They spent the night in camp and only acted the following day, in the evening.

The first part of the plan was William’s. Deep down, he didn’t want to do it. It was risky, and there were no direct benefits for him. What would it even change if they succeeded in taking over the fortress? Why was he working for these people at all?

The only reason was the roleplay aspect of that dungeon floor—but even then, he wasn’t sure if he should just follow the script or try to act differently. Could he achieve different results by doing so?

Anyway, when night fell, William grabbed a sack filled with bombs—basically flasks packed with explosive material. The alchemists had crafted them.

Then, he made his way to the fortress’s underground tunnels. The entrance was well-hidden by thick vegetation, so unless someone actively chopped through the greenery, it would be nearly impossible to find.

The prisoner had known about the tunnel because he used to clean it from time to time. The entrance, after all, was like a sewer…

William frowned the moment they cleared the vegetation and he saw the disgusting liquid flowing through it. He felt like punching the captain in the face for making him go into that literal hellhole.

“I have to walk through this shit just for some dumb mission? Whatever,” he muttered as he approached the opening and stepped inside.

He was alone. The captain wanted him to go first—basically as bait—to check if the sewers were safe. There could be traps down there, or maybe even guards, considering it was a direct route into the fortress.

But apparently, no one wanted to be down in that cesspit. William saw no one, and not a single trap.

“They don’t even want to come down here to place traps. That’s how bad this place is,” he thought.

He tried to avoid the thick, disgusting black liquid as he walked, but it was almost impossible. And there was one thing he absolutely couldn’t avoid: the smell.

The stench reminded him of the worst public bathroom he’d ever used—only ten times worse. It was like a concentrated essence of every dump the fortress’s mages had ever taken.

The only thing that brought comfort to William’s heart was know that all the other soldiers would have to go through the same shit hole, especially the captain.

*

Eventually, William found the exit. It was a stone staircase leading upward, blocked by an iron gate. Thankfully, it wasn’t hard to get through. All he had to do was grip it and move it aside—it wasn’t even locked.

Basically, once he went upstairs, he’d be right in the middle of the fortress. Surrounded by mages. Many of them would be sleeping, which made things slightly better—but not by much.

He scanned the area and eventually found a safe spot to stash the bombs. It was tucked behind a cluster of stone pillars, well out of sight. He was confident no one would think to look there.

After that, he made his way back through the foul tunnels and returned to camp, where he reported everything to the captain and the soldiers.

“There’s just shit in there. No traps, no guards,” William said, brushing off the smell as best he could. “I left the bombs behind some stone pillars near the staircase. You won’t miss it.”

The captain didn’t look too impressed at first. He stayed quiet for a few seconds, then finally cracked a smile. “That’s wonderful. Soldiers, let’s move! Brand, you’ll have to get their attention at the front gate.”

William nodded without a word. He wandered around the camp until he found another sack filled with explosive flasks. Then, he headed out toward the front gate of the fortress.

He waited until all the soldiers had gone through the sewer tunnel. The captain had asked him to wait twenty minutes so they could reach the staircase and get everything in position before he caused a scene.

So William did just that. He sat behind a tree, looking up at the fortress from a distance. It really was a beautiful sight, nestled on top of the mountain like that.

“The view from up there must be amazing,” he thought.

William stared at the fortress for a while, and with his keen senses, he could see the guards patrolling the walls, standing at the top of the watch towers and…

“Rena?”

He couldn’t believe it. William blinked a few times, rubbing his eyes just to be sure he was not hallucinating. It was Rena. No doubt of that.

She was inside the fortress, acting as one of the guards in the watch towers. That was not a good thing.

At that moment, there were 100 soldiers invading that fortress, and they would try to kill everyone inside. William didn’t care about the rest of the people there—he was not even certain they were actually real and not made-up people of the dungeon, like the monsters that respawned—but Rena? He didn’t want her to perish.

She was a nice person.

William’s mind was working at full speed, trying to think of a solution to that. He decided to proceed with the plan.

The plan was for him to draw their attention in the front gate, and Rena was standing in one of the watch towers near the gate! So, she would see him.

“I first need her to see that I am here, and then I’ll try to rescue her from the fortress,” he thought.

William moved, carrying the sack with the explosives. The guards saw him approaching the front gate before he got close enough to use the explosives.

But when he was close enough, well, William attacked. He tossed the flasks toward the gate and the guards near it, as well as the walls of the fortress.

The explosions were loud and powerful! William was not expecting that much power from those tiny flasks.

“Attack! We are under attack!” the guards yelled.

They used a horn to make a noise to wake up everyone. Soon, the front gate was packed with mages that were looking at William with killing intent.

William was still far from the range of their attacks, and he also had the vegetation as his cover.

The guards from the fortress didn’t move. They knew that their advantage was to stay in the fortress.

“He must be trying to draw us out,” one of the guards in the fortress said, “there’s no way we are going out there.”

They were certain that the forest close to where William was was packed with others, waiting for them to leave the fortress. For that reason, none of them left.

As for Rena, she saw William there, and she couldn’t believe it! But she couldn’t just leave.

Then, it happened. The captain and the soldiers that went through the sewers emerged, and attacked the unprepared soldiers of the fortress from behind.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep