Frostfire Legacy

"What do you mean past your prime?" Magnus smiled sheepishly. "You're still young and beautiful, furthermore powerful. I'm sure all men would agree you're not some leftover."

"Dear...?"

"...!"

But Magnus' attempt at small talk ended up backfiring on him. Geneviv stared at him with a smile, but her eyes weren't smiling at all.

"Pfft looks like you have a problem now. I'll take my leave."

Faeloria smiled, before walking out toward the others, who were already beginning to plan their infiltration mission. "You go pacify your wife first, Mayor. I'll handle the rest over here."

With her words, everyone quickly understood that Faeloria, the Second In Command of the Hit Squad, was personally taking the helm. Everyone believed that just this was enough to raise the plan's success rate by at least 33%!

"Alright, first, let's discuss our paths of infiltration..." And with that as the beginning, a detailed meeting began.

From the intelligence they got beforehand, they narrowed down the vault's location to three. One was the Mayor's Tower, with its high degree of protection. Second is the General's Safehouse, where he usually brings classified materials for safekeeping. And last, is the Military's Underground Prison, where they kept the Aracelli prisoner they had—Lorelai.

Of the three, the last one had the highest chance of having the vault containing the anti-brainwashing gear that Juviel City had prepared. After all, it's common sense to keep it close where it would be needed.

In the end, they split up the teams into three, to check all sites at the same time.

Zenearith and two others were assigned to the Alpha Team, heading to the Mayor's place. Faeloria and three others were being assigned to the Gamma Team, visiting the most dangerous one, with the rest being the Beta Team, checking the General's Safehouse.

All three locations were quite far apart, so they couldn't rely on other teams before and during their infiltration, but they could still meet up after, regrouping at their rendezvous point, the main plaza.

"Are you done?"

After a while, Magnus returned with Geneviv, coming out of the emergency bedroom attached to his office. However, he appeared to be quite tired, with some mysterious red marks around his neck here and there.

"... Yes, Mayor. We're ready to head in." Faeloria ignored the marks and simply replied.

Of course, none of them present couldn't guess what those were, but none decided to say anything. They stayed professional, not butting into the mayor's life more than necessary.

"Good," Magnus nodded. "Then, my lovely wife, can you do the honors of sending them to their destination?"

"Yes, dear!" Geneviv replied energetically, before walking forward a few steps and stretching her hand toward the teams. "Well then, coordinates would be the forest outside of Juviel City, is that right?"

"Yes," Magnus replied for them. "Don't put them near the edge, or they might get found immediately."

Geneviv smiled, nodding her head in understanding. "Don't worry, I know what to do."

Right then, a large magic circle surrounded them as Geneviv chanted in a small voice. The words she was uttering were something different than the usual Magic language used, making them nearly indecipherable to those listening.

"May the favors of battle be on your side," she exclaimed in a loud voice, watching as the three teams disappeared.

It all happened in a flash, but when they appeared on the other side, there was no residual mana at all from the large-scale spell. Much less a speck of light from the teleportation. It was perfectly controlled to maintain stealth even in the darkness of the forest!

"As expected of the God of Magic's Chosen One..." Faeloria praised, before shaking her head and resuming a serious expression.

"Alright. Everyone, from hereon, communication between teams is banned! Equip your anti-brainwashing gears, and head to your assigned locations stealthily!"

Each one of them received a prototype of the anti-brainwashing gear. But from the data they received, it could only block a certain level of brainwashing. It still can't prevent direct brainwashing with the two parties within close range.

"Remember, our priority is bringing back the anti-brainwashing equipment. Fights should be limited only when necessary," Faeloria reminded them one last time.

After seeing them all nod their heads in silence, Faeloria wore her anti-brainwashing mask and declared. "Alright. Everyone, move!"

Like shadows in the night, everyone moved fast. Before they even reached the city, the three teams had already split up and moved separately. Their specific entry points were all different and, after all, optimized to reduce the chances of getting discovered.

Zena, despite looking like a harmless receptionist for the adventurer's guild, was once called the Rookie Ace of the Hit Squad. Her stealth abilities were top-notch, earning her the title "The Shadowless Grim Reaper" among her peers.

And that Grim Reaper was now returning to duty due to the current situation.

Her Alpha team reached the East Gate, their point of entry, and quickly analyzed the guards around the walls and the gate. "Twenty guards, all under the effect of brainwashing," one of the men behind her, who had a long-distance viewing skill, explained.

The prototype Anti-Brainwashing gear they had on not only protected them from brainwashing; it also showed people who were under heavy influence of it. And the guards at the gates, and above the walls, all show this sign.

"As expected, the entire place is now under the enemy's control," Zena whispered. "Then, as planned, we'll head in."

Zena was a lamia, who had the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a snake. As such, her large tail should be an easy giveaway and would hinder their infiltration. But, of course, she wouldn't be called the Rookie Ace for nothing.

Zena moved, her figure melting into the shadows of the night. Then, without a sound, twenty heads flew up and fell to the ground along with their bodies, soundlessly. In just one second, all the twenty guards were killed!

"As long as there's no witnesses left, it's a perfect assassination," Zena muttered her favorite motto as she signaled for the others to enter.

While waiting for them, she used the lamia's special ability, thermal vision, and scanned the surroundings. As she expected, other than the twenty guards, there were hundreds more scattered around in groups of four or five, patrolling the streets tirelessly.

"This," Zena smiled, liking her lips with her forked tongue. "Looks like I'll be having some fun tonight~!"