57 In The Dark Of The Night Part 1

"What do you mean...? Could you be clearer?" The pale skinned man asked while scratching his cheeks. His sister's attitude wasn't usual and the fact that intruders were indeed coming their way only confused him even more.

"There is nothing else to explain ! I spotted some humans thanks to a Shadow and ordered it to scout their camp... Everything went well and I saw around fifty adventurers alongside some weird armored priests but when it passed by that adventurer's tent and stopped for an instant... That man got up and killed it cleanly after having murmured the things I told you about..." She explained while blushing a little at the end.

"What the heck... And could you stay serious please. This situation is no joke and we might be in serious troubles." The man sighed while facepalming himself at the sight of his sister who was seemingly lost in her fantasies.

"I know but... This is so weird and surprising ! This man had even told me to come and meet him. It must mean that he knows more about the Dark Lord right? Right? We should go as soo-" She cheerfully exclaimed while looking at her brother.

"Usually, your passion border madness. This time however it border stupidity ! How can you be this naïve?" He growled while glaring at her.

"Hey! This is mean ! You're also working and researching all the time yet I don't tell you that you're stupid or crazy..." She pouted before crossing her arms and show her back to him.

"It's not the same situation at all ! They are intruders, enemies. Going to meet one of them is suicidal at worst and foolish at best !" He angrily explained as he grabbed her shoulder through her long black hairs which cascaded to her hips.

"But, but I've finally found a lead to His wisdom... It's been so many years, I've read all those old books in our manor's library. And now, you're telling me to stop myself from getting new, unheard of knowledge?" She replied bitterly as she tried to slap his hand away.

"Yes, because it is certainly a trap." He continued as he put another hand on her other shoulder in order to make her flip around and look at him in the eyes.

"B-but if we fight them and unfortunately kill him then this knowledge will be lost..." She murmured as she looked around in order to avoid the piercing gaze of her brother.

"Then we just have to make ourselves sure that we don't kill him. There are many ways to extract secrets out of someone's mind and you know it." He sighed and grabbed her head in order to stop her from fleeing the eye contact.

"Y-Yesh bush she misht kill himshelf ish thingsh goesh soutsh..." She complained whilst her brother's palms held firmly her cheeks in place.

"Then it would be a shame but don't forget your priorities. We must deal with their force first and seek our personal gains later. We have to protect this peace, remember that." His vermilion eyes shone with determination as he pointed the whole village with his hands. The stone paved streets illuminated with oil lanterns were indeed peaceful and gave a feeling of order and tranquility to people who saw them.

"...You just want to finish this matter as soon as possible and go back to your lab don't you?" She sneered while laughing a little.

"N-Not at all ! I take this crisis very seriously and simply wish to protect the vill-" He tried to explain himself before his sister cut him.

"Oh? Then you're stressed out since it's our first task of this magnitude?" She mocked again.

"Well... Uh... Honestly, yes. I think you're stressed too no?" He confessed with a small smile as he ruffled through his raven black hairs.

"It's not funny when you admit things openly and don't get angry." She pouted before nodding. "But you're right, I'm stressed too. We have a seemingly powerful force coming up our way and people to defend... It won't be as easy as beating a few monsters' asses or capturing a few lost humans I guess." She continued as she took a serious stance.

"Indeed. Could you send a few of your puppets while I setup some traps? We'll have to announce the news to the villagers too..." The man asked while playing with a thin string which gleamed a little under the lantern's lights.

"You want me to send my Shadows to a certain death?" She replied in an indignant tone.

"Well... You could do so, it would be good to keep a visual on them but I was mainly speaking about the abominations you brought with you here. They're probably expecting an ambush since they caught you spying on them so you'll need to hit them hard and swiftly." He continued with a serious voice.

"You just want me to sacrifice a few of my creations to gauge their strength don't you?" She replied while raising an eyebrow.

"Erm... Well... Getting such information would indeed be very useful on the top of cleaving down their numbers..." He answered uneasily.

"Yeah, I get it." She sighed. "We don't have much choice anyway, I'll send two of my chimeras to ambush them tomorrow's night. They're about two days of walk from here so we'll have to prepare ourselves fast... Why didn't I bring more undeads with me..." She complained before turning around and walking toward the forest in order to see if she couldn't find some bodies laying around.

"Well, seems like we won't have much sleep during the next few days... Let's do our best, Jaethal." The man chuckled before following her in order to place some traps.

"Yeah, let's do our best Alixios." She replied as she winked at him before disappearing in the forest's shadows.

-

Meanwhile, Laena had been sitting through a rather unpleasant meeting with the others elite adventurers. Gabriel and Leon had repeated religious sermons after another and had hammered the fact that their task was of the greatest importance in everyone's head.

