Khurn Valdur was a medium-sized fort that was located in a barren wasteland within Palgrost. The terrain was mostly rocky desert with barely a tree in sight. There was a stream going through this desert, though. This stream went directly underneath the fort and provided the fort with a water supply.
The stream was only around knee high, so it was not possible to swim inside it, but one can crawl inside it.
This was what Grace, Paytowin, David, and Associate Clearsky were doing at the moment. They were crawling inside the moving stream.
Despite being shallow, the speeding water obscured what was underneath it. If one didn't pay attention, one wouldn't notice the four people crawling underneath the water. Additionally, this was nighttime, so it was even harder for someone to spot them. The fort was also currently only being manned by a minimum number of soldiers, so the chance of them being spotted was low.
The four met in Mirgrom as advised by Ironhand. There, Clearsky filled Grace and the others in on what he had learned so far.
Yonhilda's brother, who went by Dograr Mountchest, was confirmed to be held inside the Khurn Valdur fort. Clearsky knew this from bribing a native who did regular supply shipments to the fort. From the native, Clearsky also learned the general layout of the fort. This was how he knew there was an opening at the base of the fort where the occupants took water from the stream.
Learning this, David proposed the infiltration via this stream. The rocky desert had few areas for people to hide in. There were some rocky hills in the landscape, but nearing the fort, it was mostly flat land. The fort was probably intentionally positioned that way so intruders could be easily spotted.
Magical spotlights went around the fort to spot intruders, but with so few soldiers paying attention to the surroundings, the spotlights were useless even when they happened to shine upon someone who was approaching the fort. Even so, the four still use the stream to reduce the chance of being discovered.
They crawled for hundreds of meters along the stream. In the past world, they would need snorkels for this stunt. In this game world, they had no problem staying underwater indefinitely.
After almost an hour of crawling, they finally entered the small hole where the stream went into the fort. They continued following the stream until they came out to a fountain in the middle of the fort's courtyard.
Paytowin looked at the radar from his God-eye monocle to make sure no one was directly beside the fountain. He then gave David the sign that the outside was clear.
David had his head slowly come out of the water's surface. He stopped when the water was just below his eye level. Despite Paytowin's info, he still chose to be careful. He surveyed the surroundings, making sure that it was truly safe.
From the native whom Clearsky had bribed, they understood the fort should have no more than a hundred soldiers. Under normal situation, this fort usually housed 100,000 soldiers. Almost all followed Boron to Doghbarum. If they didn't have a prisoner here, this fort was probably completely deserted.
Unfortunately, the native didn't know the overall power level of the soldiers in this place. The strongest soldier the native met when he brought supplies here was a level 60 elite grade. If this was true, even if there were a hundred soldiers here, they could just force in using brute force. But they didn't know, hence they chose the covert option.
Additionally, a frontal assault might risk the soldiers taking Drogar away via some hidden exit. Or worse, execute him rather than letting him get taken away. Boron could then create a story that Thelgrun's spy sneaked in and killed Dograr.
If that happened, Yonhilda might believe him, or she might not. She might choose to stop supporting his rebellion, but she also wouldn't support Thelgrun. The best way to persuade Yonhilda to switch sides was by bringing Dograr to her, alive.
Another unfortunate thing was the native also didn't know where Dograr was being detained. The safe assumption would be the dungeon underneath the fort.
David saw several guards on the upper wall. They were looking outside, though. He saw no one in the courtyard. Some of the keep's windows had light coming out of them, indicating some soldiers were still awake inside.
David gave the three, who were underwater, a signal. He then climbed out of the fountain. The others followed. They did it slowly so no splashing sound was heard.
Once everyone was out, they went to the keep. David led them by taking cover over a wagon and some scattered boxes inside the courtyard, all the while paying attention to the guards on the wall.
They arrived at the keep without any incident. The first floor of the keep had no window for them to sneak in. There was only one door into the fort. From Paytowin's radar, there was a white dot right behind that door.
They didn't know if that dot indicated someone on this floor, the upper floor, or even underground. Paytowin's God-eye monocle was the standard one the same as Jack's. It was two dimensions. He couldn't change elevation to know the dots were above or below like the one Master wore.
They didn't want to take the chance, so they acted with the assumption the white dot on Paytowin's radar was on this floor. They avoided the front entrance.
It's a good thing they had Grace. David gave her a common rope. Grace then used her Wing tool and flew to one of the third-floor windows which were dark. She didn't go to the second-floor ones because all of them had light coming out of them. She looked inside to make sure no one was around. Even though the inside was dark, her mana perception talent could quickly identify if someone was inside.
After making sure it was safe, she flew in. She then threw the rope David had given her out the window. She held one end of the rope. The others used the rope to climb up. With Grace's strength, she had no trouble holding the weight of three grown men.
Once the four entered through the window, they looked for the stairs. After finding the stairs, they decided to split up. Dograr might be held in the underground dungeon, but there was also a chance he was being held on the highest floor. If prisoners were held at the top, they would have to go through countless floors filled with soldiers to escape. Unless, of course, they could fly. That's why they thought it was a possibility.
They discussed using messages and kept the discussion short. After the brief discussion, Grace and Paytowin did a fist bump before the two split. Grace and David went up the stairs while Paytowin and Clearsky went downstairs.
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