And (N)one Shall Remain

If there was one skill Alissa trained in an almost religious manner ever since she acquired it, it was [Walk in the Shadows], as the skill just had far too many potential applications she could think about. Besides, having a powerful stealth skill would be beyond useful in case she needed to strike out on her own, which was not outside the realm of possibility given what she had learned so far about Ephemera.

 

Due to that diligent training and the fact that such a skill which affected herself could level effectively in pretty much any situation – unlike her combat skills which needed a real target for the best leveling effectiveness – she had gotten the skill to evolve just a week ago, in Fort Abernal. It was a pleasant surprise to have it evolve before the assault, at least.

 

The new skill, [Living in a Dream] kept most of the characteristics from the original skill, except Alissa no longer needed shadows as a medium for her to enter or emerge from the realm her skill brought her to. She also gained a far greater freedom of movement while inside the alternate realm, where she could simply flow through solid objects or even fly at will. 

 

It even had some direct offensive applications, as Alissa tested using a spare spear and some target dummies in Fort Abernal. If she were to re-materialize into the real world while some part of her or some item she held was inside an object, it would result in a terrifying situation where the two objects would merge together, with likely gruesome results. 

 

Alissa had never tried it against a living opponent as of yet, but the way the wooden shaft and metal spearhead of the spare spear she borrowed merged and mutilated the head of the wooden target dummy was a sight she was unlikely to forget anytime soon.

 

Of course, it was not like the skill was omnipotent. A powerful magical barrier – or even artifact armor – would prevent her from going through them at all, and after some experimentation, she found that the same applied to things like Sir DelVillar’s conjured stone armor. In fact, wearing a piece of artifact armor of sufficient quality was enough to prevent Alissa from either going through or from being able to place an object inside another while in her alternate realm.

 

Even then, it still proved highly useful for dealing with weaker foes, like the demon sentries atop the north-western tower of Arh-Getlam Alissa was assigned to. 

 

Alissa invoked [Living in a Dream] and seamlessly entered the alternate dimension, from which she could see the real world through some sort of filter. She then floated gently towards the north-western tower. There was no worry about being detected, as with her evolved skill, even Magus Drummond admitted that he could only detect the barest hint of her presence even while he looked specifically for her while knowing where she was at the time. If the Magus, one of the strongest human mages, could only barely do that, she had no worries from lesser foes.

 

There were four demon sentries atop the north-western watchtower of Arh-Getlam. Two of them were occupied in some sort of card game, while a third laid down and was snoring leisurely against the side of the tower. The last demon seemed like he was watching the surrounding area from his seat from afar, but in fact, he was reading a book under the illumination from the torch. None of the four took their duties seriously, it seemed, which definitely explained what she saw happening in the other

watchtower.

 

Two decades of constant false alarms that never led to anything had thoroughly desensitized these demons to the actual danger before them, it seemed.

 

Alissa took out the hardwood staff she brought along with her for this exact purpose, and slipped it through the heads of the two demons that were playing cards with each other. At the same time, her other hand held her spear in a ready pose, the spearhead aimed directly towards the back of the reading demon’s neck. Then with a thought, she shifted her presence from the alternate realm to the real world.

 

The effect was immediate. 

 

Both demons jerked and convulsed as a piece of hardwood suddenly shared the same space and materialized inside their heads, the pressure from the process directly shattering the head of one of the demons. The other’s skull directly bulged as the hardwood staff snapped inside, as seen from how the end of the staff shifted quite a bit behind the demon’s head.

 

At the same time, Alissa thrust with her spear towards the reading demon. The spearhead of her weapon pierced directly through the base of the demon’s skull, severing the skull from the spine and killing the demon before he could even make a noise of surprise. The only sound to be heard in the quiet night was the noise made when the bodies – and the book that the demon was reading – hit the floor.

 

Even that little bit of noise was apparently enough to wake the sleeping demon, and as Alissa’s spear was still extended towards the wrong direction, she resorted to different means instead. She directly kicked the demon in the face as it woke up, which threw it into a temporary daze, long enough for her to deliver a crushing blow with the tip of her shield against its skull. The demon’s skull was broken from the blow and bits of its squashed brain splattered over Alissa, but at least she managed to take out all the demons in the watch tower without causing any ruckus.

 

Cautiously, Alissa peeked out over the low walls of the watch tower. Since its evolution [Living in a Dream]’s cooldown was low enough that Alissa could feasibly use it again within a couple minutes as long as she still had mana, but she preferred to save the skill unless it was needed.

