Ice Ridge Wasteland, midnight, foggy.
A rusty steam-powered personnel carrier moved forward quietly under the cover of thick fog and night. Its steel tracks rolled, leaving deep plow marks on the frozen soil.
In the last section of the carriage, more than twenty men dressed as thieves crowded here.
The air was filled with the turbid smell of sweat and tobacco.
"S...S-level mission?!"
"No way... How could we participate in such a high-level mission?"
"Captain Tiger, are you mistaken? This mission is actually to sneak into the Burning Steel Castle to assassinate an Imperial Baron?"
"I heard that Marquis Barrett, the lord of 'Burning Steel Castle'... but the [Great Demon Hunter] who has awakened four levels of gene locks, no one dares to cause trouble in his territory..."
"Yes, Captain. And although the target Doctor Morin is only a baron, he is an official nobleman conferred by the empire after all. If he is killed, the Imperial Inquisition will directly intervene in the investigation... Will we [Weasel Phantom Thieves] Cause trouble?”
"..."
In the carriage, the trainee assassins of the "Weasel Phantom Thieves" never expected that their first mission would be an "S"-level mission with the highest level of danger in the regiment!
I heard... the mortality rate of extraordinary people on this kind of mission is extremely high, let alone newcomers like them who have not yet awakened.
Upon hearing the news, a handsome brown-haired boy in the corner twitched his eyelids slightly.
Sure enough, my luck has been as bad as ever since time travel.
... .
Renn felt that he was probably the most miserable time traveler.
A year ago, he worked overtime until early morning for half a month. When he woke up, he came to this strange world, and his soul passed through the body of a fifteen-year-old boy named Ren Hermes who was on the run.
I thought that I would be able to achieve great success and completely escape the fate of being a social animal. But he never thought that on his first day in this misty world, he would almost be bitten to death by a "big rabbit" full of dog teeth in this boundless wasteland!
Later he learned that this was one of the creatures at the bottom of the food chain in the wasteland—the canine rabbit, a carnivorous rabbit.
He had known a long time ago that he had arrived in an extremely cruel magical world.
Then, before being bitten to death by a rabbit, he saw a scene he would never forget.
With a violent roar, a steel castle with exaggerated metal tracks and wheels, driven by a steam engine, roughly broke into the field of vision from the fog like a monster.
On the castle, a hooded assassin jumped down from a sentry tower more than ten stories high and cut the neck of the calf-sized evil rabbit with a knife.
Wren was rescued.
Originally he thought his fortune was about to turn around, but he didn't expect it to be the beginning of a nightmare.
This "Weasel Phantom Thieves", which is full of crimes, is a gathering place for bandits who do all kinds of evil!
They find orphans from all over, control them with poison, and train them to become cold-blooded professional thieves and assassins.
In this way, Renn received nearly a year of brutal training at the base of the "Weasel Phantom Thieves" and became a [trainee assassin].
Today, he went out to perform a mission at the new training base for the first time.
Hmm...a mission to destroy the entire family.
... .
Tiger, the captain of the 19th Division and the new training instructor, shouted: "Hey, hey, hey... kiddos, be quiet!"
The level of this mission reached the highest S level, which indeed exceeded everyone's expectations.
The trainee assassins in the carriage gradually became frightened.
Tiger pursed his lips and said, "Don't worry. Although there are certain risks in this mission, Leader Quinn will also participate, so there will be no problem... You little brats, just follow along." Just merit points.”
When the instructor said this, the newcomers were overjoyed and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh, is it true... Chief Quinn will also be involved in this mission?"
"Then there must be no problem now. With a being as powerful as the leader, no task will be a problem."
"I'm just saying, it's impossible for newcomers like us to participate in such an important task..."
"..."
After hearing this, Ren's frown relaxed.
Finally, the cloud of "bad luck" in his heart disappeared, and he no longer felt that this was a train leading to death.
The wanted criminal of the Omar Empire's royal family with a reward of 16 million liso - [One-eyed Wolf] Quinn is indeed ridiculously strong and gives people a full sense of "security". He watched with his own eyes as the guy jumped from a cliff hundreds of meters high without any harm, and could easily pierce the steel plate with a dagger.
