A Death Knight squared its shield and a Beowolf's claw bounced off of it.
The undead creature stabbed past the shield with its flamberge, piercing the Beowolf's chest as the raging beast tried to climb over the shield, and the stab caused the beast to fall on its back.
However, instead of rising as a Death Squire, the beast merely evaporated into darkness and was replaced by two new Beowolves that took their fallen pack-member's place in the battle-line.
The Death Knight squared its shield again, as it had done hundreds of times already.
An undead wouldn't get tired.
The Grimm wouldn't let up.
It was a stalemate… Until a long, hollow Gruuuuuuuhhhh sound that was akin to a howl through a long horn interrupted the battle.
The Death Knight squared its shield against the new foe… And was trampled to dust as a mammoth-like Grimm Goliath stampeded through the undead line, its first step breaking the Knight's body and the second causing the Knight to dissipate entirely.
The massive, elephant-like Grimm swung its head to the side, goring a dozen Death Cavaliers with its four massive, thorned tusks and causing the cavalry-like undead to be flung to the air without the slightest effort, like tossing away toy soldiers, while the gigantic Grimm creature's trample didn't slow down one bit.
The Goliath let out a long Gruuuuuuh sound as it headed for the beacon of negativity, terror and pain, which was like a raging wildfire that attracted Grimm like moths to a flame… And the Grimm creature fell to its knees before crashing to its side, and its head fell a few feet away from its dead body with a booming crash.
Cocyutus re-sheathed his blade while the Grimm mammoth disappeared into wisps of dark energy, as he was currently on the rotation to look over the battle that was raging outside Nazarick.
Initially Lord Ainz had ordered the battleline to be drawn far away from Nazarick's entrance, but soon afterwards it became clear that if only POP monsters and summoned creatures made up the main bulk of the battling force, they couldn't afford to push too deep into the forest around them.
Not only were the POP monsters numerically inferior to the ever-growing Grimm horde that pushed Nazarick and had grown to number in the tens of thousands after just a few days, the POP monsters, summons and other 'expendable' monsters were taking massive casualties whenever a stronger-than-usual Grimm appeared. And thus the risk of a breakthrough was too great if the battle-lines were drawn too thin.
The loss of the monsters didn't cost anything to Nazarick, though, as POP monsters respawned daily and summoned creatures would disappear after some time anyway, which was likely the reason Lord Ainz had chosen those two types to form the mainline of the grinding battle.
After all, if the higher-level Mercenary monsters made the battleline, even if they would be far more effective at defense, each loss would also incur a loss of money or data crystals, meaning that Nazarick would grow weaker over time.
Of course, Cocytus had advised lord Ainz that if they allowed the enemy to enter the first floor of Nazarick, the enemy would suffer far higher amount of attrition due to traps and bottlenecks that would greatly reduce the advantage that the enemy's numbers gave them, but Lord Ainz had countered Cocytus's suggestion by stating that while Cocytus's plan had merit, it relied too much on assumption that the enemy didn't have strong creatures amongst them that could break the bottlenecks and thus force Nazarick to yield ground within Nazarick to the attackers.
Cocytus had apologized profusely, as his experience battling the Grimm during the past few days had left him with the impression that the stronger-than-average Grimm were still nowhere near strong enough to break past a Guardian, but Lord Ainz clearly knew that there were Grimm that were strong enough to fight or even overpower Guardians, in which case his plan of holding a stalemate outside Nazarick made more sense because it gave more time for additional Guardians to arrive if a strong enemy appeared.
Moreover, Nigredo had reported that the flow of the Grimm was only growing more numerous with no signs of stopping as far as her scrying array could tell.
A flock of Grimm birds swooped in and tore a Death Knight from the phalanx-like line that they formed, lifting the undead into the air and tearing it into scraps mid-flight like a flock of aerial piranhas, while a group of boar-like Grimm exploited the hole in the line to charge a large number of the creatures through the gap and start attacking the line of Death Knights from behind.
The Death Cavaliers charged to meet the boars before they could force the front-line of Death Knights to crumble, and the battle of two cavalry-equivalent forces became a slogfest as the Cavaliers lacked space to properly use their speed and mobility, while the boar-like Grimm were at an advantage due to their smaller size and large, upwards-protruding tusks that easily toppled over stationary Death Cavaliers.
