Rating Zero (Alpha LitRPG Book 5), page 25
I ducked, taking myself out of that range, and my own weapon struck true. The enemy couldn’t jump because he was already in a jump, and at its lowest point, to boot, so the only way for him to go was down. My blade got him right under the knees.
It must have been the best strike I landed in this battle. Apart from the power of my arms, I used the momentum of my entire body as I turned around, and also somehow managed to grab onto the end of a Chi flow, after which, somewhat reluctantly, other such nearby flows became visible, little by little. My sword passed right between two of them, choosing the path of least resistance. The blade encountered two minor bumps of additional density but went right through them.
That particular engagement was over. I doubted even Reaper would have made a cleaner cut. The Faceless One gave a short, angry grunt as he fell, leaving his severed legs behind. But even crippled like that, he wouldn’t give up. Twisting, and jerking, and pushing off the ground with his hand, he tried to stab me with a straightforward thrust of his weapon. I dodged it easily and slashed the man’s stomach open with a casual swing of my sword. This time he started screaming like it really hurt, his weapon undulating back and forth in a fairly chaotic manner, as if the rapidly weakening assassin was trying to chase away a pesky fly before finally calling it a day.
As I went past this shrieking stump, I swung again, slicing off the killer’s right hand, paying no attention to his left that grabbed me desperately by the ankle. Then I took careful aim, and struck at his neck. This one was done for.
However, the battle wasn’t over yet. The Faceless One who had lost a part of his foot at the beginning was heading my way. Moonblink didn’t seem to have worn off yet, but he didn’t move like a blind man, either. He must have had spatial orientation skills of some kind that he could rely on when he couldn’t see, but they didn’t save him. I stepped around the blind enemy easily and finished him off with a single powerful strike.
There was a suspicious noise behind my back.
Intuition:
Nothing to worry about.
However, I didn’t trust intuition enough to ignore unidentified noises behind my back. I hastened to turn around and jump to the side, just in case. And then I saw the leader of the Faceless Ones right in front of me. Unfortunately, the balcony debris didn’t bury him forever, and he was crawling out, like a zombie on its way to escape a shallow grave, furiously throwing aside pieces of rotten planks and beams. He didn’t seem that much affected by having had a balcony fall on his head. His motions were spry, and his eyes flashed with rage inside the helmet.
I strongly suspected this opponent was a lot more dangerous than the ones I had laid to rest. But I’d be facing him when he was on his own and a little worse for the wear. Besides, my Shield of Chaos was still active since everything that transpired only took a few seconds. Moreover, a hit on the head and the loss of a scalp section were serious business, not to mention a possible skull fracture. All those things would hardly make the man a stronger fighter. In fact, I was almost certain the leader of the Faceless Ones didn’t have long to live. I even wondered for a moment if perhaps I should hurt the man a little and then try questioning him. Rumor had it that members of their cryptic organization never surrendered, and that trying to interrogate them was pointless, but I could still try.
I heard a sound coming from behind and slightly to my left, which made my blood curl. I sincerely hoped that the Unstable Chaos Shield was still covering me. Someone with a less colorful history could mistake the knocking sound of a crossbow triggering for something innocent, but not me; I even heard the bolt whistling.
But it was too late to do anything. The entire thing caught me unawares, I have to admit.
I was desperately short on battle experience, and even though I had impressive parameters, my reflexes weren’t fast enough to do anything against an unexpected shot from behind at point blank range. However, my luck held, and the bolt passed me by a wide margin. As it should have, seeing how I was not the intended target, as it turned out. As the projectile hit the last of my opponents in the chest, there was a fountain of bright blue sparks—either some kind of a magic arrowhead in action, or a defensive talent of sorts protecting the man in black. Another bolt hit him in the face a split second later. This time there were no sounds, and no sparks.
The Faceless One jerked, dropping his sword, and fell back after a few clumsy steps, his arms flailing desperately. A second later, he tried to get back vertical and resume the battle stance, but his feet were still stuck in the debris. He finally stumbled and fell on his knees, as if bowing his head to the ground.
As the man’s helmet clanked on the cobblestones, the bolt stuck in his cheek went in even deeper. Then I delivered the final blow, taking a wide swing and hacking at his neck as I approached him from the flank. It was a fairly pedestrian move, not unlike the way executioners chopped heads off. Which was pretty much what I was doing now, having decided that leaving a professional killer alive for questioning might actually be a bit of a health hazard. Especially when having someone behind you who knew how to use a crossbow.
I was prepared for anything as I turned around, and I kept thinking I should be getting the hell out of there pronto. Now that the agile Faceless Ones were out of commission, I had a good chance of outrunning any other enemy. Not that I had far to go: the school gate was seconds away. The killers were vanquished, and I really had no business sticking around any longer. I needed to get to the Steel Palace before it was too late—in more ways than one.
