Chapter 158: Chapter 123: Everyone Is a Badass
Raphael’s methods for assassinating the Provincial Governor at the port, coupled with his meticulous nature, were truly unsettling.
Raphael had explained that to avoid tipping their hand, when he shattered the Governor’s mind, he had not only erased the memories of all witnesses but had also implanted a vague impression that Governor Alban had felt chest discomfort upon his arrival.
This approach both avoided suspicion and silently eliminated one of their targets.
’If I ever faced Raphael as an enemy...’ Matthias felt he wouldn’t stand much of a chance.
The good news, however, was that this unassuming but meticulous and eerily powerful Mind Mage was his teammate—the squad’s Think Tank.
Of course, he wasn’t the only one wary of Raphael. Manon, the Emperor’s Shield Knight, felt it too.
No one would enjoy being around a Wizard who could alter memories and thoughts—a power that made him exceptionally dangerous.
The Vengeance Angel Squad had been formed less than two days ago, and every member possessed a formidable background and immense strength.
Each had been wreathed in glory before joining the squad, so their first mission together was bound to be fraught with mutual suspicion and mistrust.
Manon, the Emperor’s Shield Knight, would actively try to integrate with the team. However, the assassin-born Seventy-Six and Matthias from the Death Battle Group weren’t nearly as sociable.
Having fought in numerous campaigns to suppress rebellious Wizards, Matthias harbored an instinctive hostility and disgust toward their kind deep in his subconscious.
His furrowed brow and hesitant speech were all clear expressions of his resistance.
He didn’t want Raphael leaving a Mind Mark on him.
But tactics were tactics. As the Think Tank, Raphael held absolute authority in executing established strategies—second only to Reinhardt.
And this Combat Priest, usually so humble, mistakenly believed Matthias distrusted him and was deliberately slighting his Wizard’s Power.
He didn’t realize that Matthias’s resistance stemmed purely from apprehension.
Partly to prove his own worth and partly to solidify his position as the Think Tank, Raphael, after a brief verbal struggle, forcibly planted the Mind Mark in Matthias’s consciousness.
If the Ash Guard hadn’t witnessed the methods Raphael used for the assassination at the port, he would have thought nothing of it, despite his hatred for Wizards. He certainly wouldn’t have cared about the Extraordinary Power of some rookie Think Tank.
But now.
With no foundation of mutual trust, Matthias could only brace himself and allow Raphael to leave the marks in their minds.
When Raphael’s voice suddenly echoed in their minds, Matthias, who had spent half his life fighting Wizards, felt a chill crawl up his spine. His combat instincts made the hair on his body stand on end.
It was then that the perpetually silent Seventy-Six finally spoke.
His voice was exceptionally hoarse, as if his vocal cords had fused from long disuse.
"Telepathy. An efficient means of communication."
With that said, he shouldered his massive firearm. Dark blue embers of Witchcraft Energy flowed rapidly across the black soft armor enveloping his body, and Seventy-Six’s body faded from sight, bit by bit.
Until his breathing and heartbeat vanished completely.
Even though he was right there in the room, no one, including Reinhardt, could perceive his presence.
Matthias may have taken a harsh lesson once, but arrogance and conceit were etched into his very bones.
Thus, upon joining the Vengeance Angel Squad, he had paid no mind to anyone besides Reinhardt—a fact made clear when he greeted only the squad leader.
But now, as Seventy-Six from the Assassin Court brazenly vanished completely from his senses, Matthias’s arrogance finally evaporated.
He was forced to accept a hard truth.
Captain Reinhardt was one thing.
First, there was Raphael, the unassuming yet terrifying Mind Mage. Now, there was the impossibly stealthy Seventy-Six...
’Is it possible... that on this elite Vengeance Angel Squad, a team full of killers... I’m actually the weakest one?’
Seventy-Six’s next words seemed to confirm this suspicion, his hoarse voice grating like two pieces of glass scraping together.
"You take the nearest target. I’ll handle the rest. I’ll be back in forty-five standard hours. Try not to hold me back."
Raphael, tracking Seventy-Six through the Mind Mark, gave him a slight nod. His gaze swept over the other squad members, his expression exceptionally grave. "Forty-eight hours is the fastest possible reaction time for Grand Lord Kles’s legions.
We need to finish everything within two days and then get out.
If we’re exposed, or if Grand Lord Kles’s army mobilizes and blockades the planet’s orbit, we will all die here.
Seventy-Six, you and Matthias will be operating without backup. Be extremely careful."
A faint pulse of energy from a Radiant Beacon teleportation rippled through the room, and Seventy-Six was gone.
After he left,
Manon glanced at the others in the room. Trying to relieve the awkward tension, he let out a loud laugh and told a terrible joke that only made things worse.
"Anyone here know much about the Assassin Court? I was starting to think Seventy-Six was a mute! Ha ha... ha."
...
「Two hours later.」
Rebino World, central Northern Continent.
Without vehicles or a Dao Mark Teleportation Gate, Reinhardt and the other two made slow progress on foot.
But according to intel from the high-level Think Tank on Iberia, the Civil Affairs Department Clerk they were sent to rescue was now very close.
However, when Reinhardt’s party arrived at the target town, they found nothing but charred ruins. Vile Runes, painted in blood, covered every corner.
In the center of the town, a ritual platform made of human bones was clearly visible even from hundreds of meters away.
Bodies, flayed of their skin and their ribs brutally pried open, hung high upon agonizing spikes used for sacrifice.
Flocks of crows circled above the heaps of bodies.
The vile power of a Demon blotted out the sun, shrouding the human city in darkness.
Agonized wails, carried on a fetid wind, echoed relentlessly in the ears of Reinhardt and his companions.
The moment they stepped within the bounds of the sacrificial ritual constructed by the Mage, a ghostly green Soul Lamp flickered to life on a street corner. At the same time, a sinister voice, dripping with contempt and mockery, rang out from nearby.
"Were you sent by Archbishop Deni? Heh heh heh... A pack of ants, you think you can challenge me? And here I was, just lamenting my lack of suitable offerings."
