36 - Hard quest

Rose woke up, she realized that she had been captured so she pretended to be knocked out while she moved slightly checking her mobility, though the moment she made a slight movement a voice sounded out in front of her

"Good morning, or evening, depends on how you see it… Right, perspective, that's the word"

Rose opened her eyes and saw Merlin sitting a few meters in front of her, he seemed to be lost in thoughts so she used this moment to check her mobility, as soon as she flexed her arm he spoke as if waiting on it

"You are currently bound… You won't be able to escape without me noticing, now I have a few things in store for you, firstly information which you are to carry to your superiors"

Rose narrowed her eyes and deducted

"So you plan on letting me go, that's smart, might lessen your sentence"

Merlin showed a slight smile before a long knife appeared in his hand, then after gazing at the blade for a bit he muttered

"Might as well get the painful things out of the way first…"

Rose tensed up, she assumed that she would be tortured now, though the next instance the bayonet moved with intent as it slashed Merlin's throat in one fluid motion, as Rose was stunned Merlin leaned back against the tree he sat up against and looked Rose directly in the eyes as he began coughing from blood flowing into his lungs before his eyes lost focus and gazed over, he was dead

"What the fuck…"

Rose was in a daze before she quickly began to try and get out of the rope that bound her, then the next moment she noticed something weird, the corpse twitched slightly before it began coughing a few moments later, then his eyes seemed to regain focus before he showed a faint smile and covered his mouth as it or rather he coughed up some more blood

"Yeah, that hurt… Firstly I am fucking immortal! SECONDLY, I AM PISSED, THIRDLY I HAVE BATHED IN THE BLOOD OF A FUCKING DRAGON… Fourthly I can summon an infinite number of what burned down that city… Yeah, that sums it up or so I believe… Oh right, I have one more message..."

Rose trembled, a deep primal fear shook her core as Merlin's head tilted slightly to the side, flames of hate were burning deep in his eyes as his face twisted into a maniacal smile

"I. Will. Brun. Down. Your. C.A.P.I.T.A.L. Ashes will be the only thing that will remain, you got that?"

"YOU! You won't get away with that!"

Merlin's smile widened slightly as he asked

"What are you going to do? Kill me?"

Merlin stood up before he turned and walked away from the bond soldier, soon his disappeared into the darkness the only trace of his presence was the laughter he let out as he walked away, though soon that was also drowned out by the darkness…

Merlin woke up, a few days had passed since he had let the soldier go, he had a few things in motion, the first thing was a mock convoy that was heading straight for Helga's capital, this convoy was made up of 5 Centurian Mk. 3's and as per their orders they were killing everything on their way while prioritizing speed, the goal of this group was to attract attention and to provoke a response from Helga, next were the recon group made up of 10 M5 Stuarts and 3 50mm Puma's that were mapping the soundings of the capital, their task was to find the quickest exfil route after Merlin had kicked the hornet's nest, as for Merlin himself he was currently in a medium-sized village approximately a days travel (by tank) from the capital, he was laying low as a hunter, today had been a fruitful day, under the guidance of an old hunter he had managed to get a few birds with his bow and also find some edible mushrooms as well as some wild onions and herbs, Merlin showed a smile as he looked at his bounty for today, then he nodded and bowed to the elderly hunter and spoke

"Thanks for your guidance Freddy"

The old hunter waved his hand before he spoke

"I just showed you the basics, I am already old, having a talented youth come to our village is a great boon for us"

"Thank you for your kind words, I'll be sure to live up to your expectations!"

Merlin bowed once more before he turned and walked out of the small hut before he walked towards the village center where he sold the 2 birds and some of the edible mushrooms before he arrived at the village's only inn and spoke to the two that were sitting out in front of the inn

"I've returned!"

The owner was sitting and playing a board game with one of the village elders, he showed a smile as he greeted Merlin

"Oh welcome back kid, did you catch anything good today?"

"Yeah, I found some of the mushrooms you were talking about"

The owner nodded with a smile before he spoke to Merlin again

"Nice! Go ahead and wash up before dinner, you can leave those herbs and mushrooms with my wife, she is in the kitchen"

"Sure"

Merlin walked in and greeted the wife of the owner and handed her the herbs and mushrooms before he walked out back to the well and took off his leather jacket before he drew some water and began to wash it for mud and other dirt, once he was done he hang it up to dry before he washed his hands and face, then he walked back into his room and laid down on the bed before he muttered

"Status report"

A few seconds passed before the first group's commander sounded out inside his head

"Force group reporting! 34 shells expended, 2 convoy's destroyed, we are currently 3 days away from the capital, no losses"

"Recon group reporting! 0 shells expended, 78% of the capital's surroundings mapped, we have not been engaged yet"

Merlin showed a smile and responded

"Good work, continue as is"

Merlin then closed his eyes to rest for a few moments before he sat himself up and looked over at the study table where the mage's notebook laid, thankfully it seemed to have been enchanted with some sort of water-repelling magic so it was mostly unharmed from the brief swimming he did when he captured the wyvern rider, then he closed his eyes and began moving the mass of mana that was inside him according to the notebook, he had finished the first step of identifying the ball of mana inside him the day before, the system of casting magic seemed to become more and more clear to him, the ball of mana was like a ball of water in an enclosed space that was made up of pipe entrances, you then had to direct the mana water into these pipes and fill them to a certain level, the problems being that moving the mana mass into any of the pipes produced what was know as Spoil as a byproduct which seemed to be a highly deadly nerve toxin besides that there were around a hundred thousand of the so called paths or pipes, some of which were blocked, normally experimenting alone without a teacher was suicide but to someone that couldn't die for real and had time to brun, it was simply a slightly painful pass time

'A shame that I don't have time to practice some more…'

Merlin sighed before he got out of bed and began studying the mages notebook in more detail before long someone knocked on his door

"Merlin, it's time for dinner"

 Merlin closed the notebook and walked out of his room and ate dinner together with the other inhabitants of the inn most of which he knew okay by now, after an uneventful dinner Merlin walked back to his room and closed the door behind himself, then he remembered something and muttered

"I guess it's time… What're the requirements for rank 1965?"

[Ding! Requirements for rank 1965: 1 hard quest, start quest now?]

"...Sure"

[Ding, hard quest received: Burn down the capital of Helga]

Merlin paused before he showed a smile and muttered

"I was going to do that anyway…"

After a bit his smile faded slightly, since the system had named this a hard quest, there had to be a catch somewhere

'....If only I had some self-propelled artillery I could incendiary shell it from afar… Guess I'll have to do with assault guns… Maybe even a 'Shitbarn' or two… And definitely a 'Starlin's death fridge'... Or a dozen depends on how many points I have available at the time… I have to watch out for wanderers too…'

Merlin laid on his back and looked into the ceiling of his room as his thoughts swirled around long into the night...