Goro thought it odd that Oslo was standing outside the isolation barrier. As if he was waiting for him.
"Oslo, why are you stopping here instead of approaching the caravan?"
As Goro watched his surroundings, he asked Oslo. He felt and sensed something odd about the situation. He just couldn't put a finger on what.
Meanwhile, the female ranker that was part of Goro's team led the rest of the rankers behind Goro. She approached a pensive-looking Shalen with a gloating expression on her face.
"It seems you bit off more than you could chew with Adept Eren and changed your plans. Were you too scared of attacking him all by yourself?"
This female was also a member of the Escalon guild. Her name was Tia Tarheel. She was the one who kept Goro company during those nine days and suggested he stay put.
Tia looked to be in her early 20s. Turquoise hair, off-red eyes, and slightly chubby cheeks. Tia was an elf and as such had beautiful feminine features.
Tia wore a skimpy dress that didn't have a hint of defensiveness. Her defense lay on the fact that she was a ranger and liked to keep a distance from her foes.
Unlike Shalen, she was the official member of the guild. She was in charge of rankers from her guild as well as that of House Remus that had come with Goro Jaan Remus.
Shalen was staring down at her feet when Tia approached her. The former looked up and looked into the elf's eyes before casting her spell.
Warning signals sounded off in Goro's head as he felt Shalen making her move. Being a necromancer, he could now tell that Shalen was nothing but a corpse with active mana circuits at this point. Someone else was making her body do things under their orders.
"Tia… no…. Keep the fuck away from her."
Goro tried to warn Tia. However, after Oslo made his move, he became preoccupied with his fight. The masked man drew his two short swords and sent wind-element attacks his way before blocking his retreat with the wind blades approaching from behind Goro.
Tia didn't understand what was going on at first. Goro's scream actually threw her off her pace instead of making her aware of her situation. Shalen managed to close in on her quickly before attacking her with her daggers.
"This bitch!"
Tia Taheel immediately ordered the rankers that were with her to attack Shalen without worrying about the consequences. The girl was an eyesore for her anyway because she wanted to have Reva Rain as her mentor by taking Shalen's place. Of course, Tia was yet to be made aware of the fact that Shalen was already dead.
Shalen managed to hurt Tia even after the latter defended herself with her spear and water-element defense spells. Only now did Tia understand why Reva preferred mentoring Shalen over her. The assassin was very proficient in her class.
However, Tia wasn't to be underestimated either. Especially when she had the number advantage.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Shalen was hit with various types of elemental spells and flying weapon attacks all at once. The assassin tried to defend herself with her movement spell. But she wasn't as agile as she was before the fight began.
Tia watched in shock as Shalen kept on following her even after being bombarded with so many attacks. She lost some of her flesh, her waist was nearly chopped off, and her heart had been pierced. But Shalen didn't even utter a word as she kept on launching flying slashes at the escaping Tia Tarheel.
"What is wrong with this fucking…"
Just when Tia felt befuddled by Shalen's behavior, she heard Goro's voice coming from a distance.
"She's dead. Oslo is also dead. Somebody's controlling the corpses. Stay on guard and watch for any sneak moves."
Tia was stunned when she heard Goro's explanation. She could have never guessed that Eren's team would also have someone with necromancy-like spells.
Tia's movement spell was impeccable. She managed to keep Shalen away from herself. Meanwhile, she coordinated with her team and launched a systematic attack on Shalen who seemed to be running on fumes.
***
Eren was looking at the fight unfolding in front of him using an array disk that showed the scene on a spectral screen, providing an eagle-eye view of the battlefield. It was the same array disk Eren had taken from Oslo.
He could lip-read Goro and Tia's speech and understood that they were both made aware of his trick of hunting the joint force.
"So they know that both Oslo and Shalen are dead. They are not trying to test the waters or get close to them. I guess every act has an expiration date."
Eren wasn't too bothered by the fact that his jig was up. He successfully eliminated two groups of rankers using the same trick. It just so happened that Goro managed to see through things because of his necromancer class.
"Hmm. Time to discard a doll."
Alephee who stood beside Eren gave him a suggestion. The latter nodded and gave her a go. The homunculus closed her eyes and operated on the corpse named Shalen using her Corpse Dance.
In the next moment, Shalen started her suicide attack.
***
Tia watched with a smirk as Shalen's body was getting destroyed by the moment. She kept on following her and trying to confront any ranker that came her way. She had injured and killed a few rankers. But they were all Novice-ranked members who Tia didn't value as much anyway.
Tia decided to use herself as bait to pin Shalen and finish her for good. Shalen's actions told her that the human doll was programmed to prioritize her as the target of her attacks. So Tia decided to use that against Shalen and the one who was controlling her.
Tia wanted to get rid of Shalen anyway. And the fact that she had been killed by the enemy and used as a human doll gave her a valid excuse to do so. She was sure that Reva Rain wouldn't be angry with her for offering eternal peace to Shalen's body.
"Let's get close and finish her off."
Tia and her team encircled Shalen and approached her. Unfortunately for them, Alephee activated the RDX hidden inside Shalen's body at the same time.
