The Broken Halo

“Welcome to Gondor.”

“The capital city of House Mercer.”

Simon looked around once more after hearing Vexa’s words.

Only now did he realize where exactly they were.

They were standing on the peak of a snowy mountain.

Cold wind continuously blew across the mountain peak while snow descended from the dark sky above. The wind here was far colder than the one in the desert, and even the air itself felt sharper.

Below the mountain…

Gondor could be seen in its entirety.

The gigantic city looked even larger from above.

The black walls surrounding the city stretched endlessly across the land like a giant serpent, and countless blue lights illuminated different parts of the city.

Even from this distance, Simon could already see streams of demons moving through the roads leading into Gondor.

“It looks beautiful doesn’t it?” Silith suddenly spoke while looking at the city below.

Simon glanced at her before looking back at Gondor.

“It looks wealthy.”

Silith blinked once before laughing softly.

“That’s also true.”

Vexa ignored the conversation entirely.

She reached into her spatial ring and brought out several small silver earrings.

“Catch.”

She tossed one toward Simon while throwing the others toward the rest of the team.

Simon caught the earring and looked at it carefully.

The earring was simple.

A small silver ring with a faint blue crystal attached to it.

“What does it do?” Simon asked.

“Appearance alteration artifact.” Vexa replied calmly.

“It changes your face, hair, voice, and aura fluctuations slightly.”

“We can’t walk around Gondor with our original appearances.”

Simon raised a brow slightly.

“Even our auras?”

Vexa nodded.

“The artifact won’t completely change your aura, but it’ll distort it enough to so that nobody would be able to recognize your original aura in the future.”

Simon immediately wore the earring.

A strange cold sensation spread through his body briefly.

Then he felt the muscles around his face shifting slightly.

He looked at Silith and noticed her appearance changing gradually.

Her silver hair became dark blue while her facial features became slightly sharper.

Even her snake-like eyes changed color.

The others were also changing.

Silith suddenly laughed.

“You look ugly now.”

Simon looked at her with narrowed eyes before activating Sky Eyes slightly and observing his reflection on her eyes.

His appearance had changed completely.

His white hair had become dark brown, his facial features became rougher, and even his eyes were now completely round and black.

Even his aura felt somewhat different.

Simon instinctively understood how valuable the artifact was.

“This should be expensive.” He muttered.

He had no idea what the rank of the earring was, but it was a useful artifact regardless.

“It is.” Vexa replied.

“We had to rent it from the clan for this mission.”

Simon narrowed his eyes slightly after hearing that.

“Let’s move.” Vexa suddenly said.

Without hesitation, she jumped down from the snowy cliff.

The others immediately followed behind her.

Simon looked downward briefly before jumping as well.

The descent down the mountain was surprisingly smooth for demons of their level.

Their bodies moved across the steep snowy slopes with ease.

Vexa was the fastest among them.

Her movements were sharp and agile like a predator moving through its territory.

She barely seemed affected by the snow beneath her feet.

Noctis moved strangely.

Even while descending a mountain, his movements looked unnaturally quiet.

At times, Simon could barely hear him despite being close.

Gorr simply walked down the mountain directly.

The massive Varkhul crushed snow beneath his feet while maintaining complete balance despite his enormous body.

Silith occasionally jumped from rock to rock with graceful movements while Morrow remained eerily silent throughout the descent.

Simon quietly observed all of this.

’They’re all experienced. As expected of third class Initiates.’

As they descended lower, Gondor gradually became larger in Simon’s eyes.

The city radiated life.

Compared to the Shadowgrave Clan which felt isolated, secretive, and oppressive…

Gondor felt alive.

Powerful.

Wealthy.

Even from afar, Simon could already see merchants, noble demons, beast riders, armored guards, and large caravans moving toward the city.

The difference between the two places was obvious.

The Shadowgrave Clan hid within darkness like an assassin waiting patiently for an opportunity.

Gondor did not hide anything.

It proudly displayed its power openly to the world.

Soon, the group finally reached the bottom of the mountain.

The main gates of Gondor stood before them.

The gates alone were massive enough to make ordinary demons feel insignificant.

Hundreds of demons continuously moved in and out of the city while heavily armed guards observed everything carefully.

Some guards stood near large chaos arrays carved into the ground.

Every demon entering the city had to pass through the arrays.

Simon narrowed his eyes slightly.

’Detection arrays.’

The arrays were likely meant to detect dangerous artifacts, disguised identities, and so on.

He also noticed several smaller arrays hidden near the walls.

’Alarm formations.’

The security around Gondor was extremely tight.

Large caravans filled with goods waited in lines while merchants argued with guards.

Some noble demons entered smoothly without much inspection while ordinary demons were checked thoroughly.

Simon even noticed several guards stopping a beast rider and inspecting the storage bags attached to the beast.

“Security is stricter because of the Winter Moon Auction.” Silith casually said from beside him.

Simon nodded slightly.

Though it was his first hearing the name of the auction, he could see that this auction was not a small deal and that despite House Mercer not being one of the six great clans, it was a powerful and influential clan regardless.

Banners carrying silver moon symbols hung around the gates, and countless conversations around them involved the auction.

“The auction starts tomorrow night.”

“The number of guards has tripled this week.”

“The Frostborn prodigy is supposedly attending personally.”

Simon silently listened to the surrounding conversations while observing the guards.

Guard numbers.

Patrol routes.

Reaction timing.

Possible blind spots.

Possible escape routes.

Possible assassination points.

He instinctively analyzed everything.

One thing immediately stood out to him.

The guards at the gate were not exactly weak. They were all Supreme Archfiends, but he could sense the aura of a Greater Demon on the wall.

He also noticed that their attention was divided because of the massive number of demons entering the city.

’A crowded environment always creates weaknesses.’

Vexa suddenly stepped forward before the guards could stop them.

The moment she approached, one of the guards narrowed his eyes.

“Purpose of entering Gondor?”

Vexa calmly brought out several identity tokens alongside forged documents.

“We’re merchants from the northern territories. We’re here for the Winter Moon Auction.”