Chapter 67: The Masked Men (1/2)

Silently, Jake chased the strange movement.

Due to his years as an assassin, he had mastered the art of stealth.

It was evident in the fact that Jake made sure he stayed about 10 feet away from the movement.

Due to the distance, he could not see what the movement actually was. Though he had a guess, it was better to see it up close.

He was interested in how the abnormality would sneak into the guest house. It was rather easy getting past the gate than actually getting into the house.

The building was lit with light crystals and the abnormality wouldn't be able to use the cover of shadows.

It seemed the abnormality also knew they had met its challenge as it paused behind the main door.

This allowed Jake, who was hiding, to get a close look at it…..or rather them.

The abnormality was, in fact, a group of two masked men dressed in dark-grey stealth outfits.

'That is good. At least they are humans?' sighed Jake.

He had not yet gotten over his mysterious creatures and also the thrashing he got back in the Dark Forest.

He watched as the masked men tamper with the light crystal in the lampposts.

One second, the light crystal dimmed. The next second, it went out. In the third second, it was back on, but.....

The masked men weren't at the main entrance of the guest house!

'Hmmm. It seems like they possess good skills,' analyzed Jake.

He had thought of what they did before. Days ago, when he was bored, for fun, Jake had asked him how to infiltrate the guest house. That was one of the answers he had thought of.

However, the masked men did it more smoothly and most likely, this was not the first time they had done something like this.

Jake left his position and chased them. He was getting more interested in them, minute by minute.

Upon getting inside, he noticed he had lost track of them.

He looked down and saw no footprints, 'Of course, they don't have footprints. No sensible idiot would leave a footprint.'

He looked at his surroundings and deciphered their path, 'Despite entering the house, the masked men can't just walkabout. They would need to still be in stealth mode. There!'

He spotted a dim lamppost and knew instantly it was the work of the masked men as they had done it before.

Left, right, left, left, right, right, left.

He trailed the path of the dim lampposts and found himself at a particular room.

It was nighttime and most would be sleeping by now, so it was no surprise that nobody noticed the masked men or even him!

Jake placed his ear on the wall of the room, trying to gain information from their sound.

To his surprise, he noticed that he couldn't hear anything and his senses could not find the group of masked men.

Without further ado, he silently opened the door of the room and entered it.

Inside, he realized that the room was empty and cold which was impossible as he clearly sensed the masked men entering it.

Still suspicious, he scanned the room, checking every corner of the room. By the time he was done, the room was practically one-dimensional to him.

'Hmmm. Interesting, how did they disappear?' mused Jake.

He smiled as he paced around the room trying to figure out the secret behind their disappearance. It became an interesting challenge to him and made him understand the intricacies of the power system of this world.

'Hmm. On one look, it looks quite simple, but on the second look, one would discover the hidden details and well-guarded loopholes.'

For instance, the trick the masked men did with the lampposts and the existence of [Hidden Stages].

Jake was happy that this world wasn't as free as those he read about in the library of the Dungeon of Miracles.

Anyway, an idea came to Jake as he was deep in thought.

He bent down, rolled away from the floor carpet, and came in contact with the cold wooden floor.

Jake traced his hand along the floor, trying to feel an uneven side.

After a few seconds, his fingers detected an irregular side, which made Jake smile, 'Sure enough.'

The masked men had pulled a popular villain move. They had used a hidden passage to disappear.

Jake was familiar with it because he had also done something similar in the past.

After he traced the whole outline of the hidden passage, Jake lifted the wooden up and revealed a hollow and deep hole with a ladder fixed to its side.

To cover up his tracks, Jake sets up the carpet to roll back. He enters the hole and by the carpet got to his side, he had already covered the hole back.

'Perfect,' he smiled.

The holed was dark and he couldn't see.

He also couldn't make any unnecessary noise as it might draw the masked men.