Harunagakyo, Hinomawari Kingdom

Wolf led the royal family back to the hallway, where some of the princesses began to feel nausea from the sight of gore. He scolded the distracted girls, bringing them back on track. “No time for that!” He yelled.

The royal guards understood the urgency of this escape, and acted in correspondence to Wolf’s warning. They formed a protective shell around the royal family and their attendants, following the mysterious group of saviors ahead. In little time, they reached the devastated remains of the stairway, where they found the rest of Wolf’s team waiting.

“Clear a path ahead! Buy us time!” Wolf ordered the trio to the throne room.

While Typhoon, Storm, and Thunder forged ahead, Wolf informed the Hinomawarians of their plan, “We’ll use the throne room stairway to get to the bottom floor, at which point we have to get to the gardener’s shed. My squadmates will draw Gra Valkan attention away from the garden while we make our escape toward the Marketplace District. We must then get to the mountains and reach the Muan border on foot.”

Curious, King Hinomawari asked for Wolf’s identity. “Thank you for rescuing us. What faction must I grant appreciation to once this is all over?”

Wolf looked back as he walked down the throne room stairway. “That information is classified, Your Highness. Although, you can assume us to be the Leiforian Resistance.”

“I see,” King Hinomawari said. “In any case, do grant your superiors my heartfelt gratitude.”

Wolf nodded and continued downward. An empty lobby greeted them at the bottom of the stairway, for now. Wolf knew it would only be a matter of time before the Gra Valkans realized that there must be another way up. He expected that the Gra Valkans would reason the operatives who collapsed the stairway wouldn’t just trap themselves up there with no escape path.

More detonations sounded off in the distance, causing the royal family to flinch. On the other hand, Wolf felt a sense of relief. “My squadmates are distracting the Gra Valkans away from the castle. Remain here,” he told the Hinomawarians. “I’ll let you know when it’s clear to cross.”

Wolf and his men hid behind the doors, peeking through the windows as they analyzed the situation at the garden. Faint moonlight served as the only source of illumination, making it hard to discern whether or not the path was clear. Without access to any night vision devices, he had to rely on his keen hearing.

He heard nothing, but still waited patiently. At this moment, he was essentially trapped between a rock and a hard place. He couldn’t wait here forever, and he couldn’t risk opening the door and revealing their position. Smashing the lights was an option, but anyone outside could potentially hear it and see the lights suddenly go out.

Performing mental calculations, Wolf estimated the maximum amount of time it would take for any Gra Valkans posted at the far end of the garden to respond to the explosions. He checked his watch, starting a mental timer for three minutes. The time period passed by with no occurrences at all. Wolf was about to open the door until he heard a distant conversation, which slowly grew louder as the participants approached the castle.

“We can’t contact anyone, sir. The radio seems to be malfunctioning!” A Gra Valkan soldier said.

His commanding officer responded with a confused tone, “A faulty unit?”

“No, sir! Schumann’s radio is also malfunctioning; I think it might be another one of the local magnetic storms.”

“Hmph, at a time like this…” The group came to a stop right outside the door. “What a coincidence,” the commanding officer said. “Very well then, we improvise. Does anyone have flares?”

A silence followed, which Wolf could only presume was the shaking of heads.

“No, but I think Lieutenant Fuscher’s unit does,” another soldier spoke. “His unit should be holding the castle’s west gate.”

“Good. We shall have the entire Eighth Army converge on this castle! We cannot allow these infiltrators to escape!”

The group then ran off toward the western gate, leaving the garden empty. Wolf slowly opened the door once the Gra Valkans exited visual range. He crept up to the arches and scanned the perimeter, identifying nothing out of the ordinary. “All the Gra Valkans should be gone by now…” He gave the signal to the others and they sprinted to the gardener’s shed, where they funneled into the underground tunnel one by one.

