Late at Night. New Mansion Red Town.

On a moonless night, three men covered in pitch black robes were hiding near Adine’s new mansion.

The three of them were climbing up a steep area on the side of the mansion where people didn’t think was possible to pass through.

The trio catch their breath after reaching the top and look at the wall of the mansion spread out before them…… they were getting ready to challenge that four meter tall obstacle.

They were hired by Friedman family to assassinate Joan Maynard Keynes. 

"Zo, are you ready?" A slim but sturdy man spoke calmly.

"I heard the Friedman had sent five assassination attempts but the assassins were gone once they got into the mansion. Is that mansion haunted?" A man with large muscles everywhere on his body said nonchalantly.

"The first attempt, they sent 5 thugs. Second, they sent 15 thugs. Third, they sent 7 soldiers. Fourth, they sent 8 mercenaries. Fifth, they sent 2 professional assassins, the Jib brothers. But 2 of them disappeared as well." A man, with largest body spoke seriously to the other two.

"What? The Jib brothers? They also disappeared??" The other two yelled.

The largest man angrily signaled to them, to lower their voice.

He resumed, "That's why they sent us who are assassins from other country, Goldonia."

They became quiet for a while, thinking that this job might not be as we easy as they initially thought.

The thin man called Kora furrowed his brow in response to the comments from the man of large build called Drow.

He adjusted the black eyepatch covering his left eye slightly.

"This isn’t the time for meaningless chatter. We’re sneaking into this mansion so a single mistake could result in us getting killed."

The muscle man whispered softly like the sound of rustling dry leaves and hands a large stone with a light gray rope attached to Drow.

"It’ll be fine, this new mansion isn’t being used yet so security will be pretty lax. " Kora said.

Drow twirled the large stone slowly so it didn’t make any slicing wind sounds and then throws it over the wall surrounding the mansion.

The dull thud made by the stone as it hit the grass on the other side rang out clearly in the dead of the night.

The trio held their breaths and laid low for a while, raising their bodies only after confirming there was no response.

"Here I go."

Kora grabbed the rope and makes his way swiftly up the wall.

"Amazing acrobatics……"

The rock thrown over acting as the counterbalance couldn’t weigh dozens of kilograms.

Kora was considered a small man, but climbing up normally would inevitably cause the rock to shift and drop down.

That’s why he hooked his feet on the slight gaps in the wall to lessen as much weight on the rock as possible when he climbed.

Anyone who saw his climbing could tell he was accustomed to doing so.

At that moment, two guards holding torches came to make their rounds.

Drow once again laid low to the ground while Kora hauled in the rope and stuck persistently to the wall.

"They’re gone……"

The two patrolling guards dresses in peasant clothing passed by while talking about where they would go during their lunch tomorrow.

With the rope dyed in the same colour as the wall, pressing it against the surface made it difficult to notice at night.

"…… all clear."

Kora tied the rope to a convenient log in the yard and softly signaled to his partners.

After acknowledging, Drow started climbing the rope.

Being a muscular man, he could not rely just on the counterbalance stone to support his weight.

Kora sighed as he watched the man clumsily pulled himself up with brute strength.

"Drow, you’re a complete encumbrance…… If you don’t do it well, we’ll be discovered."

It was clear the man was not suited for covert operations.

However the small, light-weight man consequently skilled at acrobatic maneuvers was too weak to throw the heavy rock used as a counterbalance over the wall after climbing the cliff-like slope and carrying the rope with him.

Of course Kora initially proposed for Drow to remain on standby in front of the mansion while he was the only one to infiltrate……

"you could have just waited over there."

"Hehehe, nice try but I’m not going to let you make off with all the loot."

Worried about his absconding with the money, Drow grumbled to come along.

They were not close friends, but rather fellow acquaintances of the underworld society who just teamed up for this particular job.

Naturally, a level of trust was nonexistent between the two individuals so both had to remain vigilant that the other person would not get the jump on them.

Further, since their prey could be protected by strong fighters, the weak-armed man could not fight everyone by himself. Two very strong fighters were necessary.

Without a strong man, the job would be a high risk, low reward.

"When we’re done here, jump into the drainage channel at the back. The town’s waterways lead outside the town. Run if you get found by guards on the way, unnecessary killing is out of the question."

"I’ve already heard that countless times. Let’s get this over with."

Jib acted imperiously, having successfully infiltrated the mansion.

It made Kora’s head hurt as he knew that the hard part was yet to come, but he also knew that discord in their relationship could spell disaster.

It might be the middle of the night but the number of guards was not small.

The light from many torches could be seen in the distance.

On the contrary, the flames gave away the position and amount of guards.

"Let’s go."

Kora removes his eyepatch and opens his left eye.

The eye which was covered day and night three days prior with an eyepatch was able to see far away even on this dark, moonless evening.