But as it turned out, there was no squad of crossbowmen behind me, nor were there any more Faceless Ones. A gaunt figure wrapped in an unassuming cloak that hid most of his body was nimbly climbing down the wall from one of the surrounding building’s flat roof. The way it moved looked familiar, and the compact double crossbow it wielded reminded me of an old friend who had always dreamed of a weapon like that.
I immediately forgot I had nothing else to do there.
“Beko?” I asked
It was more like a whisper, but I was still heard. The crossbowman threw off the wide hood casually as he jumped to the ground.
“Beko!” I said, making a statement this time, nearly shouting into my old friend’s face. “How the hell did you get here?!”
As I said that, I took a step back, squinting, suddenly not so sure of what I was seeing. There had been too many unpleasant surprises lately, and the last thing I wanted was another one. However, there was no reason to worry. That was clearly not some Faceless One wearing an old friend’s face. Beko’s movements were inimitable: no one in this world or beyond could have possibly faked them. The same went for his gaze, which fell on every inch of the surface around him, scanning everything that wasn’t nailed down with foot-long nails.
Even though his eyeballs were really busy, Beko didn’t ignore my question. His answer may have been silly, but it was direct.
“Why, but you saw me, Ged. I climbed down from the roof.”
“Shush!” I barked. “They call me Chuck now. Chuck of House Norris.”
“All right, Chuck. You saw where I came from. Why are you asking?”
“Beko! You’re not supposed to be here in the first place! How did you find me?! And what for?!”
“Ge… Chuck, you’re asking too many questions, and we don’t have much time. Did you hear the door creak on the other side of the building? Someone’s off to get the guards.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Chuck, I always feel such things. So we shouldn’t be talking while they’re making their way here. We should save all the stuff.”
“What stuff, Beko? What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about picking the goodies up. Look how much stuff there’s around. We need to collect everything before they have a chance to steal it. It’s a bad city. There are many dishonest people. They’ll boost your grandma before you know it.”
“Beko!” I almost roared.
“Don’t you get so worked up. I’ll sort it all out. You can relax. I’ll bring two guys over. I only met them recently. They’re lazy and stupid, but I don’t need anyone clever now. I just need to collect a few things and carry them away.”
“What guys?!” I yelled, horrified, and, realizing the situation was spinning seriously out of control, slapped myself on the forehead. “Beko, I need to run! Quickly! I’ve got to get back to the Steel Palace!”
“So run, then, what are you waiting for? Don’t worry about the pickings, you can trust me. No one steals from me. Just make sure you get back quickly. I’ve been on the lookout for you for a long time, and I almost missed you again. I wouldn’t want to have to start over.”
I had at least a million questions to ask, but I really needed to go.
“Beko, I’ll only be able to get out again a week from now!” I said. “Wait for me! Find me! Chaos take you, Beko, you have messed up all my plans!”
“You’re good at fixing plans, and I’m good at handling stuff. And I’ll handle this as well,” Beko said as I was about to dart off. Then he barked angrily, “Where are you, lazybones?! None of this stuff will carry itself!”
Chapter 16
Bang to Rights
The Steel Palace was protected incredibly well. No one could enter or exit unauthorized. And I had a hunch the masters encouraged the students to try and go AWOL because anyone caught in the act received a very mild punishment of just a few points. And everyone got caught.
I was curious and liked to be well-prepared, so I used every chance I got to study the school’s security arrangements. Yet all I managed to learn was that the system had at least two levels. The first level was the guards, visible to everyone. There were a few dozen of them, and they operated in three shifts. They were all tough and seemed to notice everything. Definitely a force to be reckoned with, the guards were still too small a force for the defensive perimeter they protected, so there were gaps and blind spots they did not fully control. Which meant they had to rely on the sheer height of the walls, and that was not something I’d do. Many among the students were crafty enough to crawl up a sheet of glass if they really had to, let alone a block of old granite. It would be as easy as a sneeze to a man with a cold.
My assumption that there was a second level of defense was based on the fact that in the entire history of the school, there had not been a single recorded instance of a student managing to get out without permission in search of booze and women. Many had tried, but no matter how cunning they were, none of the students ever succeeded. They must have been getting caught by guards that were out of sight, or, perhaps, those conspicuously posted sentinels could do more than just stand at attention and used some powerful defense talents to control the area.
Personally, I never saw anything but the guards. Having examined different parts of the wall, I didn’t notice anything resembling the paranoid signal web of the kind Khellager used at his place. My artificer skills weren’t developed well enough to sense energy circuits deep inside a mass of rock, but if there was anything there, I should have been able to feel at least something.
So, to date, I still had a very vague idea about how exactly we were protected, but I knew it for a fact that security was taken very seriously. I learned that much from my mother and a number of books. All the sources concurred that the Steel Palace was impregnable in times of peace and war alike, and that students’ safety was guaranteed by the Emperor himself who assured the noble families that their scions would remain safe and sound under his protection. Of course, that guarantee didn’t include accidental injuries, or even fatalities, inflicted by the warrior dummies and certain other things that we hadn’t started on yet. Both the parents and the students were aware of such risks and accepted them.
