Chapter 61: In the Mouth of Madness (part 2)

Woken up by the incessant droplets of the rain, Winter slowly stood up she had no idea what time it was so she opted to check the time. She checked the clock on the wall. It said 7:00 an Hour before they move out towards the heart of the mountain.

"It's still pouring pretty hard, Is it safe to trek at this kind of time?"

She asked Her CO that was looking at the window. He shook his head, "No but... we have no choice.

It might be a little dangerous but finishing our mission is our top priority."

He checked the map once more, He needed to minutely adjust their trail so winter would be safe. He didn't give a damn about the priest or his goal. The most important thing was to keep their VIP safe.

Jack put down his book as he stared at his CO, "Captain Carson... something's not right, I just feel it. My instincts never failed me before and especially not now.. "

Carson looked at Jack, "What do you suggest?"

Jack stared at the map, "How about we rearrange our positions. Winter goes to the back with Me and you and we would spread the others around. But we'll have to make sure she doesn't notice that something's off..."

Carson nodded his head, "Alright call the others, I'll brief them on the changes to our plans."

They all gathered at the hut. Carson quickly discussed the changes. Winter on the other hand didn't say anything. She more or less agreed.

She sighed thinking to herself, ' What even is the point of this 'Fake' escort mission if you make it so obvious...'

She resigned to her fate, If it's going to be like this she would just do her best in every mission she was sent to even if it's all relatively easy.

"It's not that I'm weak... I've trained hard all my life, it's not like I can't handle a few mountain bandits." She murmured to herself.

Carson noticed that winter was sulking, he sighed at the lonely back of the girl. He couldn't just acknowledge the fact that she's the real VIP even if she noticed.

"Politics is such a bitch and a half..."

Jack nodded his head Beside Carson.

*Dong Dong!!!*

The bells of the church rang Signalling them to get ready to move.

When they arrived at the meeting point. There was a large carriage. Nobody knew what was inside the huge black box. But if they had to guess it was probably lien. To be offered to the temple on top of the mountain.

The priest called Aaron rushed towards Carson. "Many thanks Captain... without you perhaps we would have failed to please the Faceless God, although his benevolence reaches infinity... So is his wrath."

"It's still raining... uhh...Sir?"

"Please call me Aaron, Captain Carson..."

Carson nodded his head towards the pot bellied old man, "Well then Aaron, I don't think it would be that ideal to follow the path I planned earlier in this kind of weather, So I adjusted it a bit I hope you don't mind."

Aaron looked at the path Carson made and he furrowed his brows but then his expression returned to normal as he gave his consent with a beaming smile.

Although his expression change was subtle it didn't escape the experienced captain. He stared at the departing back of the priest as the priest hurriedly made calls.

He narrowed his eyes, and told his men to keep their weapons hot and expect the unexpected. He thought to himself that this mission won't be as easy as it seemed.

Aaron on the other hand kept dialing on his scroll, But no one would answer. He tried calling over and over, His expression turned ugly but he didn't show it. Something must have happened if they wouldn't answer him.

But he couldn't delay it any further he must make a move soon. So he went back to Carson to tell him that they would be starting.

"Captain please tell your men that we would be moving soon."

Carson nodded his head, "Move out men! package is on the move!!"

The carriage was surrounded by Men in Black hoods, they were wearing all black. Their face covered only by a white blank mask. They stood beside the carriage on each side. Carson's men were stationed upfront and two on each side of the carriage, and finally Him and Jack were behind while winter was walking behind them.

Aaron stayed behind, he sent out another preist in black clothing with a white hood, and a white mask.

They soon started moving once the bells started ringing once more. Although the rain was still pouring and their path was covered in mist, they have thermal sensors if ever some bandits do approach.

Winter followed behind, she sensed that the lax atmosphere of her squadmates were gone, and they were all wary of everything, their weapons stand at the ready.

She thought to herself that this mission was not so bad after all, a place to prove herself... that she's more than just a spoiled princess. That she could fight too.

As she was thinking this, they slowly moved towards the heart of the mountain.

------------------

Two hours before winter and the phantom squad moved into the heart of the mountain Haruki was already perched on top of a cliff. He has already taken a look at the map, and the path that they were taking.

As he was checking the area He noticed that there were people lying in wait hiding in a crevasse on the mountain side. He slowly crept besides the entrance and listened on what they were doing there.

