Starting with a Military Arms System I Rise to Dominate Another World Chapter 71 : Chapter 71

Chapter 71: Infiltrating the Castle

At night, the castle lood over the forest, ringed with guards.

Hermann seed to know that he was unpopular.

So he had stationed a large number of guards throughout the castle to protect himself.

Most of Hermann and Otto’s n had already been sent out to search for Isabella.

At this mont, the castle itself was unusually undermanned.

Ryan piloted the Soaring slowly toward the castle.

The operation to rescue Lady Greta was about to begin.

From inside the Soaring, Ryan and the others could already make out the number and positions of the castle guards with the naked eye.

“I thought there would be a lot more guards, but fortunately, there aren’t that many.”

Nika spoke softly.

Their destination this ti was the secret passage Ryan had once used to flee with Isabella.

The exit of that passage lay in the forest near the castle.

The Soaring remained there as well.

Before long, the Soaring reached the designated position.

Ryan turned and glanced at the won behind him, then said clearly, “Are you ready?”

“No problem!”

“Master, we’re ready!”

“Good. Then we proceed according to plan. Move out.”

“Yes, Master.” x2

“Yes, Mr. Ryan.” x3

Everyone checked their firearms and ammunition.

Click! Click!

The motions of disengaging their safeties were surprisingly synchronized.

The straight-line distance from here to the castle was roughly eight hundred ters.

After two months of training, and with Isabella’s magic to support her, she could now hit her target every single ti.

Isabella’s job was to provide cover while the others stord the castle.

She also had to block the pursuers after they rescued Lady Greta.

The night was beautiful, with stars filling the sky. It was the perfect night for a surprise attack.

“Then let’s move!”

Ryan took the lead and headed for the secret passage exit.

Rustle! Rustle! Rustle!

Fina and the others stayed close behind Ryan and advanced quickly.

Isabella remained aboard the Soaring to support them.

As she watched Ryan and the others from behind, she prayed silently, “Please, let Ryan bring Mother back safely.”

The air was cold, carrying the biting chill of high altitude, and it stung their faces.

The wind on the platform was fierce. It blew Isabella’s long hair loose, pressing strands against her cheeks and neck.

She wore a thick dark brown leather coat trimd with fur at the collar and cuffs, with a wide leather belt fastened at her waist.

In the next mont, Isabella’s gaze sharpened.

She walked to the railing on the north side of the platform and set the AWM sniper rifle on top of it.

The rifle was made of dark gray tal. Its barrel was long and slender, with spiral grooves running along the surface.

The stock was crafted from walnut wood, and anti-slip cloth strips were wrapped around the grip. A black scope was mounted on the body, its lenses coated to reduce glare.

She checked the rifle first. Her left hand held the barrel while her right hand pulled back the bolt with practiced ease. It slid with a crisp click.

She checked the magazine and confird it was loaded. The brass casings glead under the light.

Then she adjusted her stance. Her feet were shoulder-width apart, her body leaning slightly forward. Her left shoulder braced the stock, her cheek rested against the side of the rifle, and her right eye aligned with the scope.

Her left hand supported the handguard, fingers resting lightly beside the trigger. Her right hand gripped the handle, her index finger set on the trigger in a half-ready position.

She watched the guards in the distant castle through the scope and waited quietly for chaos to erupt.

The wind shifted direction, making the airship sway slightly, and the rifle moved with it.

The muscles in Isabella’s arms tightened as she steadied the weapon. Her eyes never left the scope.

Every now and then, moonlight broke through the clouds and illuminated the side of her face, revealing her taut jawline and tightly pressed lips.

The tal parts of the rifle glimred coldly beneath the moonlight, standing in sharp contrast to the fur trim on her leather coat.

...

anwhile, Ryan and the others returned to the secret passage once more.

Ryan carefully opened the passage door and peered inside.

He found only footprints leading outward from the tunnel.

Those were the tracks Ryan and Isabella had left behind when they escaped before.

Excellent. No one had discovered this secret passage during this ti.

Ryan let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Charging in through this tunnel would be far easier than attacking the castle head-on.

If they tried to break in through the front, there was no telling how many guards they would have to kill.

Frankly, even after moving into the castle, Hermann still had not discovered that such a passage existed within it. He was truly a fool.

Still, that worked in Ryan’s favor.

“No problem. I’ll go down first. Follow after .”

With that, Ryan entered the secret passage first.

Fina followed closely behind.

Ryan and the others advanced through the dark tunnel.

They did not speak. They rely moved forward quickly in silence.

Ryan had forgotten how long it had taken to escape through the passage with Isabella last ti.

But this ti they were fully ard, and they were moving much faster than before.

Even so, they had to be careful not to make any noise that might alert the guards.

Fina did not use magic either.

There were quite a few Mages among Hermann’s guards.

The mont Fina used magic, the fluctuation of mana would inevitably draw their attention.

So it would be very difficult to use magic for a surprise kill against the enemy Mages.

Still, Fina had not been idle during this period. She had trained alongside the others.

So even without using magic, and relying on her physical abilities alone, she did not feel tired.

Ti passed quickly.