"Oh and by the way, from on now you're all prohibited from wounding yourselves during your training. We need you at the peak of your strength." The leader of the holy knight announced while eyeing Laena and Ashley. He respected their fighting will and had heard reports of their progress but now wasn't the time for such activities.

"You heard the chief you barbarians. You not hit friend. You hit enemy. Understood?" Giorgio sneered in a mocking tone. Hearing him speak made nearly everyone frown in the tent since he had been irritating and useless each time he opened his mouth.

'Please suck it up Laena, this idiot will prove his worth during the fights... Or at least I hope. Why did they recruit him...' Leon sighed in his mind as he saw the elf's face go from a light brown to a shade of bright red. Her knuckles had turned white on her sword's handle and she was fighting against the envy to behead the golden knight.

"We're everything but barbarians Giorgio. Maybe is it you, the narrow minded idiot, who suit better this role without realizing it." The one eyed lion growled while glaring at the prideful human.

"Humpf! I'm not an uncivilized being like you, my armor is spotless and ready for combat. On the other hand, your bare chest is covered in wounds and her leather armor is riddled with holes. She has so many bloodstains on her clothes that a monster would smell us from a few kilometers !" He mocked as he looked at them with disdain.

Laena was about to retort when Fyorn intervened with a serious voice:

"Enough. We're here to work, not run our mouths needlessly." He had been mostly silent during their trip since he was paid to do the job, not to be friendly. However, even his patience was running thin thanks to Giorgio.

"Thank you Fyorn. Well, I think that we can conclude our reunion here. Remember your positions in the formation and do your best to protect yourselves. We are close to our goal." Gabriel nodded and gave a small religious speech once again before releasing everyone.

'I swear that the first one I'll kill when Jack will give us the signal will be this fucker. How has he managed to stay alive so long with such a crappy attitude?' Laena grumpily thought as she left the others after having saluted them in order to sleep at her tent.

"You seems... Grumpy, Laena." Evelyn chuckled when she saw her friend coming back.

"Tch, you don't say. This meeting was a pain in the ass where they talked to say nothing." She sighed as she sat next to her teacher.

"Did they mention anything about a possible ambush or spies?" Jack asked as he remembered himself of what happened earlier after having set up a Hush spell around them. His ghouls weren't as many as before and he clearly felt it since he could now speak and focus on them at the same time.

"No, I don't think they know. They seemed oblivious to the danger and full of themselves honestly." Laena sneered as she thought about what awaited them. During the walk toward their target and the interactions she had done with the others adventurers she had made her mind and agreed that they were to be slaughtered. The religious were mostly narrow minded supremacists while on the other hand the adventurers' parties were filled with scums who had lecherous gazes and greed driving them.

'It's a shame that Leon and Ashley are with them though... I really hope that I won't have to kill them with my own hands. It's the most I can wish since I will follow my teacher's orders as I swore. Aaah, it's a shame, really.' She thought while shaking her head while Jack smiled as he recognized the gleam in her eyes.

"It's perfect then, I don't think we will have to wait too long for something to happens. If the chaos reigns, we will strike. Don't let your will waver at the worse timing children." He announced with a cruel smile before wishing them a good night. Soon, blood would be spilled.

Since the best adventurers were to stay in their peak conditions all the guard turns were taken by the other adventurers, allowing Laena's party to sleep quietly and to be the target of the badmouthing at the same time.

Soon, the immortal fell asleep after he thoroughly repeated his order to his ghouls. While his mind was wandering in the abyss of the dream world he felt a familiar sensation tug on his mind like the last time except that it was stronger than before. He was still conscious and had been wandering through lucid dreams were he trained. Feeling the pull getting stronger, he frowned and let himself go.

'Well, I'll need to keep myself in check. Wounding myself and causing a ruckus wouldn't be positive. Still... I wonder why I'm reacting like this and seeing memories in my dreams.' He though as many different images flashed before him.

The world around him finally stabilized itself as a dark place filled with black fog where he couldn't see any further than his own hand. Looking around, he saw nothing else than darkness and felt quite perplexed.

"What the hell is this? Am I seeing the memories of my death..? No, I can still feel, taste and hear. This is different..." He murmured to fill the sensory void since he felt quite weird. Then, some light started to come from a certain way and as he turned his head to look toward its source he noticed that the fog had formed a corridor to let the light reach him.

He saw a woman with hairs as black as the night standing in the source of light and recognized her back as she walked toward it.

"No ! Come back ! Don't... Don't leave me alone !" He screamed as he ran toward her, to no avail while the light slowly go denser and denser to the point of blinding him.

"Ha... Ha... It was just a dream..." He murmured as he felt his clothes wet from his sweat. Turning his head around, he saw that his students were still asleep and that there wasn't any light outside. A relaxing noise of rain pouring over the tent came from outside alongside the promise of an uncomfortable day of walk.