Kora ran smoothly in the night, making a beeline for the rear entrance of the mansion.

He was able to learn the rough structure of the mansion from a worker who was involved with the building in exchange for some alcohol.

There would obviously be guards at the back entrance…… but there was just one.

Despite housing the leaders of resistance movement, the security of the new mansion wasn’t that strict because the guards were just former peasants.

It was exactly like the procured information told him.

He stopped two steps in front of the area illuminated by the soldier’s torch and took out a rat from his pocket.

He then three the creature on the opposite side of where he was positioned.

As the rat hit the ground, it made a squeak before running off and rustling some dry grass.

"Who’s there!?"

The soldier protecting the rear entrance brings his torch toward the area he heard the sound.

At the same time, Kora ran forward.

He matched the timing of his footsteps with that of the soldier’s so he could move without being noticed even though his steps were not the quietest.

Kora cling to the door and inserted a thin wire into the keyhole.

"I heard it come from over here…… damn, it’s so dark."

As the soldier dragged his feet along the grass, the rustling sounds mask Drow’s awkward ran towards the door.

When the man reached the door, there was a clack sound and the door opened.

It didn’t take more than a few seconds for him to pick the lock.

"……tch, just a rat!"

By the time the guard cursed and returned to his post, the three assassins already broke into the mansion.

They changed their shoes to cloth-made footwear so they could on the stone corridors without sound.

With a few people living in the mansion, the insides were bleak.

There appeared to be fewer guards on the inside than the outside as well.

"It’ll be a cinch with your lockpicking skills. Besides, worse comes to worse, I can use my sword to destroy the door……"

Kora sighs as he saw Drow draw his sword.

"What kind of idiot brings a sword with them when breaking into a house?"

In comparison, the thin man had a sharp knife on his hip that was light and small enough to not hinder his movements.

"guards…… there are four of them."

The two of them unconsciously scowled

"We can take down two with a surprise attack…… then one more from the delayed reaction but all four at once is probably impossible."

If even one guard didn’t get finished off and he sounds the alarm, soldiers will come running immediately.

"Let’s wait and see for now. If one of them goes to the toilet, that’ll be our chance……"

Kora hid in a nearby room, waiting for a good opportunity to strike, but Drow wasn’t able to contain himself with the gold practically in front of his eyes. Jib was beside Kora.

"No, we can take out four no problem! I told you before that I was once a famous soldier!"

"S-stupid!" Jib and Kora said.

Drow ran out with his sword drawn.

Kora tried to stop him but it was too late.

Left with no choice, the quick man ran out with his body kept low to the ground.

"Hm……? W-who the hell are you, gueh!"

Surprised by Kora who appeared seemingly out of nowhere in the dark, the guard frantically tried to draw his sword.

Before he could do so, Kora kicked him in the crotch and he fell over holding his privates in pain.

Jib slashed the guard and killed him before he could arm himself.

Another guard dropped his torch so he could draw his weapon.

However he was not able to get a lock on Kora who pounced from the dark after his eyes got used to the light, getting hit with a roundhouse kick and fainting.

Another guard turned the other way and ran as fast as he could.

Of course, he was shouting the whole time.

If left alone, guards all over the mansion would quickly converge.

Drow tried to grab the guard but missed, so he instead raised his sword and slashed the guard’s back. 

The blade left a deep cut into his shoulder and the guard let out a dying cry before collapsing to the ground.

"That should settle it for now. Now on the lord of this mansion."

Suddenly, the trio were slashed repeatedly. The slashes, despite being shallow, were numerous as if they were more than 10 attackers.

"Argggg!!"

"What is this?"

"Why are we wounded this much? There is no one!"

There were only 3 of them here but they were continuously slashed by something invisible.

Luckily, the slashes were not deep and fatal. They were able to somehow defended for nearly half an hour.

"I got it. They were invisible. It's my first time seeing such ability."

"But... But impossible. How could they gather this many men with invisible capability."

They were getting increasingly wounded after each passing moment. 

Drow was furious so he made a huge horizontal swing and it clashed with something fragile.

Two broken skeletons appeared out of thin air and collapsed into the ground.

"Skeletons. Invisible skeletons attack us?"

"Undead? The resistance movement has a necromancer among them?"

"The five assassination attempts failed because of these?"

However, the relentless onslaught became fierce.

"Damn it. There are more than 20 of them!" Jib shouted.

After beating another 6 skeletons, Jib collapsed. He died.

Kora was freaked out and ran away. He abandoned Job's corpse and Drow who was still being slashed by the invisible skeletons.

Kora reached the wall. When he tried to climb up, he received many slashes until he was finally killed.

The angry Drow was swinging his sword randomly. Although he managed to beat 4 more skeletons to the ground, he was losing a lot of blood and his light wounds became grave.

After a while, he who lost too much blood, died.