Chapter 15: The Third Hidden Place

Among the four young people, Nio was the most experienced and authoritative when faced with crises like an attack on the city. After all, danger and combat had always been part of this young werewolf’s life. Compared to the three reckless and less skilled newcomers, he truly knew how to protect himself better.

Of course, Vini and the others also had their advantages—such as their familiarity with Solis City, which far surpassed Nio’s. So after Nio analyzed the situation, the three young people drew a detailed map of Solis City. Nio had an unusually sharp mind from a young age. He asked questions about areas he couldn’t remember clearly and managed to memorize the entire map of Solis City, leaving the three young people in awe. Solis City, or indeed the entire Free Federation of Frey, was not short of werewolves, but they had never seen anyone as intelligent as Nio.

By the time their discussion ended, they had finished their snacks and extinguished the fire. The four of them returned to Pris’s cellar to get ready before parting ways. Vini and the others would sneak into the East District to target the wealthy and unkind nobles’ mansions in search of wealth. To focus on training combat skills, they would need to leave their regular jobs, and weapons and armor were expensive. For ordinary people to save up that much money through normal means was practically impossible, so they could only take advantage of this opportunity to strike while the chaos reigned.

Nio also considered the possibility that dark forces or those “Carnival” cultists might exploit this situation to loot extensively. Vini and the others were likely to encounter those dark cultists. Therefore, he gathered three sets of dark cultist gear—his own cloak, along with those of Mace and Sol—and told them the identification codes used by the cultists for emergencies.

Nio chose the Glory Church in the North District as his destination. He already knew the church had been defiled, so it no longer held any significance for dark forces, and there were no treasures worth repeatedly searching for. Although important institutions and shops like the city hall, the Mining Union, the government-run magic store, and banks were also in the North District, Nio thought he might as well give it another try, hoping to survive the night.

By now, Nio was mostly armed—helmet, arm guards, greaves—and he had the sword taken from a dark cultist, which helped Vini disguise herself as one. Now, the only weapon he had left was the one originally obtained from a Soul Slave. Besides the sword, he carried a small pack with a wooden lining inside an iron box, containing the energy core and thought crystal of the Evil Fire Puppet, along with some food. He also gathered various small items: a first-aid kit, flint, and steel…

The wind had stopped, but the snow was heavy. Such weather was unfavorable for Nio. The cold was one issue, but the sound of his footsteps was easily noticeable, and footprints in the snow could be traced easily, especially at this time when it was extremely quiet outside, with few people wandering around.

The falling snow blurred Nio’s vision. It seemed like darkness filled the distance, with snow drifting endlessly. Occasionally, the long howls of dogs could be heard, sounding particularly mournful. The desolation gave the impression that the entire city had died and become a ruin.

He chose to move through the alleys, taking a longer route but staying hidden. Along the way, Neo heard footsteps three times, each time avoiding them by detouring. Whether they were members of the Dark Cult or not, he had no intention of getting involved further. Despite eating twice that day and resting for over 8 hours, his physical condition was poor—both his mental and physical strength were less than 60% of their peak levels. Apart from his untreated leg injury and the “Evil Soul Curse” that could strike again at any time, his muscles were also extremely fatigued. Considering his status as a condemned prisoner, Neo felt he had enough reason to conserve his strength rather than engage head-on with the Dark Cultists.

Not long after entering the northern district, Neo saw three bright white lights appear in the southern night sky, each resembling a comet—with a large glowing sphere at the front and a tail of light behind. They reached their highest point and remained lit for a full minute before disappearing. “That must be flares used by the army,” Neo said with a smirk. “The veterans of the Alliance have finally arrived. Are they the West Wind Berserkers, the Black Iron Crusaders, or the Edrith Artillery Corps?”

Flares are mainly used to show the trajectory of bullets and correct shooting errors, but armies sometimes use them as attack signals or illumination. Soon after the flares were fired, loud artillery sounds came through, accompanied by blue light screens flashing intermittently in the southern night sky—these were defensive energy shields.

Hearing the intense and frequent artillery fire, Neo guessed that the army might be trying to overwhelm the energy shields with sustained bombardment to create a breach in the city walls. From this, he inferred that the attackers didn’t have much ammunition, otherwise they would have launched a full-scale attack to exhaust the defensive energy, allowing them to choose their assault points freely—this would be far more efficient than fighting head-on with elite forces at a single point.

No matter how expensive ammunition is, it’s still not as valuable as human lives. Moreover, Black Iron Homeland was seen by many as a lucrative target, and indeed it was. Even if the cost of the military operation was calculated later, Thors was by no means a poor patron who would struggle to pay. On the other hand, every moment the city’s shops and facilities were damaged by the Dark Forces resulted in losses equivalent to the total cost of hundreds of cannons firing until they broke down—this was true.

Neo also guessed that by attacking from the south, the attackers must have tried to breach through the sewers earlier but failed, so they resorted to direct military force. Otherwise, they would have chosen the east or west, where there were main roads. The south was covered in manors and farmlands, with the Annuel Mountains to the south and a branch of the Solazza Mountains to the north—the Black Iron Mountains. The south produced fine wine while the north produced iron. Both regions were sources of wealth for the Edrith area, but being surrounded by mountains, they were safe. The army only needed to defend the key routes on the east and west sides. Naturally, if they attacked, they would move straight through the east or west, having to take a detour through the south.

