Chapter 14: The Snake in the Trap (Part 1)
Location: The Golden Pheasant Inn (Vargo's Temporary HQ).
Time: 3:00 AM.
Status: The Moment of Truth.
Vargo sat in his private suite, a glass of expensive brandy in his hand. The box containing the auction lot sat on the velvet table runner in front of him.
"One thousand gold," Vargo murmured, his vertical pupils dilating with anticipation. "A steep price. But to hold the key to the Third Seal? To hunt down the Vane survivors? It is worth an empire."
He set down his glass.
He reached for the latch.
"Let us see the color of heresy."
Click.
He lifted the lid.
He expected to see a crystal vial swirling with crimson magic.
Instead, he saw a crude glass bottle stoppered with a cork, filled with a swirling grey mist.
Vargo blinked. "What is—"
HISSS.
The pressure differential caused the cork to pop. The Sweat of the Sloth expanded instantly, filling the room with a dense, odorless cloud.
Vargo, a Level 35 Merchant-Mage, had high mental resistances. But Sloth was not a mental attack. It was biological. It attacked the metabolism.
Vargo tried to stand up. "Guards! Poi—"
His legs turned to jelly. His tongue felt like it weighed ten pounds. The command died in his throat, replaced by a massive, jaw-cracking yawn.
"So... tired..."
Vargo slumped forward, his face landing in the open box. He began to snore, a deep, rumbling sound that shook the brandy glass off the table.
Outside the door, his elite guards heard the crash.
"Lord Vargo?"
They burst in.
They walked into the cloud.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Three elite mercenaries collapsed in a heap of armor, joining their master in a deep, magical coma.
Location: The Arken Estate, Main Courtyard.
Time: Noon (9 Hours Later).
Vargo awoke with a headache that felt like a nail being driven into his skull. He didn't wake up gently; he woke up with a roar of pure, unadulterated rage.
He marched into the Arken Estate courtyard, surrounded by fifty Black Serpent mercenaries. He wasn't wearing his merchant silks anymore. He was wearing battle armor—black scales made from Wyvern hide.
"Line them up!" Vargo screamed.
The mercenaries dragged every servant, every stable hand, and every cook out of the manor. They threw them onto the cobblestones.
Caelum stood on the steps, pale but standing his ground.
"Lord Vargo," Caelum said. "What is the meaning of this?"
Vargo walked up the steps. He backhanded Caelum.
CRACK.
Caelum flew backward, blood spraying from his lip.
"Don't play games with me, boy!" Vargo hissed, his eyes glowing neon green. "The Thief known as Raven struck the Pavilion last night. He used an Alchemical Gas. A gas that smells suspiciously like the 'herb' your stable boy was selling yesterday!"
Vargo turned to the line of servants.
"Where is he? Where is the Null?"
Ren was there, kneeling in the dirt next to Gable. He kept his head down.
"Bring him here!"
Two mercenaries grabbed Ren and dragged him to the front. They threw him at Vargo's feet.
Vargo grabbed Ren by the hair, lifting him up so their faces were inches apart.
"Look at me," Vargo commanded.
Ren looked. His grey eyes were wide, filled with tears.
"P-please, sir," Ren stammered, his voice cracking. "I don't know anything about a Raven. I just sweep the stalls!"
Vargo stared into Ren's eyes. He used [Soul Gaze].
He saw fear. He saw weakness. He saw a core that was completely empty (thanks to the Ring).
"You are a Null," Vargo spat. "A nothing. You couldn't pull off a heist like that."
Vargo dropped Ren.
"But you know something," Vargo addressed the crowd. "The gas came from this estate. Someone here is an Alchemist. Someone here is helping the thief."
Vargo drew a curved scimitar.
"I will kill one servant every hour until the Alchemist surrenders."
The crowd screamed.
"Start with him," Vargo pointed at Tom, the young footman who had bought the first gum.
A mercenary grabbed Tom, forcing him to his knees. The executioner raised his blade.
"NO!" Caelum shouted, struggling to stand.