Soon, the group reached the exit at the other end of the tunnel.

That exit connected directly to Isabella’s bedroom.

Nika quickly stepped in front of Ryan.

She pressed her upright ears tightly against the passage door and listened carefully to the sounds beyond it.

A mont later, Nika reached out and opened the secret door.

From what she sensed, Isabella’s room was completely empty.

Creak—

The secret door was pushed open gently.

The group moved out at once.

Returning at last to a room she had not seen in a long ti, Nila could not help but feel deeply moved.

She had lived here for several months, then fled for her life in panic. And now she had returned once more.

Because Fina did not know the castle’s layout, she stayed behind at the secret passage entrance and waited there for Ryan, making sure Hermann would not discover the entrance.

Ryan, Nika, and Nila pushed open Isabella’s bedroom door and entered the castle proper.

The castle was unlit at night. Only a little moonlight filtered in through a window at the far end of the corridor, slanting across the floor in a pale strip, while the rest remained subrged in deep darkness.

The three of them advanced in a triangular tactical formation.

Ryan was at the front, one ter ahead of Nika and Nila.

His footsteps were extrely light. The balls of his feet touched down first, and his heels lowered slowly. After every step, he paused for two seconds and listened carefully to the sounds around him.

When they passed the third half-open door, Ryan suddenly raised a hand, palm forward, signaling for them to stop.

Nika and Nila halted imdiately. Nika took position behind Ryan to the left, while Nila moved behind him to the right, forming overlapping angles of cover.

The mont the two won saw Ryan’s signal, they raised their guns and stood ready.

Ryan listened for three seconds. Only after confirming there was no movent behind the door did he slowly lower his hand and continue forward.

When they reached the middle section of the corridor, a fragnt of stone suddenly dropped from the ceiling and struck the wooden floor with a light smack.

Nika’s gun snapped toward the source of the sound instantly, and Nila reacted just as fast.

Ryan spun around at once, his gaze sweeping upward. After confirming that it was only loose masonry falling from an old crack, he signaled again that it was safe.

All three of them were breathing a little hard. In that brief instant, the tips of Nika’s ears had flushed red with tension, and the tip of Nila’s tail twitched twice in quick succession.

When they resud moving, their footsteps beca even lighter.

Nika and Nila took turns watching the left and right sides.

Nika noticed a faint sliver of light coming from beneath the fifth door on the left. She imdiately nudged Nila behind her with her elbow and signaled the direction with her eyes.

Nila nodded, slowed her pace, and leaned slightly to the right, leaving Nika a clear angle to fire.

Ryan noticed their movents and stopped.

The door was shut, but a shadow could be seen shifting faintly beneath the crack.

He made a hand signal, pointing first at the door, then at himself, and finally at Nika and Nila.

It ant that he would open the door while the two of them covered him.

Nika and Nila both nodded at once.

Nila moved to the right side of the corridor and pressed her back tightly against the wall, ready to rush in at any mont.

Ryan took a deep breath and gripped the door ring with his left hand, his fingers turning pale with effort.

He did not pull it imdiately. Instead, he paused for two seconds to sense the movent beyond the door.

The shadow was still moving, very slowly, as though soone were pacing inside.

He yanked the ring sharply. The wooden door let out a shrill creak that sounded especially jarring in the silent corridor.

The instant the door opened, Nika’s bullet had already been fired, only to be blocked partway by the doorfra. There was no one inside at all. Only a candle, half-burned, sat on the floor. The breeze that rushed in when the door opened made the fla sway, and the shifting shadow had created the illusion of movent.

The bullet struck the wall inside the room and left behind a deep hole.

Fortunately, Nika’s gun was fitted with a suppressor.

Otherwise, that single shot just now would have awakened every guard in the castle.

All three of them let out a breath of relief. Nika raised a hand to wipe her forehead, where a fine layer of sweat had ford.

Nila’s tail drooped and swayed lightly, easing her tension.

Ryan’s shoulders relaxed as well. He stepped forward and blew out the candle on the floor, and darkness once again swallowed that corner.

There were no more mishaps on the rest of the way. Maintaining their formation, the three of them reached the end of the corridor and pushed open the wooden door leading to the courtyard.

The hinges let out a groan louder than any sound they had heard in the corridor, but to the three of them, it sounded almost like release.

When the night wind from the courtyard poured into the corridor, the three of them drew in a deep breath of fresh air at the sa ti, and the tension in their muscles finally eased.

According to the intelligence Sophia had brought back,

Lady Greta was being held under house arrest in the castle’s magic tower.

Compared to the rest of the castle,

there were fewer guards outside the magic tower.

The reason was simple.

There were several Mages inside the tower.

Trying to rescue Lady Greta under the watch of several Mages was no ordinary challenge.

The outer walls of the magic tower were made from a material that could reflect magic.

Anyone trying to attack the tower from the outside would inevitably suffer severe backlash.

To force an assault on the magic tower, one would need a massive spell exceeding the tower’s maximum limit for reflecting magic.

That was why Hermann had not stationed many guards there.

And that, precisely, gave Ryan and the others their chance.