Agent of Seraphim-Chapter 46: Mission Received

Now that the two traitors were aware of his pursuit, there was no need to hide anymore. He would go on a full assault now.

Brand rushed to them, with his Scarab Form fully activated, merging himself into the shadow, thanks to his jet-black shell.

Not only that, but he could also sense their movement through the ripples on the ground. Ripples of vibration beneath his foot showed their position.

Their heartbeat was especially loud. Their footsteps were paced unevenly, as if they were wary of the surroundings.

’This skill is really good for this type of activity.’

He felt an odd sense of satisfaction when the enemies were unaware of his presence. It was like the stealth game he played mostly, roleplaying as an assassin.

First, he had gained espionage mode, allowing him to steal and wear the identities of others.

He had also developed a second skill that sharpened his spatial awareness, allowing him to camouflage himself in darkness.

’I seemed to be going into the path of infiltration?’

Brand had reached the two outsiders while reflecting on his future path.

The traitors seemed aware that he was nearby. Their expressions revealed wariness as they continually glanced around.

"The radar’s been ringing since earlier!" One of the outsiders shouted.

"Come out!" The other yelled.

’Radar? Is that it?’

"Do they have something similar to my Map?" Brand whispered in a low voice to Seraphine.

"Maybe? But theirs are so weak." Seraphien shrugged, as if it were pointless to even compare.

"True, they could only detect me when I’m in their vicinity, seeing how they had been late to detour their path," Brand said.

Earlier on his map, the two outsiders continued along their path, only curving to the side when they got too close to them.

The quality of their detection ability was far lower than his.

"Then it wasn’t the radar that gave them Ed’s team’s position," Brand continued his hypothesis. "They must be using some kind of tracking device, like the one they planted on my back."

Still, it was nothing compared to his beetle, with which he could share senses.

His map showed the direction cartography of a place, even when he hadn’t visited it yet. There were even indicators showing allies or enemies!

"You sounded a bit competitive there," Seraphine teased.

"Can’t help it, this is the first time I’ve encountered this kind of technology in this world," Brand replied.

"Mind telling me more about it?" He asked.

Seraphine narrowed her eyes playfully. "That’s for you to find out, hehe."

’Only giving the right information at the right time, huh?’

Brand shrugged, keeping his eyes on the two outsiders, who circled the spot while holding some kind of metal stick.

’Was that their weapon? What does it do?’

He was curious but decided not to overthink it. He’d find out soon enough.

Before he leapt toward the two outsiders, he received a notification from the System.

[Mission: Extract Information from the Two Outsiders.]

[Reward: +1 INT]

[Failure: -1 INT]

"This is a good way to farm stat points..." Brand muttered. "Do I get this kind of mission from time to time?"

"Yeap, but it comes with a penalty though, if you fail." Seraphine reminded. "The challenging part here is, how do you make them spill out the information?"

’Defeating them is easy, but it is the information extracting part...’

"Again, let’s not overthink this." Brand muttered. "We can test it out slowly later."

’A good encounter starts with a pre-emptive attack.’

Brand launched his attack.

***

"Hey, Bob... Do you think we should quit the mission?" The taller of the two outsiders asked. He started to get uneasy. He would never accept this mission if he knew this beforehand.

"The whole mission was a mistake. Do you see what the barbarians could do?" He continued. "The lightning guy could take out a worm in three hits!"

"Stop being paranoid, Gareth..." Bob replied to him annoyingly. "I understand your concern, the barbarians are just..."

Bob stopped in the middle of the sentence and showed him the radar.

"The tracking device of the barbarian that chased after us had stopped moving?" Gareth muttered with wariness, as he had picked up Bob’s concern.

The barbarians were truly frightening in his opinion. They could inflict damage on the demons with just their energy and raw strength!

He had been more terrified of the barbarians than the demons. Especially the lightning guy and the one who tanked hundreds of worms.

Gareth continued. We had to report back to the HQ that the barbarians..."

But he had been interrupted by a sudden jolt of pain in his knees. Then he looked at them, and there was a sharp cone of a needle piercing his kneecap, dislocating his leg completely.

"Who were you calling barbarians?" A menacing voice rang beside his ears, which was soon accompanied by Bob’s screaming.

His face was full of despair at the moment, realising he had been unable to do anything.

***

"Like seriously..." Did he look like a barbarian? Do you have a mirror?"

"You even have a tracking device there. You should have a mirror, right?" Brand asked.

"Come to think of it, I never had a chance to look at my own reflection." He started his monologue, ignoring the two outsiders’ plea.

"My fellow members even said this form is beautiful?" He turned to the warriors, looking them in his eyes—crimson eyes in the void of scarab shells.

Seeing that the two outsiders were not speaking to each other, he turned his needle arm, swirling around the joint of the outsider’s knee.

—ARGHHH

—UUURFFF

Brand gapped the outsider’s mouth to silence him. He then created a beetle and forced him to swallow it.

He listened to a weeping sound beside him and found the other outsider crying. It looked unsightly.

"Bob over there. Look closely, you’ll be up next." He said.

He grabbed the outsider’s hair and pulled his head back, forcing him to look up at the ceiling. He purposely strained the guy’s neck and maintained it for some time.

"Hmm, do I really look like a barbarian?" He asked Bob who was looking at him in fear.

"D... de... demon!" Bob shouted while muttering.

He released Gareth’s head and shoved his head into the ground. He ordered the beetle to continue scratching his stomach linings.

He then glared at the idiot that couldn’t understand the situation.

"Let’s move your schedule up, shall we?" He grinned menacingly, stretching his mouth wide, creating a Glasgow smile with his shell’s fibre.