He leaned on the flat part of the cliff, behind a huge rock to obstruct their vision of him. But he heard nothing. Only breathing, as if they were sleeping. But when he took a peek he saw that they were combat ready and fully awake. They were covered in a white garb with a black mask covering their faces.

This surprised him, He expected them to be chatty since the target was still ways off. They were like assassins.

Something felt off and he knows it, Should he just let these assassins kill the entire phantom squad? But then he remembered someone.

Winter Schnee...

If I'm going to build an army I need a schnee as a backer, fine I'll help her like a knight in shining armor.

So he decided to kill of these assassins.

He slowly walked out of his hiding spot, "Hey guys! do you have news about our Target yet?"

But what answered his was silence, The man nearest to him slashed downwards with his blade ring.

*Swish!!*

He parried it off to the side with his life reaping Katana. He was grinning, "Hey I'm with you guys!"

They were still silent, and it was eerie. It creeped him out it's like he was just fighting some puppets.

Soon two charged towards him, But after several seconds the ground beneath their feet had cold air rising from it. And countless cracking sounds resounded in that tiny cave. The ground and their feet were frozen but before they could smash the ice beneath their feet, their head flew up apart from their body.

The others opened their eyes wide but they soon charged towards him with the same fervor as those two who died.

Haruki then used exploding star as he jumped out of the cave and used lightning form to climb up.

*Boom!*

A huge explosion resounded in the mountains, when he peeked down below, a blade ring flew up almost slicing his face off.

"Woah! That was fucking close! I thought they'd be buried under all that rubble!"

He dodged back avoiding the attack, The ones who climbed up from the cliff were the same guys he fought, although their bodies were mangled they would still attack him as if they weren't injured at all.

He summoned ice spikes from the ground using Skoll and Hati claws. He materialized a Magnum Revolver loaded with incendiary bullets. It was weird he didn't want to go near those bodies. When he was cutting them it was a strange sensation, it was like cutting jelly.

When the assassins died their bodies slowly melted and turned into a blackish goo, Haruki stared at the puddle.

"What the fuck!? Are these even human!? What are these things!?"

His expression darkened, he needs to see that data soon. He went ahead and checked the other places.

He was met with heavy resistance, He held his Life reaping with a reverse grip style, he charged in slashing everyone on his way.

He made his way through the first wave, and when he turned around he threw a couple of fireballs compressed but their firepower was immense. It slowly grew smaller and shot at speeds invisible from the naked eye.

Countless of burning corpses littered the path, but he heard no screaming. It felt weird, do they not feel pain at all? He asked himself as he stared at the corpses that slowly melted into disgusting goo.

Then from the bushes two shadows emerged and slashed at him with their glaives. He threw the life reaping katana upwards.and caught the blades with the Skill and Hati claws, he crushed the weapons into powder. the two shadows stepped back but he used lightning form to go behind the enemy on his left. He punched a hole on the assassins back through his chest.

A weird feeling came over him as he pulled out his arms quickly. He appeared in front of the other one and used his lightning form to channel electricity towards the enemy's head.

"What are you?"

Haruki asked but he got no answer. The assassin knew that he was no match to Haruki so instead of getting tortured and answering questions, he chose to kill himself.

As he killed the last group of assassins, He looked behind him and saw a man with his arms crossed overlooking him at the top of a cliff, he had the same outfit as the others but he had glowing blue horn ornaments on his mask.

He was probably the strongest out of all of them. He just stood there looking down on Haruki. This irked Haruki, "Well? I've killed all your friends? Aren't you going to come down and avenge these creepy fucks?"

He covered his mouth and acted surprised, although his face was covered by a white fang mask his Expression was still conveyed.

"Don't tell me... You're not scared are you?"

The masked man cracked his knuckles, expressing his displeasure. He jumped down from the top of a cliff. He brought out two Ring Blades with a handle on the middle. The blades spun on high speeds, he threw one towards Haruki.

Haruki parried it off the side as his eyes widened, "Ohh... that's quite a powerful weapon."

Let me show you mine as well, He brought out his mechanical guandao. "I guess it's time to test this one out, I was planning on testing this on the phantom squad... but, since you're here...

I'm going to play with you first"

He grinned and charged towards the masked man once more.