Chapter 54: The Infiltration – The Start of the Battlefield!

On the other side, an elite unit personally led by Liliya arrived near the orphanage almost simultaneously with Vilyric.

However, since they had a larger number, they naturally entered through the front door.

This was a large-scale orphanage, with registered children numbering in the hundreds, but even so, it was impossible to accommodate a thousand-man army inside for a melee. Plus, the internal situation was still unclear, so Liliya wouldn’t just let her knights rush in blindly to meet their doom.

Thus, the main combat force was actually the shadow guards and adventurers with an average skill level stronger than the rest, along with a few powerful individuals led by Liliya—about a hundred people in total. The knight brigade’s role was more about maintaining order and cleaning up the aftermath once the battle began, ensuring that no one from the outside would interfere.

Once the Silver Knights had surrounded the thieves’ lair so tightly that not even a drop of water could escape, Princess Liliya gave a signal to Emily beside her, who immediately understood and led several disguised shadow guards to knock on the orphanage’s main door.

*Bang bang bang, bang bang bang.*

The heavy wooden door made a few muffled sounds, and soon after, a middle-aged woman in her forties, dressed plainly, peeked her head out.

“Who are you?”

“Sorry to disturb, is this the Iris Orphanage? We are from the Law Enforcement Division’s investigation team, here on official orders.”

Emily, dressed in the attire of a kingdom official, wore a formal smile as she asked, not overly humble or arrogant.

“An investigation team!? This, this is indeed the Iris Orphanage. Why are you esteemed officials visiting so suddenly? Is something wrong?”

The woman gasped, shrinking back in fear.

She seemed very timid, opening the door only about three centimeters, with the interior dark and shadowy, casting a sense of terrifying depth, making it hard to see that this was a place meant for children to grow healthily.

It looked more like the lair of a cult.

Emily reined in her smile, deliberately stiffening her face and lowering her voice.

“The Law Enforcement Division received a report that rebels are hiding here. Please open the door so we can conduct a search. Rest assured, if you have nothing to do with this matter, we will not wrong an innocent person.”

“N-no! Rebels, how could we dare rebel! This is a misunderstanding, sir, we…”

The frightened woman was so intimidated by the shadow guard that she instantly lost her composure, starting to glance nervously toward a certain direction inside the house.

Seeing her guilty demeanor, Emily and the other shadow guards exchanged glances and confirmed their suspicions.

“Enough chit-chat! Whether it’s a misunderstanding or not can’t just be explained away by your word! Otherwise, what do we need the investigation team for? To lock the door so firmly in broad daylight, I see you must have something to hide! Open the door immediately, or I will arrest you for obstructing justice!”

“Ahhh!!”

The woman was just an ordinary person, no match for Emily’s sharp-tongued elite guard. In just a few exchanges, she completely broke down, crying and kneeling on the ground, banging her head pitifully.

“Spare me, spare me! I truly didn’t mean to assist them; I just don’t want to die! Those who dared to resist got reported, and they were all killed! Kunt, Theodore, Payne—they’re all dead! I swear, I’m willing to tell you everything, just please save me!”

Princess Liliya was right; there were indeed ghosts here!

Feeling something was off, Emily’s expression tightened, and not bothering with pleasantries, she kicked open the ajar door, only to discover that someone was standing not far from the woman inside, stabbing at her neck with a thin sword!

Murder to silence her!? A sinister scoundrel, and instead of fleeing upon being discovered, they dared to act in front of law enforcement? Simply outrageous…

“Utterly audacious!”

The vice-captain had her eyes wide in shock, drawing two short swords hidden behind her. One managed to block the attack from the shadowy figure, while the other went straight for their face!

Before the real battle had commenced, Liliya had already informed all her subordinates that the true identity of the enemy likely resembled the undead they had encountered previously in the Tapeya Basin of the Beast Kingdom. Thus, with relevant combat experience, Emily targeted the enemy’s weak point—their brain.

“Tsk.”

A low clicking sound came from the shadow, and the figure seemed reluctant to take the hit, quickly abandoning their attempt to silence the woman and redirecting to parry Emily’s attack.

Clang.

The blades clashed, and Emily was knocked back two steps while the hidden foe retreated, vanishing into the murky depths of the orphanage.

“Princess, confirm the target!”

“Understood. Operation begins! Everyone, commence the attack as planned!”

“Yes!”

Swish, swish, swish! Hundreds of swift figures charged through the orphanage doors, and soon the sound of fierce clashes echoed from within.

The aftermath of magic and combat techniques splashed everywhere, while the outside light illuminated the hall through the wide-open doorway.

“How’s it going, Emily?!”

Princess Liliya, now donned in silver light armor, hurried to the vice-captain’s side, waving her hand for the knight brigade to take the frightened woman away for preliminary containment. They had no time to slowly interrogate this seemingly coerced accomplice.

“Princess, the one I engaged with was no weakling; they should be of Earth class. Moreover, after encountering me, that hidden stench of decay began to ooze out. It really is the same as those creatures from the Tapeya Basin.”

“Seems confirmation is indeed warranted… But how could a mere doorkeeper possess Earth-level strength? Just how much power has the Throne of Immortality infiltrated into the royal capital? Damn it! These crazed fiends, they wouldn’t have taken all the children in the orphanage, would they…?”

Liliya’s face turned somewhat grim, as she had heard from Plakaka about this organization’s so-called ‘glorious deeds.’ It was alarming that such a large facility could be fully controlled from the inside without anyone noticing—there was surely someone among the kingdom’s higher-ups aiding them.

But now was not the time for settling scores.

“Emily, I’ll head in first. You’re in charge of the knight brigade for now. Remember, don’t let a single rat escape.”

As she uttered the word “rat,” Princess Liliya seemed to realize something, awkwardly looking a bit aside for a moment before cheerfully proceeding with her instructions.

“If the enemy puts up a fight, you’re permitted to kill them immediately! During this time, no one from the outside shall be let in unless you receive my orders. Understood?”

“Yes, Princess!”

Watching her subordinates’ backs as they turned to leave, Liliya nodded in satisfaction.

“Let’s go in. Be careful.”

With that, the blue-haired girl, along with several shadow guards, stepped ahead into the orphanage, followed by Hua, Nickles, and a certain invisible true rat.

They paid no attention to the small fry still tussling with the shadow guards and adventurers in the main hall but instead turned into the corridor, stepping on the somewhat worn stone floor until they vanished deeper within.

This time, their objective was to completely annihilate the underground organization entrenched in the Iris Orphanage and rescue any innocent victims who might still be alive.

Although shadow guards and adventurers of Earth and Sky levels had also rushed inside, from the looks of it, this place had likely been occupied by the Throne of Immortality for a long time, so there were probably many traps and hidden chambers.

And who knows, there might be the Throne itself inside.

This battle, in some sense, was also a microcosm of Liliya’s struggle against Ban Meikailande. Although they had caught the other side off-guard this time, it had already been confirmed that the Second Prince Ban was in league with the Throne of Immortality and would definitely come to obstruct them.

So, Liliya had to send her subordinates in to probe the situation, hoping to avoid a blunder that could provide data to an interested party.

Moreover, it couldn’t be prolonged; they needed to wrap things up quickly.

Delays could spell disaster.

I wonder how things are progressing on Vilyric’s end?

   

---