“No time!” I cursed standing up. “New plan… attack the fort! We’re going in and out!”

The fort definitely heard that, and the sound of activity was growing noisier and noisier. It wasn’t at the stage that they sounded the alarms. Alarms were for an attack. This was just a distant noise. However, they’d be sending men to check on it.

“Yes, Master!” Terra nodded.

“Clear the areas, wait for them to activate the alarm, and then start an attack. Make them think they are being attacked externally.”

“Y-yes!” Celeste nodded.

“Mikki, Otto, you’re with me!” I grabbed and dragged the stunned man to his feet.

“Huh? What?”

“We’re going in to get your brother!”

“N-now? But they know we’re coming!”

I snorted. “They’ll think we’re coming. What they don’t know is that we’re already there! Portal!”

Miki, who was used to this kind of thing, jumped right into the portal. As for Otto, he was still confused to the point I had to shove him through. We came out in a hallway inside the fort.

“Master…” Shao gave a curtsy.

“Good job infiltrating the castle so quickly.”

“Forts have so many shadows…” She chuckled.

“And Lydia?”

“She deactivated the alarm. As Master ordered, it will buy us a bit.”

As she said, it would only give us a bit. Specifically, the time it took them to find out the soldiers they sent to trigger the alarm didn’t trigger it. Right now, they are all running around confused out there. However, these kinds of things had fail safes. A single magician could activate an alarm in an instant. At best, we had minutes.

“And his location?”

“The dungeon should be this way!”

Shao began to lead us down the hallways. Twice, we found patrols of guards. Miki managed to cause one group to fall asleep without a fight. The others got drowsy, but in the end, it required Shao to knock them down.

We moved very swiftly, Otto following behind quietly with his eyes wide and his mouth open. He seemed very shocked by our movements, but to me, this didn’t feel much different from moving around a dungeon. Keep quiet, keep low, constantly be on the lookout for patrolling monsters, don’t allow yourself to get caught in a corner and avoid groups. Don’t make a noise and take them out quickly lest you attracted more.

This was actually a bit easier. First off, death wasn’t permanent, so if we did slip up, there was always a second chance. Secondly, it was well lit in here. Some levels of the dungeons had light, but we were just as often travelling only by the light of my light spell and the occasional light orbs I created. Having clear visibility made identifying enemies easy, especially when combined with my Detect Life.

Only a few minutes later, we came to the guard room preceding the dungeon block, at least according to Shao. There was a group of Osteria in there. I found myself annoyed that the alarm hadn’t gone off yet. At least some of them would leave to investigate.

I gestured for everyone to hide, and Shao used her shadow magic to assist as we snuck behind a hanging tapestry which seemed to hide a murder hole.

“Shao, can you go get that alarm going? It looks like Lydia and the girls are doing too good of a job.” I hissed.

“Hehe… my pleasure, Master. Don’t worry about me. I can get out of here, no matter how bad it gets.”

She slipped away, leaving just Miki and me. Once the alarm went off, I’d have Miki work her spirit attacks and cause the remaining guards to pass out.

“So, what about Deek?”

I suddenly heard someone say my name. It was a voice I was vaguely familiar with. Instantly, I turned my ear to the door.

“Wh-what about him?” Another voice nervously said.

“Alysia, don’t you like him?”

“H-he’s from Aberis! It’s not likely I’ll ever see him again.”

“Hehe… we can sneak across the border and capture him. He can be your prisoner.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!”

“She’s blushing!”

“I already told you! I only see him as a rookie. Our relationship is purely just mentorship!”

“Kinky…”

“You… enough! I’ve already said… I want a man who is strong! The only man I’d ever give my heart is the man who defeats me in combat! Since I’ve never been defeated…”

“Ahhh… that guy will have it rough. Who can beat the Captain-General of Fort Pride?”

“Master! I’ll get their attention now!” Terra’s voice came up over Slave Communication.

“Did you hear that?” One of the girls said.

I could hear it too. It sounded like a long whistling noise. My eyes ended up travelling out the murder hole that overlooked the castle walls. It was there I noticed a massive boulder falling from the sky. It was moving incredibly fast as if it wasn’t just a boulder being tossed, but also being pushed by the wind! My face went white. When I said, we were going to attack the fort… I did not mean it literally!

A boulder slammed into the wall in a massive explosion. Half of the fort’s wall collapsed to the ground as the fort shook with a resounding boom. On the good side, there was no longer a need to trigger an alarm. Everyone knew.