Might as Well - Chapter 394 (Patreon)

Seeing as Sam didn’t know much about the situation in this nameless town, aside from the fact that it was definitely under the control of the Blood Army, he couldn’t put together any complicated plans.

“It seems like it would need to be a basic sneak-in-and-out plan…” he muttered to himself as he casually filled a few mana-chips with the disgusting miasma of the blood magic surrounding the entire town while standing right outside the detection edge.

His bracer was empty, so he would have an hour to do everything. Or more if the defenses were less than he had expected. But at this point, everybody was aware that his favorite modus operandi was to sneak in, cause chaos, get discovered, and cause even more chaos. So, according to Tim’s report and simply by reading the forums, almost everyone was focusing their research on detection magic and technology.

Apart from the substantial bounty on his head, which reportedly was even tempting some smaller countries, there was a separate bounty, though a bit smaller, on catching Solar while infiltrating, and a standing offer to buy up any artifact, technology, or magic that was capable of detecting him.

Sam didn’t mind. At this point, he thoroughly enjoyed this cat-and-mouse game. Mostly because he was winning…

When the chips were filled, the crystal turning an ugly shade of brownish red, he pocketed all but one, and slotted that one into his bracer in the space left for it. Liz had done excellent work.

Then, with a deep breath, he activated the bracer, letting his excess mana slowly fill up the magi-technological marvel while activating the mana-chip to let the bracer slowly fill the area around him with the scent of blood magic.

After making sure it was working, the countdowns appearing on his HUD, Sam stepped through the invisible line. Lucky was deep inside his shadow, with a whole slew of orders on when to act and how. By this time, the shadowy wolf was smart enough to understand all of it, and then looked excited at the chance to act on them.

For some reason, he really liked to step on monsters and humans and squish them…

‘Weirdo…’ Sam thought idly as he stood there for thirty precious seconds just inside the detection barrier to see if it would react to him negatively.

He watched through his Mana Sense as the barrier swept over him, but the aura of blood spreading out from the chip was enough to fool it. At least here at the edge…

Nodding to himself, he shrouded himself in shadows and began heading toward the town. The caravan approaching it was almost there, so he wanted to use their arrival as the window for his infiltration.

The town itself had a low wall, barely reaching the top of the houses, with a large gate wide enough to let four carriages drive in or out at the same time. There were smaller gates, probably for personal transports and general entry and exit, but they were all covered by tall towers, with constant movement visible from the guards patrolling outside of them.

As Sam got closer to the town, he watched as, at one point, a person who looked like a local worker, wearing clothing that looked like it was worn by NPCs, was stopped by the gaggle of guards and extensively interrogated before they let him go.

Sam could have gone over the wall, but if he was the one setting up defenses for a town like this, he would have put extra defenses there to bait his enemies. And those walls looked rather empty, so he ignored them in favor of the large gate that was being opened to let the caravan through.

He moved fast, jumping from cover to cover, heading closer and closer. These covers ranged from bales of hay, bushes, and small copses of dry bundles of trees to simple buildings on the side of the road. But as everyone’s attention was on the caravan, examining it for any hidden traps, he could approach swiftly and without any issues.

Added to that was his speed and fully neutralized mana presence.

Stopping at the back of a small covered shed, probably there for patrolling guards to seek shelter from the rain, Sam looked around for a target.

A lot of the guards were bored-looking players, their behavior and some odd, ill-fitting clothing choices making it clear, but not all of them were. And his eyes landed on a small group of guards, standing in a loose formation behind those who were doing the security search and leaning against their spears, acting like the stereotypical underperforming guard from any fantasy world.

‘Perfect!’

Sam grinned, then, staying low to the ground, he rushed around in an arc until he reached the rear of the group. Selecting the man standing the farthest from the group, he walked as silently as possible, though he didn’t need to put in much effort, as the people in the security search weren’t exactly whispering. Added to it was the general noise of the town, the animals, and nature, and he may as well have walked on a bed of dry twigs.

Pulling out a small metal plate from his inventory, Sam activated the mana inside, instantly creating a bubble of silence around him and his victim.

However, before the dull guard could react aside from blinking around a little, he was right on him, his hand jamming a small bottle of sleeping potion into his mouth, while his other was pulling his body backwards.

In barely a minute, he took the guard, fed him another potion that would give him potent hallucinations, undressed him, pushed one of his hands into his undergarments, and placed the empty bottle in the other, while hiding him in a dark corner.

Killing him would have been easier, but seeing as the Blood Army was the master of blood magic, Sam just knew they would have made sure to set things up so that if anyone died on the premises, the warning bells would go off.

Thus, the setup.

After hitting it with a gentle cleaning spell, he donned the guard’s uniform, his face changed thanks to his Chameleon Mask, one of his best purchases in the entire game, grabbed the subpar spear the guard was issued, and stepped forward, taking up his previous spot while also disabling the silencing ward.

Nobody turned back.

He grinned, then schooled his features into that of a bored guard.

Luckily, the security search was short, so soon, the entire party was heading inside, with his group’s task being to pull the heavy gates closed behind them. Sam silently joined the group, pulling in tandem while grunting, until the town was closed again.