Ren watched. His hand twitched toward his pouch.
I can't save him here, Ren calculated. If I fight now, everyone dies. Vargo is Level 35. His guards are Level 20. We are outnumbered.
He needed to change the narrative. Instantly.
Ren's eyes flashed. [The Index].
He didn't borrow a combat skill. He borrowed [Ventriloquism] from a dusty book on stage performance.
He projected his voice. Not from his mouth, but from the shadows of the stable roof fifty yards away.
"HEY! SNAKE-EYES!"
The voice boomed across the courtyard. It was deep, rasping—the voice of Raven.
Vargo spun around. The executioner paused.
On the roof of the stable, a figure stood in a black cloak (Ren used Grim to hold up a scarecrow dressed in the Raven costume he had discarded earlier).
"You want the Alchemist?" the voice mocked. "Come and get me. Or are you too tired?"
The scarecrow dropped a smoke bomb (another alchemical creation Ren had prepped). POOF.
"GET HIM!" Vargo screamed. "Ignore the servants! KILL THE RAVEN!"
The entire mercenary force charged toward the stables.
In the chaos, Ren scrambled backward, blending into the panicked crowd. He grabbed Tom and pulled him to safety.
"Go to the cellar," Ren whispered to Caelum as he passed. "Phase Two."
Location: The Underground Dock (The Void Walkers' Base).
Time: 1:00 PM.
"That was too close," Kaelith paced the stone dock, her bow in hand. "You used a puppet?"
"It bought us time," Ren said. He was stripping off his servant tunic, revealing his combat gear underneath. "But they will figure it out soon. The scarecrow won't run very far."
"Vargo is hunting," Caelum said, applying a healing salve to his split lip. "He split his forces. Twenty men are searching the woods. Ten are guarding the manor. Vargo and his elites are tearing the stables apart."
"Good," Ren said. "Divided, they fall."
Ren unrolled a map of the estate on a crate.
"We have the terrain advantage," Ren pointed to the map. "This tunnel system connects the Wine Cellar to the Dungeon. It's narrow. Only two men can walk abreast."
"The Hot Gates," Caelum muttered, referencing a history book.
"Exactly. Vargo thinks Raven fled into the woods. We need to lure him here."
"How?"
Ren held up the Vial of the Blood of the Vane.
"He wants this more than anything. If he senses it... he will come running."
"You're going to open it?" Kaelith asked. "That will ping every tracker in the region."
"For ten seconds," Ren said. "Long enough to get Vargo's attention. Then we reseal it and run into the Dungeon."
"Into the Dungeon?" Caelum paled. "Floor 4 is cleared, but..."
"We aren't fighting monsters," Ren smiled coldly. "We are feeding them."
Ren looked at the Jar of Famine sitting in the corner, heavily chained.
"I won't use the Jar yet. That's for emergencies. For now, we use the river."
Ren pointed to the rushing underground water.
"Kaelith. I need you to shoot out the support beams of the walkway when the mercenaries step on it."
"Caelum. You command the orphans. Have them set up tripwires in the upper tunnel."
"And you?"
Ren drew the Prisoner's Shiv.
"I'm going to bait the hook."
Location: The Stables.
Time: 1:15 PM.
Vargo stood over the shredded remains of the scarecrow. He was vibrating with fury.
"A trick," he hissed. "A doll."
He looked around the empty stable.
"Where are you hiding, rat?"
Suddenly, he felt it.
A pulse of mana. Ancient. Powerful. Familiar.
It was faint, coming from beneath the earth. But the taste of it was unmistakable.
"The Blood," Vargo's head snapped toward the Manor House. "He's opening the vial."
Vargo tapped his communication earring.
"All units! Converge on the Manor! The Cellars! He's underground!"
Vargo didn't wait for his men. He sprinted toward the house, moving with a supernatural speed that blurred his form.
Location: The Wine Cellar Tunnel.
Ren stood in the middle of the dark corridor. He held the vial. He had uncorked it for exactly five seconds, then slammed it shut and put it in the deepest part of his Dimension Pouch.
