[Flame Tamer IV] allowed the Knight to be able to control flames to an even more astonishing level. These ant spies' colour was dim, and their surface smooth, but they moved so quickly one could tell they were off, but only if staring at one.
But the Knight controlling so many has nothing to do with the skill, it has more to do with the Knight being at such high knowledge stats. It was certain that this place was it, but being a Knight and all, it had to makes sure that it had undeniable proof. So, as it stared down the receptionist, it kept peering into the place. The moving room for insects was almost zero, but these were flames, all they had to do was shrink into thin whisps of flame and reform inside the room.
"I would like to know about your availability of chairs?"
The receptionist was understandably taken aback by the odd request, but with his experience working in the business of catering to guests, he quickly gained back his composure.
"Our establishment does offer a wide range of services relating to temporary shelters, but we unfortunately possess little to no furniture in terms of chairs. Is there something else I might…"
Surely enough, with so many eyes, the Knight had found what it was looking for. Not something big or anything, just a few rooms with people checked into it, but the things inside meant otherwise. There were multiple individuals sitting in an eerie silence. Doing absolutely nothing.
'So… is that what I look like at night – I guess that's why Cathina couldn't sleep.'
With that the ants disappeared like flames starved of oxygen.
The Knight sighed, the receptionist must have been confused but he chose not to show it. The Knight was sure that all those in here are probably accomplices, but on the off chance that someone wasn't, it had to do it covertly.
"Boss? Isn't this a rescue mission, no need to cause a scene, just teleport inside and get the boy out."
The Knight realised that that the request it got from Cathina had nothing to do with taking the organisation down. So, it turned to the receptionist, nodded and left, as soon as it was out, the hall became busied with conversations once more. Outside however the Knight teleported inside the room with the vegetable like people – to make things even worse, none reacted to the sudden appearance of a Knight cloaked in darkness, towering at a massive four metres. This is what prompted the Knight to use [Willruption].
The blue glow in the visor of the Knights helmet flared to an almost silver shade. The Knight could feel a grin coming on. The docile people had a sickening mixture of wills; one so strange and foul. Strangely though, these were the first ever wills it had seen that were so violated. The chaotic change left the souls in shambles. But this is not why it grinned – it was because it had lucked out.
This situation proved that the organisation indeed did have someone with high knowledge stats. Even as twisted as the wills were, in one glance the Knight could tell it had been done intentionally.
'Something is seriously wrong with the woods of Elleria.'
"Why do you say that boss?"
'Someone possess an overwhelming understanding over wills.'
"And…?"
'I possess an incredible understanding of souls, so much so that I can identify each type and even meticulously change their form of existence. The Lord of Spells – Kaiper – also possessed keen intimate knowledge of spells, going as far as to match the queen of Elleria, and even manage to survive her assault. I really still know relatively little about the will of wisdom, and why and how it created the knowledge series.'
The Knight walked closer and began to teleport each person. It had to be quick. It teleported them into a higher branch on the trees and covered them in the void. This was to block any attempts to locate them, and in this state, it knew that this would not register to their minds. Cathina was elsewhere while the rescue was happening, the Knight wanted to avoid letting her see her brother in this state, and one of them had to be her brother.
It kept conversing with Mugaw as it did so. 'But I do note one thing, the planner has read the book of wills. If I am lucky and find them, I might just get my hands on the knowledge. I doubt it will be easy, because surviving the knowledge contained within isn't easy. Afterall, the book of spells did turn Kaiper into an intellectual monster, one possessing a huge capacity for growth.
The book of souls turned me into an even more powerful adversary as a result of my will. I know that the one with this book will be difficult to track down. Do you know why I am not worried?'
"Because … No, I don't see it."
'It's because I have learned something fascinating. Somehow, one way or another all this knowledge tends to find its way to me – dragging along those who have it. The reason this happens is simple, it is because each and every book was crafted by my will. It may take ages, but one day I will meet the one with the book of wills.'
By the end of their conversation, it had successfully gotten everyone out, after all, it couldn't just as well leave everyone else – not like the Knight knew what the brother even looked like anyway.
Even in their state, they flinched in terror as they were embraced by the void ever so suddenly. They were incapable of processing this feeling as such, an eerie site stood before the Knight, a mass of people, all frozen faces of indescribable terror plastered on their faces. It was as though they got afraid and then shut down right after the expression solidified on their faces. Anyone else would have been chilled to the bone at the sight of their faces – the Knight just found it strange that its appearance is still not comparable to the dread experienced in the void – even the dead cower.
The Knight did not have as intimate of an understanding of wills as the being who contributed to the current state of these victims, but it did know quite a bit from the book of souls and from the ability [Willruption] – which allows the Knight to touch and see wills. Usually reversing such a mess would be impossible, but this was no regular mess. This is an ordered mess of souls.
The precision of which it was at was beyond meticulous – it was genius. The Knight did not need much for what it was about to do, only enough understanding. It was like opening an organised crime analytics paper as an amateur detective. You would have nowhere near enough of a skill to solve the case, but with it being so neat, you could find clues that could at the very least make the case more solvable, like eliminating the obvious suspects.
