Chapter 59: The Young Fox Piercing Straight into the Heart

However, without humans holding their leashes, these dogs were just as terrifying as killing machines. Their instincts had been stripped to the barest essence—nothing but naked hunger and the art of slaughter remained. Such a degree of transformation...

Vinego gazed upon these pitiful creatures and couldn't help but think of zombie hounds. The resemblance was striking—their bodies, raw and red as if flayed, their hideous faces, those savage fangs. Swift, ferocious, but that alone wasn't enough—not nearly enough.

Cait Sith appeared above the zombie hounds without a sound. Deadly and silent, it sliced off the heads of two hounds at the rear with razor-sharp claws, landed lightly on the ground, and lunged forward, pinning two of the leading dogs to the earth in a violent blur.

"I hate dogs. You stupid creatures can't survive without humans! Foolish loyalty, foolish obedience!" the great cat grumbled, pressing down with its forepaws, making it impossible for the two dogs to rise.

Its strength was not much greater than that of two hounds together, but with them forced to the ground, their forelimbs flat and useless, they couldn't budge the cat at all.

"Well done. Now..." Vinego stepped forward, wordlessly produced a large syringe, and drew a vial of blood, then, deciding that wasn’t enough, drew a few more.

The two hounds immediately slumped in exhaustion.

"Well, what a coincidence, to achieve a breakthrough at this very moment. Level 24 Mimic... heh." Vinego chuckled softly, pocketing the vials.

"Stop grinning like an idiot and get on with it," Cait Sith snickered. "Impressive, human. I didn’t expect you to improve so quickly."

"Ah, little cat, ordinary humans have no strength, no speed, no sharp claws or tough shells. So tell me, why do you think humans became the rulers of the land, so mighty that even the proudest dragons must respect the empire of man?" Vinego replied with a smile.

Cait Sith fell silent. Vinego strode forward cheerily, heading toward the nearby fortress.

As expected of the Brotherhood—even a mere camp was fortified like a miniature stronghold.

On either side of the fortress gate stood a guard, not the greenhorns of patrols, but hulking giants clad in expensive plate armor. The Silver Helm Brotherhood was nothing like the ragtag flock of the Lambsong Cult; their core members were all battle-hardened veterans, highly disciplined and well-resourced. The Lambsong Cult could hardly dream of fielding men who could wear heavy plate armor and move freely.

But plate armor... Vinego sneered and raised his crossbow.

The Regnar crossbow was powerful—perhaps not enough to pierce the thickest breastplate, but a shot to the neck...

A hit. The arrow punched through, blood spraying.

The Royal Knight Archer template Vinego had constructed, though lacking the skill variety of the Final Fantasy series, came with excellent physical attributes, especially in accuracy. Even without the many skill bonuses, the Royal Knight’s unique badges provided significant improvements to archery.

A level 20 archer with a Sniper badge and the Sharpshooter’s Wheel could hit a coin at a hundred paces. And a sentry’s neck was much larger than a coin.

Thwip—

The arrow struck true. The other sentry reacted instantly, raising his left arm to shield his head, right hand gripping the sword at his waist to sound the alarm with a blow.

Vinego had no intention of giving him the chance. With a snap, a bolt smashed through the guard’s waist armor, leaving a bloody hole.

But it wasn’t deep—just a superficial wound. The armor at the waist was sturdier than Vinego had anticipated.

He hadn’t expected to finish the job in one shot, though. Quickly, he reloaded and fired again.

This time, he used a ceramic-tipped arrow.

Ceramic arrows were expensive and hard to store. Vinego hadn’t made many. After all, these weren’t ordinary porcelain, but heads infused with metal powders, crafted with special techniques for razor-sharpness—difficult to grind, demanding precise workmanship from the start.

But ceramic’s hardness was formidable. Fired from a powerful crossbow, it could punch through most standard armor. And the fragments from such an impact would inflict even greater wounds.

The Brotherhood’s elite choked, blood frothing in his throat as he slumped lifelessly to the ground. But before he fell, his sword struck the alarm bell.

Weakened by Vinego’s attack, he lacked the strength for a full blow, but the sword’s brass-studded scabbard still produced a crisp, ringing note that echoed across the lonely wilds.

