Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Mia, Jen, and Rena went over the plan and details with each other off to the side while Lucius and the others chatted and prepared their equipment. They went over their abilities with each other as well so they could know what to expect from the other fighters during the battle. It would be bad if someone did something out of the blue and became a target out of panic or surprise.

Renton was particularly surprised that Lucius was able to get the drop on Mia or even find out where she was. According to them, her mark allows her to silence people as well, though unlike the Dark magic spell, it silences the entire being, not just their voice, so she makes no sound as she steps, runs, yells, or breathes.

The way she was able to be invisible under shadows or darkness was because of a Dark magic spell called, Invisibility. Because it was a Dark magic spell it is rendered ineffective in the light, but as long as you are touching at least one shadow, it is as though you also become one. It was quite the deadly combination of skills.

She was also a user of Bow Arts, so she was an exceptionally effective assassin.

However, like Lucius had told them, it was much harder to hide your scent. Without that ability, he would never have known that Mia was even in the woods, let alone watching Paul's movements to see if he was a member of the bandit camp.

The Marks had been in the woods, gathering intelligence on the camp's movements, fighter count, supply locations, and any hostages. From what they found, there did not appear to be any hostages currently at the camp, which was good for him, because he did not want to get on the party's bad side again for being too careless.

He could not rely on Rena's opinion since they would be in the middle of a battle. Time to ask thoughts and opinions in a fight only afforded the opportunity for someone to kill you.

"So…you sniffed out our Mia…crazy…how did you do it?" Renton asked, giddy that someone had bested the party leader against her stealth skills.

"Well, I smelled blood. However, the only animals in this area seem to be passive creatures, there are currently no predators like wolves, bears, coyotes, or even any monsters. So, the smell of blood left only one option. A human." Lucius explained.

"Ah that must have been from a scout she took out or something then. She has a habit of collecting her arrows and using them as long as possible instead of one and done. It's risky because they could be damaged, but she can't break the habit." Lynn mentioned.

"Probably. Though I could also just smell her general location. I could tell there was a person nearby, so even without the blood, I would have found her eventually. She smelled different from Paul anyhow and I knew the others were not in the woods, so by process of elimination…" Lucius continued.

"What are you part dog?" Renton asked. His question came out a little louder than intended and it made Rena and Jen burst out laughing. Rena came over and mockingly pet the top of the boy's head.

"No, he's not a dog, he's my pet cat!" She joked.

Lucius sighed in resignation. "I'm half-beastman but from a feline lineage. All of us have extremely sensitive noses apparently, regardless of lineage." He mumbled.

"Oh, that makes sense that I don't know that then. Since we are from the Capital of Arcadios, we see basically zero beastmen and only a handful of elves. Though, there are quite a number of half-elves, like Mia." Renton admitted with Lynn and Marie agreeing.

"Alright, look alive everyone." Jen shouted. "We have a plan formed up so let's get to work."

The bandit camp was about a mile East of their location. They send out regular scouts though they only venture a quarter of a mile away from the camp at most in any given direction. Mia, Paul, and Lucius would take out any scouts actively on patrol before the others moved in.

Paul and Mia would try to hide the bodies as best they could, but Lucius could leave some of them alone. With his Forsaken Arts, if he were to use those with his unarmed attacks, it would look like they died from a monster instead of a human. Such was the savage nature of the Forsaken Arts, feature shared with Beast Arts.

What Lucius had not shared was that there were more abilities given to him by the Forsaken Arts…a lot of them…but he did not use them because they were extremely dishonorable, even in a fight against bandits and monsters…

After the scouts were dispatched and everyone moved in, Marie and Rena would seal off the entrances and exits of the camp to keep anyone from escaping. Paul and Mia would take positions in the treetops and shoot from above the camp's walls, while Jen, Renton, and Lethen would jump over the walls with assistance from the mages and take the fight inside.

Lucius would join them in the camp as well to take out any stragglers, potential escapees, and anyone trying to catch the fighters from behind.

Everyone was in agreement with the plan, so they exchanged some basic goodbyes and well-wishes with each other. Rena came up to Lucius, saying, "Be careful out there and don't get cocky, okay?"

"You be safe too Rena. Watch out for anyone trying to get over the walls and take them out before they get too close." Lucius warned.

"Isn't that what you are there to prevent? Do a good job in cleaning out the forest and keep the baddies caged in their own camp and it will all go fine!" Rena teased while gently patting him on the shoulder. "But yes, I'll be careful."

After everyone finished their preparations, Lucius, Paul, and Mia vanished into the forest. Mia activated her stealth skills and vanished like a ghost from view. Paul and Lucius had no such skills, but they were able to sneak around with the best of them thanks to their backgrounds hunting in woods. Everyone else waited for about twenty minutes before they followed.

That should give the advanced party enough time to handle the scouts.

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