Rui had no intention of making an appearance in the battle. That was highly unwise on his part. His intentions were to make a highly injured appearance at the Deacon Industries main branch after the other three survivors returned alive, giving off the impression he just barely managed to escape a bloody battle with his life intact.
The only reason he was still waiting around and watching was to jump in and save Kane if anything happened even by mistake. Even though Kane was pretty much impossible to sense in the Shionel Dungeon, that did not make him invulnerable. Kane was so weak that even a single attack from any of these high-grade Martial Squires could kill him. If a single attack from these A-rank Martial Squires fighting all out hit a vital area, the sheer damage might instantly kill him.
He was not a tanky fighter. He was an evasive maneuverer, his fighting style revolved around not being forced to withstand attack by ensuring he avoided being hit by them be it through speed, agility, highly efficient and effective footwork, maneuvering, and supplementary breathing techniques as well as powerful stealth techniques.
Rui watched with a nervous expression as Kane did as he was instructed. Rui was even waiting below the fights happening hundreds of feet in the air with a healing potion in his hand. If Kane got hurt and fell, Rui would immediately catch him and heal him with a high-grade healing potion. He did not intend to let his friend die.
He may not have given a damn about the Voidhunters whose team he was technically and officially on, but most certainly would do everything in his power to save Kane.
Fortunately, Kane was good at what he did, a combination of talent that was in the genius-level territory, as well as a lot of training and experience with covert missions meant that such an operation was well within his capabilities.
FLICK FLICK FLICK
He mildly nicked each of the three assassins fighting Squire Fren with just a minute amount of poison.
He leaped about to find the others that Rui had instructed him to poison, nicking each of them with a minute amount of poison, not enough to instantly paralyze them, but enough to weaken them.
"AAARGH!"
"I.. feel weak,"
"Urgh,"
Each of the battles decisively folded in the outcome that Rui ordained. All thirty-eight Martial Squires fighting in this section of the floor were dancing on the palm of Rui's hand as he guided their battles.
SNAP!
Squire Fren mercilessly snapped the necks of her weakened Martial Squires, killing them on the spot. Though she couldn't help but frown. She had come close to the verge of losing and dying when all three of her opponents suddenly grew weak, allowing her to easily overpower them as they lost a lot of their strength.
Just before she could catch a break, the other assassins returned from their other fights almost simultaneously, almost as though it was timed like clockwork.
"…! She's still alive!" They were shocked. "Tsk, get her!"
She did not even bother trying to fight back as she dashed away at top speed, while the assassins tried their best to catch up to her.
('She'll escape,') Rui nodded. ('She's faster, and careful with her surroundings. Given the intelligence that she displayed earlier, she'll probably realize that she can go into a random obscure tunnel, consume a healing and rejuvenation potion, and regain her full power. She's also smart enough to realize her teammates are dead given that the assassins fighting them returned, and she'll probably focus on surviving this ordeal more than anything.')
It was not her that he was worried about, it was the other two that he was worried about, he quickly reached their locations while keeping a tab on them.
('Tsk, she's going to get caught even though Kane went through such effort of weakening her opponents,') He tutted disapprovingly as he observed Squire Meenal trying to escape from her opponents. ('I'll have to intercept at the right moment.)
He went up high as he waited in the direction that she was frantically running away to, hoping to find a tunnel where she could perhaps escape to.
He predicted the tunnel she would enter based on positioning and size, making sure he was at an elevation far greater where neither of them could sense him, while he prepared himself.
"Fwoooo…" He sucked in a huge amount of air while he waited for the right moment. ('It's been a while since I used this technique, so I definitely need to focus all out here.')
He waited as they reached the right place at the right time before his mind kicked into action and began executing Transverse Resonance: Tier Four. He fired four Mighty Roar Flash Blasts in rapid succession, each slower than the one that came after it flying down at a speed that greatly exceeded sound before combining into a single attack with four times more powerful than each of the individual attacks.
BAM!!!
An attack with power scraping at the peak of the Squire Realm crashed onto the head o the assassin that had almost gotten a hold of Squire Meenal, cracking and crumpling into his head on the spot while blasting his whole body downwards.
"SSSSS!" A large mid-grade Taipan lunched out, swallowing his corpse whole.
('Well, there goes the evidence,') He smirked as he watched Squire Meenal get away safely, very confused but very relieved as well. ('Nice, all three of them escaped.')
"So what now?" Kane appeared out of thin air.
"Let's leave," Rui calmly replied as he gestured towards the tunnels. "The plan was a complete success."
"I can't believe you created a plan that turned something inconvenient into a benefit for yourself," Kane sighed with furrowed eyebrows. "Even an ambush isn't enough to catch you truly off-guard."
The two of them chatted while they reached the upper part of the Shionel Dungeon.
"Alright, now what? We go home? I wanna go home and get something to eat,"
"Now I play the role of a victim who almost died," Rui calmly replied as he summoned his sword out of his dimensional storage ring.
SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT
He gave himself significant gashes.
"Woah!" Kane frowned. "But why though?"
"To stave off suspicion," Rui calmly replied. "Here, take my utility belt and my dimensional storage ring with you back to the inn."
