Chapter 317 A Maniacal Plan (Part 1)
"Awooo..." A wolf howl reverberated through the forest as a shadow jumped from one tree to another. The shadow seemed to be following the wolf as it constantly threw daggers at the wolf.
The wolf kept on evading as it made use of the darkness surrounding it to increase the distance between the shadow and around itself. As for why the wolf was constantly running away from the shadow, the answer was quite complicated.
The wolf was Sirius and right now, he had fully transformed into his werewolf form. In this form, his power practically tripled while his agility increased by five times. Though, that wasn't all, his affinity to darkness also increased considerably and since it was already dark, Sirius had no trouble moving through the forest as if it was his personal domain.
The reason for him running away was something only he knew of but from what it seemed, Sirius was simply playing along with the shadowy figure. He wasn't using a small percentage of his total strength and just drawing the enemy away from the core of the forest.
Within minutes, the shadowy figure had chased Sirius till the corner of the forest. Suddenly, Sirius stopped and turned. Looking at the shadowy figure with an imperceptible light in his eyes, he licked his lips lightly and grinned.
He had trapped his prey and now it was time for him to retaliate. Soon enough, the shadow was on the ground, wailing miserably as the person found all of it's bones broken to mush.
This was the third person he had captured and all of them were left incapacitated by his harsh attacks and although he could have simply crushed them sooner, it defeated the purpose of keeping his presence and abilities hidden.
Sirius was a scout right now and being hidden was his top priority. Therefore, he lured out these men and then at the edge of the forest, he incapacitated them and captured them. After that, he would bring them back to the mansion for further questioning.
"Guess I will keep low after this guy. The whole settlement must be on alert by now," He thought to himself before picking up the person and disappearing out of the forest.
A week ago, Sirius had made his way back to the mansion with the first body. When he got back, he was happy to know that his friend Ray had woken up and was stronger than ever. Not just that but the new that Ray had somehow managed to convince the woman he brought back to talk naturally made him happy.
Though, he was a but confused about one particular request Ray had made,
"There are scouts inside the forest. I want you to capture some and bring them back for questioning," Ray had asked him and Sirius didn't ask further. He had faith in Ray and trusted him completely. Therefore, albeit confused, Sirius had nodded and went on with his mission.
When Sirius reached the mansion, he saw Ray walking around the periphery of the mansion. Seeing Sirius arrive, Ray smiled and waved back at him.
Sirius walked to Ray and greeted him as Ray spoke, "Thanks a lot Sirius. I know you have been confused of why I asked you for such a strange request but trust me my friend, even my hands are tied over this matter,"
As Ray apologized, he kept his head lowered in embarrassment. After all, Sirius was one of the most loyal people to him and did anything he asked of regardless of what it was. Ray felt guilty of asking him to do this while he healed his body, and even more so when he was unable to tell his friend the reason for asking of such tasks.
Ray looked right into his eyes and spoke, "I will tell you everything in a few days, I promise," This was the least Ray could promise to him.
Seeing Ray act in such a way, Sirius didn't act surprised and neither did he say anything else. Instead, the man stepped forward and put his hand on Ray's shoulder, a smile graced his tired face as he spoke, "I know you better than most. We have lived through life and death. Also, I trust you to do the best for everyone and I know that you have your reasons for being mum. So if u say another word, I will just pick up this guy and throw him back into the forest. You should just chill a bit and trust us as well," As Sirius finished his words, he hugged Ray and said good bye.
He had been working nonstop for the past week and it was time for him to rest. Ray on the other hand, stood in his place as he looked at the Sirius's back disappear into the mansion as he sighed, "I am truly blessed to have such friends,"
He turned around and looked into the forest. His eyes seemed to peer through the distance as a singular pagoda was reflected in his eyes, "So this is where you are hiding," He muttered and went back into the mansion.
The meeting between Ray and the elven woman was still a mystery to everyone but one thing was clear. Something big was on the way, the whole mansion was in a hurry.
More and more people were being sent out of the mansion on hints as they gathered beast meat while even more were put to training. The head nurse had chosen some weaker survivors and had started training them on the topic of first air and emergency medicine and it's applications while Tim was in charge of overlooking physical prowess and training.
Nia had also volunteered when Ray asked for someone to train the survivors for battle formations and magic tactics. Therefore, along with Kashish and Emma, things changed a lot.
It was precisely a few days ago that Emma had fully recovered when she delegated the story of her attacker. It turned out that what attacked her was not some troll but someone from a different race after all. The attacked had used not only dark magic but also a foreign energy to attack. It was precisely this foreign energy that resulted in her being sent to a coma.
"But didn't we catch the attacker?" Tim had asked that question at the time.
However, Nia shook her head as she replied, "From what I saw, the attacker wasn't a man but a shadow hidden inside that man's shadow. I am afraid what you guys caught was nothing more than a puppet,"
"Its enough. If that attacker survived then it only means two things, either the guy was left behind in the academy; which is highly unlikely which leaves us to the second possibility," Ray only spoke that much and kept shut. The others weren't kids and were smart enough to understand the second possibility.
"Then what do we do?" The head nurse had asked. She felt very uncomfortable knowing that an assassin capable of using attacks even she couldn't heal was roaming freely in their safe haven.
"We do nothing," Ray replied nonchalantly, "We act as we do and keep things as it is. The attacker will surface once again as I am sure that Emma isn't his aim. His aim should be either Sirius, Nia or Me as only we three are the greatest threat he knows of. As for you all, keep your real strength hidden for as long as you can," Ray had replied and then convened the meeting as he delegated everyone with different tasks.
This was also why only a select few were doing the tasks while others were out of the picture. Ray didn't want his trump cards to be laud out in the open and for him, the strength of his teammates and friends was one of the biggest trump cards he had. After all, Ray wasn't someone who believed that he could solo everything. He wasn't a kid after all. He knew that he wasn't omnipotent and needed everyone's help to stay on par with the ever changing world.
...
Back to the present,
Ray looked at the dome shaped barrier that helped protect the whole mansion and it's periphery. A glint shone in his eyes as Ray's lips curved upwards in a sneer.
After a moment, he raised his hand and muttered,
[Shut Down],
'Rumble!!!' The earth seemed to shake as the whole mansion trembled. The barrier flickered for a few seconds before it's reflection disappeared completely.
Ray had finally shut down the greatest defense of the mansion and even though many would have thought that he had gone mad, for Ray, it was the best move he could have made.
After all, the mansion had countless more hidden defenses so he wasn't afraid of safety and even though the barrier was the strongest of all defenses, it not only consumed enormous amounts of energy but also acted as a deterrent for the beasts and other invading races.
However, what Ray wanted this time was precisely an attack. He wanted the invaders to attack the mansion. As for the reason for such madness, Ray smiled eerily as the plan he had formed in his mind was put in action.
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