The Assassin's Seven Principles of Manipulation

Chapter 239: Chapter 235 — Passage

Zephyrion stared at the completely battered cadets chained to the wall. Their faces were swollen, smeared with blood, noses broken, chins deformed. Their eyes were dazed and hollow, as though they existed in this world but weren’t truly here.

Beside him, Fiona gasped.

”Who would do something like this?”

Blood splattered the basement floor, painting the gruesome scene. Tobias had wisely chosen to remain outside at the mention of ’blood everywhere’. Aside from him, everyone else had followed Zephyrion inside, even Draven and Nedra, each staring at the scene with varying expressions.

”Did someone get in?” Nedra glared at Horus. ”What exactly are your people guarding?”

Draven stood beside her, his jaw tight, both fists clenched.

”I-I, em, I don’t think...”

Horus stumbled over his words, his face growing paler by the second. Luckily, Zephyrion came to his rescue.

”It’s not an intruder.” He said, silently observing the scene.

The basement lay in near-total darkness, save for the flickering torches in their hands. With how technologically advanced the settlement was, it was a little odd that there wasn’t a single light switch.

”Then who did this?” Kaelion asked, his expression hard. Whether he was angry over what had been done to the cadets or simply unsettled by the gruesome sight, Zephyrion couldn’t tell.

He didn’t answer.

’It can’t be an intruder.’

He’d spent hours combing through the entire settlement in search of anything unusual. Throughout, he had focused on air, on blood, yet hadn’t sensed a single person aside from the cadets, every one of whose faces and even voices he had memorized. None were imposters.

The only possibility was that an enemy had slipped into the settlement while he dealt with Vaelor. But judging by the dried blood and the scabs already forming across the cadets’ injuries, this had happened some time ago.

”Someone among the cadets.”

A tense silence settled over the basement.

”You’re saying one of us did this?” Nedra frowned. ”What, we’ve got some homicidal lunatic running around?”

”Yes.”

Draven ground his teeth.

”Cowards! Nothing but cowards! Picking on the weak? Spineless bastards. When Draven finds them... he’ll crush every last one of them.”

For the first time, Zephyrion saw genuine anger burning in the giant’s eyes. A moment of oppressive silence followed, then the sound of gentle footsteps.

Step. Step. Step.

All eyes turned toward Lumi, who now stood before the bound cadets. A streak of silver flashed, and their chains snapped apart. A metal platform caught the cadets before they could collapse onto the ground.

Then she turned toward them, silently staring.

Many cleared their throats and glanced away, realizing they’d been far too engrossed in figuring out what had happened than actually caring for the brutalized cadets.

”I-I’ll get them care!”

Horus hurried forward, taking over from Lumi before leading the cadets away. One by one, Nedra and Draven left as well, neither wanting to remain there any longer.

Zephyrion also asked the others to leave. Within a minute, aside from Lumi, who stood patiently by the entrance, only he remained.

Then he took a closer look at the scene.

According to the cadets who had first discovered this place, they’d found a splatter of blood just outside the building, leading to the basement. Someone careful enough not to leave any visible clues here wouldn’t be so careless, at least not unintentionally.

This scene was meant to be found. Intentional.

’It’s him.’

It had to be. The saboteur. The one who spread rumors about him and turned the cadets against him. Now he was striking again. Given everything, it wasn’t hard to determine his goal. After all, it hadn’t changed.

’Hmm...’

Zephyrion lowered his gaze.

No visible clues had been left behind, yet every clue, no matter how useless or minute, meant something.

The ground was littered with countless footprints. His. The cadets who had discovered this place. Several others. As well as the perpetrator’s, no doubt.

In a place this dark, worrying about footprints was unlikely.

’Mind map.’

The figures of everyone who had entered this basement appeared before his eyes. He noted every single one of their footprints, then isolated the remaining ones.

While every cadet had been issued the same military boots, the sizes differed. There were five distinct sizes among the remaining footprints, each falling within the range of forty-three to forty-five, some pressed deeper than the others. He memorized every one of them. With this, he could narrow the list of suspects significantly.

Unfortunately, as far as clues went, this was all he could glean. With nothing else to investigate, he turned to leave, until something else caught his attention.

’What’s that...?’

The floor was unpaved, yet surprisingly smooth. Even so, sand had gathered beneath the wall the cadets had been bound to, forming a small mound. The other walls were untouched. There wasn’t nearly enough sand for this unless...

Zephyrion slowly approached the wall. Staring at it for a moment, he tapped several spots. Solid. Hard. Until it wasn’t. His hand pushed one of the blocks into the wall with a sharp click.

Zephyrion sprang back instantly, his eyes fixed on the wall. Lumi was already beside him, a sling blade formed along her arm. Both stared at the wall in silence.

Several more clicks echoed, each one sounding like thunder in the quiet basement. Then, after one final click, the wall trembled before slowly sliding to the side.

’A door.’

Feeling entirely apprehensive, Zephyrion tightened his grip on his blade. The door slid open, and a blast of air struck him, carrying with it a deep stench that spread through the basement.

’It stinks.’

Exchanging a cautious glance with Lumi, he slowly approached the passage. He saw nothing beyond the open doorway. The darkness was even blacker than the basement’s. Even the light from his torch failed to pierce it.

’What is this?’

A secret passage? Also, why the hell would there be a secret passage... here, during a test? More importantly, where did it lead?

Zephyrion sent a blast of air through the passage, feeling as it spread into the darkness. It was vast, vaster than he’d thought, and... deep. A cavern, he realized.

Then it reached something that wasn’t stone. The air shifted around several figures at once. Something that could breathe. Living things.

Zephyrion froze, feeling the air brush against their forms.

Tall and humanoid, with several spider-like legs, two pairs of hands on each side, and unusually wide faces.

’...Shrikes.’