Chapter 384: Museum Heist [T30 Bonus - s 4/5]

Chapter 384: Chapter 384: Museum Heist [T30 Bonus Chapters 4/5]

Chapter 384 – Museum Heist [T30 Bonus Chapters 4/5]

"Lovely miss," a man with rusty black eyes and a snarky voice called out, trying to be heard over the chorus of voices around him, "are you headed somewhere?"

Sarah looked at the man, then past him, towards the golden carriage parked nearby.

She considered it for a moment, nodded, and looked back at him. "Yes. I would like to go somewhere."

"Perfect! Just tell me where, lovely miss, just tell me," the man tapped his chest with an obnoxious grin, hairy chest puffed out. "I’ll drive you there myself, no trouble at all!"

"Don’t we need to wait for others to fill the carriage first?" Sarah asked, since that was usually how it worked. The driver earned more per trip that way.

But the man shook his bald head wildly, his grin never faltering, as if stitched to his face. "How could I possibly make a beautiful woman like you wait? I’ll drive you right away, if you wish!"

"Are you sure?" she asked innocently.

"Of course!"

Sarah smiled, and the man’s eyes widened in awe at such soft beauty. She bowed her head, then spoke,

"I’ll be in your care, sir."

"Hahaha! Of course! But where to?" he asked, gesturing for her to head towards the carriage. "Where would you like to go?"

"Just outside the kingdom," Sarah said, lifting her leg to step in. "Two or three kilometers past the border."

"Oh?"

"Is that a problem, sir?"

The man smiled gently. "Not at all."

He closed Sarah’s door and climbed into his driver’s seat. Unable to stop grinning, he drove off, licking his lips.

’Another one.’

...

Finally, Cassius and his teammates arrived at the Hushsight Domain after 48 minutes of intense speed.

There was still more ground to cover, through the mountains, and on to the museum itself.

They had around 25 minutes left, which Cassius deemed more than enough.

At last, he could finally get to the mission, and make sure the plan they’d put together with Sarah actually held up.

Though that, he was beginning to realize, might be harder than expected.

During their run from that strange black forest to the Hushsight Domain, the group had run into, and dodged, plenty of monsters. But something else was far more unsettling than monsters.

Humans.

His teammates might not sense their presence as clearly as he could, but even they could feel eyes tracking them along the way.

Cassius sensed it worse. Not only could he pick them up more easily, but with his Eyes of Adonis, he could sometimes catch glimpses of their Heartfire.

It was unbelievable.

There weren’t many of them — just a handful — but enough to leave him wondering what exactly was going on.

Some carried red Heartfire, meaning hatred, or something close to intense dislike, aimed at him.

Yet none of them had made a move the entire time. They were just patiently waiting, following, like hunters tracking prey.

Cassius couldn’t shake a rotten feeling settling over him. This mission was starting to feel more and more like a trap.

He’d suspected as much from the beginning, sure, but now there was another layer to consider.

Who was the trap actually for?

Because so far, everything pointed towards him being targeted by dragon hunters. Fine. But was that really all there was to it?

Cassius didn’t know. But this was the first time he truly grasped just how much danger his life was in, outside the Academy’s walls.

Far more than he’d initially believed.

Throughout the journey, the hardest part had been acting as though he hadn’t noticed any of them. Something he only managed by focusing on what they might be waiting for, and how they’d eventually act.

This was a genuinely new experience for Cassius. He’d never been the hunted before, only ever the hunter. Being the target of so much collective bloodlust felt strange.

Still, he’d made it to the border of the Hushsight Domain without a single fight.

Once inside, walking in with the others, the watching gazes that had trailed them the whole way suddenly vanished.

He said nothing about it. Instead, he gave the group a three-minute break.

In that moment, Cassius realized he genuinely couldn’t afford any more loose ends. His life was in real danger now, and there were only so many enemies he could hold off at once.

