Chapter 261: Operation Retaliation

Verdant Breeze Manor, just a few minutes ago.

Inside one of the secluded rooms that could be found on the first floor of the manor, one would be able to find a well-dressed man holding a flask with his left hand while his right hand gripped onto a pen, jotting down notes related to the flask on his left. This man radiated a magnanimous aura that had hints of arrogance within, making anyone that looked at him feel like there was a greater motive to all of his movements.

Not only that, but from time to time, one could also see a few energy particles from the foundational elements lingering around his body, allowing one to know that this person was well-versed in the usage of element-based spells. Add on the fact that he was more or less the only person in the manor with authority, this man was none other than the leader of Verdant Breeze Town, who was also the former keeper of the Tome of the Four Elements.

"Hmm…" At this moment, the man raised the flask he was holding, allowing light from a nearby candle to shine on it as the contents inside started to emanate a faint red aura. Noticing this, the man let out a slightly somber sigh as he started to jot down the occurrence that he had to just happen. "Although the contents are now more biased towards the Fire element, it's still not at a level where it would be enough for me to have heightened perception towards the Fire element."

"I wonder what this concoction is lacking?" he muttered to himself in a questioning tone not long after as he placed the flask down on a nearby desk, placing it beside three other flasks wherein its contents were a shade of blue, green, and brown respectively. Grabbing a nearby chair, he placed it in front of the table where his notes were placed, scratching his head every once in a while as he tried to think up of ways wherein he could improve the concoctions.

Naturally, these concoctions had something to do with the Tome of the Four Elements. After buying it from someone who did not notice the true value of the tome they sold, he went ahead and tried to learn the contents within, only to find out that his perception regarding the elements was not enough to become its sole owner. With that in mind, he put in most of his time on creating elixirs or medicine that would allow him to increase his perception over the elements, gaining small success in it.

"Most of the feelings I've obtained from the elements are already there," he muttered a couple of minutes later as he let out yet another somber sigh. Gazing at the notes he had written regarding the multiple attempts and combinations he had made, a random thought surfaced in his mind all of a sudden. Surprisingly, this thought resonated with his goal of creating concoctions, prompting him to abruptly stand up as he asked himself in a curious tone, "Is it because these concoctions lack the feeling of vitality? Is that the main problem?"

Soon after, he turned around to head towards the door that led out of his room as a slightly excited expression crept across his face. Thinking about the chances of successfully increasing his perception with the addition of such an element, he could not help but say, "I presume that with such an element added to the concoctions, I have a feeling that it might just work!"

Weeenngggg….!

Unfortunately for him, just as he was about to leave the room he was in, a sound that was incredibly familiar to him resounded throughout his mind, associating it with a certain item as his face paled in response.

"The tome!" he shouted in a fearful tone. At the very instant he bought that tome from that seller, he made sure to have a system around the tome in place that would alert him whenever one stole the tome from his manor. Due to the small amount of money he had left at that time, the alert system he installed on the tome would only take effect after the tome was already a certain proximity away from where he was. Who thought that his alert system would actually activate right now?

Swoosh!

Activating a few spells he had in his arsenal, the speed at which he moved had increased by a significant degree as he made his way to the library in his manor on the second floor. Without delay, he made his way towards the bookshelf wherein he placed the tome, only to find that it was truly gone. With an afraid expression still on his face, he went ahead and used the strongest reconnaissance spell he had in his arsenal as a Rank 3 mage.

"No traces at all…" he muttered with an expression that seemed to say that without the tome, there was no point in living. He then pondered over the possible suspects that could have stolen the tome, muttering, "Only a highly ranked assassin would be able to steal the tome from this manor with only the alert system activating. Maybe a highly ranked thief would be able to do as well…"

"But there are no such people like that in this town," he added amid his mulling. "If that's the case, then who stole the tome from the manor without me knowing?"

Weeennnggg…!