A wave of zombies, however, solved the issue as the undead shambled forwards and threw themselves mindlessly onto the boars, restricting their movements even if the zombies suffered catastrophic casualties in turn as the boars started to trash and spin around- But crucially, the slowdown allowed the remaining Death Cavaliers to start stabbing the boars with their long lances.
Thus the hole in the battle line was quickly repaired and the breach contained, and the bloodless grind of two expendable forces continued.
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Ainz was holding his face in exasperation and worry while sitting on the Throne of Kings in the Tenth Floor of Nazarick.
"...And that concludes my report, my lord." Demiurge looked quite nervous. Or rather, his expression was stuck to implacable calm and his body language was that of a man at ease, but the fact he was adjusting his bow-tie every few minutes clued Ainz to the fact that the demon was not as calm as he appeared otherwise.
"So… You didn't manage to get anything useful out of the Arc couple, and they died thrice during the torture, and the last attempt at reviving Nicholas caused him to crumble to dust. Moreover, they proved to be impervious to mind magic, as well as [Control Amnesia]. Yes?" Ainz tried to not show his exasperation in his voice, even if the lack of success in the interrogation caused him to be quite short-tempered within the confines of what [Emotion Suppression] and his own paranoia towards Demiurge allowed. '...Far Hope was too close to Nazarick and armed with too heavy weapons to be allowed to exist because if the Grimm had managed to open up our defenses and we were discovered, Far Hope could have informed the rest of the nation where Nazarick was, and that we were wide open for an invasion... And the Arc couple was too valuable a source of information to let slip between my fingers. But I didn't expect them to be immune to mind magic.'
It looked like Ainz's haste and paranoia had backfired as even though he had gotten a good grip on the pair's fighting style and strength by directing a few discrete attacks towards them during the 'assistance' in battle, he hadn't expected the pair to be utterly impervious to mind control.
In retrospect it made sense, considering Nigredo's warning, but at the time Ainz had been too preoccupied in finding whatever he could that would help deal with the siege of Nazarick by the Grimm creatures.
Luckily enough Ainz had managed to swindle the recommendation letter before attacking and disabling the pair when they were aiming to retire for the night, and thus would have cost Ainz and Nazarick valuable time, so it was not a total loss on that front. Even though in retrospect it may have been better to wait until the pair left, then take the settlement out, and follow the Arc couple around while prodding them with questions.
Moreover, the settlers had proven to be far more malleable and more susceptible to torture and mind-magic, and had given up their secrets easily enough. Specifically after Demiurge had partially grilled some of their babies and force-fed them to their mothers while the babies still lived, while forcing the husbands to watch, and threatened to do the same for the rest of the babies unless the adults cooperated.
In the end the settlers had proven to be a treasure-trove of valuable information, giving Ainz a good grasp on how 'Remnant' worked, and also reassuring him that Far Hope's disappearance would not cause much fuss, most likely, since Grimm attacks and subsequent settlement wipeouts had become somewhat of a norm.
After the interrogation the 'stubborn' settlers who still retained fighting spirit had been skinned alive, salted, and turned to wall decorations in the Frozen Prison so that their screams of agony and terror could echo in the freezing hallways and break the spirit of the rest of the captives who hadn't been 'processed' yet.
The rest of the settlers had then been lined up, interrogated until they broke, and the broken settlers had been either queued to be sent as food into the Black Capsule to grow the horde of devouring cockroaches, or lined up to be sent to become seed-beds in the Sixth Floor's parasitical swamp in order to give birth to the parasites, die, and become soil, and nourish the combat-capable carnivorous plants, which Mare would then plant outside Nazarick to fight the Grimm invasion
Ainz had felt quite queasy over Demiurge's methods at first, but they did get results and Demiurge seemed to enjoy inflicting that sort of cruelty, so he allowed the demon to do as he wished.
Not to mention, Ainz was fully alright with sacrificing everyone in Remnant if it meant that Nazarick and his friend's legacy stayed safe, no matter how much suffering doing so caused on people other than them.
