Chapter 1148: Chapter 1147: All Out Attack (4)
Chapter 1148: Chapter 1147: All Out Attack (4)
Pulling the dagger across the throat of the woman in my arms, I held her close to me and watched as Saif and Zahrah did similar things to their marks, allowing us to drop the bodies after they stopped squirming around and make our way to the next room, where a little more finesse would be required.
The towering Jackalkin pointed to Saif and I before raising two fingers, gesturing for us to take separate sides of the room and informing us of the number we were responsible for; the moment we were given that information, Saif unsheathed a small knife and flipped it so that she was holding it by the blade, preparing to throw it the moment she stepped inside.
My decision was a slightly different one, one that came to me more innately; a Ritual Circle flickered into life in front of my palm, and I shrouded it with my fingers as I nodded towards Saif, letting the hulking woman know I was ready to go.
We stuck to the shadows just outside of the room as we listened to the inhabitants laugh and jibe with one another, completely unaware that their friends outside were now dead resting against the wall.
Giving it a moment, Saif counted us down with her fingers before stepping back and giving Zahrah and I space to rush inside, the two of us crossing paths as we darted to the opposite side of the room to grab our marks.
Five people were inside, and my focus was on the right most two as I pushed mana into the Ritual Circle and sent a long lasso of razor sharp ice flying towards the first man's neck, while my dagger punctured the brow of the other as I appeared in front of him in a heartbeat.
With no time to react, the five people were killed immediately, with their lives snuffed faster than a candle in a hurricane as we rushed that room to give ourselves cover, getting off of the streets and waiting for the upcoming bombardment.
Snapping my arm back, I shattered the man's neck and pulled him towards me, allowing me to lower his corpse to the ground carefully so that no noise was made while also pushing the man I had stabbed back into his seat, leaving my dagger in his head for now as I made my way back outside to grab one of the corpses and clean up.
My head was on a swivel as I searched for any nearby enemies just in case, and upon finding none I carried in the previous kills before cleaning away the evidence with my Water Mana, making it appear like nothing had ever happened.
We occupied a house near the 'back' of Hajar now, and Saif worked swiftly to rearrange the furniture in a way that would block any entrances or windows to prevent people from looking or wandering in easily, while Zahrah made her way upstairs and took care of the sleeping soldiers.
"Not even a half hour yet and we've already made a damn good job with this! I can't tell if we're just that good at this or if they're just that sloppy..."
Saif grunted at that and lodged a chair against a door handle, ensuring that the entrance would need a large amount of force to breach before replying "It doesn't matter, now does it? Because in a few minutes, the city is going to be illuminated once more. If I had to take a guess, Hassim is getting them to hit the three courtyards in front of the city, and he'll have them hit them hard."
"Fireworks then? Should we be shoring up a house instead of prowling around if they're going to be making a very large racket?"
The larger Jackalkin shrugged at that, though she continued to move around the furniture and snuff out some of the candles as she said "Maybe not, but I want to get a good idea on what's going to happen before heading back out. We can afford to lose the element of surprise if we see most of those Fiends heading to the wall, but if we can't see any of them..."
Zahrah nodded, and I had to agree as I retrieved my blade, though I felt like I was missing something here as I asked "Are there any ways for us to locate them without visuals? Mana signatures or something?"
Both of the Death Jackals shrugged at that, with Saif murmuring "I wouldn't know since I'm not that great with magic..." while Zahrah said "If there is a way, I don't know it, nor do I believe we have the time or materials for such a spell."
Crude ideas fluttered into my head that would require some paper to refine - large scale Wind Magic meant for locating people or understanding the area around us - but what really made me curious was something else.
"Cali, is there a way for us to find the Fiends and monitor their movements?"
The two Death Jackals frowned at that, and when she appeared between us both of them laid a hand on their weapons, though they were ignored as the pink skinned seductress grinned at me and sauntered over with a hand on her hip.
When she got close enough to touch me, I stared into her eyes and ignored the sweet scent or relaxing heat that radiated off of her and instead focused on the snakes, which hissed softly at me and pleaded for attention.
It was easier to resist her like this, and they knew it as they reached for me or poked at her, distracting us both and making the Arch Fiend roll her eyes before she said "There is, but you couldn't do it right now, my sexy puppy~! Unless they were anticipating a high level Sla Fiend to come visit, they wouldn't be hiding their desires, and the desires of a Fiend are rather... unique. Ah, and before you ask, the answer is no~! Figure it out yourself."
Cali didn't even give me the chance to ask before she disappeared, leaving me alone once more as I let out a sigh and shrugged at the two Death Jackals, who relaxed with her disappearance only to grab at their weapons when her chuckle filled the air.
"Oh, but I will~ give you a hint just to make this a little more fun~! One of the Ka Fiends is gigantic, and the Tza Fiend is extremely hard to miss. Finding the Nua should be easier than you think, and the other Ka is a tricky one, but also blatantly obvious too~! Have fun now~!"
Her voice faded away, leaving us with that 'hint' that should make things easier going forwards, though before we could begin to really mull it over the house began to shake, and the room was suddenly basked in a reddish glow.
"They're starting..."
I could barely hear Saif as we all turned to stare out the windows, watching as a giant plume of flames erupted near the entrance of Hajar, and immediately after a swirling whirlwind drifted dangerously close to the flames, kicking them up and fueling them even more as the city was set ablaze.
As the flaming tornado was fueled into something stronger, another explosion erupted close by, sending a wave of debris flying through the air as the wall was torn down by another well placed spell, and by the time the third explosion shook Hajar, the shouting of the Fingers began to fill the air as well.
We could hear them rushing past the house as they made their way to the entrance, and after a second we all nodded and rushed upstairs, making our way to a higher vantage point and looking over what we could as we watched dozens of soldiers stream by us.
So many were coming from areas nearby, and the amount only grew when we found a window that overlooked a large square that was now filled with people, and in the midst of them was a towering hunk of a man flexing his muscles as two equally giant axes rose smoothly into the
air.
"Well, that's one of the Ka Fiends found, and it seems that this one is heading straight out to fight. And..."
Sweeping my gaze across the square, I sighed and shook my head as only normal, reasonable mortals filled my vision, none of them having any sort of tell tale signs of being a Fiend like the twelve or so foot tall red man.
"Nope, no one else. Still, that's easily a hundred or so warriors, and we've already killed so many... and this is just one part of the city? There's definitely more than three hundred people here, but that just begs the question of where they came from?"
None of us could answer my question, but it only mattered a little as we watched the gathering of fighters rush towards the entrance of the city, which was currently burning to the ground beneath a giant flaming tornado.