Coincidentally, it was at this moment that he heard that familiar sound once more, noticing that a bright red glow was radiating out of one of the windows in the library. Knowing what that red glow meant, the expression on the man's face took a great turn as it turned sinister. Without hesitation, he opened one of the windows and jumped down from it, landing just a few meters away from where the bright red glow originated.

Slightly far away from him was a ball of red energy that emitted a bright red glow. As he stared at it for a bit, he muttered, "Since this ball of red energy is here, that means there's still a chance for me to retrieve the tome from the one that stole it!"

In an instant, he took in a deep breath before applying magic on his throat. He then shouted in an infuriated tone, "Guards, someone has taken something precious from my manor! Make sure to find them as fast as possible!"

"If they resist, you have my permission to kill them!"

…

While that was happening, Argentum and Blob unhesitatingly went ahead and utilized all of the energy inside their body to make sure they could run away as fast as possible.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Unfortunately for them, along the way, they accidentally came across a few of the beings that lived inside the town, clearly seeing the two as they ran past them at breakneck speeds. Of course, with the lives of the beings only consisting of the town, most of them could not help but scream in fear as they shouted, "Ghosts! There are ghosts inside this town! Glowing ghosts!"

"Hmm?" One of the guards, that was notified of what had happened in town by the voice of the leader, could not help but perk up his ears as he heard the citizens scream all of a sudden. Turning around to head towards them as fast as possible, he then went ahead and quelled the fear of the citizens as he asked one of them, "Ghosts? What did you see?"

"I-I don't know…" the citizen responded in a stuttering manner, unsure whether what she had seen was true. Nevertheless, since she knew that the guards were in this town to maintain peace and order, she still tried to piece the sight she saw just a while ago to the guard. In response, the guard could not help but ponder over her statement for a bit, grabbing a certain object from his pocket not long after before infusing a bit of his energy in it.

He then muttered to the object, "Leader of Team A speaking to the Verdant Breeze Leader. A few citizens have noticed two silhouettes that were of red and green color respectively. I would like to ask the Verdant Breeze Leader if these two silhouettes have something to do with the announcement you said earlier."

"Oh? I think they're not related at all…" Without delay, the voice of the town's leader resounded from the object soon after, which could only be heard by the guard that he was talking to. Just as the town's leader was about to dismiss the idea that these two silhouettes had something to do with his dilemma, he could not help but have a hunch that there was a relation to them.

He then briefly contemplated over the right string of words to tell the guard that was talking to him, eventually saying, "Ask the citizens if they saw the silhouettes with a brown blur accompanying them. If they do, tell the guards at the exit to close the gates while the other guard teams should make haste to intercept the two as fast as possible."

"Understood," the guard responded not long after before looking at the citizens who screamed out a while ago. Without hesitation, he then asked them, "Did you any of you see a brown blur accompanying the two ghosts you saw a while ago?"

At first, there was no response from the citizens, with all of them looking at each other with a gaze that seemed to say 'It was too fast that we couldn't see anything at all.' Fortunately for the guard, one of the citizens raised their hands as a hoarse voice came out of that citizen's mouth. This citizen looked like he was in his sixties or so, yet the aura he radiated did not pale in comparison to that of the guards, looking at the guard as he said with a tone of confidence, "Boy, I can tell you without a doubt that there was a brown blur accompanying them."

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He then added, "I may be old, but my eyesight is still acute."

In response, the guard beamed as he looked at the old man, saying, "Thank you, sir, for helping us guards out. We'll tell the town leader of your contributions after we have resolved the problem."

Whoosh! Whoosh!

After that, the guard went ahead and utilized all of the strength in his body and channeled it towards his legs, dashing towards the direction that led to one of the exit gates that was closest in proximity to where he currently was. In his mind, he concluded that these silhouettes would undoubtedly head towards that gate if they wanted to exit the town as fast as possible from their current position.

As he dashed towards the exit, he then pulled out another object that looked similar to the one he had before, but had a slightly cruder design. Infusing more of his energy into this object, he then shouted, "Team A, Team B, Team C, Team D, Patrol Team, listen up!"

