I look at the city's entrance and don't see a line for males, unlike The Holy City. Now that the whole of Ancients World knows who I am, I can assume that those are for finding me somehow. It's nice to know that I don't have to worry about any alarms going off near me. Since this city is in the coalition, I don't have to worry about instant detection. We'll still avoid the line and entrance to the city. Its location is much to be desired, though. "We'll scale the walls like we always do. The security isn't as tight here as The Holy City." I inform Sally of the plan we normally take, and she nods her head in confirmation. We carefully make our way through the treeline, and that's when I notice a problem that will be interesting.

The distance between the wall we need to scale, and the treeline is large. There is a lot of open space and plenty of chances for us to get spotted as we rush at a wall. Sally's ice dummies can distract easily, but it'll be a higher chance of risk. The close treeline at The Holy City was really advantageous. "Should I use my ice dummies to distract any guards like last time?" I nod my head, and she creates them. She sends them out, and they make it halfway across the field. Before I can pick Sally up, they explode. We both look at the new little crater with slight disbelief. I look towards the top of the wall and see some magical cannon. "I've never seen those weapons before?" Sally says what I'm thinking right now.

After looking for a couple more seconds, some normal guards with regular armor for Bellvia come out and investigate the site. "Sweep the area for any more trespassers!" Talk about brutal. Bellvia didn't have this technology. At least I don't think they did when it's wartime. That's when most great inventions are made. I look at Sally as the guards slowly approach the treeline. It's a good thing it's dark now. This leaves a new problem. I can't see any other obvious way into the city. So how do so many criminals come and go in Bellvia's underground criminal network? There are a couple of possibilities. Starting with a secret entrance outside the city, it will not be near the walls with those cannons.

That means it's hidden in the massive and thick forest surrounding the city. "Let's get out of here! No one is around! Must have been a malfunction!" Since the ice dummies don't leave anything behind, there is no reason to suspect anything. We keep low and hidden in the treeline as they vacate the area. Looking for a secret entrance in these woods isn't ideal. Another idea is a bribed guard or official. Someone who lets certain people come and go at certain prices, the hard part about finding said guard or official. The whole reason is that guards and officials blend in and are in tight bonds with each other. The whole reason criminals love bribing and having these people on the payroll means the heat is almost completely driven away.

The guards have finally all left, and we stand. "We can't get past those cannons without causing a scene, which is something I don't want to do. The odds of getting in have gotten a lot lower this time around." I announce my thoughts in a whisper to be safe. Our go-to strategy to get into cities isn't going to work in Bellvia. I guess that means it's time to create another one. Magical cannons are a new and obscure technology. New things have problems, and they aren't found when something new is made. "A device or object can have magical properties. A magical cannon would be an enchantment..." What type of weaknesses would an enchanted cannon have? The destruction of the enchantment could work.

The type of explosion and power that came from that shot says more than your everyday enchantment. It has to have special ammo for that kind of strength. "They might be running on magic generators. Just a thought... I don't know much about magic..." Sally is doing her best to help. Making machines like this isn't cheap, and an unpowered enchanted weapon as complex as a cannon is probably very expensive. Not something that's a dime a dozen. So manufacturers would make shortcuts for cheap production costs. You can always count on the cheapness of your local power. A perfect example is the RMBK reactors in Chernobyl during the 1980s. A cheap reactor like those comes at costs, sometimes deadly.

I look at the cannon at the top of the wall. It's almost medium in size and pretty subtle. Hard to see at night. It has tubes and wires on it, just barely visible. "I don't see any way we can disable it without getting close... Your ice dummies will be annihilated before they can get close enough to shot them down... My wings could easily shrug off the shots, but that will reveal me..." Maybe I can use my mana pressure exertion in some way. That'll hurt a lot of people, though, kill them even. "We are going to have to find another way in. Let's head to the main road and watch it from cover. If anyone might know where a hidden way in is, they'll have to start on the main road and go into the woods once they see a hidden sign or marker." This is the best idea I can come up with right now.

Flying into the city is not going to happen. People will discover me instantly. A pair of golden wings would draw a lot of attention. "Maybe we can ask someone? I'm sure that more than just a single person in dozens knows where this supposed hidden entrance might be." I like Sally's idea, but not her sarcasm. That leaves who to ask, and the perfect people to ask are the elderly. They have been around the longest and have the best information regarding anything not publicly known. We slowly walk through the woods and make it to the roads. There are still plenty of carts and cartridges not getting in the city because of the long line of males. I look at the oldest people from our hiding spots, and not many are over the age of 50. Some look to be approaching 60, though.

I see an older gentleman on a single horse, and he has some unordinary things hanging out of his satchels. They have runes and look to have magic. Some smuggler, I bet, no one is behind him, and no one in front of him is paying attention. I watch him turn his horse and subtly walk into the woods with his horse. Nobody witnessed the sleek move. He has been doing this for years. The line is pretty far from the gate and the guards, so there is no risk of getting spotted so far out by guards. I wave my hand for Sally to follow, and we cross the road and enter near the woods in the same spot. We keep a good distance from the guy. He knows exactly where he's going. After 25 slow minutes of following quietly, we see some other people guarding a small path that digs into the ground.

The guards of this entrance don't have uniforms. We just found our way in. We watch the horse disappear into the path that goes underground and hear the faint squeaking of a door opening and closing. "Let's wait here for about 40 minutes. If we approach now, they'll think we trailed that guy in. I don't want to butcher my way in through the underground entrance." I whisper to Sally, and she leans against a tree out of sight and takes a load off. I follow suit and relax. "We might have to fight regardless. I don't know how you feel about killing people, so if you can't handle let me know now. I'll take the lead while you stay back." She looks at me as if I have offended her. I know Sally is tough, but she was disgusted when I slaughtered the evil guys at that inn in The Holy City.

She takes a breath and holds out her hands. An ice cube begins to form into a rose. She has gotten good at experimenting with her class and powers. Among all the legacy Classes I know of. Winters Wrath is truly special. "I can take care of myself, Zern. These guys aren't saints, and I know that. Killing the bad ones will be easy, and once they are taken care of, we can get into the city." She doesn't know that we will have to kill them all, not just the bad ones. No witnesses can see me, and even if there are some good criminals in that place, they'll have to die too. I'll keep her optimism, but she will see me in a different light if it goes down the way I think it will. She accepts the half-angel side of me and pays more attention to it than the half-human. Cause my human side is the dangerous one of the two. If it does go down my way, she'll focus on my human half more than my angel one.