Baoba quickly hammered the last two guards after taking off their helmets.
All in all, the operation was going well so far. It was still very unfinished. Even though there were no more guards in the building, there was no way reinforcements were not on their way. They still had to get out of there.
With the loot, of course.
He was the one who had the magic bag, because he was the one supposed to fight the less. So, as soon as he arrived, he threw it to his team and let them cram as many artefacts as possible inside.
The scene truly defied Euclidian geometry. Entire lances and multiple armor pieces were being crammed into a medium sized backpack.
Baoba was not going to complain about it. This was very useful.
For the sake of speed, normal bags were also filled. It took about two minutes to pack it all up, the haul this time was really good.
'Such a shame...'
***
The guard on the right woke up first, to the sound of steel boots clanging on stairs. Right after he came to, he shot up to his feet and gauged the room.
His blood turned cold at the sight of the vault door, wide open.
No one was supposed to get the combination. Only one person knew it. Everyone left the room when it was time for them to unlock that door.
How could they know ?
These thoughts were only background noise for the guard. He was too occupied running up to it, to assess the damage.
This next view completely froze his blood.
Nothing. There was nothing left.
The silhouettes had taken everything !
Wait, not everything...
In the middle of the otherwise empty safe, a single note.
The guard was scared to read it, but the curiousity was too much.
Walking carefully, he slowly reached out, grabbed it, and read...
"Hello.
We are the shadows.
You have been snooping around.
Did you think we wouldn't notice ?
Did you think you would find us ?
Did you truly think you could see through the dark ?
Shadows are formless. They are everywhere. They don't exist. They are here, under your feet. Under your finger. Behind your eyes.
How could you grasp us ?
How could you escape ?
If you want to search, then search for these. We have no need for them.
If you find them all, then maybe... maybe you might have the abilities.
The requirement to speak with shadows."
... The guard was speechless. He almost dropped the letter in shock.
They were wrong. The elves were not so easy to find.
He suddenly realised was the problem was when hunting demons.
You could find them.
***
'Ow !'
Baoba was rinsing his face, and accidentally made the water too hot.
'Ouchie.. this stuff is dangerous.'
He and the others had just spent the rest of the day spreading almost everything they had just stolen in the city.
Emphasis on the "almost". There was no reason to let all of it go.
With this, the whole organisation would be busy for a long while. This would give them time, precious time they needed in order to see the day of the assault.
The other benefit was the strong impression they left, which allowed him to make an effective enough bluff.
He had written the letter as different from his demeanor as possible. Plus, if he convinced them that the enemy was this mysterious, powerful entity with a cool name like "the shadows", they would be less likely to punch down and keep investigating regular folk.
He talked a big game, but in reality, the elves' squad was very close the defeat !
'Hopefully these two factors will delay enough...'
He looked at his new artefact. He did write that they would meet again if the Rings found all of them, which strongly implied every single one had been hidden away, but he had no obligation to tell the truth. In fact, this would give them even more time.
The only thing more time consuming than looking for a needle in a haystack is looking through a haystack that doesn't have the advertised number of needles in it.
This item was a bottle. It was made of smooth stone, quite heavy, but still light enough to be held at arm's length. No matter how much one tried to deplete it, it was always filled with water.
This was a truly priceless item, it meant infinite water !
...But Baoba could already do that.
This bottle, though, had the added perk of choosing the temperature of the water.
While Baoba could also do this to some extent thanks to the most recent blessing, it could only come out just barely warm. But this bottle had just burned him ! It was much better !
'... Maybe I should just stick to warm water though...'
The best benefit was obviously having a water source separate from Baoba. But that wasn't particualrly funny to think about.
They had taken three more artefacts from the treasure, and hidden away the rest.
There was a bright red cloth that could make wounds it bandaged heal faster. The value here was obvious.
There was an incredible gold amulet that could hasten the rate of time in the area. A pure, deep green crystal was embedded in it. This was one of the rare items with actually wounderous effects. It was only active if worn, preventing it from getting in the way if the situation ever demanded it.
The effect was on an area of approximately five meters around it, so it wouldn't be effective in close combat. However, for long range attacks, and more importantly for movement, the effect would be game-changing.
It wasn't anything tremendous, only a barely noticeable slow of the surroundings.
But a win was a win.
The reason Baoba knew in that much detail how the amulet worked was because of an exhaustive list the Rings kept in the vault. It was really helpful.
Even though it didn't count as a magical item, they still took it. Weren't planning on giving that one back, either.
In fact, Baoba was planning on studying it every night until the contents were burned into his memory so that he could instantly recognize any Ring's weapons and counter them more effectively.
He had tried to get the others to do the same, but, for some reason, they weren't too keen on the idea.
'Sometimes they do these incomprehensible, senseless things... Anyway, at least Pando agreed.'
The last item was a bit of a special one. It was a dagger that could be summoned instantly.
The item was good, but that wasn't the reason they decided to keep it.
They took it because it was a bit too similar to Baoba's blessing.
If nothing else, it could complement his fighting style, or initiate others to it. That alone wouldn't have been enough. However, the Mother had suddenly requested they kept that one.
They of course asked why. The response proved useless, as usual.
"Doesn't it remind you of the blessing I imparted on Baoba ?" She said. "It is really quite troubling... They seem to be the same. Yes, they truly do seem like it... "
Of course Baoba had not been satisfied with it. But after questioning, the answer was not exactly satisfactory.
"I haven't the faintest idea. I guess this is what you would call... A feeling. Yes, perhaps."
She had really outdone herself with the vagueness there. The captain almost couldn't contain himself this time.
'Whatever. She asks, and we execute. Isn't that why we're even here ?'
He told himself he would pretend to be fine with that at least until the Hunt ended.
"Now what ?" The sudden question distracted Baoba from his thoughts.
He peeked from the bathroom doorway. In the living room, only Capcsium was already done with removing the disguise. It seemed for all the willingness she showed, her disgust of the black oil was still strong.
Drying his face with his assigned towel, he answered : "Now we just survive, like before. If nothing else, then looking for all their artefacts will take them a while, and they'll put most of their agents on it. This will allow us to not only have more time, but also to gauge even deeper who the members are.
"Plus, if we're lucky, they'll believe the letter and stop investigating normal people like us. They'll lose their minds trying to find an even deeper, scarier group, only to find nothing, and freak out even more." He chuckled. "Trust me, I would know something about that."
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know. You said all that before."
"Oh." He emerged from the bathroom, his wet shirt clinging to his chest. "Then what did you mean ?"
Capcsium smiled and stretched. Still stretching she fell backwards on the couch, and then let all of her sore muscles loose as she melted into it. "What are we eating tonight ? That took it right out of me."