The core will be barely as notable as the others, but if the Knight was careful, it could remove the wills that won't kill the soul once removed. At the same time, it could return them to a more unstable state but one that at least makes them less like vegetables. The mission was to save the brother, and she would give a reference to the Knight to someone who knew about swords, as such the Knight was going to make the best out of the rescue.
"She really doesn't know just how lucky she is she asked your Boss, I doubt anyone else would have been able to help."
The Knight kept quiet and began working on them. After about half an hour, they all became more like people. Actually, the Knight had removed the void to avoid terrifying them. It had removed most of the wills and hoped none of the ones left could be used for tracking – also it could not as well let them see the Knight use the void.
The Knight then used [Desire] to put in them many desires, including the desire to answer, the desire to listen, to speak, to think, to remember, and more.
Then the Knight asked for their names. Sure enough, they matched the announcements made by the whisper. They were still like vegetables, but responsive to prompts.
Ednus, Ebugal, Bual, Desj, Hohi, Ghomovi.
Just as expected, not a single one answered with the name Cathina gave – Ujinski.
The Knight then quickly teleported all of them to the place it had left Cathina. It was on the ground under an arched root that surfaced. These trees are so massive that the area under the exposed root was over kilometres wide, making it seem like a tunnel, thus they had more than enough cover.
Her face light up as the Knight appeared out of thin air but quickly changed once she saw that none of them were her beloved brother.
"Where is he?"
"These are decoys, they are playing with us. One thing came out of this though – the last time your brother was seen alive was about a decade ago. Tell her Bual."
The beast folk Bual raised his head, revealing the tusks that had been cut off, leaving only stumps as a reminder of what mighty elephant beast folk he once was.
"Ujinski was taken from the room after Firllo died."
She turned her head and almost frightened the vegetable people. "Where did they take him?"
The Knight removed her hands from his shoulders, "I already asked them, I know where to start looking. Also, they can't hear you."
The Knight then pulled a priceless looking pendant out of its helmet. "This thing allows me to communicate with any and all beings back and forth. After I did something to them, they could hear me, but no-one else. Everyone else just sounds like a bunch of inaudible static to them."
She looked at them, and even though none were her family, she knew that they were probably someone else's, so something in her broke.
The Knight grabbed her arm, "Let's go."
She pointed to them and said, "Are you going to leave them here?"
The Knight looked down to them without a drop of empathy and said, "No-one can help them, not even me. I will come back for them later."
Right before they teleported, she looked forward, but seeing as that they had not teleported, she looked up to the Knight in wonder, expecting something. Just as expected the Knight looked down to her and spoke.
"This is most likely the state you will find your brother in, if not, then something probably worse. Even after my help, you might never be able to talk to him ever. Knowing that, do you still wish to risk your life to rescue him, just as them, he might as well be dead."
She seemed so close to tears, but she firmed up as snowflakes fell from her cheeks, probably her attempt to hide her tears by freezing every droplet as it came. She steeled herself and faced forward and did not respond. The Knight could feel her emotions due to the [Hero] skill, it could translate her gestures due to the pendant. But due to the Knight being a more silent being itself, it understood her most through its own experience with silence.
Afterall this is how it communicated with Zuri, not being able to understand would be an insult. The words that echoed after being announced by her silence went as follows:
"I would rather die that leave him with them any longer, and if he is dead, then I will join him – I'm sure he misses me too."
Just like that they teleported away.
They travelled southeast, far away from the castle. In this area there was a bustling tourist town, but they easily passed it. Approaching an area known as the sanctuary of freedom. It housed many animals and beasts alike. It was not the only one, neither was it the best, it was a simple one. It really did not have any shady cover ups either.
Then why were they here? Simple, the Knight was betting that the one with the high knowledge stats and the book was nowhere near the woods of Elleria, probably at the main base. As such there should be no-one in their current base in Elleria who could outwit the Knight.
As such this place was a secret underground travel route used to travel to the base in Elleria for those that came from outside. The Knight knew where the base was, but knowing the base measures put up, it knew that going in normally would be a bust. It wasn't going to sneak in either – it had something else in mind.
***
On the northeastern side of the forest a loud bang rang. It was too far for the Knight to hear anything, but it had sent it. It had summoned Tyun who was so strong now that its sense manipulation was fatal. It used it to delay the reaction time of the people. Whilst distracted by Tyun, the new guy Dsace teleported inside after a bit of trouble – there was a barrier, but with the level of the building defences it could not survive a forced teleportation of any of the Knights soldiers.
The place was being raided as the ants now with wings, but only about 500 of them, searching the building at high speeds. Such that they looked like ricocheting bullets. There was no need for stealth in a full out raid. The explosion from earlier was Sirus the flame elemental, expanding its size using [Flame Tamer IV] on itself – and this blew the fortified building entrance of.
This place was in a hidden area but surprisingly it was made from the tree like normal buildings in Elleria, meaning they had even gotten a permit. It was not even concealed, it was a normal building for the most part in a remote area far away from any and all living settlements – the numb human Ednus, identified it as the Abio Research Facility.