Chapter 486: Chapter 486 - Hideout(Part 2)
"Huh, so this is where The Marauders have made their base. This area is rumored to be cursed and haunted, so most people usually avoid it. It is pretty creepy, but since no one else comes here, it’s the perfect place to hide," Remarked Celes, as we hovered over some rundown ruins.
We’d followed the bandits for a few hours, they kept spraying some gas into the cage, likely some kind of tranquilizing mist to keep the abducted women unconscious.
And now, finally, they’d arrived at their hideout, a wide stretch of ancient ruins deep in the mountains. Celes is right, this area really is creepy. It’s kinda giving me the chills, there’s something unsettling about this place.
I don’t know if curses and hauntings are real in this world, but I certainly wouldn’t rule it out. It’d be one thing if it was my first world, but if Magic is real in this world, why wouldn’t other supernatural phenomenon be real too?
Of course, if these bandits have been using this place as a hideout for a long period of time, then it’s probably not haunted or cursed or whatever. It’s probably nothing more than old, creepy ruins.
"What do we do? Just charge in there and attack?" Suggested Celes with a gleam in her eyes, cracking her knuckles.
"Not sure that’s the best move, we shouldn’t get complacent and take too many risks. Considering the fact that these bandits have been active for decades, they’ve probably got a lot of members. We may be powerful, but that’s no reason to be reckless," I reasoned objectively.
"Aw, that’s no fun. But I suppose I can’t argue against that logic. In that case, what’s the plan?" She asked me.
"For starters, let’s take a look inside and see what we’re dealing with," I suggested, opening up World Map and zooming into the ruins.
I zoomed into the entrance that the bandits had entered, getting a look inside. There was a wide, long, winding corridor beyond the entrance, at a downward incline.
At the end of the corridor was a large hall, set up with several tables and benches, with dozens of people milling about.
There were also a bunch of doorways, leading out to other areas in the ruins. I went through each path one by one, one seemed to lead to a sleeping area, with several rooms with beds set up.
Another led to a cooking area, guess these bandits cook for themselves, it wouldn’t be smart to eat the food they steal to sell, after all. Hm, this path leads to bathrooms, and this next one-...woah.
Looks like a treasure room, there were massive piles of coins, jewelry, gemstones, fancy weapons and armor, paintings, ornaments, and so on.
"Holy shit, I’ve never seen so much money and valuables before. World Map is so useful, to be able to see inside places is amazing," Remarked Celes, a wide-eyed look on her face.
"Yeah, it’s definitely convenient as hell. Now, then, I know we don’t really need money, but wanna take it all anyway?"
"Yeah, I don’t see why not. It’s not like the bandits will need it once they’re dead."
"Yup, exactly. Still three more pathways, let’s have a look..."
The first of the last three I checked was stocked with a massive supply of food, from fruits to dried meats, cheeses to canned goods, and so on. The next path I looked through got Celes pretty excited, a massive storage space for alcohol.
There were countless crates and bottles all over the room, it was as insane amount of booze...even with both our Item Boxes combined, I’m not sure we can fit all this.
Alright, just one more pathway to check.
I zoomed back out into the hall, before zooming into the last doorway, scrolling through the path before reaching the end, a large room full of cages coming into sight.
"Looks like all the people they abduct to sell as slaves are kept here. All the cages are full, that’s a lot of people....I count around forty. There’s the women we saw, they’re still unconscious," I remarked as I swiped the screen to look around the room.
"There aren’t as many bandits as I thought there’d be," Responded Celes, as I zoomed back out to the hall.
"Yeah, but based on the number of rooms we saw in the first pathway, I’m guessing not all of them are here. The rest must be out stealing more goods," I replied, before narrowing my eyes as a man stepped into the hall, adorned in fancy clothes and jewelry.
"Ew, talk about gaudy. That’s probably the leader, huh? Everyone else tensed up and greeted him when he walked in."
"Mhm, probably...alright, let’s make our move, shall we?"
"Okay! Wait, what exactly is the plan?" She inquired sheepishly.
"We’ll head in, and once we get to the end of the corridor leading in from the entrance, I’ll blast poison mist into the hall, and we’ll take out the bandits while they’re thrown into confusion. There’s close to a hundred of them in there, which means we’re going to have to take down about fifty each. Think you can handle that?" I inquired with a slight smirk.
"Heh, who do you think I am? Of course I can," She grinned with an excited glimmer in her eyes, as she added, "This should be fun, it’s been a while since I’ve fought people. I was getting tired of killing Monsters, so this should be a nice change of pace."
"I’m surprised they don’t have any guards posted outside. Hm, but then again, this is a hiding place they’ve been safe in for decades, so by this point, they’ve probably come to the conclusion that they have no need for guards. Of course, even if they did have guards...it wouldn’t make a difference," I remarked with a smile.
"Ooh, that was a cool line, nice!"
"Uh, I wasn’t trying to sound cool."
"That makes it even better."
"If you say so. Alright, let’s get started."
