Chapter 48 – The Taste of Rust.

Lord Cassius's retaliation took less than twenty-four hours to manifest.

The morning after the clash of auras in the canyon, Kael returned from the Mercenaries' Guild outpost with a scowl on his face and report in hand.

The Silver Legion had set up military checkpoints at the entrance of all three Level 26 to 28 dungeons in the south sector. Under the official justification of 'preventive inspection against mutant monsters', Cassius's soldiers barred any group lacking the Legion's authorization seal.

The commander's goal was obvious: choke out the level progression of the Arcane Greed Faction and sever the supply of rare raw materials to Diana's workshop.

Kael slammed his iron hand onto the Bastion dining table. “That brute placed twenty legionnaires at every dungeon entrance! No one gets past without his permission!”

—Look at the master plan from your new 68-Strength friend.

The System's voice mocked in Diana's mind, the interface floating in black gold in the corner of her vision.

—He thought locking the dungeon door with a padlock was going to stop the biggest gold hoarder in Hell. How naive.

Diana took a calm sip of her herbal tea on the balcony, and a slow, sharp, brilliant, frighteningly Machiavellian smile appeared on her lips.

“Cassius commands an army of five hundred soldiers, Kael.” Diana said, her voice smooth as velvet. “And a large army depends on three things to function: fresh food, polished armor, and plenty of money for maintenance. If he wants to play siege… we are going to show him what happens when a fortress's logistics collapse.”

***

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Phase 1 - Invisible Reconnaissance

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At nightfall, Diana deployed Rhea into the field.

With Agility 68 and the [Phantom Step] skill, Rhea infiltrated the Silver Legion's logistical complex in the south sector. She moved like a silver shadow across the barracks rooftops, logging supply convoy routes, grain silos, and the troop's central armaments depot.

In under an hour, Rhea returned to the Bastion basement bearing the full map of Cassius's supply chain.

“The main flour and dried meat depot is in Warehouse 3.” Rhea pointed on the hand-drawn map. “And the armory where they store steel plates and legionnaire weapons is in the east courtyard.”

“Excellent work, Rhea.” Diana smiled.

***

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Phase 2 - The Alchemy of Silent Sabotage

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Diana went down to the basement laboratory accompanied by Aurelia-Elysia.

With Alchemy Level 6 proficiency and the knowledge of the Tome of Transmutational Alchemy, Diana didn't need noisy bombs to wreak havoc. She needed only subtle, invisible chemical reactions.

Diana withdrew five silver coins from the vault to acquire volatile sulfur reagents, decomposer fungus spores, and mineral acids in the artisans' plaza.

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[SABOTAGE REAGENT EXPENSES]

- Purchase of Rapid Mold Spores + Volatile Mineral Acids: -5 Silver Coins (500 Bronze).

[TEMPORARY POCKET BALANCE: 115 SILVER COINS (11,500 Bronze)]

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For four hours, Diana and Aurelia-Elysia synthesized three specialized chemical agents:

1. [Fulminating Oxide Powder]: An odorless, transparent powder that, upon contact with humid air and polished steel, accelerates metal corrosion by 500%, covering iron plates with thick rust in six hours without shattering structural integrity.
2. [Shadow Putrid Ferment]: A liquid concentrate that turns bags of flour, dried meat, and bread into a sour, clumpy slurry with an unbearable stench of rotten cabbage.
3. [Lotus Sleep Gas]: A gentle vapor that knocks out sentries for two hours without leaving magical traces.

***

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Phase 3 - Night of the Rust

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In the darkest hour before dawn in the citadel, Rhea carried out the delivery of the compounds with the surgical precision of Agility 68.

Using Phantom Step, Rhea slipped through the window cracks of the Silver Legion armory and blew the Fulminating Oxide Powder across hundreds of the legionnaires' silver plate armors and mail coats.

Next, she dripped the Putrid Ferment straight into the water casks and flour sacks of the troops' central mess hall.

Not a single guard was harmed. Not a single magic alarm was triggered.

***

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The Silver Legion's Morning Collapse

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Chaos at the Silver Legion headquarters erupted at six in the morning on the dot.

When the bugles sounded for the changing of the guard, Cassius's three hundred soldiers suited up in their armor to march… and the sound that echoed across the barracks courtyard was a deafening symphony of dry, jammed metallic creaks.

Every single silver plate armor belonging to the legionnaires was coated in a thick, disgusting, orange layer of heavy rust. Elbow and knee joints were seized tight, and swords wouldn't slide out of their jammed scabbards without gargantuan effort.

To make matters worse, when the troops marched to breakfast, the bread and meat served in the mess hall resembled sour sludge reeking of rotten sewage.

Two hundred starving legionnaires, locked in rusted armor and complaining of hunger, brought the Legion's military operations in the south sector to a dead halt.

***

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Greed's Commercial Strike

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It was at that exact moment that the second part of Diana's plan kicked into action.

At eight in the morning, the partner commercial stalls of the Arcane Greed Alliance in the Central Plaza opened with a massive announcement:

“EMERGENCY PROMOTION: Rapid-Restoration Anti-Rust Magic Oils and Canned Noble Ration Packs!”

Desperate to unjam their armor before Lord Cassius's official inspection and starving from lack of breakfast, supply quartermasters from the Silver Legion rushed to the plaza and bought out the entire stock of anti-rust oils and rations from Diana's partner shops, paying list prices inflated by 40%.

Without knowing it, the Silver Legion officers themselves were handing money directly from Cassius's vaults straight into Diana's Faction account.

The net profit from the mass sale of oils and rations brought a monumental influx of 15 Pure Silver Coins into the Bastion vault.

***

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[FULL FINANCIAL AUDIT]

Previous Balance: 120 Silver Coins (12 Gold Coins).

Cost of Alchemical Reagents: -5 Silver Coins.

Subtotal: 115 Silver Coins.

PROFIT FROM LOGISTICAL WARFARE OPERATION: +15 Silver Coins!

[NEW ABSOLUTE NET WORTH: 130 SILVER COINS (13,000 Bronze! / EXACTLY 13 PURE GOLD COINS!)]

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One hundred and thirty silver coins stashed in the faction vault. Exactly Thirteen Pure Gold Coins.

***

At noon, inside the Silver Legion command office, Lord Cassius sat at his mahogany desk, staring at the morning expense report with the veins on his forehead practically bulging out of his skin.

His Level 32 breastplate issued a dry, grating creak of rust with every breath he drew.

On Cassius's desk rested a bottle of anti-rust oil bought in an emergency by his soldiers in the central market. On the bottle's glass label, an embossed silver stamp gleamed with elegance:

“Arcane Greed Workshop — Quality Guaranteed.”

Cassius squeezed the glass vial in his armored hand until it nearly shattered, his gray eyes sparking with rage and absolute shock.

She had rusted his army, spoiled his troops' food, forced the Legion to abandon the dungeon gates to buy supplies, and then made his own guild pay her for the fix.

The Level 25 human girl had just won the first battle without spilling a single drop of blood.