As Neo continued to ponder the impact that an army’s siege might have on his hidden base, the Bloodwoman had already reached the Priss family’s cellar in the west of the city. Tracking a person with only faint clues wasn’t easy, but that was in the past—now the Bloodwoman had much more information at her disposal. After exploring the cellar, she climbed back to the surface, muttering to herself. Her right hand, enveloped in misty black light, moved gently through the air, releasing colorful particles of light from between her fingers. These particles drifted through the air, forming strands that pierced through the falling snow—one leading toward the Mathers’ house, another stretching far toward the northern district. After a brief moment of thought, the Bloodwoman headed straight for the Mathers’ house. She could discern certain details from the shape and brightness of those light strands—for instance, that the Mathers’ house wasn’t far away…

Northern district, 2:40 a.m.
Compared to the blazing chaos in the southern district, this place had its own kind of hustle. Nearly a thousand strong adult men, forced into labor, were doing heavy tasks like carrying goods. The vaults of Solth City Bank, the warehouses of the Mining Union—places storing valuable goods—had all been forcibly breached. Their doors were wide open, or new doors had been cut into the walls. Dust kept falling from them, and some structures seemed precarious, but no one cared at the moment.

Along the paths, in the courtyards, and inside the rooms, corpses of guards and puppet defenders, along with traces of blood, swords, and magic, revealed the course of resistance and defeat. Yet these too were ignored. Even the workers carrying goods didn’t bother to look at the frozen blood and tragic scenes—they were more concerned about their own fate.

Dark cultists, dressed in clearly better-equipped attire, acted as overseers. Their whips were indeed terrifying, but what the forced laborers truly feared were the Black Butchers who patrolled back and forth, witnesses to evil sacrifices. These demons had successfully implanted fear in the hearts of the people.

Neo only observed the situation from a distance. He refrained from getting too close, even keeping his emotions under control. As a being of level 5, he could sense hostile gazes. He didn’t know if those “foolish” Black Butchers had such sensitivity, but now clearly wasn’t the time to find out.

Neo had arrived at the Church of Light. He was on one of the corner towers of the church, and with his dark vision and the glowing lights marking the targets, he could see quite clearly. This place wasn’t worth lingering in. Neo descended the narrow, steep spiral stairs from the tower and moved along the second-floor corridor toward the back courtyard. He felt it was better not to approach places like the bell tower, the temple, or the chapel—they were too sensitive.

Entering the back courtyard,Neo headed straight for the storage room, moving with ease as if he were back at home. Vini and the other two were members of the Light Church and had been baptized there; they also came here to volunteer from time to time, so they were quite familiar with the church’s layout.Neo had already studied it in detail beforehand. As a highly skilled warrior and a clever wolf who had self-taught knightly skills, mastering the characteristics, structure, and entrances of a building through information was just the basics for him. Of course,Neo’s standards were his own, adjusted rather than following official guidelines.

His hands, clad in intricate armor, pressed and pulled on the door, and the latch came free with a pained creak.Neo went inside, found some wood scraps, and used them to create smoke—something that resembled a pile of kindling but wasn’t actually burning. Using smoke to cover one’s scent was an ancient method; the key points were to apply it evenly and in moderation, as too much would result in looking like a smoked chicken, backfiring instead.

After completing these preparations before hiding,Neo tidied up the storage room briefly, then reinstalled the latch so that it wouldn’t seem loose at first glance.

The effect of the smoke was temporary, soNeo quickened his pace, rushing deeper into the back courtyard with a small broom trailing behind him.

“Shuffling steps” was a technique he had learned at home—through rapid movement and certain tricks, it allowed footprints in snow to be minimized, sometimes even made invisible. ButNeo was still far from mastering it, so he brought the broom to gently sweep away any traces. With the heavy snowfall, it wouldn’t take long for it to completely cover the already faint marks.

Deep in the back courtyard of the church was a small cemetery, where the servants of the Lord and church members who had made great contributions to the world and the church but lacked proper burial grounds were laid to rest. Among them were the famous founder of the Erdrit domain, Mars Erdrit, and Brother Karonper, the founder of the Light Church in Solis City.

Neo didn’t choose the tombs of these prominent figures but instead selected a relatively smaller grave next to Karonper’s. Those buried in graves were certainly not ordinary people, but this one had no name, only an inscription—indicating that the person wished to be forgotten by the world, though that was difficult, even long after his death.

“Greetings, ancestor. I’m borrowing your home for a while today. I apologize for the disturbance…” After whispering a few prayers,Neo stepped forward and pushed open the stone coffin. Inside, instead of a mummy as he had imagined, there was only a tarnished copper urn-like container for ashes. Clearly, this person had likely died without remaining intact, otherwise they wouldn’t have been treated in such a way.

Neo didn’t mind sharing the coffin with a mummy, but it was still better without one. “Thank you!” He moved the urn to the top of the coffin and then lay down in his clothes.

Although the stone coffin was cold, Neo had food in his stomach and clothes on his body, so he didn’t mind it much. However, the coffin was limited in length—just an urn—and with Neo’s 182 cm height, he couldn’t stretch his legs fully. As a result, with a casual kick, the stone beneath his feet sank slightly backward. Immediately afterward, there was a soft “click” sound, as if some mechanism had been activated. Then, the entire bottom of the coffin trembled slightly before beginning to descend smoothly. Sitting up, Neo could see that to his left, a dark passage leading to the unknown was gradually taking shape…