"Unfortunately yes, my lord. I was unable to glean any meaningful information from either of the two 'Hunters'. I am currently experimenting whether or not the female's skin could be used for the manufacture of scrolls, however, as she seems to react well to healing magic which means that I can skin her repeatedly without killing her in the process." Demiurge bowed to Ainz. "This also solves food issues for her as we can cut off her limbs and have the captive eat them, and heal the limbs later if it proves necessary. The rest of the settlers have, however, been more forward with the information they possessed."
'...So, to recap… According to the settlers, there's a thing called 'Aura' which enables people to withstand hits that would normally kill them, as well as super-speed, strength and endurance, as well as an ability called 'Semblance' that is specific to a person… But 'magic' doesn't exist as far as they know.' Ainz recalled Demiurge's report. '...Apparently negativity attracts Grimm, which is a problem because undead have an aura of negative energy so Nazarick's siege will continue until we can somehow suppress the negative energy aura that Nazarick as a whole has going on… I tried to turn it off in the guild base's settings, but that didn't seem to help, even if it disabled the external negative energy aura that heals the undead summons that are fighting outside.'
It was clear that the tortured settlers had lied about negative energy to escape torture, and had somehow managed to bypass [Control Amnesia] to keep telling the same fake story, likely in hopes of trying to make the torture stop.
"Demiurge. I trust that you and Albedo can command Nazarick's forces to keep it safe from the Grimm that besieges us." Ainz lifted his eyebrow, metaphorically speaking as a skull didn't exactly have those, and the demon bowed deep. "I may be gone for a few weeks, so send me a message if things start to take worrying turns or if the battle escalates even further."
"Yes, my lord!" Demiurge stated instantly while kneeling in front of the Throne of Kings, and Albedo gave the demon an angry glance from beside the demon as he had spoken over her. "I shall ensure that no enemy enters the domain of the Supreme Beings!"
"Very good. I'll depart to see what this 'Vale' is about, and see if I can find a way to put an end to this siege. Someone has to have instigated this attack on us… I just need to find who, and put an end to them." Ainz felt as his anger rose naturally and be forced down artificially as he thought about the attack on Nazarick.
'...However, if a hostile guild is behind this attack then I need to work carefully. Those two 'Hunters' had mana equivalent of a level seventy player, even if they lacked skills, abilities and gear to match, and instead could use their mana as temporary health… They might be an outlier, and there are far stronger Hunters out there.' Ainz contemplated internally while Demiurge was singing praises over Ainz's supposed wisdom.
The praise made Ainz curl up a bit inside as he was nowhere near as amazing as what Demiurge described him to be, but it was better to be perceived as a genius and respected than if Ainz blurted out how mediocre he really was, and the NPC's kicked him off his throne and took it for themselves.
The week or so that he had spent in Nazarick ever since getting summoned to Remnant had further solidified Ainz's paranoia and worry over the loyalties of the NPC's, as even though they acted reverent on the outside, he was well aware from his memories as Suzuki Satoru that the position of a leader, or CEO, was always a stone's throw away from passing to the biggest competitor.
He had seen the CEO's 'resignation' letters in his email more than enough to have a clue on how cut-throat the life of a leader was, and he did not feel the similar bond of friendship to the NPC's that he had felt towards his guildmates- That of absolute trust.
That didn't mean that Ainz didn't value the NPC's like the sons and daughters of his friends, but rather meant that he was always on the lookout for signs of betrayal from their ranks- Specifically from Demiurge, who Ainz recognized to be far, far smarter than he was, and more devious as well.
The decision to leave Albedo and Demiurge in charge of the defense was thus a combination of two things- A test of trust, as well as to see how they would conduct themselves if Ainz was outside immediate arm's reach. And since Ainz had… meddled… in Albedo's 'settings' before YGGDRASIL had gone down, he had a degree of hope that she wouldn't try to immediately turn on him at the slightest opportunity, and thus could serve as a counterbalance to Demiurge's ambition.
…And Ainz had gone and swapped the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown for a fake one, just in case, and entrusted the fake staff to Aureole Omega in the Cherry Blossom Sanctuary of the Eighth Floor of Nazarick, since if Demiurge became outright hostile towards Ainz and tried to overthrow him… The Staff would give Ainz an edge in combat, as well as in the struggle of authority.
