Lowly Ascent

Cain calmed down and looked around to see if any of the other members were around. Anders had to stay with the carriage and was restricted to a few areas, this meant he had to rely on the other team members to get a detailed read of the situation.

'They should already be servants roaming around.....'

Although Cain had the layout of the mansion, he didn't know which specific areas were off-limits. Not to mention he was required to stay with Rebecca.

Cain walked around by Rebecca's side into the mansion. The girl was practically jumping with excitement. This was a place where even her own home didn't hold a candle.

Although all Cain held for the mansion was suspicion. How could a mayor of a city be so wealthy?

'Greed.....I imagine this mayor has done some terrible things. At the very least he's taking advantage of his position.'

Walking with Rebecca into the main hall, the pair were treated to some food and drinks. However this time, Cain made sure Rebecca didn't have a drop of alcohol.

After waiting at a table and talking to Rebecca, a servant walked up to Cain.

The servant was a disguised Sarah. She brushed up against Cain as she handed him a drink and whispered, "I'll be by the door to the left."

Sarah quickly left. Cain watched her walk next to a door on his left, where she abruptly stopped at waited.

Cain quickly looked around for someone he could leave with Rebecca.

He was quickly stunned when his eyes landed on a specific individual.

'No......'

They were scoffing down food at a fast pace and had servant clothes. Cain quickly walked up to them and turned them around.

"What are you doing here!" Cain tried not to raise his voice but he was surprised and mad to see the person before him.

"M-Master? What do you mean? I walked in here and saw people eating all this food! I've never seen or heard of half of it so I wanted to try some!"

Cain's surprise didn't recede, the person before him was his own apprentice! He somehow walked into the main hall and wasn't stopped! He then started eating all the food!

Trying to hold in his anger and keep a straight face, Cain found such a task impossible. His smile turned crooked as he tried his best to hold it in.'

"Argh, how can you be so stupid! J-Just, follow me and watch someone."

Cain grabbed his apprentice by the arm and took Anders over to his table.

"I need to do something, this servant will stay with you in my absence"

Anders looked to Cain and was about to refute but when he saw his master's face he simply nodded and kept quiet.

Cain quickly left. Anders could now see the lady he was supposed to watch, he saw a young lady with perfect skin and beautiful brown hair. He looked into her eyes and he swore he died and gone to heaven.

Rebecca tried to talk to Anders but saw he was unresponsive with a drooling smile. After she tapped him a bit, he came back to reality and apologized to which she laughed in amusement.

Cain headed to Sarah as they turned down hallway after hallway, eventually regrouping with the rest of the team.

Cain could already see Daniel tugging at his shirt as sweat perspired down his head, he was clearly uncomfortable in his clothes and it seemed a size too small.

He laughed internally, ignoring Daniels's plight. Cain then asked Sarah what she uncovered.

"Sir, we have the layout of the building and from servants' whispers, also learned that Victor will be having a private meeting later today with a low-level noble. We believe that this noble is the spy that the royal family prepared."

Victor's mission here was to pass off classified intel to a third party, it seemed that that pass-off was tonight and on the top floor which is off-limits to everyone.

This meeting was inside Victor's office which was being heavily protected.

The entire floor is filled with Kushen family guards and all of them were low-level augmenters with some captains being as strong as grade 2.

'A conundrum....'

Cain raised his head and stared at the ceiling. 

"Hmmm, alright we should make our way to the second floor. You guys can't fight against Victor so all your roles will be taking out the guards, Michael make sure you use some spells to boost everyone's immune systems and try to kill silently instead of causing a ruckus."

Everyone nodded without refuting, this mission was of great importance and it was a matter of life or death now.

Making their way up the floors, the disguised team could easily pass the first few with their disguises. Yet, once they reached the 4th floor, they had to use an unconventional way to reach the next floor.

To reach the next floor without being caught required them to enter from the outside, they exited from a window and scaled the building to the next floor where they found an open window and entered.

The 5th floor was quiet, it was like not a soul resided there. As the group progressed, they got even more agitated. All they could hear was their own footsteps.

Finally, they made it to the staircase leading to the 6th floor and the group grew even more excited.

