Chapter 171 Herchel

Leo's use of Glide allowed him to save quite a bit of time during travel. Instead of taking him two or three days to reach Zoren, it only took the better part of one day.

As he approached the city from the air, the destruction was instantly visible. Pillars of smoke were rising into the air all across the city, entire buildings had been destroyed and bodies littered the streets.

'The wall is completely fine. If they didn't use force to enter the city then how did they get in?' Leo thought as he noticed no damage to the walls.

The gates leading into the city were also completely untouched, which confirmed Leo's thought about the cults entry having been achieved through means other than force.

Using Glide, Leo was carried over the city wall without being noticed by the cultists that were acting as guards along its top.

He found a street that seemed to be empty of life and went in that direction. He adjusted his control over Absorb and Redirect allowing them to influence all the force affecting his body instead of just the downward force.

This allowed him to slow down as he stopped using Glide and began falling to the ground. All the force affected by Redirect was being directed down as well, further slowing his fall.

Thanks to these skills Leo managed to land relatively safely on the ground. Although it was a hard enough landing to seriously injure most people, he was unharmed thanks to his strength and defence stats.

'Let's see what we're dealing with.'

[Pulse]

The Energy released into the ground and spread over half the city, revealing the locations of every moving object or creature.

There was something in particular that drew Leo's attention and it was only a few streets away from him.

Heading there first, using the rooftops and his Aura to avoid detection, he found a rooftop that gave him a direct line of sight to what he had seen using Pulse.

Five cultists had surrounded a single man and were very clearly about to attack him. They had their weapons drawn and were looking for the right opportunity.

The man was wearing what looked to be expensive clothes, something akin to a dark blue suit. He had a two rings on each hand, all of them made of gold with expensive gems adorning them.

He was a middle aged man with short grey hair and a cleanly kept short beard of the same colour.

'When I used Pulse they were still chasing him... I was planning on grabbing him when he rounded a corner but it seems I was too slow to get here. Should I kill them or just ignore this man and keep going...' Leo thought, trying to weigh the pros and cons.

The man was constantly turning, trying to avoid being stabbed in the back. One of the cultists seemingly got tired of waiting and tried to lunge forward and use his sword in a thrust attack.

As his foot moved forward he was suddenly met with a fist to the face. The cultist was pushed off his feet and hit the ground hard.

The man had instantly reacted the the cultists intent and attacked him on that moment. 'The speed of his punch was amazing, something you would only expect from an Infernai.' Leo thought, surprised.

When the cultist was punched, the man used his other hand to grab the sword that was about to stab him. He was no longer surrounded by the cultists but was now facing a semi-circle of enemies instead.

Despite his situation, the man seemed calm. He didn't have an ounce of fear on his face and he surveyed the cultists with a cold glare.

The cultist that had been punched was still lying on the floor, unconscious. As the man backed away he ended up right next to said body.

He took the sword in his hand and stabbed it into the cultists chest, killing him on the spot. One of the other cultists dashed towards him while swinging a sword in a vertical strike.

The man swung his sword in a diagonal strike towards the cultist, spraying a line of blood through the air as he pulled his sword from the now dead cultist.

The speed of the man's strike, even though it was somewhat expected, was still too much. The cultist was mid swing when a sword was slashed over his chest, cutting his body into two.

The attack was perfect and the cut through the cultists body was surgical. It was such a clean strike that the cultists body only seperated after he had collapsed to the ground.

The remaining three cultists seemed hesitant to attack now, realizing the skill their opponent possessed. As the man stepped forwards, they stepped back.

The man lifted his sword, seemingly preparing for an attack of some kind. Before he could go through with it, a half moon shaped attack of compressed air sliced through all three of them, slicing them all in half.

"Your speed and skill surprised me. I thought you were just some rich noble when I first saw you." Leo said from the shadows to the right of the man.

"You're not wrong, I am a rich noble, but I'm also an excellent fighter." The man replied as he turned to face Leo.

Leo stepped forward, emerging from the shadows completely. There was a moment of recognition as the man saw Leo's uniform and then he dropped his sword to the ground.

" An Infernai... No, more specifically, you're a General. Then you must be Leofalor Rune." The man said.

"That's right. And you are?" Leo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Where are my manners. It's a pleasure to meet you, General Rune, I am Duke Herchel Wesley." Duke Wesley said with a small bow as he placed his left arm behind his back and brought his right arm to his chest.

"You're Duke Wesley? I was under the impression you had died when the city fell." Leo said.

"Most people aren't aware of how skilled I am so it doesn't surprise me. Regardless, we have far more important things to discuss at the moment." Duke Wesley said, gesturing to the cultists bodies and the city around them.

"Right. Can you explain what's happend these past few weeks? I hate to tell you this but the Army thought you were still under siege just a day ago." Leo said.

"Not here. The cultists are constantly moving around the city and trying to capture me. I have a place they won't be able to find us, we should head there."

"Lead the way."

Leo followed Duke Wesley through the city as they hid in alleyways and leapt between rooftops. Watching someone without an ability perform feats that shouldn't be possible was something awe indusing in Leo.

A surprising part about it was that Duke Wesley was only slightly below his own capabilities, making him more physically capable than most Infernai.

It took the two of them roughly an hour of traveling through the city before they arrived at their destination. They could have done it in less time but the objective was to remain unseen.

"A graveyard?" Leo asked as they walked on the path between gravestones.

"Nobody ever looks in a graveyard because there isn't anything of value here. Most people are also superstitious, claiming that the dead will rise and punish you if you disturb their slumber or whatever it is those idiots say." Duke Wesley scoffed.

"I take it you're not superstitious then?" Leo asked in a slightly sarcastic way.

"What gave you that impression?" Duke Wesley replied, matching Leo's sarcastic tone.

Leo followed the Duke through the graveyard until he reached a certain grave. There was a satue of a man above the grave.

"Who's grave is this?"

"My fathers." Duke Wesley replied.

"Why did you bring me to your father grave?" Leo asked, more confused than before.

"For this." Duke Wesley walked up to the stature and twisted the thumb on its left hand. A few seconds went by before a slight rumbling was heard as the statue slid to the side, revealing a spiral staircase beneath it.

"There's no way you just stumbled across something like this..." Leo said in disbelief...

"You're right. I had this built several years ago in secret. I always thought the might come where the city would be attacked and I intended to use this for my family. My family are all in the capital so they don't need it's use, however I clearly do." Duke Wesley said as he began descending the staircase.

Leo followed behind and saw the Duke pull on a lever that was placed close to the top of the stairs. The statue moved again, covering the staircase beneath it.

"Come now General, it's time I explained what happened to this city." Duke Wesley said as he opened a door at the bottom of the stairs, leading Leo into some sort of underground bunker.