"He's coming," Ren whispered. [Pestilence Sense] picked up a massive, toxic aura approaching rapidly.
"Positions!"
Ren activated [Shadow Veil]. He vanished against the damp stone wall.
Vargo burst into the tunnel. He was followed by five elite Black Serpent Vanguards (Level 25 Heavy Infantry).
"I smell you!" Vargo shouted, his voice echoing. He held his scimitar, which glowed with green poison.
They ran past Ren.
Ren waited until the last Vanguard passed him.
Then he stepped out.
[ Flash Step. ]
He appeared behind the last guard.
SHUNK.
He drove the Shiv into the gap of the armor at the neck.
[ Critical Hit. ]
The guard gurgled and fell.
Ren didn't stop. He kicked the body into the path of the next guard, causing him to stumble.
"Ambush! Rear!" the guard shouted.
Vargo turned. He saw the masked figure of Raven standing over his dead man.
"There you are," Vargo smiled.
Vargo raised his hand. [Spell: Viper's Breath].
A cone of green acid sprayed from Vargo's hand, filling the tunnel.
Ren didn't try to block. He turned and ran away from Vargo, deeper into the tunnel towards the Underground Dock.
"Chase him!" Vargo commanded. "Don't let him escape!"
They chased Ren down the spiraling path.
They burst into the large cavern of the Underground Dock.
Ren was standing on the stone walkway that extended over the rushing river.
Vargo and his four remaining elites stopped at the tunnel exit, blocking the only way out.
"Nowhere left to run, Raven," Vargo sneered. "Give me the blood, and I'll make your death quick."
Ren stood at the edge of the dock. The roaring water was twenty feet below.
"You want the blood?" Ren asked, his voice distorted.
He held up a vial (a decoy filled with red dye).
"Catch."
Ren tossed the vial into the air... directly over the water.
Vargo's eyes widened. "NO!"
Vargo leaped forward instinctively to catch the prize. His four guards followed him onto the wooden section of the walkway.
SNAP.
An arrow flew from the darkness of the ceiling.
It struck the single, weakened support beam holding the walkway up.
CRACK.
The wooden structure collapsed.
Vargo and his guards fell.
But Vargo was Level 35. He reacted instantly. He fired a grappling hook of mana from his hand, latching onto the stone ledge. He swung, dangling over the water.
His guards weren't so lucky. Two of them fell into the churning black water. The heavy armor dragged them down instantly.
"CURSE YOU!" Vargo roared, hanging by one hand.
Ren looked down at him.
"Have a nice swim."
Ren stomped on Vargo's magical grappling rope. He channeled [Mana Drain] into his foot.
The rope unraveled.
Vargo fell.
He splashed into the river, the current seizing him and dragging him downstream toward the dungeon entrance.
"Phase Two Complete," Ren said calmly.
Kaelith dropped from the ceiling. "We flushed the toilet. Now what?"
"Now," Ren said, "We go fishing."
"We go to the Dungeon. Vargo won't die from water. But he's heading straight for the Gluttony Floor with no supplies and wet armor."
Ren turned to the tunnel where Jax and the orphans were hiding.
"Pack up. We're moving the base. The Manor is compromised."
"Where are we going?" Jax asked.
Ren looked at the dark water.
"We're taking over the Dungeon. It's the only place the King's laws don't reach."
End of Chapter 14 - Part 1
Summary:
The Trap: Vargo opens the box and is knocked out by the Sweat of the Sloth.
The Rage: Vargo wakes up hours later, locks down the estate, and threatens to execute servants.
The Distraction: Ren uses Ventriloquism and a scarecrow to fake "Raven's" presence, saving the servants.
The Lure: Ren briefly opens the Blood of the Vane to lure Vargo into the underground tunnels.
The Ambush: Ren and Kaelith collapse the walkway, dropping Vargo and his elites into the underground river, washing them into the Dungeon depths.
The Move: Ren decides to move the Guild into the Dungeon permanently to escape the siege.