There was also the fact that since the staff was the Guild Symbol of Ainz Ooal Gown, or Guild Weapon, if it was broken it signaled the end of the guild, giving him one last trump card in case Demiurge rebelled and Ainz was forced to choose between his life and Demiurge's.
Of course, Ainz had only considered the last option as subconscious thought, and had promptly dispelled the idea out of his mind as utterly repulsive. After all, if it came to such a drastic choice, Ainz would likely rather face his own death than break the staff and condemn the memories and relics of the guild to oblivion.
"...So, I'll be in Vale for a few weeks. I'll send a word back about the security and systems within the city so that you can send appropriate spies and infiltrators in my wake- Nicholas's letter and words described that I should be able to slip in without too much scrutiny under a fake persona. However, there may be further detection methods that are aimed to detect heteromorphs, so I may need reinforcements on short notice." Ainz spoke to Demiurge and Albedo, both of whom knelt deep in front of him. "The letter is also addressed for two people, one male and one female, so I'll…"
"I'll be honored to accompany you again, my lord!" Albedo lifted her head and Ainz recoiled internally from the obscene, horny and barely held back look on her otherwise beautiful features.
"Unfortunately that won't be the case. I'll ask someone from… umu… Pleiades to accompany me. You'll need to stay here, Albedo." Ainz coughed to his fist. 'Mostly because I hope that you'll be able to keep Demiurge from having ideas about rebelling against me… I hope I haven't misplaced my hopes in you, Albedo…'
The latter part was not said but thought, yet it looked like Albedo managed to read his body language and her head fell back down in despair. "Yes, lord Ainz…"
Demiurge rose up alongside Albedo and the demon put his hand on his chest. "My absolute lord and master, rest assured, we shall endure. We will not break, no matter how hard the enemy pushes."
"Umu, I see. Very good. In that case, to your positions." Ainz sweated internally as he suspected that the two had seen through Ainz's flimsy attempt at playing their loyalties, and he dismissed them from the Throne Room so that he could have a nervous breakdown in peace.
That had been his plan, anyway, but [Emotion Suppression] came to his rescue and lowered his internal nervousness to acceptable levels.
The pair bowed and left, leaving Ainz to ponder his feeble plans, as well as to think on which of the Pleiades to take with him, and how to conceal himself in the crowd.
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Hour or so later Ainz had ended up wandering to the fitting room in the Ninth Floor, and donned a spare suit of armor that he had, embarrassingly enough, designed when he had idolized the warrior-leader of Nine's Own Goal and later Ainz Ooal Gown, Touch Me, before he had given the leadership of the guild to Ainz.
The armor was black in contrast to Touch Me's pure white, and had a more traditional helmet instead of the power-ranger-like helmet of Touch Me, complete with a red cape…
"Lord Ainz?" A female voice that came from the doorside caused Ainz to jump a bit.
"Ahem, I was just testing out a potential disguise for my mission, there is no need to worry." Ainz sweated internally and waved Narberal Gamma's concerns off.
The Pleiades battle-maid was standing next to the door in a stance that somehow radiated cold even if the temperature of the room was stable.
'Umu… While she's a shapeshifter and thus could be useful for an infiltration mission, she doesn't seem to have a grasp on how to behave herself…' Ainz had observed the maid for a while and asked about her opinion on humans, and came to the conclusion that Narberal probably would cause an incident in Vale in the similar manner as Albedo had caused in Far Hope.
'Come to think of it, the technology locals have is quite advanced compared to YGGDRASIL, so…' Ainz had a sudden epiphany and sent a [Message].
Five minutes later a maid stepped into the room with a bland, emotionless look on her face. "Lord Ainz. CZ2128 Delta, reporting. I am in full health and mana. Ammunition, full."
"Shizu, what do you think of humans?"
"They are living organisms without natural armor or weapons, and rely on external weapons and armor to increase their armor and attack rating…"
"No, I mean, are you opposed to humans?" Ainz realized that he might have asked too broad a question as Shizu began listing human archetypes from YGGDRASIL.
"...If Lord Ainz orders that I am." Shizu tilted her head. "Otherwise I have no opinion on humans."