They emerged on the other side of the tunnel, finding themselves in the library. Once everyone was through, King Hinomawari opened his mouth to say something, but stopped as he heard a cry of pain from upstairs. Wolf’s men and the King’s guards immediately prepared for combat, with Wolf inching forward stealthily. He moved to the upper level, where he saw flashlights scanning the aisles. He pulled back, hiding behind the large basement doors as he listened in to the conversation taking place outside.

“The magic detectors don’t lie, barbarian!” The sound of a gunshot, followed by another cry of pain pierced their ears. “It is only a matter of time before we find the sources of these signals. I advise you to tell us now, before you lose your other foot.”

“Magic detectors?” Wolf’s eyes widened. “Take off the magic gems! They can detect our manacomms!” He hissed urgently.

While his men complied and hurriedly removed the power sources from their manacomm earpieces, the engagement continued outside. “YOU are the one who is the barbarian here, defiling a place of study with your primitive violence. I shall tell you nothing!” The librarian retorted.

Another gunshot rang.

“Aaaghh!!” The librarian yelled. “Barbarian scum!”

The interrogator chuckled. “We will squeeze the information out of you. All minds can be broken; it is only a question of time. Goebbels, take him to the Eighth Army and arrange for his transportation back to our Leifor office.”

“At once, sir!”

Wolf felt his instincts telling him to go save the librarian. Having studied CIA techniques, he knew just how true the interrogator’s statement was. Although the librarian didn’t explicitly know that Wolf and his team served Mu Intelligence, he couldn’t risk the Gra Valkans unearthing Mu’s involvement. “Secondary objective: eliminate all threats and rescue the librarian,” he told his men.

The Muan operatives left the Hinomawarians in the basement while they combed the library. As soon as they shut the door behind them, however, the Gra Valkans immediately became aware of their presence. “Sir,” one of them said, “The signatures disappeared!”

“They’re here somewhere. Sweep the building. I want at least one of them captured alive!”

The new complication forced Wolf to renege on his previous order. “Abandon secondary objective. Let’s get the royal family out of here!”

“Kill the lights,” the interrogator said.

The Gra Valkans’ flashlights and the library's remaining torches were snuffed out, leaving the entire building in complete darkness. Wolf realized he was at a disadvantage. Whoever these people were, they evidently had access to night vision gear and were likely much better trained than the grunts they killed at the castle. Not only did he now face a competent force, he and his men were also outnumbered.

He recalled the number of flashlights he initially saw. There were at least six hostiles present, including the interrogator. A gunfight erupted somewhere behind him, ending as quickly as it started. He crouched behind a cart of books, mind racing as he tried to figure out his next move. If he assumed the worst, then he was already a man down. There had to be a way to even the playing field.

The incessant pounding of his heart finally calmed down as his thought landed on a lesson from his training on night operations. “Be careful when using these goggles in the light; the brightness will blind your vision,” the American had said.

“Light…” Wolf thought to himself. “How can I produce light?” He then remembered that he had a flare gun with several charges. Taking action, he fired the flares into the ceiling, illuminating the library.

Groans from blinded Gra Valkans revealed their positions. Disoriented, they quickly took their gear off. Their reactions were not quick enough, however, as Wolf took advantage of the Gra Valkans’ weaknesses and easily disposed of a group of two. He then came across another group of two, whose eyes were still adjusting to the new lighting environment. They fired inaccurately at Wolf, who slinked back into the shadows and reloaded his weapon.

Meanwhile, burst of fire from an MP-40 sounded off somewhere near the entrance, followed by yelling from Gra Valkans. Slowly, the hostile threats were whittled down. Having lost their advantages, the interrogator gave new orders. “Fall back! Vacate the building and flush them out with gas!”

Wolf couldn’t allow this to happen. Aside from the tunnel, there were no other exits out of the library, and a gas attack would certainly spell his and the royal family’s doom. “Think,” he told himself as he followed the retreating Gra Valkans. He did not have a clear line of sight on them, and was sure to be shot if he left the aisles to gain a line of sight. However, he didn’t need a line of sight to use grenades. Still equipped with stun grenades, he identified the entrance based on the library’s architecture. He then lobbed one toward the entrance.

