Elemental Cats

The houses spread out in the Blue Lounge were all luxurious mansions and villas, but the building in the center was so extravagant that Toz wondered if it should be called a palace instead of a house.

Toz and the others stayed just out of sight from the guards around the Blue Lounge, which wasn't difficult since the guards weren't alert. They probably didn't think anyone would be dumb enough to attack the headquarters of one of the big three pirate crews of Pirate Haven. Unfortunately, they were wrong.

Toz and the others had a short strategy meeting to ensure they did as much damage as possible without anyone dying.

They decided on a plan of action, and Hayar stepped forward to begin the attack. She started leaking a green mist, the same color as her air, through her hands. The green mist thickened and spread out, creating a large wave of fog that billowed toward the Blue Lounge.

The green fog was both an attack and a smokescreen for the other pirates.

Hayar spread the green smoke widely, so it wasn't very destructive. But since she was a high level mage at the eighth level, it was still more than enough to corrode the guards' skin and clothes.

A piercing alarm began blaring throughout the Blue Lounge in response to the tsunami of green, poisonous fog that began covering the base.

Hayar's attack wasn't fatal. But the other Bunglehoppers' attacks were.

Toz had enough time to see Wulf pull out a double-edged great-axe taller than himself before he and the cats set off. And while they ran through the green fog, they heard the sounds of the other Bunglehoppers entering the base, attacking any pirate they encountered.

Wulf's axe slashed and slammed into the pirates and the nearby buildings, wreaking massive havoc.

Vaner's streams and projectiles of water pierced through the bodies of anyone caught in the way before eventually falling to the ground with a splash and leaving a puddle.

Frank's attacks weren't audible, but Toz sensed the temperature in the air go down as more and more thuds and thumps of something hard hitting bodies rang out.

Toz had his sword out, not the latest version since it wasn't complete yet, and he swung it at any pirate that got too close. But he didn't go out of his way to find the pirates and attack them, unlike the Bunglehoppers. Neither did the cats, though Lucy had encouraged Mindle to set fire to as many buildings as she could, so she ignited every house they passed.

The trail of burning houses led straight from the edge of the base to the fancy palace in the middle since that was Toz's target.

The Blue Lounge League of Pirates had countermeasures in place for the members of the Bunglehoppers, so even if one of them tried to sneak to the center of the base and attack the council members, they would experience limited success. However, there was no way they would expect Toz and the five cats to target the council.

Even if Retsy told them about Toz, they still wouldn't be prepared to face him since Retsy's information was that he was at the fifth level. And there was nothing about the cats or Toz's strengths and attributes in Retsy's information.

Toz and the cats were faster than the green smoke, so after catching up to where it was, Toz and Lucy covered everyone in shadowy darkness. Toz used a mix of darkness and void to reduce their presence to nothingness, making it even harder for the pirates and their defensive enchantments and measures to notice them.

They had to lower their speed a little so that Toz and Lucy could keep them hidden, but they still ended up at the palace before the green smoke. However, they didn't stop and wait for Hayar's poison gas to catch up to them.

"What in the fuck is going on out there!?"

Even before they entered the building, Toz and the cats heard someone yell.

The large engraved wooden doors slammed open, and an entourage of people swarmed out. It looked like a mother hen and her chickens with how the ones behind the man in the lead followed behind like mindless chickens.

"Tell the other councilors to stay hidden in the basement and not to come out until I'm back."

Toz recognized the uniformed man as the one who shouted before the doors opened.

Toz and the cats were interested in how strong the Blue Lounge council member was, but his words made it easy for them to decide on doing something else. They could leave the man that looked more like a person from the navy than a pirate to Wulf and the other Bunglehoppers.

Toz and the cats followed a group of the uniformed man's followers who stayed behind in the palace after letting the contingent pass them by and enter the green smoke.

With Toz and Lucy's magic, no one noticed their arrival or presence as they tagged behind the group of four secretary-looking individuals.

Since the uniformed man ordered the other councilors to stay in the basement, that was where the four secretaries were going.

Toz and the cats expected a basement since that was what they heard. However, when they arrived, they saw an enormous underground fortress.

The four secretaries had led them down several flights of stairs before they arrived at a large cave hidden within Pirate Haven's foundations.

The fortress took up most of the cave's space, but there was still enough room left for a moat and a drawbridge.

Maybe due to the crisis outside the cave, but the walls of the fortress were lined with guards armed to the teeth, and the moat growled and stirred, releasing air bubbles that would drag down anything that passed over it.

Toz wondered what the four secretaries would do. He hoped the fortress would lower its drawbridge and let them in. But he was disappointed to see them stop outside and shout their message.

"Chairman Stris politely asks the remaining members of the council to take care of their own well-being within the fortress while he deals with the troublemakers outside."

The four secretaries weren't expecting an answer and immediately left since they weren't authorized to seek shelter within the fortress.