Chapter 72- Baited and Trapped

The group silently crept through the town with the blanket over their heads.

They stayed in the alleyways as they all moved simultaneously.

"This is very disorganized...", Dubs thought. "Truly unfitting of one who claims to lead an empire... but that is exactly what I want..."

"I will show the rulers of this world that power can come from even the disorganized, order from disorder. The status quo is nothing more than a figment of our imaginations- something defined by humans that can be easily molded and redesigned."

Dubs spoke to Alt.

"Alt, is there any way that you could detect the energies of nearby enemies?"

Many people in the group looked confused.

"Lord Dubs, I don't believe Duke Alt is here right now...", Sylvester stated, looking around at all the people within the veil of dark energy.

"Heh heh... it seems that you guys don't understand who Alt really is..."

The knights were confused, but decided not to question their lord further.

"As you say, my Lord.", Sylvester replied.

Alt responded to Dubs.

"I can display a map showing the magical readings that I sense around me. Would you like to see it?"

"Yes."

In front of Dubs a grid appeared, showing both the layout of the town, along with some violet and blue dots. There was even a green dot a far way away.

"The purple dots represent those who have around the same mana as the strongest knights of the empire or less. Of course, all the people in this squad aside from you are represented in this manner. All the regular citizens of the surfacers too are at this level."

"The blue dots represent those who are at the level of a foot soldier of the surfacers. There are quite a few around here, so it would be best to avoid them."

"The green represent those at the level of a corporal. You are at this level, Dubs, and as you can see there is a corporal a bit of a distance away from us."

"Lieutenants would be represented by yellow dots, and Captains or greater by red. Fortunately there are none nearby..."

Dubs nodded.

It seemed as if there was a path to the outer gate that was completely free of guards.

"We should head this way," Dubs said, showing the map to all his subordinates.

Everyone agreed and they began to move.

As they walked through the alleyways, they took a few twists and turns before they were getting closer to the gates. All of a sudden, a chill struck Dubs.

"What if..."

"No, maybe I am worrying too much."

All of a sudden, despite the fact that there were no energy signals on the map, Dubs and his group turned a corner to run into a man with a yellow feather on top of his helmet.

"A lieutenant!? There was no reading on the map... could my prediction have been right after all?"

"It seems you and your little group of escapees have been playing around too much, Dubs... I was originally ordered to take you alive, but I believe that behavior like this can easily create an accidental death or 10..."

The man clenched his fists and a burst of energy radiated from him. The cloak of dark energy that surrounded Dubs and his subordinates was blown off.

"This is bad. It seems I was right. This man was completely concealing his energy, and as a result there was no reading on the map..."

"It seems I have no choice but to fight, but how unlucky it was to run into a mini boss so quickly..."

"Unlucky?", The Lieutenant questioned. "You didn't run into me just because you were unlucky. We set a trap for you, placing our soldiers so you would be lead straight to me. Don't tell me this is all you amount to as a strategist, Mr. prodigy."