"The leader has told me that two silhouettes have the item that was stolen from him," he continued. "Patrol Team, close Gate C as fast as possible! As for the other teams, head towards Gate C!"

"We're going to intercept them!"

…

A couple of minutes have passed since Argentum and Blob reverted to their original forms, going all out to head out of Verdant Breeze Town as fast as possible. At this moment, utilizing the route they had planned out before entering the town, they calculated that there was about a kilometer or so of distance left that separated them from the line between captivity and freedom.

"Hmm…" While they were running, Argentum could not help but find the current scene a bit peculiar. Using his enhanced senses to their full potential, he went ahead and looked at the surroundings, not seeing any movement from the town that was related to them at all. With that in mind, he could not help but focus his sense of vision beside him and ask, "Blob, do you think they've caught onto what we're doing?"

"No idea," Blob replied as his sense of vision was focused on what was in front of them. Nevertheless, that did not stop him from replying, saying, "This is the first time I've done something like this so I truly have no clue."

"Ah, right," Argentum muttered in response to Blob's statement, only remembering now that Blob was not well-versed with how Animates acted, unlike him, who was an Animate in his previous life…or well, his original body was. A few seconds later, he said to Blob, "Well, if that's the case, all I'll say is that you should make sure to be as vigilant as possible. We might come across some trouble before we could exit the town."

"Got it." With Blob responding to his creator's warning filled with concern, the two of them continued on their way towards the closest exit gate in proximity, with both of them casting their skills once more to replenish the boost they had.

Eventually, only a few hundred meters remained between the two and the exit gate they were heading towards, auras of immense happiness radiated from the two of them as the gate was now in their field of vision.

"We're going to make it!" Argentum shouted in happiness, only for him to take back his words as a loud and deep creaking sound resounded from the gates. As they looked at the gates, they noticed that the opening in between the two doors started to gradually become smaller, prompting Argentum to instead shout, "Run faster!"

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Just as they were about to pick up their pace in order to make sure that they would get past the gate before it was fully closed, multiple silhouettes went ahead and blocked their path of escape, leaving Argentum and Blob with no choice but to jump over them before continuing with their dash to their exit.

Unfortunately for them, another group of silhouettes went ahead and barred them from continuing any further. With the amount of momentum they had not being enough to jump over all of them, the two of them had no choice but to stop where they were, seeing that there were no alleyways or any place that they could jump on so they could continue with their dash.

"Stop right where you are," one of the silhouettes shouted towards the two of them, taking a few steps forward to reveal himself to both Argentum and Blob. The silhouette wore a uniform that exuded a feeling of ferocity and tenacity. Then again, the other silhouettes wore the same uniform as well, radiating a unified aura that exuded ferocity and tenacity.

Clearing his throat, the silhouette that stepped forward continued with his warning, saying to both Argentum and Blob, "Please give back the town's leader item. If you give it back, we will allow you two to leave without being hindered."

"The town leader's item?" Argentum could not help but repeat the silhouette's words, radiating an aura that was akin to a mocking sneer. Naturally, he correlated the item that they were talking about was the Tome of the Four Elements. Unfortunately, that item was something Argentum needed so he would not stop at anything to not give it back.

Sending a strand of energy to Blob with a message contained in it, Argentum went and responded in a haughty tone, "Why should we? Do you have any proof that your town leader did not steal it from another person?"

"Well uh…" Not expecting such a response, the silhouette hemmed and hawed for a bit, only for him to receive a solid punch on his face before he was sent flying soon after. On the other hand, the one that punched at the silhouette blew on his fiery red fist. From the color of the fist, it was natural to think that Argentum told Blob to punch the silhouette to show that they weren't afraid of them.

In response, one of the other silhouettes shouted, "To punch one of the esteemed guards…everyone! Whatever it takes, make sure to not let them escape!"

Hearing the guard's words, Argentum let out a cackle as he saw the guards start to dash at him. With that happening, he looked at Blob, who was a few meters away from him and said, "Blob, it seems we have to change our plans once more."

"Initiate…"

"Operation Retaliation."

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