"And can you use electronics? Hack computer devices?" Ainz was reaching a bit as YGGDRASIL didn't really have computers, in a traditional sense anyway, even though the shitty devs had started to implement sci-fi things into the game during it's late years to try to raise new players in a desperate attempt to appeal to what was popular.
Shizu tilted her head a bit to the other side. "I am capable of utilizing computerized archeo-magical devices."
'Right, that could be useful, actually…' Ainz pondered for a moment. 'The locals had 'Scrolls' which looked a bit like ancient phones, so they probably don't have large-scale communication and control implants or other cybernetic wetware, but if Shizu can interface with the local systems, it could be a huge boon in my information-gathering attempt…'
He nodded after some pondering. "Shizu, accompany me to Vale in my information-gathering mission. Are there any preparations you need to do?"
"None, my lord."
"Very good. Ah, in addition, hmm…" Ainz pondered the issue of his 'name' for a moment as on one hand, going by 'Ainz Ooal Gown' right off the bat would bear merit in spreading his name, and thus alert any of his guildmates into his presence, but on the other hand the problem was that if he did so while he was separated from Nazarick's main bulk of defenses then if any of their enemies had come to the new world with them, they'd have a chance to ambush Ainz when he was alone. "I'll go by the name of, umu, Momon during our mission. The cover-story is that we are a pair of fugitives from a place called Mengagerie, a lord and his aide, who were chased out by an organization known as 'White Fang'."
The original recommendation letter was addressed to 'Ainz Ooal Gown' and 'Albedo', but Ainz was fairly sure that the artificers of the Library could forge a convincing copy of the letter with 'Momon' and 'Shizu' instead, seeing that Nicholas's letter gave them a legitimate- and therefore believable- framework to base the letter on.
"Yes, Lord Momon." Shizu intoned with a bland voice, causing Ainz to nod his head appreciatively.
"The locals seem to have guns but still use blades, but don't seem to use magic from what I've seen. The interrogation of the settlers also told us that the locals don't seem to know what a 'magic-caster' is, outside of fairy tales anyway." Ainz called back on the weapons that he had seen Nicholas and his wife use in combat, and he decided to mimic the fighting style in order to blend in better- As far as he knew, such gun-and-blade combinations were the norm for a local 'raid team'. 'Haa, I really should have waited longer to take those two Hunters down, talk to them more…' "I'll be using swords and you'll be using guns, Shizu."
There was a temptation to use the same guns that the two Hunters had used, but Ainz had a feeling that they would be too recognizable so he had just put them into the Treasury, where they sat alongside various other trophies and loot that Ainz Ooal Gown had gathered during it's time.
Ainz had felt a loot-goblin like need to gather up the 'Scrolls' of the two as well, and the electronics of the settlement, but his Suzuki Satoru side warned against taking communication equipment and other easily-traced gear into Nazarick, since there was a chance that they'd end up giving away Nazarick's location.
"Confirmed. I am ready to utilize all weapons in my possession." Shizu saluted again while she had a completely flat and disinterested expression.
Ainz had half expected Shizu to protest or ask how Ainz, being a Necromancer, could use swords or armor in the first place, but she seemed to just accept information and orders without question or doubt.
On one hand it was somewhat relieving, but Ainz felt slightly disappointed as he had partially wanted to go on a tangent about his warrior-mimicry ability [Perfect Warrior], which was a toggle-ability that disabled his spells but allowed him to wear armor and use weapons as if he was level hundred Warrior. 'Umu… Well, that kind of spiel would have been too chuuni anyway…'
Nonetheless, Ainz knew that it was Shizu's 'character' to act that way, but it still made him a bit self-conscious. "Ahem… Well, the recommendation letter was for two, but I think having an assassin that can meld with the populace and act independently would be ideal… Hanzo's would be good at infiltrating and counter-spying, but they are observing the ruins of Far Hope… Do you think Solution is capable of staying unseen and infiltrating the crowd if she needs to accompany us?"
"Yes." Shizu and Narberal answered in unison.
"...Do you think she'd get along with humans?" Ainz asked the crucial follow-up question.
"No." The answer came in unison again.
'Well, that is a problem.' Ainz sighed and rubbed his eyebrows. "What about you, Shizu? How good are you at infiltrating?"
