C170: Coordination force
‘They are too coordinated.’
Too coordinated, to the point of abnormality.
Even within this limited vision inside the violet mist, whenever Roson appeared to attack one person, the narrow-eyed man would react and intercept her strikes.
The same held true for that man. If Roson attacked him, then the lad would find some means of throwing sneaky daggers at her from hiddened angles.
They covered each other's blind spots and coordinated their attacks and defenses in perfect, seamless harmony.
Battlefield awareness, battle sense, situational perception. It was as though they possessed eyes positioned all around their bodies at every angle.
As if, from the very start, she had been fighting one person from the very beginning!
And they had not yet revealed all of their hidden cards. The narrow-eyed man's Path remained a mystery to her, as did the muscular man's.
All of this had been achieved without the maid interfering in the battle whatsoever. Roson could not comprehend why that lady had not yet made a single move. She simply remained at the periphery, watching with those cold, evaluating eyes.
As a Dhampir herself, Roson understood well the importance of observing the battlefield from a distance before committing.
'I must break this balance.'
Steeling her resolve, she withdrew additional yellow paper from her chest pocket and shouted aloud into the mist.
"[Contract Page: Restrain!]"
The moment she cast out the paper, numerous golden chains erupted from the ground, snaking upward to restrain Florence where she stood!
This was an ability of the Foundation Stage Preserver: the Protector!
With the maid immobilized and removed from the equation, Roson threw out yet another sheet of paper.
[Contract Page: Ice Bullet]
Three jagged diamonds of frost, each roughly the size of a clenched fist, crystallized in midair. They hung suspended for a heartbeat, spinning with sharp edges, before launching forward toward Arnold and Jack with a sharp hiss.
Arnold leaped aside, narrowly evading the bullet that streaked toward him by a hair's breadth.
Jack, however, was considerably less fortunate. As one of the ice projectiles struck the ground near the narrow-eyed man's feet, ice grew and crystallized rapidly beneath his boots, and Jack discovered his foot trapped, rooted firmly in place!
"!"
Observing this development, Roson flew forward through the violet mist, immediately closing the distance upon Jack, launching her dagger directly toward his neck.
Jack instantly raised his silver eagle-head cane in defense. Simultaneously, Arnold plunged through the mist toward Jack's position, his own dagger arcing toward Roson from her flank!
'Exactly as anticipated.'
With [Minute Observation] active, her mind had become significantly sharper, and she found herself paying closer attention to small details that would otherwise escape her notice. It was one of the contract pages that the Trader had lent to her, so she had no knowledge of which specific Path had produced it.
However, with its aid, she could now confirm her suspicion: she was, indeed, combating a coordinated fighting force. Someone must be serving as the head, foreseeing every development and controlling the entire battlefield from a concealed position.
'Judging from the manner of their coordination, it cannot be someone from the Warrior Path. They wouldn’t be this sneaky, and would never employ tactics this underhanded, especially not at the higher stages.'
As a member of the Rowan assassin family, her knowledge of the extraordinary far exceeded that of most those in the underworld.
Those who walked the Warrior Path, at the higher stages, possessed an ability that could coordinate their forces into an organized, unified assault formation.
Yet, Roson seriously doubted she was currently engaged with a Warrior Path Stagefarer.
‘Telepathy?’
She immediately recalled an infamous ability that had once caused a great stir in the underworld.
It was an ability associated with a Faction whose name had been forgotten and erased from official records.
'The Mute.'
The ability of the Mute Path: Telepathy.
It was not that she had encountered one of them in person, but the Curse from the Mute Path, possessing the telepathy ability, fetched an exceptionally high price on the black market. That was why she had such a strong impression of that particular Path.
'I remember now. Besides the Moon Maiden, the Trader did mention that the forest contained some secret connected to that Faction. That is the reason the Blood Sweet Order targeted this village, and they are possibly using it as a stepping stone to absorb the forest's hidden power.'
Furthermore, these people could somehow see through this mist. This fact reinforced her growing suspicion.
'Is it Field Vision? One of the infamous abilities shared among that Faction.'
Roson's eyes filled with a complicated, troubled expression. From what she knew, the ability functioned somewhat similarly to the Scan ability of the Inspector Path, allowing its user to perceive the surrounding area without relying on normal sight.
'What is happening here? Why would someone like that cooperate with Florence? Does she intend to betray Victor? Or has this been Victor's plan from the very beginning?'
Suddenly, the nature of this ambush grew increasingly complex in her mind.
She did not know much about that Faction herself.
'Do they perhaps employ some kind of Cursed tool belonging to that Faction?'
Roson sincerely hoped that was the case.
