“So that’s the stronghold. It looks like another village to me,” Nathan muttered while looking at the stronghold from the top of the sand hill.
“Yes. That’s the stronghold.” Sera confirmed it with a nod.
“It doesn’t seem to have a lot of people. There are only less than twenty buildings in this stronghold, with a giant building in the middle. And this place doesn’t have an oasis.” Nathan assessed the place.
“Indeed. If we go right now, we should be able to go very far.” Sera pointed at the big building. “I’m sure that the enemies are hiding in that building. If we want to separate the boss and the vice leader, we have to… I don’t know, maybe tricking them.”
“Should we sneak into their stronghold? There aren’t a lot of people patrolling the stronghold right now. We know the layout, so we just have to make sure there’s no trap or anything. Once we’re sure, we can always come up with a plan to separate them.”
“Indeed.” Sera agreed with him.
“Can you use the Physical Enhancement?”
“Of course.”
Nathan nodded and summoned Fenrir. “On my signal, we should go to the nearest building. Fenrir, give us the timing.”
Fenrir observed the movement of the people inside the stronghold and carefully selected the timing. “Go!”
The moment they heard the signal, they immediately rushed toward the stronghold before anyone could see them. They moved so fast with Fenrir behind them.
He was using his own tail to swipe the sand so that they didn’t leave any trace.
Nathan took a peek at the window, making sure there was no one inside before using this building as a cover. Sera also did the same and hid inside the building.
“So, what are we going to do now?”
“Just go to the center. The main stronghold will definitely be the biggest building. We have to know what’s inside that building, don’t you think?”
She thought for a moment before nodding her head. “That’s true.”
“I think I should be the one asking you. Haven’t you scouted this place before? You have been attacked by the bandits, right?”
“Yes. I have come to this place.” freewёbnoνel.com
“For what reason?” Nathan frowned.
“It’s for…” She looked hesitant but soon waved her hand, asking him to follow her.
Nathan didn’t understand what was going on, but he had to follow her, even if this was a trap.
To his surprise, she stopped two blocks away from the biggest structure in the stronghold. She pointed to the biggest building while saying, “As expected, I can sense it clearly from here.”
“Sense what?”
“A holy relic.” She let out a long sigh before deciding to tell the truth. “Actually, the reason I came here was due to the persuasion of both my fallen angel and angel. It’s quite rare for them to agree with each other.
“I have been quite sensitive to the holy and evil aura. From that place, I can see the holy aura, and I’m planning to use it to summon my third familiar.”
Nathan rubbed his chin, contemplating. “How do you know this place has a holy relic?”
“A rumor. After getting some information from the church, I head out and investigate it myself.”
Nathan nodded in understanding. “In that case, you want to get this holy relic and also defeat the bandits?”
“Yes,” she confirmed.
“How come you are getting attacked then? We can get this far without getting caught.”
“I don’t know. I feel like the security was much tighter yesterday, so I got caught and had to fight against them and retreated.” She shook her head.
Nathan noticed something was wrong. If that was true, how come they hadn’t been caught yet? The enemies had many people, and the stronghold wasn’t that big.
“Did they go outside to raid a place or something?” Nathan squinted his eyes as he took another look at the surrounding area.
“Don’t tell me. Are they attacking the village right now?” Sera gasped. “We have to go back right now.”
Nathan couldn’t help but furrow his eyebrows. The more he followed the story about the bandit, the more he felt something was amiss.
“What’s wrong? We need to get back immediately. If those villagers are getting attacked, they will be in a lot of trouble.”
Nathan waved his hand, as if telling her to stop.
“The empty stronghold, the big building…” Nathan looked down, falling into deep thought. He was a bit unsure of what to do. If he agreed, they might be able to go back, but could they do anything against those bandits?
“What’s wrong? We have to go back right now.”
After two minutes, Nathan shook his head. “No. We won’t be going back. This is the perfect time to infiltrate their main building. If we can somehow learn more about them, especially that building, we will have a higher chance of defeating the bandits.”
“But those villagers will die!” She looked concerned, but Nathan simply said, “No.”
Sera gritted her teeth. “I won’t abandon them!”
“Feel free to go back. In the end, I’m here because of my own whim. I’m under no obligation to follow you.”
Sera looked frustrated. She just left without saying anything, disappointed that Nathan would sacrifice all those villagers just to complete the mission. They were here because they wanted to help the villagers after all.
However, Nathan thought differently.
“Are you sure about this? Isn’t she the guide?” Fenrir asked.
“Yeah. The elder only told us to complete the mission, not to follow the guide all the time. In that case, I will just finish this mission with or without her.” Nathan had made his decision. “Let’s go. We need to infiltrate the main building.”
Fenrir nodded and continued leading him to the main building, avoiding any patrols. As Nathan said earlier, this was the perfect chance to take a look at the main building.
The moment Nathan entered the main building through the window, he finally understood what kind of bandits they were.
“Hahaha. This is going to be easier than I expected…”