Kayn was reading through the materials Yelena had given him about the last target. From what he was reading, he didn't even want to try his luck with this lich. She was supposedly in the upper echelons of the 6th stage, a powerful melee fighter, and kept close company with a powerful and specifically put together team of undead.
Shaking his head he spoke to no one but himself, "Sorry Yelena, but I'm going to have to skip this one for now."
He would apologize to Yelena if he ever saw her again, but this lich wasn't someone he could go after currently. It would take far too much time to try and separate the special forces group she kept around her, not to mention it wasn't even guaranteed to work. If he tried to go in and fight the group straight on, he would definitely die before he could kill the lich herself.
Putting the list of targets into his Void Loop, he set off in the direction of Palatine. Now that he had the Shadow's Embrace spell, his assassinations would be easier to pull off than before and he could probably reduce the estimated time within the city by half.
Most of the targets he planned to kill within the city were only newly minted 6th stage mages or magic warriors who achieved their new level due to the war. If he could sneak up on them before dispatching them instantly, his life would become much easier.
...
Kayn arrived at the outer walls of Palatine while already in the shadow realm. He decided that traveling within it was the better choice so that he could remain hidden from any active eyes or senses searching for enemies.
He jumped from shadow to shadow as he made his way into the city while he extended his Mana Sense in search of 6th stage enemies who were secluded from any others. Even if they had a few 5th stage subordinates following them, he wasn't worried. He only wanted to avoid groups of 6th stagers.
Unlike last time, he wasn't trying to attract attention. This time, his goal was to be in and out of areas as quickly as possible while achieving his goal. He had 15 targets in mind before he returned to the palace and entered the Mana Gathering formation room.
Three of the group were naturally raised undead who may or may not have a core, but they had no lich master and were not capable of raising their own armies. It was a risk to target them since the reward was a gamble, but Kayn assumed that getting them out of the picture was enough of a reward in and of itself.
The rest of the 15 were either mages or magic warriors of various races. He wanted to target at least one of the few healers within the Carnet army, but they would never be left alone and would constantly have higher level protection.
Lastly, he wanted to find the main base of the Black Hand Society. He was positive that the person who stabbed him through the back was an assassin from that group, and he was going to pay that person back a hundredfold. However, their concealment formations were frighteningly powerful and not even with his Mana Sense focused on areas he knew belonged to the group could he see inside.
It would be better if he was stronger before he tried to look for them or invade already known areas. The Black Hand Society was on his list to remove as a whole, but they could wait until he had the strength to be invincible to all but the strongest on the continent.
Kayn's goal was to reach the 5th stage after this trip, and then he would work towards the 6th stage while slowly eliminating camp after camp of enemy forces. Once he cleansed the lands of Mancea, he would move to either Carnet or the Inmortuae Empire to find Lydia or assist the allies fighting the undead armies in the south.
He was going to avoid Mitas and Emperor Carnet and would run at the first chance he could get if they appeared as he knew he wouldn't stand a chance against either one of them until he reached the 6th stage. Kayn was a force to be reckoned with, but someone who overestimated himself against powerful enemies wouldn't be alive long enough to regret thinking they could take them on.
It didn't take Kayn long to find the first lone 6th stager. He found them inside of a former restaurant within the outer ring eating a feast which was being prepared and brought to the table by captured restaurant workers. It seemed that the armies were now utilizing this place for their own soldiers after capturing it.
Why the workers didn't flee and were still inside the restaurant during the invasion, Kayn had no clue. Kayn could sense the slave collar on each of their necks, but they weren't his main concern. He could free them after killing the 6th stage mage, sure, but where would they go?
Maybe he could deactivate the collar, but convince them to keep working there until he could free up the city? The only issues that would arise would be if an enemy soldier wanted to take advantage of someone, but if they were free, they would definitely resist.
There was a total of five slaves within the building. An older couple doing the cooking, a younger male and female serving the food and acting to the 6th stager's whims, and a child no older than 5 sitting next to her.
Just like with Britta, the two younger adults seemed familiar to him, but he wouldn't know why unless he went inside the restaurant. The 6th stage mage was a woman who seemed to constantly harass the young man, forcing him to degrade himself by performing less than appropriate acts on her with his tongue, like licking her toes.
Kayn decided to hone his hearing in so that he could listen in to what was going on inside, and what he heard displeased him even more.
"-mine now. With this area becoming mine and that old man with morals no longer hiding such treasure from us, I'll be keeping you all to myself! This boy will grow up to become my personal toy and you, young man, will serve me until he can take over. As for you, I'll let the soldiers have their fun with you. The oldies can keep me fed with this delicious food though."
