Joanna stopped in her tracks when she heard Oliver's question.
Her bodyguards stopped beside her and increased their alertness to the surroundings. Ivor had targeted Oliver's ranger the last time they were chasing the duo. So this time, Oliver had assigned the team's ranger two dedicated bodyguards.
A few stress lines were visible on her forehead as she looked around with her beautiful eyes. She started casting a few tracking spells to get the feel of the land.
Joanna was a very attractive female ranker who looked to be in her early 20s. She had white hair that fell to her waist and clear skin. Her tall stature and gorgeous figure made her even more attractive. Apart from her long-range spells, she also had a bunch of tracking spells in her collection, allowing her to tap into her full potential as a ranger.
Joanna wasn't sure how to answer Oliver's question after getting feedback from her ranger-specific spell. It was clear from that feedback that something had happened over there not too long ago. It was either a duel between two ferocious rankers or two ferocious mana beasts. But for some reason, there were no trackable residual mana signatures she could use to continue her investigation further.
She could only draw one conclusion at this point.
'Someone has used that cursed Format History. We better not use Gian to get the answers."
As Joanna looked at Gian, the party's historian, she concluded. Format History was what the rankers used to refer to Potion of Innocence. By now, everybody knew the repercussions of casting historian-related spells wherever this potion had been used. Joanna prevented Oliver from letting Gian take over the investigation.
Oliver looked around himself with a grim look on his face before nodding at Joanna. He trusted his ranger's judgment. But the question remained. How are they supposed to follow Layla and the unknown man who was with her?
A man in his early 60s appeared beside Oliver when it looked like the party had gotten into a stalemate. He looked at Oliver before speaking in a doubtful tone.
"Sir Oliver, how about we split the team into four and follow the trails of that homunculus separately using the four cardinal directions? Grid searches can be performed using this part of the Dark Daniera search as the base."
Oliver looked at the impatient man as if he had said something unbelievable before commenting.
"Split the teams into four? You thought you were some kind of genius by coming up with this solution, didn't you, Castro?"
Castro was tongue-tied when a mild speaker like Oliver criticized him. He wouldn't admit it to Oliver but he thought that he was the only one who could come up with such an obvious solution to their current predicament.
Oliver controlled his frustration and took a long breath. His tone softened before he spoke to Castro further.
"Do you know what happened to the rankers who were part of my unit before you came along?
Layla just used array traps and potion bombs when we started the grid search. She killed more than half the number of my previous two parties with that. Her partner also played a huge role in that.
That homunculus has too many tricks up her sleeves. They killed and managed to run away from us despite the number of disadvantages they had to face. And you want to make their job easier by splitting this party as well?"
Casto just shook his head in denial when Oliver asked him the questions patiently. Only now did he understand why a guy like Oliver was struggling to apprehend a homunculus and her partner in crime.
"But sir Oliver, we can't stay here for longer as well. With how crafty that homunculus is, this place might turn into a trap if we wait long enough here."
A blonde woman in her mid-30s named Tamara spoke next. She was the party's archer and a very capable ranker in the liquid stage of the Adept rank.
Tamara was at Oliver's party chasing Layla from the very beginning. She knew what the latter was talking about regarding Layla. So she brought up another possibility.
"Hmm. You are right, Tamara."
Oliver agreed with Tamara's suggestion right away. He decided to use his Trump card at this point. He turned around and said something to seemingly nobody.
"Master Biru, I know that you are not supposed to get involved in the hunt directly. But could you help us get a lead on the investigation?"
Nobody replied for a while. But then the space-time fabric rippled and an old man who looked to be in his 120s appeared at the scene out of nowhere. He looked old and frail and was only wearing a simple white long coat. And he supported his stance using a wooden support stick.
One could say that the white-clothed man had one foot in his grave. He looked like he would not survive a fight if and when he got involved in one. However, his ranking status as a Master ranker was undeniable.
Biru was involved in Oliver's last two investigations under Arthur's orders. The Duke was running out of patience so he asked Biru to aid Oliver should there be a need.
This was the reason Biru hadn't directly involved himself in Oliver's previous instances of confrontation with Layla. But that was about to change. Not because Oliver had asked for his participation. But because Arthur had ordered him to do so.
Biru was an array expert. This time, he had come prepared to handle Layla who had tricked him a couple of times. He took out his array disk from his storage and was about to say something to the entire party. However, he sensed a strong ripple of mana all around him that shut him up.
All of a sudden, a large, prism-shaped, semi-transparent barrier appeared in the surroundings that took everyone in Oliver's team inside it. It was as if someone was waiting for Biru to show up at the scene before activating the trap.
