The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage
chapter-15

Otto cautiously approached the base from afar, and finally caught sight of it.

The base was a small, one story structure that vaguely resembled a school building in its lackluster appearance.

If the school building had been built in 1400 and was made out of incredibly hard materials.

There were no members of the Brenner family surrounding it.

But that didn't mean it was unguarded.

In fact, it was the opposite. Perhaps Darius had hired men out of an abundance of caution.

Regardless, the current base was teeming with ordinary guards.

Otto counted at least two hundred people at first glance.

'The Brenner family really went all out to hire so many guards!'

Otto's ears faintly picked up a commotion. A fight had broken out in front of the base.

It seemed that there were others who shared his goal.

Otto smirked.

He didn't mind being the oriole.

Even from far away, shouts could be heard. The screeching of metal and explosions of mana bolts entered his ears.

Otto's eyes turned cold.

He knew who these people were.

'Leeches.'

Otto hadn't expected to meet them here.

It wasn't too difficult to tell them apart.

Let alone their above-average strength combined with the clothes of commoners, the mana bolts that a few mages were slowly casting completely gave them away.

'Were they here just for this jewel? It seems it's more valuable than I expected.'

He wondered how the organization or faction they served had gotten their hands on this information.

A chance encounter by an organization member? Possible.

Perhaps someone had chosen the tutorial's 'Extreme' difficulty and had seen this mission. From there, they had entertained the idea that this gem was likely to be very valuable.

Said person had almost certainly not completed this mission. Actually, most people failed the [Tutorial] on their first go.

That percentage could only be exponentially higher as the difficulty bar was increased.

Otto approached the [Leeches] as inconspicuously as possible.

To his eyes, these [Leeches] looked rather anxious.

Too anxious.

Otto hid behind a nearby tree and carefully listened to their voices, trying to pick up a clue.

He listened for almost ten straight minutes, but his ears could only pick up gossip and nonsense.

Well, he also learned the name of their organization, 'The Red Wolves.'

'Red Wolves? Never heard of them.'

After another minute collecting useless info, Otto finally caught a few important details.

He was too far away for the voices to be clear, but he could still make out what mattered.

'We have to hurry. If they don't fall for that bait ….. we'll definitely have to ….. life here…. Who knows if ….. bastard ….. ….. even compensate us!'

'Don't worry, stay calm. The …. king may not …. show up until later. By then, we'll already have completed …. task.'

Otto's eyes were wide as he pieced together the information.

They seemed to be using a simple bait and switch as their attack strategy.

The group in front would attack out in the open while a group of rogues attempted to sneak in when the guards' attention was drawn away.

It was a pity that the guards weren't entirely stupid. Unlike in novels, they probably deduced their intention immediately.

So the guards were unwilling to get into a full out battle and instructed their comrades to keep watch over their normal posts.

It was the second piece of news that was far more alarming to him.

'The …. king' could reasonably refer to a lot of things. But Otto had a bad premonition.

'Could it be that this entire siege was all because the Wolf King wanted to steal this jewel?'

'If that's the case…'

Otto's mind ran full steam ahead as he analyzed the scenario and created some possible plans and counters.

But immediately following that, he stopped and thought for a second.

His plans and counters were originally based on a single thing.

'I was trying to avoid the Wolf King at all costs in a confrontation.'

Otto had no doubt the Wolf King was stronger than him, even the him who had gained significant strength so far. Thus, his first instinct was not to fight when he encountered it.

Rather, he had subconsciously wanted to escape.

But what if he tried to kill it instead?

Otto's eyes lit up. It wasn't totally impossible.

There was even a chance of success!

The most important thing to note was that Otto was planning to take the jewel no matter what.

If it was true that the whole thing was the Wolf King's scheme to put the city in chaos, allowing him an opportunity to sneak in, he would also want the jewel no matter what.

A fight would be inevitable.

Even in the worst case scenario where Otto was completely unable to beat the Wolf King, he could instead immediately complete his mission and head to the neutral space.

The Wolf King was incredibly strong.

It was a fact that bore repeating, and it was impossible for Otto to forget.

Among the missions Otto could choose from that boasted an 'extreme' difficulty, there were missions to kill thousands of people, or save the city.

There was also one to kill the Wolf King. Which meant killing the Wolf King was approximately equivalent in difficulty to stopping the meteors, rescuing the city, and killing 3,000 challengers.

Otto shivered a bit at the thought.

But…Otto also had confidence in himself.

And he could imagine that the rewards from killing the Wolf King would be completely incomparable to the rewards from obtaining the [Rainbow Corinth] alone.

He shook his head at the slight fear that spontaneously erupted in the back of his mind. His heart started to beat a little faster in his chest.

Otto couldn't remember the last time he completed such a big feat in battle. One of his principles in the past was 'prepare for all circumstances.'

In other words, he generally only attempted something when his success rate was close to 100%. Otto would never gamble with his life.