He knew he couldn’t die. His goddess’s life might end with his own. His master would certainly die too. And everything his family had sacrificed for him over the years... could all be for nothing.

That was something he refused to accept.

So he used the excuse of speeding everyone’s recovery through Nourishment, touching each of his teammates in turn.

And with that, Cassius quietly marked all three with his third skill.

For Meadow, it was simply to track her location and help her if needed.

For William, purely a precaution. Cassius doubted William would ever turn on him, but 99 percent still wasn’t 100.

Finally, for Diaila, now oddly quiet, her expression darkened, it was to seal her skill or essence if a situation like last time ever arose again.

He wouldn’t even wait for her to act next time. She’d already failed him once. Cassius didn’t hand out second chances to people he had no real attachment to.

Before they set off again, though, Meadow mentioned needing a moment to relieve herself. Doing that alone wasn’t safe.

So she asked Cassius to come with her and wait a reasonable distance away. He didn’t mind, agreed easily, and followed.

That left William and Diaila alone once more, though neither bothered speaking to the other.

Almost three minutes later, Meadow and Cassius returned.

The moment he was back, Cassius immediately ordered everyone to keep moving, his tone slightly more commanding than usual.

The temperature around him had turned searingly hot.

After that break, which had stretched longer than intended, the group pressed on.

Twenty minutes later, Cassius and his teammates finally reached the museum. In front of the massive, cathedral-like structure of solid black stone, entirely windowless, sat three large carriages, lined up.

Around six knights in onyx-black armor patrolled the area, their steel boots crushing the beautiful green flowers beneath them.

One of them, in particular, stood with his face fully hidden behind a helmet, stationed beside three tri-headed stallions, his presence casting a dangerous weight over everything nearby.

He was Fourth Rank.

The atmosphere pressed down heavily. Cassius and Meadow soon found themselves face to face with a strange little creature.

The mission would officially begin in six minutes.

...

"You’re right on time," the strange creature said to Cassius — short, green-skinned, with no facial features at all on its round head. "We were about to send word to the Academy, marking this mission a failure."

"Our apologies, sir," Cassius said, smiling gently, genuinely intrigued by this life-form. "We ran into something rather—!"

"Your excuses don’t matter to us," the creature cut him off, with no trace of respect. It had no eyes, yet Cassius could still feel disdain rolling off it as its face pinched together. "What matters is that you do your job properly. The Keeper is inside one of these three carriages, and the artifacts are inside one of them as well. You don’t need to know which. Your only duty is protecting all three carriages, at any cost, until we reach the gates of Vorn City. And call me Mr. Green!"

He paused, glaring. "Understood?"

Cassius didn’t answer right away. Instead, he studied the green creature in its black suit, silently thinking how ridiculous it looked.

Especially given the complete lack of facial features. It was strange. And stranger still, Cassius had never heard of this kind of being before.

Neither had Meadow, apparently, since she was studying this so-called Mr. Green with the same curiosity.

’Interesting. But I’m not really in the mood for interesting right now.’

Cassius stayed quiet, appraising Mr. Green, whose patience was visibly running thin.

Before it ran out entirely, Meadow stepped in. "We understand, Mr. Green. We’ll do our jobs perfectly, you can count on us."

He turned his blank head towards her, studied her, then made a clicking sound from somewhere unseen. "You’d better," he said, turning to walk away, only for Cassius to step directly into his path.

His green skin flushed red with anger, but Cassius simply extended a hand for a handshake, smiling. "Sorry if I upset you, Mr. Green. I’ll do my best."

The creature studied him intently, gripped his hand for a heartbeat, then yanked it back, finding Cassius’s hand far too hot for comfort.

The abrupt motion tugged his suit slightly open, and Cassius briefly glimpsed a strange black mark near his collarbone — sketched like a faceless mask.

It lasted only an instant. Mr. Green immediately straightened his clothes and hurried off.

He moved to check on the knights, also tasked with guarding the three carriages.

