Chương 193: B3 - Chapter 27: Bait

The mapping of the nearby forest took nearly an hour of hard running through the dense undergrowth. By the time Seth, Nightmare, and Selena rejoined the others, the squad had already begun reshaping the terrain. The first stronghold rose half-hidden within a rocky alcove along the mountain's slope. Soldiers grunted as they drove jagged iron stakes into the earth, building vicious chevaux-de-frise that would break any Warrior charge into chaos.

Higher up, teams hauled two Arcane Cannons onto concealed platforms woven from living branches and mottled tarps; their barrels peeked through the leaves like the eyes of predators. Deeper in the forest, the other three squads were likely doing the same—raising two more fallback hubs while marking every possible enemy route so they could lay traps later on. As Seth approached, he turned to his own preparations.

He put several bombs into his pouch, followed by two metallic spheres meant to disrupt detection wards, and three single-use Scorching Wands. Then he ran a thumb across his Protecting Belt, Fine Storing Ring, and Swift Eagle Bracelet, feeling the dense hum of stored aether thrumming inside each artifact. Henry stood beside a crate of cannon munitions, watching the frantic labor around them, then noticed Seth.

"If the third stronghold falls," he said, "you need to be ready to use an Escape Scroll the second I give the word. Same as everyone else." His gaze drifted toward the distant tree line.

"If the Empire brought another Distortion Rod, we could be in trouble."

"If they use one, I'll find whoever's carrying it and kill them," Seth said as he tightened the straps on his combat gauntlets.

"That will clear the field so the rest of you can get out."

"And then what?" Eddin retorted from the side.

"You die in here alone? That'd be foolish." A crooked smile appeared on Henry's face.

"Foolish, yeah. But heroic." Seth rolled his eyes as he flexed his hands inside the gauntlets, which made the leather groan softly.

"I'm going to scout the forward perimeter. See if there's any movement from their side." Selena stepped toward Seth, clearly intending to follow, but he shook his head before she could speak.

"Not this time." His gaze flicked toward the stronghold, then back to her, Henry, and Eddin.

"Before we came in… I'm pretty sure I saw someone who could be Morsh among their soldiers. If that's true, it's better if I move alone." The air around them tightened. Eddin frowned.

"If it's really him, trying to go after him alone would be insane."

"I'm not going after him," Seth said evenly.

"But if it is him, I'm still confident I can get away." Henry grimaced, unconvinced.

"You're asking us to trust that?" Seth met the squad leader's gaze.

"When have I given you a reason not to?" Henry hesitated, then exhaled through his nose.

"... Right." Seth then looked at Selena.

"You're more useful here with Henry and Eddin. Prepare one of the spots we found earlier for an ambush with them." She grimaced, fingers twitching near the hilt of her blade, but after a moment her shoulders slumped.

"... fine." Seth gave her a short nod, then glanced at Henry and Eddin.

"I'll be careful."

"You better be," Henry shot back.

"I don't want to be known as the squad leader who got Kastal's monster killed before the fight even starts." A smile spread on Seth's lips.

"No need to worry about that. It won't happen," he answered before turning and slipping into the trees with a wave of his hand an instant later. He moved with fluid grace, his boots barely whispering against the moss-covered ground. Above him, the dense canopy swallowed most of the gray daylight, casting the forest into a shifting gloom of shadow and muted green. The tension in his shoulders slowly melted away and gave way to something colder. Sharper. This was where he belonged.

In a maze of roots, trunks, and darkness, where every bent branch, every rustle of leaves, every snapped twig could tell the presence of prey. Morsh might be a gifted assassin, but the forest was the hunting ground of Primalists, not Rogues. For the next half hour, Seth became a ghost. He slipped in and out of Illusionary Emptiness, putting extra care in each step, avoiding dry branches and slick patches of moss that might betray even the faintest sound.

He'd pushed nearly a mile into the enemy side of the forest before he found the first sign of life. A dozen imperial soldiers were moving through a ravine below him. Their armor gleamed even beneath the canopy, while careless voices drifted upward.

"Weak rats," one of them scoffed, kicking a rotting log aside.

"They'll be curled up in the darkest holes, waiting for us to flush them out."

"Let them hide," another said with a laugh and rested a heavy halbert across his shoulder.

"Makes the hunt more fun." Seth ignored them and circled farther east. Over the next twenty minutes, he found three more groups. They moved in detachments of ten to twenty-five people, spread loosely across the forest floor. Glowing communication orbs passed messages between them, but their formation lacked discipline, with large gaps between the patrols. They marched with the confidence of men who thought Kastal incapable of threatening them. As if the very idea of traps didn't even deserve their consideration.

Seth's jaw tightened. His gaze swept the shadows again, searching for any trace of Morsh. The elite assassin was nowhere to be seen. Beyond the chatter and movement of the Empire's patrols, the forest remained still. But the fact that these vanguard groups were this careless was a problem on its own. If no one taught them a lesson early, they would blunder straight to the first stronghold before he had enough time to thin their numbers through traps and ambushes.

