37-38

Now that we're done with the planning, we need to swiftly start the operation.

This time around, all of us will be acting together. Seventeen S.D members, Adam, Isabella, Emy, Liana, and me. If you ask where are the members who previously operated here since a few years ago went, they all came back to our country. Well, the ones who actually did the rescues directly, at least, not the intelligence team.

They're all members belonging to Isabella's squad, we decided to sent them back for three main reasons:

Firstly, they're not as efficient as our current team when it comes to operations like this.

Secondly, we wanted to train them to use firearms as well, and doing it here with so much people is not very ideal, to say the least.

And finally, they kinda needed a vacation.

Isabella is an exception, because she is stronger and more experienced than most of the other members, she will still be a huge help.

She still primarily use magic, but she also got some basic instructions for using guns recently, so there's no particular problem if she decides to use them either.

Anyway, this time we have quite a number of half-truck, 6, to be exact. Considering the number of people we need to rescue that we got from the guy, I don't even know his name, really.

Fortunately, after all the planning, it was well passed midnight, so our journey going outside the capital went pretty smoothly.

Now, we need to cover quite a distance before reaching the Forbes's territory. It would take around 12 hours or so, continuously driving at 60km/h.

Might as well get some sleep.

It's time to cuddle with my lovers, this is bliss.

***** 

William and Christina are now sitting at a table, together with Duke Spencer and Archbishop Henry. The location is a mansion of Duke Spencer in the capital.

Needless to say, all four of them are very tired. Mainly because it's 4 in the morning, they have been running around gathering people for this operation.

Roping Archbishop Henry in wasn't that hard, the church absolutely despise slavery, they would do everything in their power to help. The council of the church's capital branch deemed that William and Duke Spencer are trustworthy enough, given their history of fighting against crimes like this. So they immediately dispatched 20 paladins, each in their Advance level, that's almost half of their force for this operation.

Duke Spencer didn't even need to be persuaded, he was planning to do the exact same thing for a while now, so obviously he would join. He provided 10 half-trucks and 3 vans, as well as 25 seasoned soldiers in the Advance range level.

The main objective of this operation is to find concrete evidence that could be used to bring Duke Forbes's crime to light. And that evidence would be the slaves inside his estate.

With this operation, not only they can reduce the influence of Duke Forbes, a strong ally of the current crown prince, but it will give the a more definitive cause for the church to support William's faction.

Before, the church heavily criticized the imperial family's decision to wage war against the late Kaspia, and they have been supporting William as the heir for a while now. With this, they can even further solidify their position in his faction.

Regardless, they are ready to face even Duke Forbes, their consciences won't allow this to go any further.

After finalizing their plan, they started to get into their vehicles, ready to depart.

On the way out, Christina encountered a familiar orange cat, it was Anastasia. She had been waiting there because earlier in the day Christina told her to come to this mansion if she really wanted to go.

A genius in divine magic, a devout follower of the goddess, they welcomed her with open arms.

And so, their journey, too, started.

***** 

Driving through a massive grassland to the west, we finally arrived at the territory after more than half a day later.

Having 6 half-trucks driving in a group would be very conspicuous, so we had to split up and then regroup near the estate.

But first, we had to fill our stomach, the operation wouldn't start until midnight, and it's only 3 in the afternoon.

So we each sent out one of the members to buy food and drinks, and then started to drive to the estate.

Parking around 200m from the estate, we again, used illusion magic to make us invisible, then we sent 5 members to infiltrate the building with extreme precautions.

After an hour, we got the confirmation that the slaves were indeed inside a basement under the building, what the hell with all these basements for slaves?

Anyway, they had also confirmed the location of the Duke's bedroom, it's the room in the middle of the fourth floor, so now I'm flying around with a member of the squad, who can use illusion magic to make us invisible.

The goal is to find a building I can use for sniping while our team get into their positions. It would need to be sufficiently tall, within 300m preferably, and I could actually see the bedroom from there.

After a while, I found one that matches the requirements. Within 300m of the estate, no obstructions, and 5 stories tall, this one is good enough.

So I fly to their terrace, using the space between the water tanks to create a comfy sniping space, and then I take out the case with the Hecate.

It feels like a long time since I've use this one, although I literally shot it like half a month ago.

With the S.D member, a young female elf with a ton of scars by appearance, looking at me curiously, I take out the blanket and spread it out on the ground.

Now both of us are sitting on the blanket, I open the case and take out the Hecate, stabilize it with the bipod at the front and the monopod below the stock.

