However, Azadin and his group had already disappeared, leaving them with no choice but to come up empty-handed.
"Baroness Nord, we have been most discourteous. We had no choice but to act rudely under the Count's orders."
The knight who had led the soldiers apologized to the Baroness of Nord.
"I see, I understand. Though, it would have been preferable if you had arrived when I was abducted by the cultists."
Baroness Nord had no choice but to suppress her anger as she spoke to the knights and soldiers searching her mansion.
"Baroness, have you perhaps allowed any suspicious individuals into this place?"
"Suspicious individuals?"
"I mean the ones who rescued you and defeated Mezeri's apostles."
"Hmph, so you call the people who repelled the cultists of the Kurt Divine Clan suspicious? Not grateful, nor heroic?"
"A cockroach does not become a heroic cockroach just because it eats another cockroach."
It was at that moment that the knight spoke those words.
"Huh!?"
"S-Sir! There's a problem!"
"What? What is it?"
"The castle is on fire!"
"What?!"
Startled, they rushed out to the garden, and sure enough, flames were rising throughout the Count's castle.
***
Azadin did not head toward the Baroness's mansion to rescue her. If he had gone that way, things would have unfolded exactly as Derick wanted. Instead, he made his way toward the Count's castle.
"Are you going to infiltrate?"
"Yes."
Azadin took advantage of the observations he had made of the castle and first infiltrated a guard post where the sentries were stationed. He swiftly knocked out two guards and climbed the castle wall. Had he not taken them out, he would have been spotted while scaling the wall.
"Alright, time to focus."
Wearing his hawk mask, Azadin took a deep breath. He focused his vision, searching for the flow of black mana swirling within the castle.
"There… it matches the information I received from the Baroness."
Azadin pointed toward the rear garden, where a greenhouse was installed. The rumors seemed to be true—word had it that the Count had taken in a strange witch as his lover and was living with her in the rear annex, forbidding anyone else from approaching.
"Are you planning to approach right away? You haven't even received the advance payment yet."
Midiam recalled Azadin negotiating with the Baroness of Nord.
"Well, getting paid would be nice, but our mission isn't about money, is it?"
"You're working hard to save the Baroness of Nord, aren't you?"
"That's part of it. But it's always necessary to be flexible depending on the situation. Midiam, Ishmael!"
"Yes!"
"Yes."
"Fire arrows. You know how to use roses, right?"
Azadin could ignite arrows from a distance, but it was a skill he wasn't confident in executing flawlessly. On the other hand, for Midiam and Ishmael, who could properly use magic, lighting arrows on fire was a simple task.
"Of course."
"Then set fire over there and there."
Azadin pointed to the warehouse, the stable, and the armory roof. As Ishmael and Midiam loosed their arrows of roses, they soared through the sky, then plummeted, igniting themselves before impact.
The sparks scattered like flower petals as the arrows struck the roofs, setting them ablaze. Due to the dryness, the fire spread rapidly, and soon, chaos erupted within the castle.
"Impressive, the Beauty of Nature rose technique, huh?"
Azadin admired the magic that he himself could not use.
"Alright, you two hide and stand by. I'll infiltrate. Oh, and…"
"Yes?"
"Shoot some arrows into that wall."
"O-Okay."
Following Azadin's command, Midiam and Ishmael fired arrows at the walls of the annex in the rear garden. Some embedded into the walls, while others fell and scattered around the area.
"Alright, time to go. You may retreat for safety. If you're confident in hiding, stay and wait."
Taking advantage of the confusion caused by the fire, Azadin began his infiltration into the castle.
***
The soldiers and servants rushed to extinguish the fire, but as the flames consumed the roofs and embers rained down below, saving valuable items from the blaze became more urgent than putting out the fire.
With everyone scrambling to transport belongings and suppress the flames, infiltration became an easy task. Azadin moved stealthily through the shifting shadows created by the torches and fire, approaching the rear garden.
The mansion within the garden was a residence the Count had set up for his daily life. The garden was paved with large ceramic tiles, with various ornamental trees growing atop them.
"...."
Azadin halted in his approach. The scent of orchids was thick in the air, but beneath it, the pungent stench of blood lingered. The fragrance of flowers and herbs failed to mask it. From within that stench, lizards emerged.
The lizards had been feasting on the corpses of the dogs that were once the Count's guard hounds. Now, they began to move. They were enormous beasts resembling crocodiles, each nearly two meters long.
—Shhk!
As soon as Azadin saw the lizards, he loosed a volley of arrows.
"Hiss?!"
"Kieek!"
His arrows pierced through the heads of the lizards, but at that moment, the magic linked to them activated.
'I've been discovered.'
Azadin clicked his tongue as he saw the detection magic activate. The mage residing in this rear garden had replaced guard dogs with lizards and cast enchantments over them instead.
Without hesitation, Azadin kicked off the ground, stepped on a garden tree, and leaped into a second-floor window. The moment he entered the building, a transparent, membrane-like resistance pricked at his skin.
