BXBX NOVEL Chapter 289 288: Raid (2)
Jahi PoV
Cleansing the blood from my blade, I briefly wondered what Kat would have felt if she was given free rein to \'hunt\' inside this house...
Would she have turned this into a game to strike fear into the hearts of the Sariel\'s inside?
Hunting them one by one, picking them off and never letting them know who was doing it?
Or would she have taken a straightforward route of butchering the Elves at her discretion, leaving piles of bodies in her wake, each one more horrific than the last?
With that thought on my mind, I glanced down at my now clean blade, the giant hunk of dual metal killing edge spotless after a quick flare of my Light Magic.
One thing that I was sure of, was that she wouldn\'t bother cleaning herself nor her blades for this entire raid.
Chuckling softly to myself, I took a deep breath and began to investigate the hallway I found myself in, opening the various doors and searching the rooms for anything noteworthy.
Sadly, each room was a mirror of one of two things; either a storage room laden with various materials, or a bedroom for multiple people, the only interesting or valuable things being the journals of the Sariel servants and/or low ranked members alongside their coin.
Making sure to stack the journals together, I placed them inside a barrel and moved it towards the door, leaving the barrel somewhere I would remember it so that I could return and collect them.
Most likely those journals have a whole lot of nothing in them, but people would be surprised at what servants could pick up when doing their jobs; hells, some of the journals might give us an insight into what the Sariel Family was like before and after this sudden shift to betrayal, or maybe it would tell us that this was a decade old plot they had been cooking up.
Once that was done, I continued to the end of the hall and began my journey towards the back of the house, remaining on the third floor.
I could still hear the screams and shouts coming from below me, meaning that the lower floors were where the bulk of the remaining Sariel\'s were located.
Up here though, there were few people to be seen; most were servants that cowered inside the backrooms, whilst a few Elves \'guarded\' them, just as afraid as the non combatants were.
Dispatching the Elves was no difficult task, and I left the servants locked into each room after I searched them thoroughly, still finding next to nothing stored above.
Of course, I was prowling the servant quarters, so I wasn\'t really looking for much; just clearing it out so no one can try and sneak up on us when we were searching the more important areas down below.
When the third floor was completely free from traitorous Elves, I found the stairs and made my way down to the second floor, where I was met with smoke and the scent of burning bodies.
Finding the culprit for such a stench wasn\'t hard; I simply waded towards the smokes source and found a rather charming Vampire holding an Elven woman by the throat, choked gargling escaping her opened mouth as Leone clenched her fist harder.
A snap sounded from the woman\'s neck, and I watched as her head rolled to the side unnaturally, only to fall to the ground unceremoniously when Leone released her.
Taking a deep breath, the Vampire turned towards me, her crimson eyes lightening up as she smiled warmly at me, acting like I hadn\'t just watched her break a woman\'s neck, nor were we surrounded by charred corpses.
Admittedly, I didn\'t particularly care about that as I strode forwards, smiling back at her as I asked "Find anything on this floor, Princess~?"
Seeing her blush at the familiar teasing, I chuckled as I leaned down and grabbed her hand, lifting it up and placing a kiss on the back of it.
"I regret to inform my Lady that the third floor was empty... Perhaps my Lady has had better luck than I?"
Enjoying the momentary flowery atmosphere as I flirted with my future wife, we eventually were joined by Yusa, who stared at us with a raised brow before saying "The basement is locked down, so... unless you two wish to find a bed for a quick romp, shall we descend into the belly of this beast?"
Leone turned bright red at the suggestion, whilst I just chuckled as I replied "Whilst tempting, we should make our way down further love."
The Vampire nodded as she stiffly strode past her Aunt, who grinned mischievously at her before following the embarrassed woman down to the first floor.
Glaring around at the singed wood, burnt bodies, splotches of blood, and demolished walls, I chuckled again as I left the hellish floor behind me, joining the others down near the stairs that led to the basement of the building.
Seeing Mom yawning as her giant claymore dripped blood made me smirk, before I noticed that Anput was also just as bored, her two longswords idly tapping against the wooden floors and leaving small nicks in the boards.
Seems like we all found the raid to be little more than a nuisance, what with the lack of any semi competent warriors defending the house.
Though, considering the basement is locked down, I imagine we\'ll find someone worthy of fighting down there...
I hope.
Nodding to one another, we observed the steps and door for a few moments before going down, reaching the double doors made not from wood, but from thick sheets of metal.