I then take out the bullet box, pulling out 7 rounds of super AP and put them in the magazine. Then I pull out 5 more spare mag I've prepared, and started to load all of the bullets in, and finally, lining up all 6 mags on the right side of the gun, the bullet box on the left, in case I need more. 

I lay down, take control of the scope and try to aim at the bedroom.

Yup, very clear, this is pretty good.

''Please go and tell them that we have found a location for sniping.'' I said.

''Understood, Your Highness.''

Now we only need to wait, let's eat something in the meanwhile.

***** 

It was already sunset when Christina and William arrived at the Forbes's territory. Fortunately, they deployed the same tactic as Sylvia's group: Illusion magic and traveling separately. So they didn't get any suspicion from the people.

Now, the time is near midnight, all the members are already in their positions, ready to raid the estate. Earlier, some of their members who are adept at stealth has confirmed the existence of slaves inside the building.

Even on the surface level, they found maids with clear sighs of abuse, namely bruises and fresh wounds, working with souless faces, it was very obvious.

This time around, William, Duke Spencer, as well as Archbishop Henry will be the ones who give out commands, mainly because they're not strong enough to participate in the battle, and an army of this scale, with two teams who have no prior working experience with each other, they certainly do need some pointers.

When the tension is the highest, everybody was about to charge in, only waiting for the command, a faint hissing sound can be heard in the air.

Following that, something very small moving insanely fast, faster than anything they're seen, pierced the window of Duke Forbes's bedroom, leaving behind a trail of blue. And almost immediately after, a loud screaming noise escaped out of the building.

From then on, chaos ensued.

*****

''Your Highness, everyone is ready to attack, but please take your time to find the best moment to strike.''

''Alright, thanks. I'll make sure to aim properly.''

Both of us fall into silence.

With the magazine already inserted in the gun, I pull the bolt back and push it forward, transferring a bullet into the barrel. I then take a look through the scope, what greets me is the sight of the Duke's bedroom through the window.

It is very fortunate that the window doesn't have any curtain, else we would have to use some illusion magic to make the curtain invisible, and that would be pretty risky. The man is a Swordmaster, it wouldn't be unfeasible if he somehow detect an illusion magic casted by an Advance mage.

Anyway, he has been sleeping for a while now, but just to be sure, I'm going to wait for 15 more minutes. Let him fall into the REM sleep, or whatever, first.

So there I was, teasing the trigger guard for 15 minutes, effectively gave it a foreplay, until finally I decided that it was the time.

''Put a sound barrier on for me.''

''Understood, Your Highness.''

I aim very carefully at the head of the peacefully sleeping Duke, because I'm looking at him from the side, I align the middle of the crosshair with his temple, and then, pull the trigger.

*BOOM*

Immediately after the bullet left the barrel, fire flashing out from the muzzle brake, I take a look inside the scope again-

Tch, he was able to sense it, goddamn monster.

It seems like the Duke reacted to the bullet when it pierced the window, but he was not able to avoid it completely, the bullet got through his left shoulder, effectively blew away that whole area, severing his left arm. Looks like the tip made it through the nightstand behind as well.

I instantly pull the bolt back for another shot, but the Duke seems to have realized where the bullet came from, running out of the room with incredible speed.

This is not very good, but at least I got a hit, I need to cover my team for their way out first.

I aim my scope around, stopping at the front yard of the estate, where everything has somehow spiraled into chaos.

***** 

After the scream was heard, Sylvia's team swiftly moved into the estate from the back side, knocking out whoever still awake, and they went straight to the basement.

Meanwhile, William and two other commanders finally gave the order to attack, soldiers rushing in from the front gate.

Guards were startled by the scream earlier, they flocked outside of their posts, some of them encountered Christina's group and called for support.

In another corner, Duke Forbes was flabbergasted, dumbfounded and overwhelmed. He was very confident is dealing with whatever the infamous 'intruders' could do, but never before had he encountered this kind of attack. With a speed faster than even his fastest sword strike, power beyond a Spearmaster's thrust, he barely dodged that one with his instinct, losing an arm is still considered lucky.

Enduring the pain, he ran around the mansion, holding his sword, before finally taking a first-aid kit from the living room, frantically bandaging his shoulder with his remaining arm and his mouth.

But that wasn't enough, the attack erased most of his left shoulder, exposing bones and flesh, he could have swore he saw his heart beating through the hole looking down.

