that was nearby.

  “I just noticed something.” Isaac told his wife right before they reached the window.

  “What?” Lenna asked while she jumped and shouldered through the closed window. She landed in a roll and sprung to her feet as Isaac vanished and reappeared right behind her, already facing the destroyed window. A sound resonated through the building and surrounding area so loudly that made it hard to think. The sound was akin to a dozen clock bells chiming back to back with only a tenth of a second between them. It was just as loud too.

  Isaac slammed his hand into the ward that was producing the obnoxiously loud alarm. He impacted it with enough mana to cast at least three Fireballs and the ward literally exploded. Gold fragments and wood were blasted in all directions but Isaac’s hand kept any of it from flying towards his face. “That if the court wizard wasn’t on the CSC’s side, then they wouldn’t be able to freely use a teleportation circle.” Isaac told her and motioned for which hallway they would need to take to reach the stairwell into the basement.

  Lenna led the way as a line of shadows raced across the ground to lead her to the stairwell. “What about the Guild Master?” Lenna wondered as she found the door. They got there just as the person who was guarding the back door did. Lenna didn’t hesitate and punched her in the head with everything she had. The fact that the woman’s head didn’t just explode was a testament to the number of levels that she must’ve had. As it was, the door guard’s neck broke instantly and her head bounced sickeningly off the wall before her limp body crumpled at Lenna’s feet. Lenna hardly waited for the woman to fall before she kicked the door to the basement and it exploded inwards.

  “There is no way that he didn’t feel the teleportation circle usage.” Isaac agreed. “But he didn’t strike me as that kind of person.”

  “Which kind of person?” Lenna wondered as she took the stairs three at a time. Her foot slipped and she practically surfed the last five steps to the bottom. She caught herself at the bottom of the stairs and oriented on the next door.

  “The kind to risk everything that he’s built up,” Isaac began as Lenna blew through the next door. The door hit someone, who screamed as they too were flung away from the unstoppable paladin, before it limply whacked against the interior wall. “the prestigious path that he earned and that lies ahead of him,” Isaac continued as his eyes switched to soul-sight so he could pick out which employee to save as a prisoner. Taking the weakest one would be the safest but taking the strongest would probably end up being the most fruitful. “for some money that he obviously doesn’t need.” The pair had learned, from some key people during their time in Sapphirestone, that Guild Masters got almost all of their branch’s profits, once the adventurers and other employees were paid. It was why most aspiring Guild Masters preferred places that always had tons of active bounties as opposed to the quiet backwater branches.

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  Lenna obliterated the only other person in front of them that had a weapon with an uppercut that ruptured most of his internal organs before his impact with the ceiling shattered his back. “Agreed.” She replied and then slammed her aura down on everyone other than her husband and their skeletal retainer. “There must be a reason for his oversight.”

  “We can confront him later.” Isaac told her as he appeared directly behind the weakest person there that was still wearing a CSC uniform. Isaac wrapped his arm around her neck and held her in a chokehold, that was just firm enough to warn her not to do anything, but not so tight as to actually begin choking her.

  Of the three patrons, one was sprawled out on her back with a bloody nose from Lenna blowing the door open, one was actively crumpling under the oppressive weight of Lenna’s aura and the absolute violence that was their entrance, and the last one looked like he was getting ready to fight Lenna just enough to slip past her and escape.

  Lenna grabbed the man that looked like he was about to try and push past her by the face. “If you know what is good for you, you’ll sit in the corner, with the other two.” She told him. Her words were simple and to the point but seemed to carry with them the weight of authority. A weight of authority that only someone that was used to leading men into battle could have. An authority that was soaked in blood and forged in the fires of war. The total imperiousness of her tone and bearing was enough to shut the man down in her grasp without any further violence. She let go of him and he dropped to the ground, completely and utterly cowed, at least for the moment.

  A staff member ran out of one of the rooms and took off towards the stairwell to reach the second basement level. Isaac was not going to let that happen. “To me.” He ordered the shadows in front of the runner. The person in question was quickly halted and then drug back towards Isaac. Their screams of terror echoed throughout the lower floors of the building as they were pulled into Isaac’s waiting grasp like a victim in a horror story.

  Isaac and Lenna threw the five prisoners into the closest meeting room with little fanfare. Once they were done, Lenna immediately moved on and began checking all of the rooms with closed doors.

  “If any of you try to leave, you will die.” Isaac explained to the prisoners. He then gestured at his shadow. “Rise.” He ordered it, and it obeyed. “Animate.” He continued and it turned to face him. “If anyone tries to leave that room, kill them, but let others enter.” As soon as he finished giving his directive, the shadow moved into the doorway. “Good.” He purred as Lenna threw a lifeless corpse out into the hallway and began dragging a terrified young nobleman towards Isaac and the rest of the prisoners.

  “I think this is all of them on this floor.” She told him.

  Isaac nodded and then gestured through the doorway and into the room with the rest of the prisoners. His shadow moved out of the way so Lenna could shove the new prisoner inside. It moved back once she was done. “Duplicate.” Isaac continued ordering magic around like it was a soldier on parade. The animated shadow split in two but they were both noticeably only half as dense as the original. “Solidify.” He spoke to fix that problem. He pointed at one of them. “Forgo your previous order. Do not let anyone in or out of that doorway.” Isaac instructed it and gestured towards the doorway to the stairwell up to the ground floor. As it moved to fulfill his orders Isaac turned back to Lenna. “Let’s go and see how our young friend has been doing. I have been feeling him chain cast spells.”

  —

  Shamesh was forced to move at maximum speed. He hadn’t been given even a moment to breathe, not that he physically could, once the commotion had started. He quickly left a Seething Ember right above the teleportation circle that he had been guarding and then flew over to where the other circle had been. He got there just in time to see a woman dusting herself off and two others’ charred corpses that had been blasted against opposing walls. The doors to the teleportation circle were utterly obliterated and there were still smoldering remains littering the hallway.

  The soul of the woman in front of Shamesh was absolutely blazing with power. By his guess, she was at least level fifteen, but the fact that she was almost entirely unharmed by his spell meant that she might’ve been even higher. Shamesh’s fingers danced as he summoned another spell. Five streaks of glowing embers lanced towards the woman who just looked at the incoming projectiles with curiosity. All of Shamesh’s attacks hit home but they did little more than further blacken her smooth, almost slick, leather armor. Shamesh had no idea what kind of creature it was from but it was immediately obvious that it was not just the woman that was resistant to fire based attacks, but also the armor.

  Before Shamesh could choose another spell to use against her, the woman’s fists closed around a pair of axes. One of the axes smoldered like an active volcano while the other had lightning dancing across its blade. Her eyes soon landed directly on the still shadow-cloaked Shamesh and he instantly realized that it was going to be a much harder fight than her level originally led him to believe.