Okasi wasn’t sure if he could confront the silver-haired girl wielding the terrifying lightning blade. After all, they hadn’t engaged in a direct battle before; based on the information they had, his odds of winning were probably less than 20%. This uncertainty prompted him to strategically retreat and regroup with his elder brother, “Dead-Eye” Bryce. As long as they joined forces, he felt they could quickly regain control.
As he retreated, he used his communicator to issue orders, telling every lackey asleep on the various floors to wake up and block any escape routes.
This saved Yvette a lot of trouble; she only needed to proceed slowly upstairs, and the traffickers on each floor would come to her, making her task straightforward and worry-free.
…
A few minutes later, he arrived at the top floor of the “Transshipment Center,” where he found “Dead-Eye” Bryce in the corridor. Okasi, along with his four subordinates, approached him with a serious expression. “Big brother, we have a situation!”
“What sort of situation?” Bryce asked, slightly taken aback. Most tasks he assigned to Okasi were always completed well, so hearing that Okasi had failed to capture a seemingly defenseless little girl was simply unbelievable.
“That girl is very strange; she has mastery over at least A-ranked high-level defensive spells! The ‘Flame Burst’ attack had no effect on her; it was like bathing her! It’s downright bizarre!”
Okasi’s face was grim as he continued, “She also possesses powerful area-of-effect attack spells that obliterate multiple foes… I sensed danger, so I decided to retreat before engaging in battle. This matter likely requires you, me, and the brothers to tackle it together!”
“Bathing in ‘Flame Burst’?” Bryce frowned in contemplation. “That definitely indicates a skilled opponent. What is she? A special warfare mage from the Federation?”
“I’m not sure; she didn’t introduce herself.”“Get everyone up and alert; activate all defensive units… I’ll assess her capabilities,” Bryce replied coldly, the red light in his metal eye glowing ominously.
As one of the local industry supervisors in the Ghost Hand Society, Bryce, like Okasi, was also cautious by nature. He was well aware that the neighboring Federation maintained a cyber-mage special forces unit, each member capable of entering the top tier of mercenaries in the world. They excelled at infiltration and assassination.
To guard against this elite unit, both he and Okasi had stationed numerous hidden defensive installations on their top floor to prevent themselves from being snuffed out in their sleep.
Now was the time to see how effective these defensive units were.
Quickly, as some white wall panels slid open, numerous spell-casting units appeared in the corridor, primarily in the form of cannon-like structures that made the top floor resemble a heavily fortified military base.
Several ceiling panels also “clacked” open, releasing a few armed drones slightly larger than birds, shaped like pointed round barrels. Several invisible laser beams shot from beneath the drones, rapidly slicing through the narrow space below like a web.
Without a network, these drones were difficult to control, but they all operated along pre-set patrol routes. By marking the enemy before launching them, the drones could autonomously engage in battle, making it a hassle-free process for Bryce.
With the defensive units and armed drones activated, Bryce felt significantly more relaxed.
He suddenly questioned whether he might have been overreacting. How powerful could an unknown girl mage really be? She had yet to engage with Okasi directly; it was Okasi who had recoiled in fear and returned.
Maybe it was just that Okasi had a nervous disposition, scaring himself into the current predicament.
After completing his preparations, Bryce and his subordinates stationed themselves at the stairwell, waiting. After some time, they finally spotted the silver-haired girl with the lightning blade leisurely climbing the stairs, not seeming to be on a killing spree but more like a tourist.
Instead of charging into combat immediately, Bryce decided to initiate a dialogue. He coldly addressed her, “Mage, who are you, and what is your purpose here?”
He had already heard the cries of his subordinates below before their deaths; seeing the girl ascend, he was fully aware of what had transpired, so his vigilance was at an all-time high.
“Are you ‘Dead-Eye’ Bryce?” the silver-haired girl asked, her tone confirming her inquiry, with long eyelashes that gave her an innocent appearance like a lost high school student.
“That’s me,” Bryce replied indifferently.
“Good to know,” she said, and without waiting for Bryce to respond, she suddenly surged up to the top floor and disregarded the automated spell units, unleashing a cold slash of lightning at him!
Foolish! Bryce sneered internally, thinking that with his expensive automated defensive field and layered conventional defense spells, he would be able to easily avoid such a rudimentary ambush.
But the next second, a thunderous explosion rocked his defensive field, shattering it into a shower of sparkles.
Fortunately, given his AI-assisted combat capabilities, he managed to evade her successive strikes. Otherwise, he would have faced severe injury, if not death.
Bryce’s pupils narrowed slightly in shock; he quickly deduced that the lightning blade she wielded must have been a rare high-level spell, else it wouldn’t have easily broken through his defenses.
Boom! The searing airflow accompanied Bryce’s clumsy tumble backward, as his back slammed against the wall with a deafening crash.
“Fire!” Okasi ordered anxiously.
In an instant, the corridor on the top floor transformed into a furnace of metal and magic.
The glow of cannon fire illuminated the area as physical projectiles ripped through the air with a shriek that overpowered all other sounds, while various magical light beams mingled to form a tempest of destruction.
The entire narrow space shook and hummed. Dust and concrete fragments rained from the ceiling, and the acrid scent of smoke filled the air.
It must be said, this did create a bit of trouble for Yvette. While her crimson armor was adept at withstanding elemental attacks, it was less effective against kinetic energy damage, necessitating her physical strength to endure such an onslaught.
If the attacks were too concentrated and mixed with significant physical damage, while she might not suffer any injury, she would be pushed back continually, reminiscent of a creature being besieged by survivors in a biochemical scenario, struggling to advance even as it was driven further back.
It seemed relying solely on close combat was somewhat unrealistic… Yvette pondered.
Since the enemy’s damage could not breach her crimson armor’s defenses, as long as her mana did not run out, she could withstand attacks for quite some time.
However, this strategy seemed pointless. Thus she snapped her fingers, and one rune circle after another lit up behind her, akin to opening Gilgamesh’s treasury.
Flames, raging winds, thunder, frost, and rock projectiles mixed with pulse magic surged forth from the misty light dust, rushing at the group of traffickers like a tidal wave, overwhelming them with a furious onslaught.
“What in the world is this?!” a cyborg shouted, bewildered and terrified.
He had no idea what lay beyond the obscured view of the particle disturbances. All he understood was that merely moments ago, they had enjoyed absolute superiority; how had the situation shifted so drastically?
Where were those overwhelming attacks coming from? Wasn’t there just one person in front of them? Why did it feel like an entire army was bearing down on them?
In the span of a few seconds, several of the lackeys met their end. Being relatively impoverished, they couldn’t afford high-grade defensive fields and were equipped only with inferior gear handed down from the senior members. Under such firepower, they shattered with ease.
Though they knew to take cover behind walls, the firepower unleashed could obliterate both them and the walls with a single blow!
Witnessing this unfold, Bryce felt a tremor deep within him. He had meticulously prepared, activating all defensive units and armed drones to transform the area into an impenetrable fortress… but why was it all for naught?
Where was this sudden, terrifying firepower coming from?
Surely it wasn’t just crafted by that single individual?
Was it possible that a special anti-terror squad from the federal government had stealthily descended from behind that colorful veil of dust?