Seth reached to his belt and pulled free his communication orb, the glass surface glowing with a muted blue light. Seth: I've got a patrol of around twelve in front of me. I'm going to try and lure them into the first trap point Selena and I marked. Can you be ready in five minutes if it works? Henry's reply came almost at once. Henry: We will. Bring 'em to us, Seth. After a final sweep of the immediate shadows to ensure Morsh wasn't lurking nearby, Seth found his vantage point.

He crouched behind the gnarled roots of an ancient oak, a line of sight opening through the dense trunks toward a group of twelve imperial soldiers. Choosing the most isolated detachment, he gambled that their distance from the other forces would turn their arrogance into a fatal mistake. Seth manifested his cerulean bow, the light of the weapon muffled by the thick undergrowth, then began to channel Ravenous Arrow. His fingers trembled as the Null affinity began its greedy feast.

Aether surged from his Well, stripped of its properties and reduced to its raw, starving form. Thanks to all the practice over the past days, the cast took him just over ten seconds. The projectile materialized in his hand, and the air around it rippled with a deep hunger, causing nearby leaves to rustle softly. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. The imperial soldiers remained oblivious.

Without a traditional elemental signature to alert their senses, the magical imprint of the spell seemed to remain invisible to their aetheric perception. Seth nocked the arrow, then pulled the bowstring back. His eyes narrowed in search of a weak target—one with the lowest Toughness and whose death would feed their motivation to catch him. And he found her. A woman with short, blonde hair stood in the center of the group with robes that marked her as either a Priest or an Elementalist.

She was mid-laugh, her mouth open in a jibe Seth couldn't hear but could easily imagine. Seth's vision zeroed in, and the world around the woman blurred until she was the only thing left. A moment after drawing in and holding his breath, he released the arrow. In a flash, the projectile carved a silent path through the timber, flying between the trunks like a hawk through a thicket. It struck before she'd even finished her laugh.

The arrow punched through the woman's temple and buried half its shaft inside her skull, the tip erupting from the other side in a spray of bone and hazy aether. She fell limp, and her body hit the mossy floor with a dull thud.

"A-ambush!" a man roared, voice cracking with sudden panic. All the other soldiers scrambled, drawing steel and manifesting shields as they spun in desperate circles. Seth was already gone. He slipped into the deeper gloom, his boots gliding over the earth as he moved to a new position thirty yards to the east. Two imperial scouts rushed toward the spot he had just vacated, their blades glowing with a frantic glow as they hacked at the bushes.

"Where the hell are they?" one of them screamed, eyes darting wildly through the trees.

"Did they flee?"

"Regroup! Get in a circle! Now!" Seth leaned against a new oak, the starving light of a second Ravenous Arrow already beginning to coalesce in his palm. The soldiers, men and women alike, had begun to gather together into a tight, defensive cluster. The two heavy infantrymen with kite shields moved to the front, their steel plates gleaming with protective runes as they braced for an assault. Yet Seth had already circled to their rear.

The second arrow solidified at his fingertips, and he nocked it in a single, fluid motion, eyes locking onto the only other robe-clad figure in the squad. The man clutched onto his staff with trembling hands and turned to the soldier beside him.

"Should I activate my Protecti—" The question died in a gurgle. Seth's arrow pierced through the back of his head and the man crumpled into the dirt, his staff clattering against a tree root.

"There! To the east!" a man shouted while pointing a gloved finger in Seth's direction. Seth's lips pulled back into a grim smile as he broke into a sprint to weave through the maze of bushes and trees. The imperial soldiers gave chase; branches lashed at their faces and twigs snapped under their weight while Intermediate Identify's information of the trio at the front appeared in Seth's vision. Elmar Class: Warrior Rank: 50 (High-Iron) Subclass:??? Strength:??? Arcane Power:??? Toughness:??? Well Capacity:???

Agility:??? Regeneration:??? Rody Class: Warrior Rank: 52 (High-Iron) Subclass:??? Strength:??? Arcane Power:??? Toughness:??? Well Capacity:??? Agility:??? Regeneration:??? Alert Class: Rogue Rank: 50 (High-Iron) Subclass:??? Strength:??? Arcane Power:??? Toughness:??? Well Capacity:??? Agility:??? Regeneration:??? As he ran, Seth began to cast a third arrow.

The thirty-units cost of each Ravenous Arrow drained a twentieth of his Well, but spending that amount for a guaranteed kill was a bargain he would take every single time. As he angled his flight toward where Henry and the others would be waiting, Seth checked his periphery. He counted ten soldiers still hot on his trail, but a new cacophony of crashing undergrowth rose from his left and caused him to glance on the other side.