"Unlucky," Vinego muttered.

The gates slowly opened. Two fully armed warriors peered out, immediately raising the alarm and hammering on the bell.

Vinego simply raised his crossbow.

Thwip, thwip, thwip... Two quivers of bolts were quickly spent—twenty regular and four ceramic-tipped. Six well-equipped elite warriors were dispatched; Vinego was satisfied.

He packed away his crossbow, removed his oddly shaped kettle helmet and tossed it aside, resetting his persona.

"Ramen!" Vinego called softly. His aerial whale burst forth gleefully, as usual nudging him with a playful bump.

"Take care of these for me," Vinego said, tossing aside his gear. The little whale darted to fetch it, snatching it up and tossing it onto its back like a trained pup.

"I’ve always wanted to try this... Facing fully armored tin cans, hmm." Vinego muttered as he stripped off his shirt, revealing a not-so-muscular chest. He tied on armbands fashioned from colorful scraps of cloth, and cracked his knuckles with a resounding thump.

At that moment, Sophie appeared at the far side of the fortress. She carried only a greatsword and held a peculiar wooden contraption in her hands. Lifting the device, she gave it a gentle squeeze.

With a twang, the contraption shot out a long, slender cord that landed atop the fortress wall. Sophie grasped the end, and as she pulled, the handle made a strange rattling sound, quickly winding in the cord.

As the line tightened, Sophie’s body rose into the air and landed atop the wall. Before she even touched down, her right hand was drawing her greatsword in a sweeping, level arc, sending the wall’s spikes flying and clearing a space.

Then she stood there, calmly surveying the scene below.

The Silver Helm Brotherhood were no fools—someone immediately spotted Sophie. Shouting loudly, they charged up the wall, brandishing warhammers and longswords as they rushed at her.

"Unforgivable... those who trample the dignity of mankind..." Sophie murmured, planting her greatsword before her like a cross.

Suddenly she moved—her sword held high, she brought it crashing down.

Sword Art: Gate of Hell!

The heavy flagstones beneath her feet split apart. Sophie spun, swinging with force, and several blocks of masonry shot out like cannonballs. The first two warriors who had just reached the top were hit and sent flying, tumbling to the ground below.

At that moment, Sophie leapt, slashing downward with a single, unadorned stroke—pure, raw power.

Gate of Hell—just as the gates to the underworld swung open, beckoning her foes to death.

Vinego advanced toward the fortress gate, unhurried, only raising his hands in the traditional pre-fight dance of a Muay Thai boxer as he came up against the enemy vanguard.

Persona shift: Muay Thai fighter Ardun... descending with a wild cry.

"This time, I’ve brought something special to face you," Vinego said with a wicked grin, flicking the armbands on his wrists.

These armbands were crafted from a silver-copper alloy infused with trace amounts of Truesilver—a minimalist design, yet highly conductive to magic. After commissioning twenty identical pairs from a silversmith, Vinego had Sophie grant him a wish to imbue them with her purified alchemical blue magic fluid.

Just as Vinego had suspected, Sophie’s magic black mud granted random enchantments to the silver rings—this bizarre substance could burn magic into the metal, leaving enchanted marks. What marks would be left depended on the whim of the Lady of Wishes and Vinego’s own luck.

Vinego kept only one pair for himself—these, by chance, bore the rune for greatly increasing strength. He added five strips of colored cloth to them, fashioning them into armbands.

As for the rest, Vinego decorated them with some delicate engravings, turned them into slender, simple bracelets, and—using his Nanoka persona—sold them in town. In truth, he could now walk the streets in a dress as a woman without the slightest embarrassment.

With Nanoka’s unique fashion and charming looks, he easily attracted attention. Many female spellcasters, adventurers, and noble ladies took an interest in the silver bracelets stacked on her slender arms—Vinego made a good profit and was well rewarded.

After material and transformation costs were deducted, Vinego still had a surplus, enough to stock up on more vials of mercury for his next fierce encounter.

Each strip of cloth on Vinego’s own armbands bore a simple magic rune—low-cost, basic amplification magic, designed to boost the effect of the main enchantment.

Once donned, Vinego’s strength would reach that of an ordinary strongman, while Ardun, wearing them, would have truly astonishing power.

Ready for action!