Chapter 393: Familiar City

Kael remained beneath the grass near the top of the hill and watched the city for several minutes. Floor Twelve had made its priorities clear: the target needed to die, Kael needed to escape afterward, and the quality of his reward depended upon how little attention he attracted between those two events.

That immediately ruled out his usual approach. Punching through the front gate would certainly get him inside, but it would also place the entire city on alert before he understood its streets, defenses, or inhabitants.

He studied the distant fortifications instead. Patrols moved along the walls at measured intervals, sparse enough to leave gaps but regular enough that no section remained unwatched for long. Torches burned between the towers, their overlapping light exposing the roads and open ground leading toward each gate.

The defenders had not been warned about him. No horns sounded, no additional formations gathered behind the battlements, and the gates remained open to late-night traffic. These were ordinary soldiers performing an ordinary watch, which would have been reassuring if they had not appeared competent.

Kael moved away from the crest and approached from an angle that kept him clear of the main roads. He followed shallow depressions through the way, using stone outcroppings, low hills, and clusters of trees to conceal his advance.

The resemblance to Floor Eleven became clearer as the city grew before him. Both settlements followed the same defensive philosophy: four immense walls facing the cardinal directions, reinforced gates near the center of each side, narrow towers spaced along raised battlements, and larger fortifications protecting the corners.

There were enough differences to prevent them from being copies. The outer stonework of this city appeared older, its towers were narrower, and several support structures had been added in places Floor Eleven had left open. Even so, the similarities suggested a shared region, civilization, or period of construction.

The Tower had provided no historical information that might confirm any of those possibilities. Kael only knew that Floor Eleven had forced him to defend one fortress while Floor Twelve now required him to infiltrate another built according to the same principles.

He paused behind a stone rising from the grass and looked toward the walls. "It would be exactly like the Tower to make me attack the same people I just protected."

There was no way to know whether that was true yet. The thought remained unpleasant enough that Kael muttered an insult toward the Tower before continuing.

By the time he reached the outer perimeter, the wall rose nearly ten meters above him. A year earlier, scaling it without equipment might have presented a serious problem. Now Kael studied the rough seams between the stone blocks and found himself comparing them to the cliffs his master had forced him to climb.

The Fist King preferred surfaces with almost no room for Kael’s fingertips. Wet stone, loose stone, and sections curved outward over empty air had all been treated as reasonable training grounds. His master seemed to choose cliffs according to how effectively they encouraged a personal hatred of gravity.

Compared to those, the city wall was almost considerate. Reaching it without being seen remained the real problem.

Kael entered the darkness beneath a cluster of trees and activated the Rune socketed within his coat. The Malachor-Weave responded immediately as black leather softened and the edges of the garment lost their solidity. Thin shadows spilled from his shoulders, drifted across his arms, and folded back around him until his outline became difficult to follow.

He did not make himself fully incorporeal. That would consume more energy than he needed and create unnecessary risk while climbing. He only allowed enough Darkness through the coat to break apart the recognizable shape of his body.

The black Spartan helmet fit the transformation almost too well. Moonlight vanished against its surface, while the shadows crossing his coat and armor concealed the boundaries between them. Kael was still visible, but a passing glance might mistake him for an uneven patch of darkness beneath the trees.

Anyone who watched him for several seconds would realize that ordinary shadows did not move that way. Kael activated Presence before giving them the opportunity.

The second Rune produced no visible change. Kael could still see his hands, hear his breathing, and feel the earth beneath his boots. Nothing about his body had become less substantial, yet his existence seemed to lose importance.

Someone could look directly at him and still possess every opportunity to understand what they were seeing. Presence simply encouraged the mind to dismiss that information before curiosity formed around it.

The system chimed before Kael could test the combined effect.

=================

[Runic Synergy Detected]

[Darkness] + [Presence]

[Synergy Evaluation: 100%]

Kael stopped beneath the trees as another notification expanded.

[MAXIMUM SYNERGY ACHIEVED]

Compatible Runic effects have reached perfect operational synchronization.

Darkness obscures physical presence.

Presence suppresses conscious recognition.

Overlapping functions significantly reduce wasted Runic expenditure.

[Combined Resource Cost reduced by 50%.]

================

Kael reread the final line to make certain he had not misunderstood it. The system was not offering a minor improvement or a situational bonus. Maintaining both Runes together would cost half as much as using them separately.

"Holy shit."

He immediately lowered his voice, though no one near the wall could have heard him. Even by the standards of the combinations he had already discovered, this was excessive.

Darkness removed the obvious visual information an observer might notice, while Presence discouraged the mind from examining whatever remained. Neither Rune needed to carry the entire burden because the other was already weakening a different part of the observer’s perception. The two effects behaved less like separate abilities and more like pieces of the same concealment technique.

Kael smiled beneath his helmet. The combination was disgusting, and he loved it.

He crossed the remaining ground quickly, then flattened himself against the base of the wall as a guard passed overhead. Armored boots moved across the battlement, followed several seconds later by another patrol farther away. Neither set of footsteps slowed.

Kael placed his fingers into one of the narrow seams between the stone blocks and began climbing. His strength could have carried him to the top within moments, but moving quickly risked scraping metal against stone or breaking loose fragments beneath his boots.

He climbed with controlled, deliberate movements. One hand found a seam, one foot settled against a shallow edge, and his body rose without strain. The wall offered far more support than the surfaces the Fist King had selected for training, and Kael barely needed to think about where to place his weight.

His master would probably have made him climb it with one arm while carrying something in the other. Depending on the day, the Fist King might also have attacked him from above and insulted his technique throughout the attempt.

Kael decided he preferred the armed guards.

He reached the upper edge and stopped with his fingers curled over the stone. A soldier walked past several meters to his right, showing no sign that he had noticed anything below. Kael waited until the footsteps faded toward the next tower before pulling himself onto the walkway.

Two guards occupied that section of the wall. One faced the countryside while the second stood farther along near the entrance to a tower. Neither turned toward him.

Kael crouched and began moving toward the inner edge, but something about the nearest soldier made him pause. The guard was short enough that the top of his helmet barely reached Kael’s chest.

Months of developing the Nine Yang Destruction Body had added enough size to Kael’s frame that ordinary people seemed smaller around him, but this went well beyond that difference. He looked toward the second soldier and found the same proportions.

Both wore complete suits of armor designed for their bodies. Their spears were shorter as well, with balanced shafts and properly fitted grips that proved they had not been cut down or improvised.

They could not be children. Their posture was disciplined, their movements practiced, and their equipment too carefully maintained. Dwarves remained possible, although the proportions beneath the armor appeared wrong.

Kael left the question unanswered and stepped from the inner edge of the wall.

He fell through several seconds of cold air before landing in the street below. His knees bent with the impact, and his boots touched the stones with little more than a dull tap.

One of the guards turned above him. A rough voice called something from beneath the helmet, followed by several clipped syllables and a sharp whistle.

Kael froze against the wall.

The words meant nothing to him. The second guard answered in the same unfamiliar language, mixing short phrases with tongue clicks and another whistle that appeared to change the tone of the response.

Both soldiers searched the street. One looked directly toward the darkness where Kael stood, yet his attention slid away without settling. After a brief exchange, they returned to watching the countryside.

Even without fully understanding what they said, Kael could almost tell what they must have said to each other.

"Must have been the wind. Of course"