Abandoning the idea, Duke Forbes ran around the estate again to find a healer, but the problem was, he didn't have any. Because he politically sided with the crown prince, who is hated by the church, no priest ever served him.

He was slowly realizing his fate, that is doomed to die by excessive blood loss.

This thought enraged him, he didn't want to die yet, he still wanted to extend his influence, he still wanted to get stronger and put everything under his feet.

After a whole minute of agonizing pain and fury, he finally accepted it. There's nothing more to be done. But... Before his final moment, he wanted to grant his enemy the most painful death.

So he rushed to the front yard with his sword, where his guards were fighting paladins and Duke Spencer's force.

Now, he can clearly see Duke Spencer, Archbishop Henry, as well as the second prince, standing behind the paladins and other soldiers, giving commands.

''SO IT WAS YOU LOT!!!'' He shouts.

***** 

Underground, where almost 100 slaves of all kinds are currently locked behind metal bars, there's around 5 guards standing near the entrance of the basement, some of them are yawning, due to being assigned at this hour in the midnight.

Suddenly, the door is kicked open, and before they can even react, dozens of bullets have already went through their bodies.

''Quickly, before the other guards notice, free as many of them as possible!'' Adam said, frowning at the horrible sight of barred slaves in front of his eyes.

So everyone got to their work, but strangely, even after releasing all the slaves, nobody came down to the basement. They were pretty sure that at least some of the guards would check this basement.

With all the fuss that were going on when Sylvia shot the Duke, they had to check for all possible intruders, but apparently... not?

''Let me go out and check first.'' Adam said. ''You two, come with me.'' He signals two of the squad members.

Carefully treading out of the entrance of the basement, which was hidden inside a storage room, they find the surrounding... Eerily quiet.

No, maybe not, they could hear faint sounds of battles in the direction of the front yard.

So they stealthily move to the hallway, looking out the window, and before their eyes are roughly 100 people, each one of them are very powerful, fighting each other. It was chaos. 

In that chaos however, they could see behind the group that was pressing from the outside was William the second prince, Duke Spencer and Archbishop Henry.

They can even spot someone who matched the descriptions of Duke Forbes, just, with one less arm, going absolutely crazy down there, and princess Christina fighting in the bunch as well.

So the three hastily ran back to the basement and relayed the information, to which Emilia and Raeliana almost immediately affirmed that they're their ally.

The two had more or less made out Christina's intention when they confronted the Duke's son together at the academy yesterday, but the thing they didn't expect was their speed, to think that they would attack at the same time...

Regardless, being careful is almost never a bad thing. So here they should just focus on getting the slaves out first... But that would probably ruin whatever plan Christina's side has. 

''They're probably here to get the slaves and use them as evidence to punish Duke Forbes.'' Isabella said.

''Yeah, so we can't just get all of them out...'' Liana ponders.

''Just get the elves out then. Leave the others for them.'' Emilia said.

''And then probably help them a bit after that? I mean, there's Duke Forbes out there.'' Liana said, raising an eyebrow.

After a bit of thinking, they all decided to go with Emilia's idea. Most of the slaves here are not in very good conditions to walk anyway, moving all of them would take a lot of time, especially without their professional transporter Sylvia here.

*****

In the front yard, the paladins and the soldiers of Duke Spencer are pushing the other side. Should have been, it's a stalemate for now.

And it's all because of one man, Duke Forbes.

Although somehow he has lost his left arm, Duke Forbes is still overwhelmingly stronger than they have anticipated. Most of the soldiers can't even handle a single swing from him, despite being in the Advance level. But they preserved, mainly because of the paladins and Anastasia, who can use divine magic to increase defense and heal allies.

And fortunately, they're not without help, from the start of the battle, a seemingly mysterious force was helping them. The deadly ray of blue they have seen before has now multiplied, shot towards numerous enemies with extreme precision, especially when the enemies were about to use their abilities.

The rays came in at a regular interval of 2.5 seconds, after a batch of 7 rays, they will stop for around 4 seconds before starting a new batch again.

The rays are extremely powerful, most of the time obliterate whatever is in their trajectories. Not even fully armored tanks with barriers can endure them.

Duke Forbes has been targeted several times, but he just barely dodged the rays every time and kept on rampaging.

But eventually, with the advantages stacking on their side, including overwhelming healing from the paladins and the cat girl, and the mysterious helper, Christina and her teammates were able to reduce the size of Duke Forbes's force.

Finally confronting Duke Forbes and his remaining few elite guards with her mostly intact force, Christina said, panting:

''...It's time to end this. Duke Forbes.''