Overpowered Reincarnation Perks! - Chapter 12.1
“Gasp!”
I sat up abruptly. Perhaps due to the aftereffects of being forcibly awakened from the drug-induced sleep, my head was throbbing with pain.
“Ugh……”
At least I’m not sleepy anymore. I got up while pressing my pulsing temples with my hand. My legs are a bit wobbly.
I descended the stairs, holding onto the railing.
The living room was dark. I picked up my magic stone glasses from the table.
Going empty-handed won’t be of much help. Is there anything I could use as a weapon? Something like a dagger would be good, as anything too heavy would be difficult to wield.
‘I’ll take this at least.’
I picked up the hammer used for crushing medicine bottles.
As I exited the front door, I heard a distant clanging sound. It was the bell signaling an emergency.
‘They’ve succeeded in infiltrating.’
This is the southern 12th district. To reach the central palace, I need to cross the square and a bridge. Hup, I took a deep breath and started running.
My ankle stung with the first step, but once I gained speed, I could run quite fast.
***
After passing through an alley and crossing an intersection, I saw people in the square, awakened by the bell sound, in a state of confusion.
“Look at that!”
“Fire!”
Fires could be clearly seen rising from various parts of the central palace, even from a distance.
The intricately intertwined underground passages converge at one central point, and if you set fire there, smoke spreads in all directions, making it look like fires have been set everywhere.
My suggestion was adopted, but I didn’t feel particularly good about it.
I could see people frantically evacuating towards the south. I ran in the opposite direction and crossed the bridge. Perhaps because everyone was preoccupied with evacuating, no one looked at me strangely for running in a different direction.
“Put out the fire quickly!”
“Water! Bring water!”
As I got closer to the central palace, I saw soldiers sending urgent signals with flushed faces. As expected, they seemed to have been caught off guard, perhaps indulging in a drinking party, celebrating an early victory.
Thanks to that, my companions seemed to have infiltrated easily… but what should I do?
‘If there was just one, I could handle it with position reversal, but there are more people than I expected.’
I moved towards the side where the soldiers couldn’t see me, hiding behind trees and signs. If they’re fixated on putting out the fire, the security at the palace entrance might be relatively lax.
Anyway, since Arvan and his group’s goal is to find and destroy the ore research lab and storage warehouse, no one will try to escape until the job is done. So the soldiers will likely focus on catching those running around setting fires inside rather than sealing off the entrances.
‘If it’s now, it might be easy to get in from the outside, even if it’s difficult to get out from the inside.’
But there were many soldiers gathered at any of the doors.
‘Should I try climbing the castle wall?’
As I was looking at my nails, not trusting my grip strength, I spotted a cart in the corner. Loaded with water barrels.
‘That’s it!’
It seems they’re coming out to the bridge to fetch water from the stream, as it’s difficult to get enough water to extinguish the fire inside the castle. Since it’s inefficient to transport one barrel at a time due to the distance, they’re probably trying to load up the cart and bring a lot at once.
I could see soldiers fetching water from the stream in the distance. I looked around, quickly opened a barrel lid, and emptied the water. The inside of the barrel was cramped, but if I curled up, it was just enough for me to fit in. I sat with my knees tightly pressed to my chest and put the lid on, just as the soldiers’ footsteps approached.
“If it’s all loaded, let’s go!”
“Damn, this is heavy as hell!”
Creak. The cartwheels started rolling, and the floor began to shake. There were no safety measures, so the seating comfort was terrible, but this wasn’t the time to worry about that.
“We’ve brought water!”
“You, to passage 4! Two of you leave these here, the rest move to passage 6!”
The cart came to a complete stop, and I felt several hands swiftly moving the barrels. I was lifted along with the barrel. It was as I expected. With smoke rising from all directions, I thought they would scatter rather than gather in one place to pour water.
The soldier who shouldered the barrel I was in went down the stairs, panting. I was a bit nervous that he might throw it away because it was heavy, but fortunately, that didn’t happen. Even through the wet barrel, acrid smoke seeped in. I quickly covered my nose and mouth.
“Cough! Damn, let’s put this out quickly and… Huh?”
The soldier who opened the lid to pour the water looked bewildered when he saw me inside the barrel.
“Wh-what?”
“You don’t know even after seeing? You must still be drunk.”
I raised just my upper body to get out of the barrel, then threw the hammer I was holding with all my might.
“Ugh!”
As something suddenly flew at him, the soldier reflexively turned his body to dodge. It seems they had quite a rowdy drinking party, but as expected of a trained soldier, his reflexes were impressive.
Clang. Clang. Clang. The hammer rolled down the underground corridor.
“Damn, you little rat!”
Little rats don’t throw hammers, you pathetic relic.
The soldier who grabbed my collar lifted me out of the water barrel.
Thanks to that, my eye level was raised, and I could see well down the corridor.
[Central Palace Soldier] and [Hammer] positions are reversed.
The soldier who was about to slap my cheek hard suddenly disappeared, and the hammer fell into my hand.
“Ugh! Cough, cough! Wh-what’s going on!”
The soldier who suddenly found himself reversed and fallen backward tried to get up but inhaled a lot of smoke and started coughing.
“Hey! Aren’t you going to stand there?”
“Would you if you were me!”