Ainz had a good grasp on the Pleiades's abilities, but he wanted to make sure that the NPC's themselves felt confident in their abilities before he'd actually command them to use them.
"I have camouflage-skills and can hide my presence, health and mana, but I do not possess invisibility or other high-tier cloaking abilities. I can attack from far away without being detected, but my stealth degrades rapidly with distance to my target…" Shizu started to recount her abilities and Ainz stopped her.
"I mean, can you infiltrate a crowd, or perhaps enter a locked-down building, avoid the guards, retrieve hidden information, that sort of thing?"
"No." The answer was blunt and straight.
'Well, that is a problem. But I suppose I can just call for more appropriate assets from Nazarick if necessary…' Ainz sighed internally. "Very well. In that case I suppose that it's just the two of us who are going. I'll see if we can arrange someone to take care of any locked-down areas that we might encounter…"
"I am capable of lockpicking locks with the difficulty of seventy and below." Shizu lifted her hand to show that one of her fingers had turned into a lockpick.
"Yes, but that is not what I mean… I mean, yes, that will help me. Us." Ainz went for a different approach as Shizu had frozen still as soon as the first sentence had left him. 'Haa… I hope this goes well… I can't afford to slip up anymore. Far Hope was a good source of information on locals, but I messed up with the actual big prize of those two Hunters… So I need to be a bit more careful when it comes to this 'Beacon Academy'.'
"Well then, let's get going." Ainz put the helmet on his head, latched the pair of greatswords that Narberal had fetched for him to his back, and checked the map that Nicholas had given him.
Shizu nodded so Ainz motioned for her to follow as he walked off to finalize his departure, and then have Aureole Omega [Gate] him somewhere near Vale City.
Ainz glanced over the recommendation letter. 'I should probably get a pair of doppelgangers to masquerade as those two Hunters after some time, just in case someone starts asking questions about their disappearance… Well, Far Hope was under attack by Grimm when I got there, so it probably should be alright since anyone investigating would come to the conclusion that the Grimm overwhelmed and wiped out the settlement.'
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"Huh." Qrow Branwen knelt a bit in the ruins of what had once been Far Hope.
The settlement had disappeared from the Cross Continental Transmit System, and it had alerted Vale that something had happened to the settlement, as Far Hope was large enough to have its own CCTS node to keep the settlement in the globe-spanning information-network for shared security and safety.
However, even though Vale had been informed that the settlement was under attack by Grimm, it hadn't been in real danger as it had been defended by a pair of Hunters and thus the attack had been registered as a common skirmish at the gates.
…That had been before the Grimm attack had intensified tenfold for seemingly for no reason, and a call for reinforcements had been sent, only to be withdrawn mere half an hour later just when Beacon had gotten a Bullhead air-transport loaded with Hunter-students and prepared them to be sent to assist in the settlement's defense.
The alert level had been lowered and the transports had never touched off… And half an hour after that the settlement had disappeared from the network altogether.
What's more, a couple days after that the whole area had started to swarm with incredible amounts of Grimm, to the point where flights and aerial reconnaissance around the area were impossible without getting aircraft and drones downed by thick swarms of Nevermores and other aerial Grimm, and even Qrow had to be extremely sneaky to get past the Grimm to investigate what had happened in Far Hope on Ozpin's request.
'...Hm… Nicholas and Marie Arc were supposed to be in this settlement… Those two were always the type to stick their necks out for anyone in need, so somehow I'm not surprised they'd go down with the ship.' Qrow reached into his jacket-pocket and pulled out his flask, and poured some of its contents on the smoldering ashes of the settlement, twice, to honor the dead couple. And then he took a long swig for himself as he braced himself to eventually tell the pair's seven adult kids about the fate of their parents.
The settlement was totally razed, all valuables gone, people disappeared, except for computers and other traceable equipment which had been smashed. 'So, it's about a hundred percent certain that Grimm didn't do this. Not only because they don't wreck the place any more than what's necessary to get to the people hiding inside, they don't actually eat the bodies or steal their belongings. The good stuff would be left intact and the bodies would be left rotting where they died if this was the result of a Grimm attack.'