They would soon complete the mission and leave this god-forsaken floor.

The 6th floor was just as barren as the last, if not for guards that would pass the halls every once and a while. Cain's group would've thought something was wrong.

Cain followed the blueprint he memorized and they eventually came across a room with double doors being guarded on either side.

He nodded to the others and monitored them move quickly.

Cain's team could only smuggle in a few things into the mansion so they had to be resourceful.

Sarah was without a bow for one and Daniel only had his fists.

This didn't stop them as Mark quickly pierced one guard with his sword, he launched himself like a bullet and killed another before he even saw him.

Another was hit in the throat with a throwing knife, the guard could only make gargled words before Sarah plummeted another dagger in their head.

With three guards dead, the group began to spread out to take care of the rest. Cain was free to enter the main room.

He opened the doors, and inside was Victor.

Victor was the same as his description, a middle-aged man who had black hair and brown eyes as well as a goatee matching his hair color. He was wearing an old military uniform and was sitting next to a young man.

The young man was frightened by Cain's presence but Victor was the opposite, he just smiled and stayed still.

"You were slower than I would've liked. What took so long?"

Cain paused.

Victor spoke. Pompously and calm at that.

Cain couldn't help but become alarmed, "You knew?"

"Of course! We use the same information gatherer. You should know that if you pay extra they hide things related to you and if you have even more money, they inform you when someone's trying to dig into your secrets. So of course I was waiting for your arrival!

"I must say, I wasn't given much about you, I still know how strong you are and who you work for at least."

Sitting beside Victor, the unknown noble was visibly confused, he tried to speak but Victor reacted too swiftly. The old man took out a dagger hidden beside his chair and shoved it into the man's chest.

The young man's eyes widened as he tried to say something but only a grunt came out. They fell back and sunk into the sofa.

Their eyes rolled up. They were dead.

"Such a pity. My duty has now been delayed. But It doesn't matter since I have more time to play with you!" Victor's mouth curved into a wide smile.

Cain could see his yellowish teeth with some remnants of brownies.

Taken aback by Victor's behavior, the only defense Cain had was to keep his face unchanged and apathetic.

Victor didn't mind him and continued to talk.

"I wonder how you entered, I believe you should be masquerading as a noble by the look of your clothes. I wonder how you pulled off such a stunt, it does matter anyhow. Will you surrender peacefully or will we have to fight....scratch that, it appears you are already in the palm of my hand!"

Cain tilted his head puzzled. But he understood after he tried to move, his whole body wasn't responding to him.

He was like a statue.

"This one always takes too long to work, you seem to not have any defense against viruses and bacteria though. Should have fixed that sooner, now you're as good as dead. Hehe!"

'How does this make sense, I was fully alert and had my own bacteria surrounding me like a net. How did it get through my defenses!?'

Cain was panicking, he tried and tried but couldn't do anything as he watched Victor open the door.

He was blabbering on about killing Cain's accomplices but before the old schemer could step out of the room, explosions resided near the mansion. 

The mansion shook.

Unsurprisingly, Victor wasn't surprised by this either. The deranged madman only became even more excited. 

"Friends? Oh, I forgot you can't talk right now, oops. Ahh forget it, I already have you, the rest are only scattering insects."

Victor kept his pristine and eerie smile as he lifted Cain easily and brought him down to the 5th floor.

Carrying him still, they entered a secluded room filled with women and a man lying on a huge bed.

"What are you doing here Victor, who are you carrying?"

"Just a guest Julian...I need some space in the basement."

Cain could see the man's facial expressions through the thin pink veil covering the bed, he could see women giggling and laughing while they touched the grinning mayor.

Yes, this was the Mayor of Barch, Julian Ivins!

"I see, you're free to have as much leftover room as you like my friend!"

Victor gave a grateful nod and turned around to leave, "Oh also, there are some insects that have made their way into the mansion, some of my servants got bit by them."

Cain could hear Julian laugh as the door shut. Victor then continued to walk the halls with Cain on top of his shoulder.

Eventually, Victor made his way to a wall. After a short secret puzzle, the door opened to a secret staircase that seemed to lead to a dark abyss.