As the woman spoke, she gently ran her finger over child's face while licking her lips. It seemed that this family was being treated well until just recently, and now their lives were going to become hell.
Kayn listened on as the young couple began to beg to be left alone and that they would faithfully serve her if only she didn't take their child or separate them. The woman only laughed because they didn't have any weight or power to negotiate with her.
This world was one where the strong ruled the weak, and if you were too weak to control your own fate, you could only submit to the whims of the strong. Kayn understood this all too well, it was a major factor driving his need to become stronger.
Kayn had heard enough at this point. The woman seemed to want to move things along faster and had commanded the young man to service her, which he couldn't resist as very few were able to resist the control of a slave collar.
The young woman began crying while standing alone, the mage had her son within her grasp and her husband licking up her thighs, she could do nothing but watch as the situation unfolded. However, just as the mage seemed to become excited with where her husband was about to explore, her movements stopped and eyes went wide.
The young woman watched as a figure draped in black materialized from the mage's shadow. At the same time, a line of blood began to reveal itself around the mage's neck as the blood began to leak out.
The young man had instinctively grabbed his son and backed away once the figure in black appeared. The young family watched with wide eyes as a curtain of darkness appeared around the mage and the figure in black, blocking their vision, but they could still hear what was said.
"Filth. Be a better person in your next life." A manly voice stated before a squelching sound and a loud thud was heard.
When the curtain of darkness dropped the young man and woman stood there with slack jaws, but the young man still spoke up. "Mister Hasan?"
Kayn looked up from the core in his hand as the Extinction Flames were finishing up getting rid of the body. He had already taken the small storage pouch at the mages waist before burning her, so he gained all her could from her. He looked up at being called Hasan, finally registering the others in the room.
When he saw their faces, he instantly knew who they were. They were a little older and more mature, not to mention they had a child, but he had interacted with them both before. Colleen and Jack.
"So, you ended up following her and even had a family, eh? But you two really need to stop becoming slaves. It's tedious saving the same people over and over again you know?"
Kayn joked, but the two young lovers had been staring ever since they saw the hood that seemed to draw them in as if it was a portal to the void. When they heard his voice, they knew he was the same man who saved them from the black-market auction house all those years ago.
"Well, might as well go fetch the elderly couple in the kitchen, I'll remove all of your collars while I think of a way to hide you all. I can't take you with me, nor can I escort you out of the city to a safe zone right now, but I can at least try to hide you." The young man nodded his head at Kayn's instructions and rushed off to go bring his in-laws back to the room.
After removing the collars from the family, they held a small celebration between themselves while Kayn enacted the plan he came up with. He dug straight into the ground and once deep enough, created a passage going horizontally.
At the end of the passage, he created a large living quarter with all the necessary facilities, all made of stone of course, and connected them the underground magical sewer system of the city. He then made a few air shafts to allow for oxygen to flow into the area. He also rummaged through the looted storage bag to see if there were any luxuries he could leave behind. He found some nice blankets, pillows, and even two entire beds within the pouch.
The woman mage seemed to fill this pouch with nothing but bedroom supplies! She had money as well, but Kayn couldn't care less about money at this point, so he just dumped everything in the pouch out for the family to use as they pleased.
Kayn brought the family down to the makeshift underground housing area and had them settle in as he began drawing formation sigils. It took him over half of a day, but he was satisfied with the result. He created a few different formations all layered together to hide the presence of the family down here as well as miscellaneous formations to regulate temperature and airflow. Everything was then powered with a C-class rune beast core stone placed at the center of the formations.
With the formations active and the family settled in, he helped them bring down the restaurant's food stores. "I apologize, but I'm going to have to close off this entire passageway. If you want to risk being found, I can leave it open, but I suggest trying to struggle through in isolation for a while though."
"How long do you think we will be down here? Will you even come rescue us eventually?" The old man spoke.
"Dad!"
"I understand your doubts, but yes, I will come back for you once I clear out the filth from the city. I don't know how long it will take, but probably a year or more at the least. If this is too much, you are all free to try your luck getting out of the city on your own. Otherwise, once things are safe, I will come back for you." Kayn spoke with a confidence that the situation would definitely be favorable within a few years' time.
The old man sighed and reluctantly nodded his head as did the rest of the family. Kayn went to the entrance to the small complex he created and before starting to close up the entrance, he said one more line, "I'll be back, I promise."
Then the family was sealed underground, safe but essentially imprisoned until Kayn came back for them.