I ran towards the gate. It was closed, but the door next to it was not. Were they waiting for late birds like me to return? Or could they have heard a suspicious noise from the alley and decided to put a “striking fist” together? The Steel Palace’s policy was to take care of any developing problems on the outer side of the wall, if at all possible, to make sure no potential threat, however small, could affect or distract the students.
It was also quite possible that the guards were waiting specifically for me—the school’s brand new problem. If I was too late and Kimi of House Cree had already been killed, no one would know anything yet, and I might be the first one to bear the brunt of their vigilance.
There were seven guards near the door. A serious group of fighters, but I didn’t need to fight them. We were on the same side. If Kimi was dead, the best thing I could do was give myself up at once. It would be easy enough to prove my innocence of her death caused by the Faceless Ones.
If she was still alive, things could get way more difficult. I’d only have a few seconds to explain what was going on to the guards and make sure they prepared to deal with the threat on the inside, rather than an external assault. I didn’t know how prepared the faceless killer was, but the school wasn’t all that big, and the students spent most of their time in a limited number of places. It would be impossible to inspect them all without drawing any attention to yourself, so my alleged double may have been acting clumsily and attracting attention somewhere in the open. If I got inside the gate soon enough, I would probably be able to take care of the killer myself without involving the guards.
On the other hand, it was naïve of me to think that. If the Faceless Ones had an agent inside the school, they would lead the killer right to their destination. Either way you looked at it, I couldn’t afford to lose a second.
One of the guards took a step towards me and stopped, leaning on his spear with calculated casualness. His left arm shot forward, wrist up, in a universally understood “stop” sign. As he spoke, his voice was respectful but firm.
“What was that noise a few minutes ago? It sounded like a swordfight. There’s blood on you. Are you hurt? Is there someone chasing you? Do you need help?”
The guards weren’t our babysitters, but they knew who they were dealing with and thus knew we had to be handled with care. But they knew their business too and wouldn’t just let a student in under such suspicious circumstances. I was aware of all that and understood it equally well that negotiating with them in a peaceful exchange would take time. Nor could I fight them. The only thing I could try was throw my aristocratic arrogance at them and hope it would be enough to do the job. All I had to do was get inside, and then it would be the masters I’d have to deal with.
Without slowing down, I barked in a perfectly confident voice,
“Move aside! I am Chuck of House Norris!”
One of the warriors standing behind the rest of them tensed. All of a sudden, there was murder in his eyes. The man barely moved his lips as he spoke, apparently intending his words for his comrades-in-arms alone.
“Chuck Norris is already in. He came back right at sundown. Now, it is all coming together…”
I could hear every syllable, and even though I had no idea what the guard thought was coming together, I immediately knew I was in a fix. That was bad news. It might still be possible to convince the guards I was legit, but it would definitely take time.
But I still gave it a try.
“The one inside isn’t me! It’s a Faceless One wearing my face! Move away, I need to stop him!”
I shouted without expecting anyone to hear me, only doing it as a distraction. My tongue acted of its own free will, with no guidance from the headquarters on the top floor. Up there, they were too busy preparing to control the Chi flows, in violation of one of Master Tao’s main commandments. Indeed, in addition to pure strength and energy flow control, I was also going to use a simple ORDER talent. After all, I didn’t want to kill anyone; I just needed to get past those guys. They were simply doing their duty, and that deserved the utmost respect. However, at the moment their duty interfered with my own interests. And they were acting against the school’s best interests too, without even being aware of it.
I simply had no time to talk it out with them.
Chaos Roots weren’t a new talent; none of my new ones was remotely well-developed. But I never used Chaos Roots much, since I never had any need for it. It was so harmless it wouldn’t make a single hair fall off your head, while I would normally be after the entire head, trying to chop it right off in a fight, hair and all. Never before had I felt the need to go easy on my opponents.
However, the situation at hand was a textbook case calling for that particular talent, which had one effect only: it anchored the affected party down, making them stay exactly where they were. They could still move their hands, and twist, and shout obscenities any way they liked, but the soles of their feet would remain firmly planted in the exact spot where the blast hit them. This was indeed an excellent talent with a decent range and duration. Yes, a little under thirty seconds wasn’t all that much, but it would be more than enough for me to leave the guards far behind. To be sure, an alarm would be raised right away, but it would be for the better, making it so much harder for the “Chuck” impostor to do his vile deed.
I had a very vague idea of what I was going to do once I was inside and had to face the school’s entire staff. I had no time at all for any tactical planning and would simply have to play it by ear. That was not going to be my first rodeo, and since I was still alive after multiple earlier tries, I could probably be considered a pro now. I would manage somehow.