Of course there was a chance that a bandit group had ransacked the place after Grimm had wiped out the population, but Qrow wasn't aware of any such group in Vale that would also take the bodies of the dead with them, and he hadn't seen any corpse-pyres or mass graves nearby.
Moreover, the report from Far Hope before its blackout detailed that they had been attacked by a large Grimm horde, which had then pulled back, which told Qrow that the settlement had managed to repel the Grimm, but had been destroyed and razed by a group that had attacked the settlement after the Grimm and had taken the people captive.
The lack of signs of struggle, outside deliberate destruction, also told Qrow that the attack came swiftly, precisely, and with overwhelming strength that didn't give the settlers a chance to mount organized resistance.
Qrow wasn't aware of any bandit groups in Vale who favored that sort of attack style or had the strength needed to conduct that sort of attack against a walled settlement… But he was aware of one bandit group who did employ that style of raiding. Only, they were based in Mistral, in a completely different continent from Vale which was separated by a sea.
In other words, either there was a brand-new bandit group that employed Raven's tribe's fighting style, or the bandit-queen had relocated into Vale for some reason.
Qrow could tell one reason for that sort of relocation, though, and that reason would be enrolling into Beacon Academy soon. 'So… Raven. Did you come to Vale to stalk your daughter's growth as a Huntress? Perhaps kidnap her when you think she's 'ready' to 'join you'?'
Of course, Qrow was aware that Raven could use her Semblance, Portals, to effectively be anywhere she wanted as long as there was someone she knew to guide her to the new location, and that made his first theory of the unknown attacker's identity stumble somewhat since Raven had no need to come to Vale to attempt a kidnapping.
The second theory that immediately came to Qrow was that White Fang was changing their tactics.
There had already been a report of at least one attack on public infrastructure by White Fang extremist, in the form of an attack on a train that had been transporting Dust to Vale through the forest of Forever Fall, and even though that attack hadn't caused any casualties amongst the civilians thanks to the efforts of Atlesian combat-robots fighting off the attackers (or, at least that was the official report), the shift in methodology was concerning.
And White Fang would have both the motive and the manpower to assault a garrisoned settlement, steal its valuables, and kidnap the people to be used as hostages.
The problem for White Fang, however, was that Nicholas and Marie had been present, and there was very little chance that either would come quietly with the White Fang, and both would pose a very high threat to any mundane attempts of siege to the settlement. Not to mention the settlement's wall-mounted artillery, which was very much capable of turning any regular siege by light infantry into a one-sided meat grinder, which meant that whoever attacked the place must have infiltrated the settlement first to disable the wall-guns.
However, even the wall-artillery had been stolen, alongside their ammunition stockpile.
Qrow walked to the pile of rubble that remained of the town hall, and squatted down to sit on the ruins while thinking of the clues that were left behind. 'So, the settlement was attacked from the inside, Nicholas and Marie got killed or suppressed before they could fight properly, there's barely any signs of a fight outside a couple Grimm-claw marks, and the rest of the evidence of a battle has been very deliberately buried by the rubble or cleaned away, the people have been taken away either dead or alive so that no bodies remain, and all valuables are gone but electronics were just smashed.'
A small pile of ash compressed a bit next to Qrow.
The Hunter glanced at it and returned his eyes forwards, as if he hadn't seen anything.
Qrow tilted his head to the side to avoid the kansaibo-club that would have smashed him in the back of his head.
"So, you'all decided to show yourselves? That saves me the trouble of investigating further." Qrow commented while twisting his head to the other side as the attacker tried to swing it at him again.
The Hunter turned around and kicked the attacker in the stomach, causing the would-be kidnapper to skid back and fall to a low-crouched stance.
"In the name of Ainz Ooal Gown, cease resistance and surrender, and you won't be harmed." The man-shaped creature spoke with a slightly echoey tone.
The creature was proportioned in a way that made it appear inhumanly lanky, and it had a veil that was completely covering its face while its body was covered with a baggy, semi-armored ninja-like suit.
"And who're you supposed to be, then?" Qrow asked while putting his hand on the pommel of the sword that was clipped to his belt.
"That is none of your business."
