"You know Gondel…"
A pensive feminine voice sounded from behind Gondel the geek.
"Eren is an oddball from what I have learned about him. I think we should focus more on acquiring Sasara Sage's legacy than targeting someone like him.
It would be a real shame for all of us if Sage Lehan's legacy got claimed by someone other than the students of Sansara Academy."
A female ranker on Gondel's team decided to voice her opinion at last. She wasn't happy that her team wasn't prioritizing getting to the test grounds for the last Sage Legacy.
Gondel's team needed a bunch of flags without which it wouldn't be able to contend for the Sansara Sage's Legacy. However, targeting Eren's team was not the most effective way to get those minimum number of flags.
The female ranker thought that it was easier to target existing teams than to band together with them to attack Eren's team. However, Gondel was adamant about targeting Eren. He smirked after hearing the female ranker's advice before explaining his point of view.
"I'm not an idiot, Oshawa.
It makes sense to prioritize getting to the last test grounds and targeting other less risky teams. However, you don't know something that those present at Sage Loxley's Legacy understood.
Eren Elijah Idril is not just an oddball. I have felt his presence up close. He… He operates on a different wavelength.
The man is on a mission to claim all the Sage Legacies for himself. It is unclear what kind of test the Sansara Sage has prepared for us. If we allow that sneaky rat to enter the testing grounds, he's likely to claim the last Sage Legacy as well.
Trust me, I want to claim Sansara Sage's Legacy more than any of you. I have spent countless hours researching-- preparing myself for a big break like this, damn it. That's why it would serve us well to eliminate Eren now.
Even though my personal grudge has influenced my actions, I'm not blinded by it. We might not be able to face that bastard inside the testing grounds. But an alliance of 11 teams with all hands on deck is enough to get rid of his entire team. Once and for all. Hehehe."
Gondel the geek said confidently. With the number advantage plus the modded Sansara Perks, he was certain of his plan.
However, Gondel felt weird that Oshawa, the female ranker who had given him the suggestion earlier, stopped speaking to him all of a sudden. Curious, he stopped in his tracks and turned around only to see Oshawa's larynx being punctured by an invisible object.
"What the…"
It took a while for Gondel the geek to understand what he was seeing. He saw Oshawa's larynx not only punctured but also yanked out of its place before being handed to her in a series of actions that looked seamless.
Oshawa couldn't do anything against such a sudden attack. She looked at Gondel with a horrified expression and an open mouth, which ejected streams of blood. The streams of blood rolled down her clothes before making the ground wet.
The ground started sizzling because an Expert ranker's fresh blood and part of her butchered flesh started reacting with the earth, producing a bubbling sound and releasing petrichor in the air. A phenomenon not too uncommon when it comes to rankers with special elemental affinities and aspects. Oshawa didn't even get to show how unique she was. She was forced to embrace death all too sudden.
Oshawa's hands were subconsciously raised in front of her in a defensive stance. Sadly for the female ranker, they couldn't defend her. Instead, they were being used as a hanger for her abruptly pulled larynx and windpipe.
Only now did Gondel realize that two more rankers from his team had been slaughtered without him knowing. Their bodies had become almost unrecognizable from their previous states. It was as if a butcher who was sent on an assassination assignment had gone too far by relying on his previous craft-- instead of killing the targets with the grace of a hitman.
The two rankers' bodies were found just a few meters away from each other. And the closest dead body was around 100 meters away from where Gondel was standing, which wasn't much of a distance for an Expert ranker like him.
The kill site subconsciously made it clear to Gondel that the assailant had attacked the first two rankers who were trailing behind the team in quick succession. He killed them to break the team's defensive formation and gain access to the female ranker on the team.
The assailant didn't wait long for attacking Oshawa after he killed the two rankers. Meaning even after overpowering the two rankers and killing them, he did not have his cover blown. That too while they were all using their movement spells.
The other rankers from Gondel's team were also catching up with these silent atrocities inflicted on them. The ones who had been tagged by the assailant couldn't even make a sound to express how shocked they were. It was clear that they would have been the next to die if the assailant's cover hadn't been blown.
This assailant had obviously used a combo of Perks to keep his kills as silent as they could be. But Gondel refused to believe that someone would be able to pull off such a feat with Perks alone.
This was a top-tier assassination. A predatory menace, who had access to cutting-edge assassination gear, had entered the fray.
For a moment, Gondel thought that Sage Loxley had come to kill his team.
The geek was too stunned to speak or do anything. His subconscious mind was trying to make sense of what he was seeing. As a result, he started searching through his memories to see if he had offended Sage Loxley in any way.
Gondel was forced to believe that there was no way someone from the participants would be able to perform such a flawless kill. Otherwise, he would have heard about him by now. His kill streaks, styles, and patterns would have been well documented.
Rankers like these were too few and too precious for any establishment. That is, if establishments could employ such rankers in the first place. Otherwise, such rankers would be hunted down under various reasons for the most part because they were threats to the rankers' societal fabric.
In the age of unavoidable exposure, who could manage to remain under a veil of mystery with skills like these making them stand out so much?
Pop quiz: What was Oshawa's class? ;)
