Pillar of Yita

Due to using Non-Attribute Magic Power, this gave him a near-natural advantage under the surveillance spells of the Arcanists, allowing him to unleash his Combat Artisan skills without restraint—and the Arcanists probably didn’t expect that there would be anyone in this world who could use multicolored or colorless magic.

Probably because of their confidence in their spells, there aren’t many soldiers in the perimeter areas of the fortress under such adverse weather. Of course, there are guards at the junctions, entrances, and exits of the passages, but overall the defense is quite weak. Based on the observations from the Clockwork Fairy, Fang Hong estimated that the number of guards in this area wouldn’t exceed thirty.

And they are of ordinary level.

In other words, they are at the standard level of rank ten soldiers.

In direct confrontation, they could probably match the people from Shield of Lufu, but in front of the Seven Seas Travel Group, they are basically nothing.

After investigating this matter thoroughly, Fang Hong didn’t rush but sneaked into a room, stole a notebook, and began drawing a simple terrain map using his Clockwork Fairy. Although his skills in this area weren’t as good as those of ’professionals’ like Parker and Elisa, he benefited from the Clockwork Fairy’s vision, making the directions of the passages more ’intuitive,’ so there wouldn’t be much error in his drawings.

On the terrain map, the locations of the three dungeons were roughly arranged in a triangular pattern, and the place where he was originally imprisoned was almost at the center. Fang Hong also paid special attention to the north of this area, where there was a fortress on the city wall, easy to defend but hard to attack. If their actions were discovered early and prompted attack, they could retreat there and defend for a while.

The fortress connected to the outside of the castle. If they were left with no place to retreat to, they could enter the sandstorm for shelter. Although the outside is dangerous, you can choose to resurrect in the wilderness’s Holy Sanctuary after dying, which is better than staying in this place.

As Fang Hong stealthily traversed the fortress, he meticulously planned every detail of his rescue mission. Although this was the first time for him as a ’Captain,’ having not consumed pork but seen a pig run, he felt somewhat prepared.

He’s read and watched so many classic battle scenarios; their experiences and lessons can always be awkwardly applied, right?

Even after investigating the peripheral area, Fang Hong wasn’t in a hurry to rescue anyone but continued deeper into the Inner Court.

The junction between the Inner Court and the peripheral area is an archway guarded by patrolling soldiers, but the defense is equally not tight—Fang Hong roughly guessed why—the castle is divided into three zones, and the central area of the Inner City where the local military officers and their family reside should be the most tightly defended place.

And the Inner Court should be the guest room area where the Arcanists live; compared to their strength, the guards’ strength outside is really negligible. Having them protect the former is basically redundant. Plus, the Arcanists have their own Hall Guard Knights, so being loosely guarded on the outside but tight internally is understandable.

But this gave Fang Hong an opportunity.

”Miss Tata,” he asked in a low voice after sneaking through the courtyard there: ”Did you find my equipment in a certain room over here earlier?”

Tata nodded lightly.

”Take me to that place,” Fang Hong immediately said.

Miss Fairy glanced at him and then nodded lightly.

The appearance of the Inner Court had quite a difference compared to outside. If the fortress outside the whistling sand and dust looked like a serious military zone, this place had more of a living atmosphere. Occasionally, corridors and courtyards could be seen, with some trees on either side of the open-air corridors, but at the moment, all are covered under the raging yellow sand.

The sandstorm also brought convenience to his infiltration; several times Fang Hong brushed past patrolling guards, and they didn’t realize there was an outsider present.

However, the ability of the Combat Artisan was greatly restricted here; in open areas, the Clockwork Fairy couldn’t be released at all, and even if released, the remote control was also greatly hindered. Fang Hong had to carefully advance nearly inch by inch to avoid discovery.

And wherever he saw Arcanists or Hall Defenders, to be safe, he didn’t approach and only went around towards places with fewer people.

After walking several times, Fang Hong roughly realized that although this place seemed slackly defended, it was actually much more tightly held than outside.

He only wandered in some peripheral zones to prevent the risk of being discovered.

But there were a few times when he forcefully released the Clockwork Fairy to roughly determine several suspicious locations, noting them down in the notebook. There were seven or eight places in total; if Xiangzi, Luo Yu, and the others were imprisoned in this area, they should be at these positions he marked.

After gaining sufficient information, Fang Hong continued heading for the destination under Miss Fairy’s guidance.

The Arcanists probably maintained strict surveillance on Luo Yu and the others but didn’t care much about their equipment. The last place Tata led him looked like a storage room, and there was even nobody guarding it—just a lock on the door.

Seeing the lock, Fang Hong was just about to ask Miss Tata how she got in earlier.

But Nini had already hopped off his head, using her limbs, agilely climbing almost vertically up the door to the lock. She stretched a small paw into the lock hole, fiddled, and then with a ’click,’ the lock opened.

Fang Hong stared in astonishment at the scene—

No, wasn’t Nini’s abilities inherited from the Dark Giant Dragon? Nikopolas knows this?

But Tata sighed and told him hauntingly:

”Parker taught her.”

”Good.” Fang Hong thought, that Papalarian is done for.

And he extended his hand, preparing to pull open the lock, but just then, voices of conversation floated over from a not too distant area.

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