"Assassination?" Liriel's eyes narrowed. "Magus Constantine, are you planning to..." "No." Adam shook his head, revealing a light smirk. "Not yet, anyway."
"My Lord... if a thing that big goes into the sewers, won't it be found out?" Bobby asked nervously, voicing out the concerns of everyone else in the room.
Right at that mont, the black snake opened its eyes and glared at the brown-haired man with its cold and ruthless yellow pupils.
"Don't worry about that," Adam assured the man. "There's a reason why I've summoned this little guy."
He then knocked on the snake's head and instructed, "Pay attention."
The snake lowered its body and intently looked at the tunnel network map of Ravenfell. What followed next caused the mbers of the Brotherhood gathered inside the room to be astounded. They saw that Adam and the black snake were conversing with one another. The shocking thing was, they weren't speaking in any language that everyone was familiar with it. Instead, they were talking in a language that consisted of hisses and cold whispers!
"I need you to infiltrate these points," Adam spoke in snaketongue, pointing at several areas in Corvid Quarter. "Identify areas that have been concealed by illusion magic and map out the tunnels inside. Understood?"
The snake gazed at the map of the city, its topaz eyes gleaming with intelligence. It then looked at Adam and hissed, "Human, it will take a long ti to map out all the tunnels underneath the city. You must know that my ti here is limited each ti I'm summoned."
Adam nodded. "For now, just explore the secret tunnels underneath Corvid. Don't worry about how many tis you need to be summoned."
The snake turned its head to look at the Corvid Quarter, its eyes darting around the areas Adam had pointed out. The next mont, it looked back at the youth with narrowed eyes and replied, "My services co at a price, O human."
Adam glanced at the snake whose temperant was now completely different from before. Earlier, it acted like a harmless creature who got along well with him, but now it displayed the cunningness of a sly serpent.
"What do you want in return?" Adam spoke in snaketongue.
"Human sacrifices," A vicious glint flashed in the snake's eyes as it hissed nacingly.
Adam's expression turned somber as it gazed at his summoned creature. He knew that he would have to pay a price to call forth the serpents of the Coil. But he didn't expect the price to be so bloody.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sigh, What was I even thinking? These creatures are apex predators of the Spirit World. Did I really expect them to help out of friendship?
Whether it be the material world or the spirit world, everything cos at a price.
"Deal." Adam nodded. "However, the paynt will be made after you've completed the task. Until then, you're not allowed to harm humans. Understood?"
HISS!!
The snake angrily hissed at Adam, glaring at him in a threatening manner. But in the end, seeing that the raven-haired youth wouldn't budge it nodded its head helplessly.
"Very well, human. You have my word," it said.
"Good." Adam nodded. "Conceal your presence at all tis in the tunnels. You may begin." Following his orders, the scales on the snake's body started to squirm almost as if they would separate from its body. Then, under the dumbfounded gazes of everyone-except Adam, of course in the room, the snake split into hundreds of tiny black snakes!
One by one, the tiny snakes concealed themselves in shadows and slowly left the room. "Those little fellows will inform after they've explored the secret tunnels under Corvid," said Adam. "Once that's done, we'll be able to catch a hold of the bastards from the Red Fists... that is if they're really using the tunnels for trafficking won."
"That snake..." Liriel muttered, her eyes flashing with lingering fear.
"Don't worry about that," Adam assured her. "It won't harm any innocents."
Of course, he didn't reveal to her about the deal that he'd made with the snake. Otherwise, she and the rest of the mbers of the Brotherhood would think he was no different than the people they were fighting.
Most Magi in the organization thought that imprisoning their enemies rather than killing them was the more righteous and honorable thing to do. Adam wasn't so naive. Thus, he kept the details of the deal with the snake a secret.
When the ti ca, all he needed to do was feed so thugs from the Red Fists to the snake.
...
Sowhere in Corvid Quarter, in a dilapidated building owned by the local lords, the Red Fists, sothing heinous was taking place.
A brown-haired man with a scar running diagonally across his face was escorting a robed figure to an underground chamber inside the building.
This scar-faced man was Hardy Clay, a Mana Foundation Magus and also the leader of the Red Fists. But considering how he was acting so subservient toward the robed man, their
difference in power and status was naturally evident.
This robed man was the true mastermind behind the teoric rise of the Red Fists!
Hardy Clay knew nothing about this person. All he knew was that the robed man was a foreigner and was an extrely powerful Magus.
"Has the next batch been prepared?" Asked the robed Magus in a flat tone as the pair arrived at the underground chamber that served as a large-scale prison.
"Yes, my lord!" Hardy responded respectfully, his nose scrunching involuntarily due to the sll of rot and decay that radiated from the other person. But he didn't dare show it.
They arrived at a prison cell inside which dozens of young won were imprisoned, all of them wearing tattered clothing and drugged out of their minds.
The robed Magus stared at these helpless won with sheer apathy and asked, "All of them from Corvid?"
"Yes, yes, my lord!" Hardy bowed deferentially. "Thier disappearances won't raise any suspicions whatsoever. Everything has been carried out like you had ordered."
The robed man cast one final glance at the prisoners before turning around and leaving the chamber, his departing words echoing in the underground. "Send this batch to Uptown by sunrise. Send another hundred won by the end of the week."
"By your will!" Hardy bowed even lower. He secretly glanced at the robed man leaving the chamber with bated breaths. Only after the man had left did he dare to stand straight breathe out a long sigh of relief.
Hardy then glanced at the hundreds of young won he had abducted from the slums with slight remorse in his eyes. "Pitiful things..."
But the next mont, his eyes flashed with greed and he muttered, "But this is the law of the jungle, isn't it? Big eats small."
His lips curled up into a grin and he added, "Rest assured, your sacrifices will be
rembered... or not. Hahaha!"
Amidst the silent sobs of these imprisoned won, the cruel laughter of the madman
reverberated in the chamber.
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