Discordant Note | TBATE

Chapter 38: Mission Start

Hofal nodded. "If you weren't nervous, there'd be something wrong with you. Too many youths have rushed headlong into danger thinking themselves invincible. Like a man thinking his knuckles are tougher than stone, then being surprised when they break after punching a brick."

I turned to look at the man slightly. Hofal acted as a sort of grandfather to the entirety of the Rats, always offering emotional support and advice when it was needed. I learned recently that he had been one of Karsien's regular ascension partners, and had followed him to Fiachra when he decided to start this merry band.

I flexed my hand. It still hurt slightly, but the pain was proof that my blood was as red as it was in my previous life. I wasn't invincible.

"Just gotta do it," I muttered standing up.

A few guards were circling the perimeter of the warehouse, something that I didn't have to worry about in my last heist. I could sense a bit of mana from them, too.

It seemed word had gotten out that the Rats had hit Blood Ilason.

I dropped to the ground, silent as a shadow. Hofal fell next to me, the collision of his boots on the cobbles muffled by my magic. We were still out of sight of the mages nearby, but probably not out of sensing range. When I was sure that the patrol had passed, Hofal and I darted to the edge of the building.

We only had a few seconds of blind spot to act. Hofal began to focus on one of his runes, then touched the brick wall.

It folded inward, the earth inside bending to Hofal's will. It smoothed over the nearby bricks, bolstering a small ring around the opening with an extra layer of rock. The parts that smoothed over gained small patterns and shapes lined deep into the stone, showing marks of where Hofal had touched.

I grinned, then darted into the dimly lit warehouse. Hofal followed a second later. There was a slight draft in the opening, but we wouldn't have time to try and close the gap.

Apparently, Hofal's shield crest focused solely on making earthen walls. But the source of that earth could be anything, and he utilized that to his advantage to peel an opening apart and reform it as 'walls' on the side.

Stacks of boxes piled up ten feet in the air, covering the ground. A few of them had the stylized ember of Blood Joan on them, the illicit product inside proudly declaring their source.

The mana signatures I sensed were more closely packed toward the offices on the opposite end, no doubt wary about another attempt to steal the precious money and information inside as we had a few days ago. But now the modus operandi of the Rats was about to change.

Hofal withdrew a few flasks from his dimension ring. Inside each of the glass bottles was a certain trapped gas, one that the sewers had in plenty.

Methane.

Prior to the operation, Naereni and Karsien had worked together to concentrate some of the released methane gas from the sewers into these tiny bottles. It was difficult work and their actions only yielded a few bottles with high enough quality, but we didn't need much.

On top of the bottles was a small mana artifact that was the core of this operation, sealing them shut and keeping the deadly gas contained.

Hofal handed me a few of the bottles. I nodded to him in acceptance, then dashed to one of the first stacks. I set down the bottle in a corner of the boxes, right next to the ember of Blood Joan. I pressed a button on the artifact, starting a countdown timer of five minutes.

I moved stealthily from tower to tower, setting down bottles in opportune places and starting the timers. A few times I sensed a mage wandering near, which caused me to withdraw deeper into the shadows. The men around here were clearly on edge, from the hunch of their shoulders and the darting looks in their eyes.