‘Now that I think about it, why did I suddenly develop this overwhelming urge to kill them all?'
Roson had never before acted in such an erratic, emotionally compromised manner, unless the matter directly involved one of her family members.
However, she was granted only a few seconds to contemplate all of this before the glinting edge of Arnold’s silver dagger drew her attention back to the battlefield.
The instant Roson's dagger approached Jack's neck, Arnold's blade likewise drew near to Roson's own throat.
If she continued her advance, she could certainly kill this narrow-eyed man, but she would in all likelihood sustain serious damage in the exchange.
While the prospect of a trade was tempting, allowing a Spy's dagger to strike her was quite a considerable gamble. Especially when the weapon was made of silver, of all things.
Furthermore, who could say whether the blade carried any coating of poison or not? And, more critically, Jack was never her true objective in the first place.
As Arnold's dagger slashed toward Roson's neck, she once again retreated into the mist.
Because of the Apprentice-stage Spy Path ability [Masking Presence], and combined with the poor visibility inside the violet mist and the overwhelming concentration that Izzy and Isa were forced to maintain, Izzy momentarily lost track of Roson's position.
‘Where is she?’
Izzy extended the Field Vision of her vessels and marionettes to their maximum range, and something glinting shot toward Arnold from the darkness!
'!'
Arnold raised his hand and deflected the incoming projectile, while Jack simultaneously employed his cane to strike at the ice binding his foot.
*Clink*
A metallic sound reverberated through the clearing as Arnold's dagger halted the thrown blade aimed at his face. However, his eyes widened in surprise, because there was no one standing behind that dagger!
[Contract Page: Distraction!]
And in that single second of lapsed judgment, Roson appeared directly behind Rudolph, who still stood guarding the bucket that trapped the writhing blob of blood. Her claws extended and tore straight through his chest!
The claws plunged directly through Rudolph's chest, ripping his heart clean out from his chest cavity.
In the same breath, she swept her other clawed hand in a horizontal arc, cleaving cleanly through Rudolph's neck.
The muscular man's head flew through the cold night air, tracing an arc before landing somewhere in the mud.
Her claws had finally killed one of their number.
Yet, Roson was not particularly pleased or satisfied by the kill. In truth, the outcome only confused her further.
'This man's head was already damaged. He did not scream. Not even the slightest reaction to being decapitated. What is going on?’
As though answering her question, Rudolph, despite having no head, suddenly lunged at Roson!
“!”
The headless man wrapped his muscular arms around Roson's waist, his blood-slick fingers locking together across her abdomen.
As a Dhampir, she was far faster than an ordinary human, but her raw physical strength remained merely average for her Stage.
Roson could not react in time. As a result, she found herself held in place by a corpse that should not have been capable of moving at all.
“H-how?!”
The unexpected ambush caught Roson off guard, and her mind stalled for a brief moment.
And within that tiny window of time, she failed to notice the small objects hovering near Rudolph's headless shoulders.
By the time she caught sight of those things, it was already too late. Numerous small, round coins shot toward her from different angles, and one of them struck directly into one of her eyes!
“Agghh!”
Roson immediately transformed into bats. The flock burst apart from Rudolph’s embrace, scattering rapidly through the mist and successfully escaping his grip.
However, in that same instant, a flock of crows suddenly dove down from above, their sharp beaks piercing the fleeing bats as they scattered through the mist.
“Caw! Caw!”
A midair ambush!
The crows had appeared seemingly out of nowhere, attacking the bats as they dispersed and forcing them to regroup.
This was one of Dhampir's weaknesses. The bat swarm was, in essence, still part of Roson's body. Any bat that was killed caused corresponding damage to her true form.
Roson immediately rematerialized, her body bearing several fresh wounds. Blood ran from her eye and several cuts across her face, while torn flesh slowly began to regenerate.
For the first time since fighting Arnold, panic, anxiety, and shock filled her expression.
Blood trickled from her injured eye as it slowly recovered.
Seeing herself at a disadvantage, Roson hurriedly thrust her hand inside her coat and pulled out one more sheet of paper.
[Contract Page: Barri—]
Yet, the moment the paper left her coat, a sudden powerful force tugged it violently from her hand.
“W-what?!”
The crows turned their attention toward Roson, their sharp beaks and claws tearing at her face, but she ignored them entirely. Her recovering bloodshot eyes followed the paper it flew through the dark night, until it finally reached a pale hand hidden among the trees.
Roson's eyes widened. Her pupils dilated furiously, cold sweat trickled down her spine.
Within the dark forest, not far from her position, someone stood beneath the branches.
Silently, abruptly. A pale hand rose and touched the yellowish page.
Green eyes shone in the darkness, fixing themselves directly on Roson.