Meadow turned her attention to Cassius and noticed something off in his mood right away. She sighed. "Get a grip," she said. "You’re not here with any of your fancy titles today. You’re a hired guard, protecting three carriages. Nothing more."

She narrowed her eyes. "Remember that. And remember exactly why we came here."

"I know that well enough," he replied, glancing over at the green creature barking orders in preparation for departure. "I’m just not used to this. It’s hard to keep my composure."

"Learn to," she said. "It won’t take long anyway. This isn’t a full-day trip. It’s a short one."

"A dangerous one, though," his voice, briefly, sounded almost more feminine than masculine.

Meadow glanced at him and nodded, then asked, "So? What are your orders?"

Cassius looked over the three carriages. Naturally, they were heavily warded, blocking most of what he could sense.

But most people weren’t equipped with abilities that let them read others’ emotions directly.

Which meant Cassius’s ability slipped past the barriers surrounding the carriages entirely.

He subtly activated his power, fire gathering in his eyes.

His eyes glowed faintly, and as he scanned each carriage in turn, he paused, catching something unexpected.

’Oh?’ Cassius murmured.

That strange creature had told him his master was inside one of the carriages. Which, logically, should mean only one person was actually riding inside them, right?

But there were two distinct fires of emotion. One, a neutral grey, sat inside the last carriage.

The second, inside the first carriage, was black.

This black felt different from any he’d encountered before.

Hatred.

Not hatred aimed specifically at him.

Hatred aimed at everything and everyone, all at once. So intense Cassius flinched, his eyes flickering briefly into pure fire before returning to normal.

That wasn’t the end of it.

Whatever it was, it sensed his gaze, and turned its focus onto him, burning with sudden, passionate hatred.

Cassius stepped back slightly, deactivating his eyes at once. The fire receded.

Meadow noticed, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Something wrong?" she asked, but Cassius didn’t answer.

His head stayed lowered.

"That wasn’t human. Not even a living thing," Scarlet said inside his mind, so seamlessly it felt like his own thought.

’What do you mean?’ Cassius asked, lifting his head and offering Meadow a reassuring smile.

"It’s an artifact," Scarlet said. "One carrying deep resentment. ’Deep’ might even be an understatement. Don’t look at it again."

But Cassius had stopped listening. The moment Scarlet said artifact, he’d already worked out where the real artifacts had to be.

"Anything near that artifact would get corrupted," Scarlet added. "So if you’re thinking the rest of the artifacts are in the first carriage, it’s unlikely."

’The second carriage, then?’

"Possible."

Cassius nodded and turned to give orders to his three waiting teammates.

"Diaila, take the first carriage. Use your Law Skill to set a rule blocking anyone from touching it without meeting specific conditions," he said. "William, you’re at the front. With your unique perception, tell me the instant something feels off."

He turned to Meadow. "You’ll watch over the third carriage. Whatever it takes, keep it safe. Understand, Meadow? I mean safe."

"Understood," Meadow said, her heart pounding with quiet understanding. "I’ll do my best."

"As for me," he pointed to the second carriage, "I’ll be positioned between Meadow and Diaila. Anything else?"

No one said a word. Cassius smiled and nodded. "Off you go, then."

The three of them dispersed and took up their positions, their expressions a mix of cold focus, fear, and quiet excitement.

The dark knights flanked the three carriages, front and back, faces deadly serious.

Once Mr. Green confirmed everything was ready, he climbed atop one of the tri-headed stallions, and the driver, a broad-shouldered man, urged the carriages forward.

"All of you better be useful! You’re getting paid for this!" he shouted, and the carriages set off.

Cassius sat atop the second carriage, eyes closed, listening to the quiet surrounding him.

A silence broken only by the galloping stallions carrying them towards Vorn City.

Then something small settled atop his nose.

He opened his eyes — eyes burning with every color imaginable — and found a lovely fire spirit smiling back at him.

He returned the smile and closed his eyes again.

’First heist. Shall we?’

—End of Chapter 384—