Mage And Wolf
Chapter 172

Chapter 172: Chapter 172

The plan to eliminate the Jalen Sect begins at dawn. Elder Ye has been spoiling Betty rotten, even more so once she found out her new disciple has the favor of a Divine Spirit Fox of the Lightning Aspect. She even managed to guilt Elder Song into making blueberry chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. A truly formidable feat.

Like the Golden Fields Sect, today’s target also has only a few Immortals as Elders and is fighting to establish a reputation, or was before they turned to banditry.

It’s agreed that Elder Song will be staying here with Elder Ye and Betty, in case the Shadowed Blade faces recriminations. If we have no immortals nearby it will be hard to pin anything on us, and even if they do, fighting above your weight class is admired by most Sects, not scorned like bullying the weak.

"You won’t be gone long, right?" Betty asks hopefully as we’re getting ready to leave. She looks like our mascot in her new Sect robes, but soon she will be a proper disciple, though not a full disciple for quite a while.

"We’ll be back tomorrow. Just spend the day meeting your new teacher and time will fly by." Karl assures her.

"Alright, good luck everybody!" She cheers us on, making the assembled disciples chuckle at her innocence.

"No zombies this time. As much fun as they are, it’s pretty obviously you when there’s zombies." Karl whispers to me as we’re leaving, making me laugh during my goodbye wave.

Fine, no zombies, but no massive nuke either. Maybe little ones." I pout.

"She’s got a point an object lesson should be messy." One of the disciples headed to do bandit control agrees.

"You hear that everyone? Don’t clean up, just erase traces that night be tracked back to the Shadowed Blade." I call just loudly enough to be heard, eliciting a wave of dark chuckles.

"Yes Young Miss." They answer in unison.

"And if you find prisoners, try to keep them alive if possible. They’re the perfect message carriers to ensure that everyone learns this lesson." Karl adds just before the groups all separate.

It takes most of the day to get to the outskirts of the Jalen Sect, and that’s when things get weird.

"Is it just me or are those guards pointing inwards?" Karl asks. He’s right, the sword carrying guards in the tower are watching the compound like prison guards, not defending the compound from attack.

"Look at the disciples inside, they all look broken, I think they’re trying to brainwash the captives to become Sect members. They just haven’t had the time yet." I agree. I send our discovery to the others with a communication token and they agree to come to the Sect Compound after their groups are finished.

Another twenty minutes and everyone is in place. The bunnies are scattered around the Sect’s compound in ghillie suits, ten gun teams this time, with orders to shoot once the first explosion happens. Karl is going to use five small explosions to attack the Inner Sect courtyard, as they don’t have anything resembling a shield up. Once that’s done, the bunnies will clear the guard towers and discourage anyone from leaving with burst fire into the walls and buildings.

Karl signals ready and bombs go off one after another around the inner Sect. The recruits duck and cover, as would be expected of civilians, and we charge as the bullets begin to fly.

With the chaos, Shadow Meld is especially effective, and we’ve both resorted to twin blades, one of the Shadowed Blade Style’s high speed attacking techniques. The instructors out here are mostly still in Fortification and low Condensation, and they’re dropping like flies.

"I’ve got this, clear the inside." Karl calls and I jump the Inner Sect walls., finding carnage. Most of the disciples here are heavily wounded already and can’t even put up a fight before my Blades and Dragons tear through them.

I still haven’t sensed any Immortals though. Are they all out at the outposts? Did they have bad luck and eat an explosion to the face? I smash the wall out of a barracks building, collapsing it and revealing a pair of injured disciples who shout their surrender. I am a merciful Priestess, so I accept. Shattering their dantian but leaving them alive.

After a few minutes I only sense one building with cultivation energy inside, a small shrine with an impromptu barrier around it.

[Bandit clearance teams will be at the walls in 30 seconds] the voice of the disciple who agreed this should be messy comes through the communication token. Ten seconds later the guns fall silent, so Karl must have called off the bunnies.

[Come to my location when you arrive.] I send back as I see Karl approaching. The Outer Sect must be clear then. Or clear enough to call the job done.

Once we’re all gathered I set out the plan. Surround the shrine, break the barrier, and enter through the windows and doors, everywhere at once, not in stealth. Kill what needs killing and make an example of the rest.

The barrier shatters immediately and I blast the doors open with the Dragons, jumping in behind them. The two startled door guards drop in an instant, and the rest of the disciples around the walls fall to our combined might in seconds, leaving only one Immortal with a vicious looking whip and a handful of bound nobles in the center of the room.

"So they hired the Shadowed Blade to get their precious heirs back." The man in ornate robes sneers. "You’ll never get them alive, everyone back away or I’ll kill them right now."

"You’re mistaken, Sect Master. I’m not here to rescue anyone. In fact, they’re all assumed dead already. We were hired to make an example of you and your Sect." I tell him with a smile.

"Who dares? The Bakken Sect? They don’t have the guts. The Virtuous Alliance? They’d never hire a Sect that has women as disciples. So it must be the Light Sects. Those nosy pricks. They’ll never get away with it, my allies will come for me."

We all let him rant, hoping for more information, which he’s finally given. "Young Miss, we found yellow robed cultivators at most of the bandit teams camps, guarding the prisoners. They must be the allies." a disciple informs me.

"Can we identify them?" Karl asks.

"An offshoot of the Golden Sunrise Sect, rebel Elders that formed their own compound, deemed harmless a month ago. I can lead the way to their hiding spot." Another answers.

"Good, we will deal with them after finishing up here." I grin at the Sect Master who snarls back at me.