"Ugh."
An ordinary person would have lost consciousness the instant they stepped inside. However, Azadin possessed an exceptionally high resistance to mana, rendering the effect almost negligible.
'A powerful mage, indeed. To spread this kind of magic throughout the entire mansion... But still….'
Azadin recalled Arael's letter. Compared to that, the magic surrounding this mansion was nothing.
'What is Arael thinking? Planning to conquer the world or something?'
He shook his head, dispelling such stray thoughts. There was no room for distractions while infiltrating enemy territory.
Azadin swiftly entered the second floor. He sensed movement below—soldiers rushing toward the rear garden, likely in response to him taking down the lizards. However, a dreadful stench surrounded them.
'Mummies.'
These were mummy soldiers, their internal organs removed and their bodies treated with special chemicals. Wielding bardiches, they scoured the garden. Azadin observed them through the window before moving deeper into the building. The scent of blood acted as his guide.
'The deeper I go, the stronger it gets.'
Following the thickening stench, he arrived at a basement entrance, its heavy doors firmly shut.
'The moment I open this door, I'll be discovered.'
Peering through the gap, he saw a massive operating room. Hooded spellcasters used curved blades to carve open corpses, extracting their organs to create mummies.
'Even as a descendant of the Yaegas clan, they're engaging in something like this?'
Azadin scowled at the gruesome sight.
'Best to handle this quickly.'
He prepared his arrows. His supply was beginning to run low.
—Thud!
Kicking the door open, Azadin fired a rapid volley.
—Swish!
Two arrows pierced through the head of the farthest mage. The remaining two turned in shock, drawing their hooked blades, but Azadin had already charged forward, bow in one hand, and drew the sword from his waist with the other, slashing at one of their necks.
The spine was severed, leaving only a thin layer of flesh and skin to hold the head in place. Without hesitation, Azadin twisted his body and drove his blade through the chest of the second mage.
—Shunk!
The blade pierced through the torso and emerged from the other side. He had brought one of his finest swords for this occasion—one sharp enough to cleave through vertebrae and pierce hearts without dulling.
Azadin kicked the corpse aside, withdrawing his blade. He flicked the blood off with a few quick swings before sheathing it. But then…
"Grraaar…"
"Kikikikik…"
The mages, whom he had clearly felled, began to rise. Even with arrows lodged in their heads, even with their necks half-severed, even with their hearts impaled—they stood once more.
"Tsk."
Azadin slung his bow over his shoulder, picked up a fallen hooked blade, and hurled it at the farthest mage.
—Thud!
The mage's torso split open, revealing a scaled, clawed hand that caught the thrown weapon.
"Impressive, hu—"
The mage couldn't finish his sentence. Azadin had already gripped his sword with both hands and slashed upward, cleaving the man's head in half vertically.
"Urk?!"
—Thunk!
The other mages collapsed as well, their own hooked blades now embedded in their chests.
"W-Wait!"
Before they could fully transform, Azadin lunged forward, severing their arms and slicing through their bodies.
—Crack!
"If there is an afterlife, take your time transforming there."
After cutting them down, Azadin proceeded deeper into the operating room.
***
The deeper he went, the more overwhelming the stench of blood became. By now, he couldn't tell whether he was breathing air or the scent of iron.
Beyond the operating tables, there was a vast chamber where blood pooled into something resembling a giant bathhouse. Strangely, the blood remained liquid instead of clotting, filling the massive basin up to knee height.
Inside this grotesque pool, a man and a woman with eerily glowing yellow eyes were entwined.
They must have heard the commotion from earlier—Azadin eliminating the mages outside—yet they continued to writhe together in the blood like serpents.
—Swoosh!
Azadin instantly nocked two arrows on the Dual Immortal Bow and loosed them at the man. These were the last arrows he had left. However, just before impact, an invisible force barrier stopped them in midair.
—Boom!
The arrows shattered, exploding into fragments.
'Tch. As expected, they were prepared. I can't even see the barrier properly—it must be a colorless spell. I should have brought the Black Steel Arrows.'
Azadin clicked his tongue as his best shot with the Dual Immortal Bow proved ineffective.
"Kyaaa!"
"Shhaaa!"
The women shrieked, baring sharp fangs—like venomous serpents ready to strike. However, the Count, embracing them, showed no concern for Azadin, continuing his carnal indulgence.
"Excuse me."
Disgusted by the scene, Azadin rapped on the door he had entered through.
"Are you by any chance Count Kazel?"
"You are a rude one, herald clan brat. Yes, I am Count Kazel."
The man lying in the blood bath slowly sat up.
"Why don't you spare me the unsightly display and just keep lying there?"
Azadin sneered at Kazel.
"Unsightly? And what about you?"
"Well, your wife was interested enough to propose to me."
Though it sounded like a crude provocation, it was, oddly enough, the truth.