It impacted the low, slanted ceiling near the front doors, bouncing off and landing directly in front of the Gra Valkans. The subsequent blast sent the men recoiling on the floor, with some of them suffering severe injuries due to their extremely close proximity to the grenade as it went off. Sensing his prey’s weakness, Wolf moved up and took cover behind a shelf as he fired indiscriminately on the writhing Gra Valkans by the doors. He emptied his MP-40’s magazine into the crowd, putting down five out of the twelve there.

One of them seemingly recovered faster than the others, returning fire from a submachine gun as he helped one of his comrades up. Wolf retreated behind the shelf, reloading and priming another grenade. To his left, he saw Stalker lay down more fire on the retreating Gra Valkans, killing one. By the time he was ready to toss his next grenade, the survivors had already recovered and were in full retreat. He threw the explosive regardless, shattering the door’s entrance as the fleeing men closed it behind them.

Wolf and Stalker instinctively rushed to chase after their fleeing targets, but were forced back by a hail of bullets that flew through the entrance and the walls around it. They ducked down, laying prone as bullets tore through wood and books, sending splintering debris everywhere. Immobilized, they knew they had to do something, lest the Gra Valkans proceed with their planned gas attack. Fortunately for them, the Gra Valkans decided to play it safe.

The hail of bullets ceased as the rumble of engines sounded. Tires squealed, signaling the official retreat of the Gra Valkans. Wolf pushed himself off the ground, peeking to ensure the coast was clear. He looked at Stalker, “Let’s get the royals out of here.”

Together, they traveled back to the basement, where they also found Ghost tending to an injured Rhino. “Status?” Wolf asked.

“I’m fine, sir. They got my arm twice,” Rhino explained as Ghost bandaged him up. “Can’t shoot as good, but I can still run and fight.”

Wolf’s eyes revealed a tinge of relief. “Alright. Let’s get moving then.”

They returned to the library entrance and were met by faint groans coming from one of the Gra Valkans sprawled on the ground.

“He’s still alive,” Stalker said. “Shall we put him out of his misery, sir?” he asked Wolf.

“No. We may have lost the librarian, but we captured one of their operatives in return. Ghost, keep this man alive. We should bring him back for interrogation. Saito, could you help Ghost carry the man?”

The royal guardsman nodded.

Satisfied with the plan, Wolf proceeded, “Alright, let’s get to the hideout and resupply. We have a long journey ahead.”

The group crossed the empty street, making it to the hideout without resistance. Using the supplies in the warehouse, they equipped the royal guards with firearms, quickly teaching them the basics of operating the weapons and reloading. Composed of Hinomawari’s most intelligent and disciplined warriors, they adapted quickly. In the meantime, Ghost continued to tend to the wounds of Rhino and the captured Gra Valkan operative. Wolf maintained a lookout, watching the streets for any changes.

Half an hour after arriving at the safehouse, Wolf spotted the rest of his team coming back.

“Sir, we sent the Gra Valkans on a wild goose chase in the southern part of the city. We circled around from the east and from what we could tell, there wasn’t much activity there. Our escape path should be clear. We tried to update you, but we couldn’t reach you on the manacomm,” Typhoon said.

Wolf brought them inside quickly and updated them. “Take out the magic gems. The Gra Valkans can detect their emissions. Typhoon, give me yours.”

After doing so, Typhoon gestured toward the Hinomawarians and the Gra Valkan. “What happened?”

Wolf looked back as he hid Typhoon’s active manacomm in one of the hundreds of crates present in the warehouse. “We ran into a Gra Valkan special forces team. Managed to fend them off and capture one of them. We’re going to bring him back to the border along with the royals, but we need to get moving now. Your manacomms were still active…” He shook his head, slightly frustrated. “Get resupplied ASAP. We’re almost done here.”