One, two, three…
Ten… twenty… thirty…
The number of castle guards charging at Lucas kept increasing.
From every hall, staircase, and passageway of the dark castle, armored soldiers appeared, their eyes fixed on the lone intruder. Spears gleamed under torchlight as they formed lines, blocking his path.
But no matter how many tried to stop him, they couldn't land a single blow.
Lucas moved like a ghost among them. Their desperate thrusts missed his body, while his blades danced between them, striking with deadly precision. Every swing ended a life.
One squad, two squads, three squads... all fell before him like dominoes.
Eventually, the castle grew quiet.
The once-proud guards now littered the stone floors, their weapons discarded beside them. Not a single one remained standing.
"That's it?" Lucas muttered, scanning the hall littered with corpses.
He counted quickly—only about fifty guards had come to fight him. That was less than half the total number of enemies expected in this dungeon.
"In a place this large, there should be far more enemies. Did the alarm only reach those nearby?"
Lucas tapped his chin thoughtfully. It hit him—only a limited number of guards must be connected by a 'chain alert' system. If just one saw the intruder, only the surrounding units would respond.
"Smart design," he whispered. "If every guard in the castle could be lured by one shout, players would abuse that to make things easy."
By drawing them all out at once, an assassin could just sneak inside through the chaos and finish the mission with ease. But that wasn't the case here.
Instead, only a portion of the guards would respond at a time, and if they didn't find the intruder, they'd return to their posts quickly. That made things much more dangerous.
"They really don't want players sneaking their way through this challenge," Lucas thought.
For stealth-based players, this setup was a nightmare. One wrong move meant patrols would catch you while you were mid-sneak, possibly boxing you in from both ends. A guaranteed failure.
But Lucas didn't care.
"Then I'll just do it my way—cut them down as they come."
He took a deep breath and plunged deeper into the castle's interior, daggers ready.
Lucas had a secret weapon—the Ogre's Bloodthirsty Pendant, which gave him 10% life steal with every attack. Even if he took a hit, his health would be recovered instantly by fighting back.
"Come at me," he growled. "I'll take you all down."
As he stepped further into the shadows, his prediction came true. More castle guards were stirred from their posts, flooding the corridors like bees from a kicked hive.
It was an overwhelming force.
Most players would've panicked at the sight. There was nowhere to hide, no safe escape route, and far too many enemies to take lightly.
But not Lucas.
He smiled.
"The more, the better."
Each group that came, he destroyed. He didn't slow down. He didn't hesitate.
Wave after wave came for him—and each wave fell.
Soon, the entire dark castle was emptied.
The patrol paths that once overlapped and overlapped, the narrow doorways that were hard to sneak through, were now silent.
No guards walked the halls anymore. No eyes watched from the shadows.
The only sound was the echo of Lucas's footsteps as he wandered through the empty castle.
"Earl Jack… where are you hiding?" he called aloud with a mocking tone.
He even raised his voice. Maybe, just maybe, his target would surrender on his own.
No reply.
Lucas opened the first room on the left.
Empty.
He opened the second room across the hall.
Also empty.
"Hmm. That's not good," he frowned.
If Earl Jack was hiding this well, it could waste a lot of time. What if a stealth-based player had come this far only to find the target wasn't even in the first few rooms? It would mess with your mind.
"If I'd snuck in like a normal assassin and not found him, I'd probably be tearing my hair out by now," Lucas said.
He realized something important—this dungeon didn't just test strength. It tested patience.
Most assassins would get frustrated.
Miss one room, maybe fine.
Miss two rooms, start panicking.
Miss three rooms, and you might do something reckless.
And then, just as Lucas entered the third room, he found him.
There, standing with a surprised expression and flanked by bodyguards, was Earl Jack.
"Gotcha."
Lucas chuckled as he stepped inside.
This was where most assassins would lose control. After two failed searches, finding the target would trigger a rush of emotions—relief, anger, pressure.
They might attack hastily, exposing themselves or failing to calculate the danger.
Earl Jack wasn't alone. He had several personal guards, stronger than the common ones, and they all reached for their weapons.
"Kill him!" Earl Jack barked.
The guards sprang into action.
But Lucas didn't panic.
He calmly pulled a detection scroll from his bag, activated it, and checked their stats.
"Huh. Not as strong as I expected."
With a smirk, he dashed forward and took them down one by one with clean strikes.
Each bodyguard fell to the ground, their health drained to zero.
Now, only the Earl was left.
"Well then, my dear Earl Jack… it's your turn."
Lucas stepped forward with a friendly smile that didn't reach his eyes.
Earl Jack trembled.
"No… please! Don't kill me!"
It was almost funny. A nobleman, dressed in velvet, begging for his life.
Lucas didn't lower his guard. He saw something twitch in the man's hand.
Suddenly, Earl Jack whipped out a small pistol from his sleeve and fired!
BANG!
Lucas had seen it coming.
He leaned left, dodging the shot with ease.
"Sneaky to the very end, aren't you?"
The Earl fired again, desperation twisting his face. Bang! Bang! Bang!
But Lucas was already at his side.
With a swift, deadly slash, his dagger opened the Earl's throat.
Blood sprayed across the floor.
A massive damage number floated up as Earl Jack collapsed.
"Target eliminated. Mission complete."
Lucas stood calmly, wiping his blade clean. The expression on his face was almost relaxed, like someone finishing a routine chore.
There had been no danger—not for him.
He hadn't needed to sneak or hide.
He hadn't needed to wait or watch.
He walked into the most dangerous place in the castle… and turned it into a slaughterhouse.
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Important Highlights:
Lucas defeats over 50 guards, but realizes the full castle hasn't been alerted.
He understands the chain alert system only brings local enemies, making stealth harder but more realistic.
Instead of sneaking, Lucas fights head-on, using his life-steal pendant to heal during combat.
He clears out nearly the entire castle, making once-dangerous patrols pointless.
He searches three rooms, and finds Earl Jack in the third.
The dungeon's design tests patience and psychological endurance.
Lucas kills Earl Jack's personal guards easily, then takes out Earl Jack after dodging a hidden gun attack.
The mission is completed successfully with overwhelming power and no stealth.
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