Gabriel had briefed everyone on the plan, and they were all currently playing their parts. He had said he already had someone to deal with all the men guarding the walls, however who this role was assigned to was something none of them knew.
Now, looking at the corpses, both Alice and Anna could not recall any members of the Broken Dawn who were overwhelmingly powerful enough to deal with all the guards in such a short amount of time.
What they found even stranger were the dried up pale corpses, almost as if something had sucked their blood dry.
While they were pondering among themselves, the low hum of engines reverberated from the distance. Looking ahead, they saw about three trucks slowly approaching.
When the trucks stopped, Gabriel emerged alongside his core subordinates. They were all geared up in various armor, treasures, and weapons. Their faces were extremely serious because every one of them treated this battle as a decisive operation.
"The eastern wing has been successfully captured," Alice whispered. "This particular entrance is a bit deserted. It will take a while before they discover it has been infiltrated."
Gabriel nodded. He brought out a small device. It was a communication tool created by the Legendary Logan.
Out here in the wilderness, there was heavy natural interference which meant long range communication was unreliable. Only short range signals worked properly.
Even with Logan's talent, not even he could fully bypass this interference.
Fortunately for them, the others were not too far away.
After speaking with whoever was on the other end, Gabriel put the device away and looked at the others. "Let's head in. The rest of our troops will arrive soon."
His plan was simple. A small group would infiltrate the base while the majority remained outside for emergencies. It was better to be safe than sorry. Although he was confident about capturing this base, he did not want to take unnecessary risks.
Not only that, the total number of troops brought for this mission was roughly a thousand, with the majority being otherworldly. If all of them joined the infiltration at once, it would only increase the chances of detection and turn a clean operation into chaos.
That was why the major portion of his soldiers remained outside the walls. If their cover was blown, they could always retreat to the main force and attack together.
Just then, Gabriel suddenly recalled someone. Under the curious eyes of his subordinates, he moved toward the armored vehicle, opened the door, and pulled out familiar faces.
"Hey!" Geoffrey exclaimed, startled and clearly not expecting to be handled so roughly.
"Lead the way," Gabriel said. His voice was hoarse and cold, sending a chilling sensation down the older man's spine.
"Y yes, I will," Geoffrey stuttered, his lips trembling.
With him leading the way, the small group slowly entered the enemy base. They did not directly appear in the main living area. Instead, they emerged into a mini city that was still in the process of rebuilding.
"Who are those?"
"I thought they were heading out. Why are they coming back?"
From the windows of nearby buildings, refugees in dirty clothing peeked out as they whispered among themselves.
"What if they are enemies?"
"Look, it cannot be. That is Geoffrey, a high ranking official of our camp."
Geoffrey walked in front of the small group calmly, as if he was not being held hostage. Although his eyes wandered from side to side at times, it would be difficult for untrained eyes to tell that something was wrong.
He was the perfect cover. Geoffrey was quite influential in this camp because he was the only one Dante respected even more than Henry and Dominic.
Although rumors of Dante's death had been spreading, no one wanted to risk disrespecting the man who was the only one the human giant truly listened to.
After some time, they passed through the mini city without interruption and finally arrived at the third class area.
When they did, an awakened who held a relatively high position in this district saw the entourage and rubbed his eyes as if he could not believe what he was seeing.
"Sir Geoffrey," he called out as he rushed toward them.
Anna was about to draw her daggers, but Gabriel raised a hand, stopping her. She obeyed and slipped them back into their sheaths.
"You are alive!" the awakened cried out, disbelief clear in his voice.
"Y yes, I am alive. I managed to escape just in time," Geoffrey said, forcing himself to appear calm despite his unconvincing tone.
Fortunately, the chaos of the camp and the excitement made it hard for the man to notice anything strange.
"That is good news. I am sure the higher ups will be happy to hear this," the awakened said excitedly. "I will inform the big bosses of the camp. Please wait for me."
Geoffrey raised a hand. "No need. I am heading there myself. They will see me soon enough."
"Alright, if you say so," the awakened nodded. He glanced briefly at those behind Geoffrey and frowned. He had noticed them earlier but assumed they were new recruits or members of a hunting squad.
The eastern camp was massive after all. It was not unusual for a low ranking officer like him to be unfamiliar with everyone.
"They are with me."
The awakened hesitated for only a fraction of a second before nodding. Geoffrey's reputation did the rest of the work. Without another word, the man stepped aside, already turning away as he muttered something about spreading the good news.
The moment he disappeared into the crowd, Geoffrey let out a shaky breath.
His back was soaked.
He did not dare wipe the sweat away.
Gabriel's presence behind him felt like a blade pressed gently against his spine. Not touching. Not openly threatening. Just close enough to remind him that a single wrong step would be his last.
"Keep walking," Gabriel said softly and they proceeded deeper into the enemy base.