Leone narrowed her eyes as she leaned forwards, taking in the runes engraved onto the metal slabs before muttering "Not bad, but..."
Taking a step back, she coughed gently as she said "I could go through a bunch of elaborate runic magic and unlock the door, or... well, you could just break it. I doubt a slab of hardened Titanium-Serpenan Alloy could resist your claymore, Marquess."
Mom grinned at that, and we all retreated a few more steps back as her giant claymore was shrouded in deep red mana, the aura around both her and the sword making our hearts skip a beat as a vast pressure descended around us.
Breathing in, Mom raised her sword and slashed down, the claymore\'s keen edge slicing into the door like it was made from paper and not an incredibly strong alloy.
Cutting once more, she then kicked forwards and sent the door flying inwards, earning a few shouts as the soldiers in the basement were surprised by the sudden \'attack\'.
Filtering in, I once again erected a golden shield that illuminated the dim laboratory, casting a light on the seven Elves who stared at us warily.
One of which we knew very well.
Hawn Sariel, Combat Instructor for the Academy, stood across from us with pale features, his resolve wavering as he noticed both Mom and Yusa standing beside us.
"Can\'t say I\'m too surprised to find you here, Professor! After all, you seemed rather close to that traitorous bitch Jillian~!"
Grinning at the man, I saw him narrow his eyes slightly as he gripped the hilts of his daggers tighter, remaining quiet.
"Well, I guess you don\'t have much to say, hm? No pleading for mercy, no explanation for your Family\'s actions? Nothing? This is the only chance you\'ll get to speak normally, you know? \'Cause, after today, you and I will be getting rather... acquainted, so to speak."
Giving him another few moments, I shrugged at the silence that permeated the laboratory, and I glanced around at the various papers and boards filled with notes and research.
Taking it all in, I hefted my blade and stepped forwards, outside of the protective light dome I had cast.
Seeing me pass through the light, two Elves charged forwards, shouting "Long live the Sariel\'s!" as they raised their daggers towards me.
Hearing the hiss of flames behind me, I didn\'t bother with them as I strode forwards, listening to the two thud to the ground as Leone pulled them towards the dome.
Hawn\'s eyes widened at that, and the others grit their teeth as they looked between themselves.
Stepping forwards, Hawn readied his daggers as he spoke for the first time, his voice disbelieving as he said "Surely you don\'t think you\'re enough to take me on alone, right Jahi?"
Raising a brow, I stared at the lithe Elf for a moment before pointing the great sword at him, saying "Dunno, but I\'d like to believe so."
Shaking his head, Hawn glared at me as he spat "That arrogance is why we needed to get rid of you! You\'re more of a detriment to the Empire than a boon!"
Staring at him incredulously, I responded after a moment of shock, asking "And you think you lot would be better? Did we not just sweep this entire Estate clean in mere minutes?"
Scoffing, the Elf lowered his stance and said "We\'re just a skeleton crew, left here to distract you! Nothing more, nothing less. This isn\'t the might of the Sariel Family!"
Watching as he dashed forwards, I sighed as I shifted my stance to a defensive one, meeting his attack and stopping his twin daggers from snaking towards my limbs or organs.
Pushing him back, I stared at him lazily as I said "Besides, is it arrogance to state a fact? I do believe I am stronger than you. The Asmodia Family is stronger than the Sariel Family. Not only that, is it not arrogance and hubris to think that you are acting for the Empire when your actions actively weaken it? Even if momentarily, tearing down a pillar of the Empire for your own pride shakes the foundations of it all. Do you truly believe that you can become that pillar? A pillar that hoists this Empire up above the rest of this world?"
Hawn charged back at me, this time backed up by another two Elves, and he growled "We can be that pillar. Stronger then you Demons ever were."
Chuckling, I blocked the three Elves attacks and asked "Hawn, weren\'t you amongst the Sariel\'s elite? Is this the power you claim your Family has? A mere pitiful, deluded rogue who requires more outside help to even become a threat to your enemies? If so, then it\'s a good thing you lot turned traitor. I\'m doing the Empire a favor by weeding out such weaklings."
The three all seethed at the scalding words, before shouting and charging at me again.
As for the remaining two, they tried to slip past us and approach the barrier, only to be captured by Leone and detained instantly.
With them tied up, and whilst I was facing the three Elves, I moved the protective dome to encapsulate us as I said "Go ahead and start looking around, everyone. I\'ll be done here in a few moments..."