But sometimes, in life, perhaps especially in the [Tower], one had to take a risk.

Otto stopped hesitating. He had decided to give it a try.

However, the prerequisite for all these was to actually steal the [Rainbow Corinth].

He looked at the heavily guarded base and the [Leeches] causing trouble in front of it.

All of these people were blocking his path. His eyes let out a thick murderous intention before it was reluctantly suppressed.

Causing a massacre was not the fastest way to get the jewel.

Otto also knew that this base was primarily built underground. As to how long it would take him to find it, even he couldn't estimate.

He thought about the fastest possible way to break in to steal the jewel.

'Hmm…'

As he looked down at the coarse clothing made for commoners that hung loosely on his body, an idea struck him.

His smile was sharp against the backdrop of the setting sun.

****************************************

Otto carefully weaved his way towards the back of the building, where the guard was comparatively lax.

Given the presence of trees all around him, it wasn't too difficult to sneak up here by moving through the shadows and blind spots of the guards.

Otto took a mere five minutes to successfully climb onto the roof of the building.

A few guards were busy fighting off the [Leeches], while the remainder carefully scanned the front of the forest for threats.

Had he tried to sneak into the front of the building, he would have been caught immediately.

After all, he didn't actually have a stealth skill, only his vast experience.

Plus, the base was genuinely heavily guarded. Not to mention that he still didn't know the actual location of the jewel itself.

He could only try a different method.

On the ground, the [Leeches] behind those fighting soon got anxious. Despite fighting these guards for ten minutes, they hadn't revealed a single gap in the formation.

The entrance of the base remained heavily guarded and patrolled on all sides.

These [Leeches] weren't actually very strong.

They could beat the normal new summoned in the [Tutorial] rather handily, but other than that, in order to become [Leeches], they hadn't actually climbed any additional floors.

At most, they had a few additional attributes from runes or potions, and an additional skill or spell.

Meaning they didn't really dare to fight all of these guards head on. They'd be surrounded and pummeled in an instant if they didn't bring out their trump card.

None of them wished to bring out their trump card. Once they used it, they'd have to absolutely guarantee results.

And who knew what else lay inside the base!?

Thinking of the mission their organization gave them, though, one man gritted his teeth and tried to make a run to the door while the guards' attention was captured.

The other [Leeches] intensified their assault to give him a chance to enter.

Otto noticed that the man slipped into stealth as soon as he was close to the guards, and he did an excellent job of sticking to darker areas filled with shadows.

He wasn't easy to spot.

In fact, Otto was a bit excited because the guy did even better than expected.

It would lend his next performance additional credibility.

The man reached the entrance of the base. He reached out his hand to quietly open the door and slip into the crack when

WHOOMPH

A small blue streak of mana flew out at rapid speed and shot him in the head before he could even react.

The guards were alarmed.

"Who!?"

Then, they saw the now dead man right next to the door.

They each breathed in cold breaths.

'He almost made it inside!'

Their hearts pounded with fear.

'If he had made it inside, the consequences…'

Quite frankly, they didn't dare to speak of it. They silently thanked whatever or whoever had shot him in the head.

It looked like the perpetrator wanted to maintain his anonymity, though, so the guards tactfully decided not to pry.

'Probably a hidden guard Sir Darius set up.'

As for the [Leeches], their eyes turned red with anger as they saw their comrade get killed in one shot.

Not because he was a comrade, really. He also hadn't really died, as evidenced by the spots of light that slowly took his body away.

But because they hadn't even noticed someone so powerful guarding the door. And the thought that they might be next.

Then, thinking of the power of the faction they worked for, the leader decided to grit his teeth and go all out.

"Use the potions! We'll make a break for it!"

As the command was given, the [Leeches] expression turned ferocious.

One by one, they each pulled out a glass vial full of bright scarlet liquid and chugged it down.

In an instant, their auras rapidly increased as the power they could muster rose by a lot.

They instantly killed the guards they had been fighting with, and simultaneously ran for the entrance!

The guards were taken aback, and didn't come to their senses immediately.

Then,

"Brothers, kill these intruders!"

The guards swarmed the fifteen, now fourteen, [Leeches] in an effort to kill these intruders viciously. They would make them pay for the deaths of their brothers!

But the [Leeches] were truly much stronger in one on one combat than these hired thugs with swords.

They sliced down one, two, three, each.

All who came would be cut down! Otto felt he saw the domineering attitude of a martial artist from their behavior.

He scoffed. [Leeches]? Domineering? He'd soon show them what that word really meant.

Their sabers, swords, and daggers swung wildly at the guards, continuing to cut them down as fast as they came.

For a second, it looked like they could really take on all the guards alone!

The guards started to grow frightened.

Even if they had been trained, they might flee in fear from such a display.

It was unknown who had started it, but one by one, the guards backed away. They were unwilling to die just like that!

