After driving for more than an hour, the two came upon a small mansion hidden within the woods.
Just, at first sight, it was obvious that whoever built this mansion was planning to not be found and stay hidden.
Damien realized this as well and smirked, thinking that it was all in vain.
He then stopped the car before he got too close or alerted the guards standing around the mansion.
He looked at Nathasia and ordered, "Go climb the nearest tallest tree at the back of this mansion with the sniper rifle I gave you and fire at the guards when they are all distracted. Kill the guards at the back first."
'Climb a tree? How did he even assume I can climb trees? And kill the guards?' Nathasia was feeling very anxious, but she nodded and got out with the heavy rifle strung on her back.
She knew she couldn't refuse, and neither did she want to give up her goal of getting justice for her parents.
She felt that Merlin must have done something bad to Damien for him to pursue revenge personally. So that fact lessened her hesitation when Damien told her to kill the guards.
She had never killed anyone before, and even when the two men tried to attack her in the forest, she froze up when she tried to shoot them.
She had no idea if she would freeze up again when aiming at the guards. But she tried to steel her heart since she knew this was not a situation where she should commit mistakes.
She then thought about Damien telling her to fire when the guards were distracted, but she wondered how he was going to distract them.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})She then became alert as she went around the backside of the mansion where there were fewer guards, and she had to make sure she was not too close to avoid detection by the guards.
Fortunately, it was already night, and she could appear less obvious when climbing a tree.
Nathasia only had little experience in climbing trees since she used to do it for fun whenever she stayed in her grandmother's house.
But looking at the tall tree before her, she gulped, wondering if she would fall down, especially when she has to carry a heavy rifle behind her back.
She then took in a deep breath and touched the tree, and after half a minute, small protrusions pushed out from the trunk of the tree, which was big enough for Nathasia to put her foot on.
She used all her concentration to make such protrusions over the trunk of the tree till the top.
'Phew...it really worked!' Nathasia was elated to see that she was able to do something she wasn't able to before.
Even though a tree wasn't as large as the ground, it was still a start for her. She felt that the adrenaline pumping through her body might have helped her do it quickly.
Without wasting any more time, she began to climb the tree without making any sound so as to not give out any cues.
Damien was watching from afar, waiting for Nathasia to reach the top of the tree. However, from time to time, his eyes would become bloodshot whenever he glanced at the mansion.
Finally, seeing Nathasia reach the top of the tree, he started the car and drove out towards the mansion while taking out his silenced gun in his hand.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})There were two guards guarding the front gate of the mansion, and so Damien put his hand out and fired two bullets, killing them both before the two could react to the incoming car.
He then placed a stone on the accelerator of the car and opened the door as he jumped out of the running car while the car sped forwards and even went further after breaking down the gates.
Nathasia saw the whole thing and was shocked, wondering what he was up to and worried if he got hurt anywhere. But she saw that the guards guarding the back of the mansion were distracted as they seemed to communicate to the other guards.
With clammy hands, she held the sniper rifle as she looked into its long scope and saw the guards' faces up close while her finger was trembling when it touched against the trigger.
The guards inside the mansion got alerted by the car breaking over the gates and speeding towards the mansion.
They all took out their guns and were about to fire at the driver's seat, only to be surprised to see no one in that seat.
But before they could think any further, the car suddenly exploded, and even a few guards who were too close to the car got blown back as the entire mansion got alerted.
Nathasia heard the explosion and got startled because of which her finger accidentally pressed the trigger while she was aiming at one of the guard's heads.
The sniper rifle was fitted with a silencer, but it still couldn't suppress the sound completely as it rippled through the air and left behind a bloody crater on the guard's head before his blood splattered the ground.
The other guard who was standing beside the dead guard got completely shocked and looked around frantically to see who killed his fellow guard.
Nathasia felt her body going cold when she realized that she just killed a man, by accident or not. She felt her heart thudding against her chest loudly, and when she saw the other guard finally looking in her direction, she quickly moved her rifle in a panic and fired at him as well.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Her fear of Damien's plan getting foiled took over her shock of killing a person.
The guard was about to report about what was happening when his brain got splattered as well and collapsed on the ground.
Nathasia's hands began to shake as she realized that she even killed the second one, and by luck, her bullet didn't miss.
Then she heard someone running in her direction and panicked. But seeing it was Damien, she sighed in relief though her hands were still trembling.
Damien shot her a glance and said, "Kill the others too!" before sneaking through the back gate.
Nathasia nodded and took in multiple deep breaths to calm herself down and felt that there was no going back anyway.
She told herself that all these were bad people anyway, and now that she killed two of the guards, she decided to see through it anyway.
With gritted teeth, she moved her aim towards the confused and wary guards inside the mansion grounds and squeezed on her trigger.
Meanwhile, Damien was sneaking around and killing the guards he came upon stealthily without alerting anyone else. He knew the majority of the guards were preoccupied with investigating the burning car.
It was not long before the guards realized that they were getting attacked, especially when they spotted their fellow guards dropping to the ground one by one.
But by the time they realized it, most of them were already dead, and it was not long before the last of the guards were put down by Damien and Nathasia together.
