After killing the guards at the tower and the few patrolling ones, Vale extracted them swiftly and used his Divine Sense once again.
Combat Arts Practitioner with 2 filled Spell Lights.
Combat Arts Practitioner with 2 filled Spell Lights.
Combat Arts Practitioner with 2 filled Spell Lights.
Mystic Arts Practitioner with 4 filled Spell Lights.
He sensed a dozen people outside, but only four were Practitioners. These Practitioners weren't even that impressive.
After thinking for a moment, Vale ignored them as he maximized his use of the Extrasensory Perception Spell to hide his presence.
He first needs to find Philip before causing too much scene or before they find out about the death of the guards at the tower.
To be honest, he considered using the Divine Lightning at first, but since Philip's location was unknown, he had to infiltrate the Castle first for better detection.
As he stepped about five meters from the main gate leading to the inside of the Castle, he finally realized why he couldn't properly sense the Arcane Arts Practitioners of the Castle.
'A Concealment Formation Cirle… I wonder if the Mystic Arts Experts do this, they're actually so good.' Vale commented in his mind as he detected the harmless Formation Circle.
'My ESP spell should still last for about 10 minutes…' Vale thought as he carefully scanned the surroundings.
After confirming that no other traps were placed at the entrance, he focused his gaze on the gate.
Two Dark Magicians guarded it, and they only had pitiful three filled Spell Lights in their bodies.
This is a bit disappointing for Vale since he was expecting that the members of the Secret Organization would be more impressive, especially if they were in one of their Headquarters or important Fortress.
Vale searched once again if there were hidden traps, but he didn't find anything.
He couldn't help but feel dismayed after realizing that he had overestimated this Castle because of how the Order of the Evanescent Vessels made him think that this was such an impenetrable fortress.
'Ugh… I'm thinking too much… I'm still doing a dangerous mission. I guess I'm just too impressive.' Vale thought as he readied himself to cause a scene.
He had already found Philip's subtle aura and was ready to take the man with him.
'Game…'
The Dark Magicians before him wore black robes and wielded staffs that glowed with dark energy.
Once he triggered his Spell Light to activate a spell, he knew they would sense his presence, so he cast his Lightspeed Spell first, to boost his Agility and reflexes.
"Someone's here—"
"Intruder!"
As expected, triggering a spell within their magic zone would be quickly sensed by their Phantasm State, even if he was using his ESP Spell to conceal his movement.
Spell Activation is just too difficult to hide when you're doing it inside a magician's Magic Zone.
'It's too late for you.'
Vale dashed towards the gate, dodging the bolts of dark magic that the dark magicians fired at him. These Spellcasters didn't activate any spell lights in their bodies but used their staff's power for almost instantaneous magic casting.
Nevertheless, Vale reached them before they could activate other spells, and stabbed them both with his dagger.
Whom~
Suddenly, the two Dark Magicians were ignited as they burned to their death. They didn't even have the chance to scream as their throats were destroyed by Vale at the same time.
Slowly, Vale's body was oozing with dark aura, and he failed to notice it.
He didn't stop his actions as he unlocked the gate with one of the keys he had taken from the guards using his Traceless Shift.
He could forcefully open the gate with his current strength, but because there was a connected Trap Formation on the gate, he decided to just use the already existing keys. He doesn't know what kind of Trap would activate, after all.
As he entered the Castle, he detected more enemies patrolling the area. Most of them were Aura Masters who could manipulate their own life force, Elementalists who could control fire, water, earth, and air, and Shamans who could summon spirits and use curses different from Dark Arts.
Vale knew he would waste a lot of time fighting them all, so he decided to use his speed and stealthy movement instead.
He cast one of his Dark spells, Light Absorption.
"Not good!"
"Elementalist! Use fire!"
"Light the torch! Quickly!"
"Don't panic! Observe your surroundings with your Magic Zone!"
"Tsk… My Zone is only four meters!"
The untrained practitioners started getting nervous as soon as Vale's Light Absorption Spell activated.
The spell was capable of draining the light from his surroundings, creating a sphere of Darkness around him. He became invisible to the naked eye, and only those with enhanced senses could detect him. He moved through the shadows, avoiding contact with most of the enemies. But those who were unlucky had been extracted by him.
If he had plenty of time, he would surely extract all of them.
However, he was worried that Philip would be taken hostage, making it difficult to rescue him.
'Oh? I'm using three Spells?' Vale suddenly thought to himself after realizing what he was doing.
His Light Absorption, Lightspeed, and Extrasensory Perception Spells are active at the same time. At first, he thought the ESP spell would deactivate after using his Light Absorption Spell, but he realized that it was still active and working perfectly.
Bang!
With brute force, Vale destroyed the inner door and entered the Castle's hallway.
'Hmm? They both have 11 Spell Lights?' Vale mused as he activated his Divine Sense this time.
He saw two more Dark Magicians who could certainly sense him inside the Darkness he had created.
These two are more powerful than the ones at the gate and have a barrier of dark magic around them.
It seemed similar to the Arcane Armor, but it was made of Dark Energy.
"Stop right there, fellow Dark Magician."
"Tell us why you've come here before it's too late."
The two spoke calmly, unfazed by Vale's fluctuation of energy.
Vale didn't answer them as he calculated their strength.
He knew he couldn't break through them with brute force, so he used another Spell, Create Shadow Soldier, to summon a loyal minion from the shadows.
The Shadow Soldier looked like a humanoid figure made of Darkness, with glowing red eyes and sharp claws.
"Shadow Soldier?! You're from the Academy?" One of the Dark Magicians exclaimed.