The carriages continued toward the destination, which was probably his destination too.

He quickly mumbled something about needing the toilet to the guard next to him, who just sighed and waved as if to say that he had heard Sam’s comment.

“Just get back in a minute for the inspection… You know the captain hates when the numbers aren’t perfect…”

“Thanks…”

A few careful steps, then he was in the shadows again.

He divested himself of the guard uniform and equipment, though he still put everything into his inventory in case he needed it later, then changed his face again, pulled his cowl down, encasing his full body in shadows, and began moving parallel to the main street where the carriages were being taken.

The town itself was, probably on purpose, made to look like every generic town in this area. Stone constructions, with the rare wood wherever people could afford it. The animals present were only those who were accustomed to the arid environment. The people, at least the NPCs, kept their heads down and went through their tasks with practiced monotony, only sometimes stopping to take a sip from a bottle or flask.

The players he saw could be sorted into two groups.

The first ones were the bored ones, either sitting or standing somewhere, guarding a part of the town, or doing some kind of construction. Probably those who were playing this game for the pay, and they were stationed here by the guild. Or maybe they were being punished…

Either way, they visibly didn’t enjoy being in the town…

The other group was much smaller, but every time Sam spotted one of them, usually in the middle of a gaggle of hangers-on, Tim’s information was reaffirmed. They all acted and moved like this was one of the most important things they had ever done, and looked super important doing it.

Soon, the main street widened a little, and Sam saw a massive building, still just as tall as the highest parts of the wall, clearly to prevent people spying from a distance. It was wide, with absolutely no embellishment, but its purpose was clear as day.

Warehouse.

And the carriages were heading there.

Doing a bit more reconnaissance, Sam noticed that the warehouse may have been wide, but it was comparatively short. Which meant that it couldn’t be the place where the Blood Army did their work…

Sam stared at the building before the lightbulb went off in his head. “Underground…” he muttered as he began looking for an entry.

The top of the warehouse wasn’t empty. Several structures looked like they were put there randomly, but with his senses, it wasn’t hard to spot the magical surveillance. He estimated that even placing one foot on the roof would trigger every alarm.

After all, he had spent a lot of time on roofs while infiltrating Roserun. No doubt the Blood Army had watched the video they had released and prepared accordingly.

Examining the enchantment a little better, Sam felt that with a little work he would have been able to unravel it, but time was not on his side. He only had three-quarters of an hour left, and the carriages had just reached the large doors of the warehouse.

If he wanted to use this window of opportunity, then he would have to be creative.

Or…

Just so basic nobody would expect it.

And even if they did expect it…

There was the human element. Everyone who ever worked in IT or any customer service job would know… the cause behind most issues was human error. Not the systems or products.

As the ancient saying went: The problem exists between the chair and the keyboard.

Most people standing guard and opening the door were players and looked completely done with the entire procedure. As if they had done this at least a dozen times just today…

As one of the carriages drove by his hiding place, pulled by a weird-looking horse (it was drooling blood), he jumped forward, and with a hop, skip, jump, and a bit of shimmy, he was inside the carriage. The tarp barely fluttered as he passed.

One metal plate carved with runes flashed to life, destroying every smell and odor that may have stuck to his equipment, and another turned him weightless.

Then, Sam just sat in the corner of an empty carriage, grinning as it rolled into the warehouse, the shadow of the building soon covering everything, and only the flickering lights of the torches that they used providing illumination.

‘Phase one is complete…’ he mused to himself as the carriage under him continued deeper into the warehouse.

However, instead of stopping, Sam felt the vehicle tilt forward, as if going downhill.

‘Oh, so that’s how…’

Taking a chance, he lifted the tarp slightly and observed the surroundings. They were in a stone corridor, clearly made by human hands, probably with magic, on a small incline, heading downward.

Sam frowned, doing a bit of math in his head. The carriages were rather slow despite being empty, and this way, by the time he reached the main part, the bracer would be full.

‘Now is there a way I could hasten this?’ he mused as he continued to look around.

Sadly, the corridor was pretty bare. Aside from the carriages, weird horses, and the drivers, there wasn’t much. Naturally, the blood magic detection magic was present here, but seemingly the Blood Army decided that this part didn’t need extra security.

Turning his head forward, he saw that a turn was coming up.

Quickly making a decision, he readied himself.

As soon as the carriage began to turn and the wheels began to creak, he lifted the tarp and was gone in a heartbeat.

Thankfully, the light source was still torches, not like his own subterranean base, where magical LED lights provided an endless source of even, eye-friendly light, so there were plenty of shadows to stop for a moment and get his bearings.

Taking out another plate, he put it into a slot on his armor, then frowned and looked down at his bracer. ‘Hmm… I can add this to the bracer too in the next version…’

Then Sam reached up and tapped the metal plate, carved with runes, with one finger, gently activating the mana inside. Once again, the detection net didn’t even tremble. Grinning, he changed the almost empty mana-chip in his bracer to continue emitting blood-natured mana, and then, as the runes of the plate simply vanished, followed by his torso, then his entire body, he began rushing forward, following after the carriages.

It took him only five seconds to overtake them, and another half a minute of running downward to reach the next stop.