 

The watch tower was built waist-high walls on every side, the upper side open to each cardinal direction other than the supporting beams in the corners, so she could take a look at the situation on the top of the wall that way. It was likely made that way so that the sentries could maintain a clear field of view of their vicinity.

 

From her high vantage point, Alissa could see how several other people from the assault group, some third tiers, while others were fourth tiers, emerged out of the darkness and took out the sentries on guard. In each section, this happened all at once, as they likely had coordinated their strike so that the sentries had no chance to warn each other of the situation.

 

Alissa chose not to pay any attention to the going-ons in the other watch tower. She was no peeping tom and was doubly uninterested in seeing the demons in question getting killed while in the throes of passion. Instead, she uttered a silent prayer for their souls, as nobody really deserved to die under those circumstances. Too bad for the demons in question that they never had a choice in the matter.

 

All considered, however, the grisly work had not taken long. Within less than three minutes or so, all the sentries atop the wall had been taken down, their corpses propped up against the wall to make it look as if they were still standing in their original positions. One of the people involved in the strike must have signaled those who still waited below the walls, because shortly afterwards, the rest of the two hundred strong party climbed the wall and reached its top as well. 

 

Since the rest of the group were clearly gathering together, Alissa slipped down from the watch tower and walked towards them, careful to keep herself from being silhouetted against the horizon. It was only when she reached the area of effect of their [Scout of Shadows]’s skill that she stood upright once more, since everybody else there was also doing so.

 

It had not taken long before the entire group gathered together on the northern wall of Arh-Getlam. Alissa noticed how the two third tier women who had gone to the north-eastern watchtower came down with slight blushes on their cheeks and gave her a quick glare before they shook their heads. It looked like the poor demon couple were still at it when the strike came, then.

 

“Everyone did their part well, I see. That is good,” said Sir DelVillar. He stood next to Sir Inolet and Magus Drummond, the gaunt old knight looking tall and large somehow despite his actual size. “Gather in your respective groups, as we planned. You all already know what to do, so I will not repeat it. Not like we have the time anyway.”

 

At his command, the group of two hundred split into smaller groups. Some groups had as many as twenty people, while Alissa’s group was one of the smaller ones at only eleven, consisting only of the rest of her party. Sir DelVillar’s own group had twenty people in them, all of them fourth tiers, including Sir Inolet and Magus Drummond. They would be the ones playing bait, so they needed the extra power.

 

In fact, Alissa’s group, each of whom had power equivalent to a lower-end fourth tier, was already extremely luxurious in terms of lineup. The other groups other than hers or Sir DelVillar’s had two to three fourth tiers at most, while most had none at all.

 

The plan was simple, all considered. The teams with only third tiers – going together in small groups of five to cover more ground – would infiltrate the city inside Ars-Gethlam and hide themselves, to later create chaos in order to throw off the enemy response. It was a risky task, but on the other hand, there were bound to be plenty of hiding spots inside a city. Of course, they might well run into demon civilians in that task, in which case, they would need to silence them to keep themselves safe.

 

Alissa did not envy that group and was honestly glad that her team was not assigned to similar duties. She had fought and killed demons in battle, sure, but she doubted that she could bring herself to kill some of their civilians, demons or not.

 

The remaining teams, the ones led by the fourth tiers, including Alissa’s group, would hide themselves near the gatehouse and wait there. Sir DelVillar’s own group would assault the gatehouse and open the city’s gate wide to allow for the approaching army – they should have begun their march by that time – to enter the city.

 

Sir DelVillar’s team would then hold the gatehouse against the demons that would certainly come their way in droves, while the teams that lay in wait would in turn ambush said demons when they saw a good chance to hurt the enemy’s command elements or their combat power. In other words, Sir DelVillar and his team were bait, while the ambush teams were there to aim for the demon commanders or their fourth tiers.

 

Since Alissa’s team was the strongest one by far compared to the rest, they were responsible for taking out as many demon fourth tiers as they could. Alissa’s evolved skill, [Living in a Dream], even made it possible for them to do this task more than once, as Alissa could transport all eleven members of her party with the skill, which allowed them to strike and retreat with impunity.

 

Everyone gave nods, and the teams of third tiers quietly descended the wall first. Those teams had to enter deeper into the city, so everyone else stayed stealthed at the top of the walls until they had gone for a while. Sir DelVillar gave a nod, and the remaining teams – five of them, including Alissa’s party – dispersed as they seeked out hiding spots from where they would launch their ambush. Naturally, all of them remained in the general vicinity of the gatehouse itself.

 

It was only after everybody was in position that Sir Delvillar conjured his stone armor and leapt down from the city wall, landing directly in front of the gatehouse’s door.