At this time, another newcomer asked curiously: "Captain Tiger, what is so special about Baron Morin? Is it worthy for the client to spend such a high price to invite us to sneak into the 'Burning Steel Castle' to exterminate the family?"
Not only others, this is also the doubt in Ren's heart.
This mission is indeed somewhat unusual.
It stands to reason that a group of Phantom Thieves like them who hunt in the wilderness would never risk sneaking into a large territory to assassinate a noble.
Not to mention that the task will be extremely difficult, even if it succeeds, it will be endlessly hunted by the royal family of the Omar Empire.
Even if the employer is willing to pay a high price for the commission, the sensible Phantom Thieves would not dare to accept it.
But this time, the leader Quinn not only accepted the task, but also participated in it personally, which seemed particularly unusual.
Renn speculated that "Baron Morin" must be hiding some terrible secret, which made Quinn take risks.
"Who knows? I heard he is a very wealthy surgeon..."
Tiger replied with a nonchalant look, as if it didn't matter who he killed.
Shrugging, he added: "Besides, for us, it doesn't matter whether he is seeking revenge or making money. After all, isn't he doing things with money?"
"Oh, that's right..."
"Shh... stop talking, put on your gas mask and get ready to get off!"
"Yes, Captain."
"..."
As soon as he finished speaking, there was no more unnecessary sound in the carriage.
This group of assassins wearing light leather armor were sorting out the daggers and muskets in their holsters, and then quickly put on various gas masks to cover their faces.
In the corner, Ren also put on a black leather, pointed-beaked crow-shaped gas mask with no expression on his face.
In an instant, these young people wearing thick dark gas masks turned into cold killing machines, and the carriage was filled with a thick atmosphere of murder.
... .
Not long after, the Centipede steam troop carrier arrived at the predetermined location.
"Everyone get out of the car and sneak close to the city wall. Remember, no one in the Morin Manor will be left behind!"
"Yes, Chief Quinn!"
"..."
There is a "fog tide" tonight, the fog is thick and the visibility is very low.
A group of people took advantage of the night to sneak quietly.
Renn was accustomed to this slightly poisonous mist.
This is a mysterious world shrouded in thick fog all year round, with crises and unknowns hidden everywhere.
After walking not far in the thick fog, the huge city that was originally covered by the thick fog suddenly became clearly visible.
Then, he was once again shocked by the architecture of this world.
"This...is the human city in this world?!"
Although he had heard about it for a long time, Ren was still shocked when he looked at the steel castle in front of him.
"It's really an exaggerated miracle of steel. Such a large city is actually a steel castle powered by steam engines..."
Even though he was used to seeing tall buildings in his previous life, he was shocked by the sight in front of him.
It has been almost a year since he traveled to this strange world, and this is the first time he has seen a large city where humans gather.
The lights inside the "Burning Steel Castle" were bright, and giant searchlights dispelled the fog, allowing people to clearly see the giant steel beast in front of them with its teeth and claws.
The city is very large, roughly equivalent in size to a county town in Renn's previous life, but the buildings are denser.
Gothic-style spiers stand in staggered rows, and a thirty-story-high city wall tightly surrounds the entire city. There are tall buildings in the city, connected by spider web-like covered bridges and pipelines.
Giant warhammer iron arms, siege angles, metal cutting machines with a diameter of tens of meters... and large-caliber artillery that can be several meters short or dozens of meters long are particularly eye-catching.
Dense rivets spliced the thick steel plates together, and the huge and exaggerated tracks and wheels held up the entire giant city.
The most bizarre thing is... on top of the buildings in the black city, there are tall chimneys that reach into the clouds and emit thick smoke.
This is the sign of a large steam boiler!
The entire giant city exudes a strong industrial style, like a steel hedgehog, giving people a very strong visual impact.
This is a steam steel castle, a real mobile war fortress.
This steel barrier is also the biggest reliance for humans in this world to survive and thrive in this wasteland where ferocious beasts and monsters are everywhere!