A second detachment of Empire soldiers had heard the shouting and was converging on his position. Shit, Seth thought, heart hammering a frantic beat against his ribs. There were now more than twenty soldiers trailing him through the forest. Henry better be ready. Seth kept his legs moving, the moss blurring beneath his boots. As soon as the third arrow solidified in his grip, he flooded his lower limbs with aether to widen the gap between him and the soldiers.

He hooked his arrow arm around a thick cedar, using the momentum to swing himself half-behind the trunk, then nocked the arrow and pulled back the string in the same move. The lead soldier in the chasing pack, a man with a scarred chin and a heavy mace, spotted the glow of the arrow. His eyes went wide. The next instant, he lunged to the side, his Protecting Belt flaring into a shimmering barrier of blue light. Without the element of surprise on his side this time, Seth abandoned the headshot.

The arrow tore through the distance like a silent void and struck the man's chest, the Null affinity instantly devouring the defensive artifact's reserves. The barrier broke into sparkling dust, then the arrow buried itself deep into the man's ribcage—puncturing the heart just as he attempted to twist away. Just like the others, the soldier's body collapsed into a heap of clattering steel.

Seth didn't wait to watch him die and immediately spun around to resume his sprint, though he had to briefly turn sideways to dodge a streak of fire that hissed past his ear and scorched the bark of a nearby tree.

"Don't let him get away!" Two Warriors surged through the undergrowth, their bodies wreathed in the explosive light of a Charge-like spell. They moved like living battering rams and uprooted any saplings or roots in their path. Seth threw himself to the side just in time and the strike missed—but the force of the men's spells still caught him. A shockwave of dirt, splintered wood, and pine needles slammed into his body, sending him tumbling across the forest floor.

Seth rolled back to his feet and burst forward at full speed the instant his boots found purchase, forcing even more aether into his muscles.' Do I come out?' Colossus frantically asked through Link.' No, I'm fine,'Seth answered.' You'll make your entrance soon enough with Nightmare, don't worry!'' Trust him,' the direwolf added. Seth discarded the idea of switching Share's connection from Illusionary Emptiness to Shadow Step.

He needed to hold those soldiers' focus on him; if he vanished now, they might turn back before reaching Henry and the others. They tore through the woods for another grueling minute while Seth summoned his bow once more and loosed two Ravenous Arrows over his shoulder. One caught a pursuer in the shoulder, the impact spinning him around but failing to deliver a killing blow. The second hit its mark squarely in a Rogue's throat.

In exchange, Seth had to sacrifice his own Protecting Belt to intercept two arcane missiles from a volley.

"Should we wait for the other detachments?" one of the trailing soldiers shouted.

"No! We would lose him!" his teammate roared back, face contorted with rage. When he heard that, Seth deliberately shortened his stride. He let his pace slip just enough to feed their hope—to make them believe the "weak rat" was finally slowing after five relentless minutes of pursuit. He led them into a narrow ravine, where the terrain forced the group of about twenty soldiers into a tight cluster. Then he saw it. Ahead, the canyon walls rose like a giant maw of jagged stone more than two dozen feet into the air.

The passage narrowed sharply, leaving barely enough room for two wagons to pass side by side, while granite boulders littered the route like natural barricades and stripped away any chance of lateral maneuverability. Seth didn't hesitate and burst into the gorge, the metal of his boots sparking against the stone.

"There! He's got nowhere to flee!" a voice screamed from behind. The imperial soldiers surged into the mouth of the canyon. Archers drew their bowstrings to their ears, and the two Elementalists who had arrived with the second detachment wove glowing lattices of fire and thunder. Steel and aether shrieked through the gorge. Seth twisted aside and dove behind a massive rock just as the spells burst overhead.

He pushed back up, already casting while pulling nearly all of the aether from his Fine Storing Ring to replenish his Well. Another Ravenous Arrow formed in his palm as he ran. Seth spun on his heel, drew, and loosed. There was no time for precision. The shot struck a charging Warrior high in the torso. The man's Protecting Belt shattered with a violent burst of light, and his scream tore through the canyon as the Null energy chewed into his chest and stopped the charge.

The soldiers around him roared in collective rage and ran faster, weapons raised toward Seth—only for their expressions to falter when a wide smile spread across his lips. Before the Empire's vanguard could understand why, the air above them rippled with aether. Arrows, searing lances of flame, and Detonating Bombs rained down from above.

Perched on the rocky ledges on both sides of the narrow canyon, Henry, Eddin, and the rest of the squad unleashed a perfectly timed volley of spells and attacks into the trapped soldiers below.

"Kill them all!" Henry's voice thundered, echoing off the stone walls. The imperial soldiers recoiled, eyes darting between the death falling from above and the narrow passage behind them. Panic spread through the formation the moment they understood the truth: the trap had already closed. Most tried to turn, shoving into one another as boots slipped on blood-slick stone, but the retreat path had become a bottleneck of bodies.

Seth didn't wait for the barrage of spells to finish the job and launched himself forward as twin crescent blades of Dusk Scythes materialized along his arms. The wild is my domain.