These guards had merely taken on a commissioned job from the Brenner patriarch. A few of them had even been bandits and gang members in the past.

In no way did they plan to actually risk their life here. Dozens of people started to run away.

They planned to escape the city before the patriarch returned! In a flash, only a hundred or so guards remained.

Of course, there were some who were more loyal and stayed, but even they didn't have the courage to advance a single step.

It was at this time that Otto made his move.

He angrily shouted,

"You bastards! Useless fucking guards!"

Mana bolt after mana bolt shot with extreme speed exploded directly onto the newly empowered [Leeches].

He had planned to demonstrate the principle, 'one shot, one kill' here, but Otto was slightly surprised to find that it actually took him two mana bolts to kill each one.

He was also forced to use a bit of his newly-recovered mental power to speed them up and ensure they hit their target after he attacked.

'So it's the enhanced berserk potion.'

It was an item that could not be found in the [Tutorial].

Actually, it wasn't impossible to bring items back and forth between the tower world and the floors. It was just that there were a few rules.

Things found on a floor that could be identified by the [Tower] were free to bring back and forth between the floors and the tower world.

If it could not be identified by the [Tower], it wasn't approved to shuttle.

This meant that currency from a floor could not be brought, because the [Tower] didn't recognize it as an item.

Actually, even if it could be brought, it would be meaningless. The tower world used completely different currency than the floors, in any case.

As for items created in the tower world, they could be brought into a floor for a price set by the [Tower] itself.

The price would increase depending on the strength of the item in question.

This applied to potions, pills, and many other miscellaneous items.

But there was a restriction.

Items that could not be identified by the [Tower] could not be brought into the floors.

Basically, if the [Tower] didn't know, or couldn't figure out what it was, it couldn't be brought.

This mostly included things like 'soil' which the [Tower] wouldn't deign to identify, food, unless cooked as per a given lifestyle skill, and many other mundane items.

Alternatively, things created by an unrecognized [Tower] skill, even powerful things like a self-made bomb, would also not be allowed to cross the boundary.

There was a small loophole, though. If one purchased a 'Storage Ring,' one could pay a set price based on the mass and volume of the items stored within to bring everything inside into the floors.

This included unidentified items as well! It was just that the price was considerably higher for this route.

In general, actually, the price paid to bring items into the floor wasn't considered cheap. Usually it came to around ten to twenty times the price of the item itself.

This was an impossible burden for an individual to bear, with the exception of the incredibly wealthy, but for a faction or organization, it was not always out of reach.

The organization or faction these [Leeches] served must have paid a large price to bring in fifteen of those [Enhanced Berserk] potions.

Yet it took a total of 34 mana points for Otto to take them all out, just like that.

He barely withheld his smirk as he imagined the pain these 'Red Wolves' would feel upon realizing that not only did they fail, they even lost all the money they spent in the operation.

Even their [Leeches] had each lost a life.

Luckily, Otto's mental strength was powerful so he had no trouble maintaining his 'angry' expression in front of the guards.

He looked like he was about to spit fire at them.

One of the guards looked at the now revealed Otto quizzically, seeing him dressed in tattered clothes only fit for a commoner.

The same thought went through many of their minds.

'This is…Sir Darius's hidden ace?'

Otto saw their expressions and appeared to become even more enraged.

He flung his nonexistent robe before his face reddened in 'shame.'

The guards heard him 'inaudibly' mutter to himself,

"Should I silence them now that they've seen me dressed like this?"

He jumped down from the roof and instantly turned to the guards with a slightly creepy smile on his face.

A mana bolt started to appear on his palm.

One man, who seemed to be the leader of this batch of guards instantly fell to his knees and prostrated in front of Otto,

"Please spare us, your excellency! We understand your hardship! Sir must have been tasked to guard the base inconspicuously so Sir Darius asked you to dress like this…

We swear that we have seen nothing at all! We won't mention this to anyone!"

The other guards quickly followed his lead,

"Please spare us! We'll never speak about this, your excellency!"

Hearing this, Otto's anger seemed to abate slightly.

His tone was still cold.

"Seeing your incompetence, I am not at ease. I will directly guard the heirloom myself. How else am I to report to Lord Darius?"

"And…"

He looked at the guards with menace and let out a hint of his killing intent.

"Anyone who dares look at my outfit will have their heads explode and their bodies fed to the dogs!"

The guards were momentarily at a loss for words. They didn't dare to look up at Otto.

The leader of the guards previously had had a few doubts, but seeing Otto's power and his manner of speaking, they were assuaged.

A thief couldn't possibly act so righteously, right? And what thief was this powerful anyway??

Plus, this person saved our lives…

Otto urged them,

"Lead me there immediately! Don't blame me for being cruel if you dare turn around and look at me…"

Hearing this, the leader left all but five people at the entrance just in case as he took Otto to the room that contained the [Rainbow Corinth].

The ending of the mission was in sight!