"I'll call you… A fool following another fool, then." Qrow nodded and rolled forward to avoid a stab that would have run him through from behind, as he had sensed someone creeping behind him while the visible assassin spoke.
The first assassin dashed forwards with almost supernatural speed and tossed a handful of thrown knives at Qrow, who pulled his weapon halfway from its clip to fire it once.
A shotgun-like blast blew the thrown knives away while causing the ash and dust of the burnt-down settlement's main street to billow and cloud visibility for a moment.
Qrow lifted his eyebrow as several more previously invisible shapes came visible as the billowing sticky ash started to cling to their bodies and reveal their outlines, as he had planned. "Cool. So either y'all share Semblances… Ironcock lost a bunch of cloaking devices… I'm hallucinating… or some confusing shit is afoot."
"Come quie-Ghyuh!" The assassins lunged forwards to strike, but Qrow dodged under the blade of the assassin and kicked it in the shin to topple it forward so that another assassin, which had been trying to creep into Qrow's blind angle, ended up slashing it's comrade in the throat instead of hitting Qrow.
The wounded assassin didn't fall over, however, and instead corrected its stumble and turned to lift its pair of short katana's at Qrow, almost as if the wound that it received hadn't been fatal.
At the same time Qrow had seen the blade bite in, so it wasn't as if the blow had bounced off the assassin's Aura either.
"Well then. You'all weird." Qrow reached into his chest pocket and pulled out his flask, and sniffed the contents a bit before he took another mouthful. "Yeah, this isn't spiked either. You'all just weird."
The assassins spread around to block Qrow's escape, and he decided that he should probably try to focus on getting out so that he could report back.
"There will be no escape for you. Surrender." The assassin who had been wounded in the throat spoke again, somehow.
"Alright, gotcha. Take me in." Qrow lifted his hands up in surrender.
"Throw your weapon to the ground." The assassin commanded.
"What, this one? Well, if you insist." Qrow reached to detach his weapon from his belt and flicked it towards the assassin who had spoken.
The assassin reached for the weapon as it flipped in the air towards it… And Qrow grabbed it mid-flight while jumping towards the assassin.
The weapon unfolded itself to form a huge clockwork scythe, which caught the assassin in the chest mid-unfold.
"Guh!" The assassin let out a grunt as Qrow flew over him and used the scythe as leverage to cause the assassin to bend over backwards, and use the momentum from the jump to swing the scythe around with the hapless assassin still stuck to the blade by its chest.
The assassin detached from the blade, flew off, and crashed against another assassin while two more charged in to try to stab Qrow.
Qrow spun around while the scythe's blade clicked upright to form a war-scythe, and he further sped the weapon's spin by rotating it around his shoulders like a bo-staff.
The sharp edge of the weapon caused a buzzing sound as it split air, and caught one of the assassins in the leg and sliced both of its legs off by the knee.
The de-legged assassin's comrade managed to dodge the blade, however, and stabbed towards Qrow… Who dodged backwards and fell on his back in the ash.
The long scythe withdrew itself to a shotgun form mid-fall, and Qrow smirked at the assassin in front of him while holding the transformed weapon against the side of his waist like a revolver in a cheesy 'Wild Vacuo' movie.
The shotgun fired, blasting the assassin back with a sizable hole in its chest as the Fire Dust-charged explosive projectile penetrated whatever armor the assassin might have had, and detonated inside its chest.
"So… Ya ready to surrender in turn?" Qrow kicked himself up and rested the now-sword shaped weapon against his shoulders, and addressed the last assassin who had climbed up from under the dead body of his chest-stabbed comrade.
The last assassin, however, fled instead.
Qrow glanced at the assassin whose legs he had cut off, and who was thus unable to follow after its friend. "So, you'll be coming with… Nevermind."
The legless assassin had stabbed itself in the chest three times, and flopped on its back.
'Well, that is certainly strange. Normally bandits aren't that fanatically loyal to avoid interrogation… Oh.' Qrow glanced around the street and saw that the dead bodies of the assassins cracked and swiftly disappeared into wisps of darkness.
Qrow instantly realized what had happened to Far Hope, and who exactly was responsible.
'Oh. Oh no.'
And also why the Grimm were swarming in the area.
'Salem somehow discovered how to create sentient, human-like Grimm…'