In the rented room of an introverted Zen…

Yu, who looked at Ravyn’s computer screen, stood up in excitement.

"What are you excited about? Even if Ravyn’s mage deals a critical hit, her opponent won’t die."

Despite what Kanji told Yu not to get so worked up, his hand tightly grabbed the sofa where he was sitting with a thrill as well.

*Bwok!*

The mage on the Ravyn side of the screen slams the wand at Zen’s sorcerer. After the bubble showed a big number in yellow that popped out over the character’s head instead of white or red for a critical hit, the Zen mage’s HP depleted to 0.

["Victory!"]

The message that declares the result of this PVP match is that Ravyn is the winner.

"What?!"

Zen's eyes widened at what he had just seen.

"Super Crit!!"

Yu and Kanji spoke at the same time. They hugged their necks and shouted in joy. An in-game subsystem that gave a near-zero chance to amplify the damage fivefold was unexpectedly triggered in Ravyn's turn. This lucky strike led Ravyn to victory in Round 4 after losing 3 in a row. The curtain closed as the challenger beat the formidable king of Ultimagus 3’s server. Tons of players spectating their matches flooded their comments with emoticons for this feat.

"Nicely done, even with that luck."

Zen admits defeat and keeps his word. And after trying to track Ravyn’s mission objective, he became interested in Leila.

"Oh, this is more fun than playing games with you."

Zen then uttered the words that hurt Ravyn and her friends’ two-hour effort. Kanji was upset about that and spoke up.

"Are you really able to help us? We have invested a lot of time and resources in winning this game. Don't make us regret this."

In response, Zen handed Yu a completed Q-Level mission report that was supposed to be assigned to her.

"You helped me investigate this while waiting for us? Thank you~"

Yu was impressed by the help of the handsome young man.

"Any more doubts?"

Zen turned to Kanji.

10 minutes later…

"Anyway, thank you for letting me take your mage for a tour... Well, it was great catching up with you."

Ravyn pressed the red button on her feature phone to hang up with the owner of the game ID she borrowed. At that moment, Zen has found the hacker’s whereabouts, and everyone is preparing to go capture Leila.

"Oh, I found them. She's giving out three identical network addresses as her last defense line, but each of them is in different corners of the city. I'm sure one of them is the place."

Zen paused on the keyboard, showed his findings to others, and pondered.

…How did she?... Are they special, custom-made devices?...

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Zen then smiled excitedly before he continued.

"Gambling with her by going one place at a time is not enough. We will have to split up and visit all three locations within 10 minutes before she moves to another place again."

Everyone agreed that Yu and Kanji would go to the first point. Idorund, who deals with the area near the second spot, will go and have a quick look. Ravyn and Putter, who got first aid, will head to the last spot. Idorund hurriedly soared into the sky with the AB cannon while Yu and Kanji dashed towards the closest AB elevator they could find. Ravyn, unconvinced of the strangeness of this mission, remained in the room and asked Zen.

"As you know very well about the security system, will you share your own information with the people following you and keep wandering around your target even if you are confident with your skills?"

"At least I probably wouldn’t give out anything about myself. But this hacker—she did this on purpose."

Zen pointed at the information on his desk on the screen, indicating that Leila had hacked one of the Themeisse branch AB satellites as if she wanted to communicate with AB Assistants.

"If she is capable of doing this, why doesn’t she talk to us directly? That way, it’s much easier… Is she testing us?"

Ravyn asked.

"They called you Ravyn, right? It appears you’re smarter than you look, Ravyn. I still don’t know her exact aim yet, but it is certain that Leila is waiting for us and also indirectly told us that if AB can’t catch her, then we’re useless and not worth discussing with her. "

######

Kanji, the young man from the finance department, smoothly fitted into the team better than anyone expected for this field mission.

"I suggest that when everyone breaks in, we should say something like, ‘ABA open up!’. It’s going to be cool like the special units I’ve seen in movies."

Kanji spoke through a communicator as he ran after Yu, panting.

…You’re having fun, aren’t you? But that’s so embarrassing. No one’s gonna say it…

Ravyn thought to herself. Yet, there’s a voice that made Ravyn gasp without realizing it.

" ‘AB OPEN UP!’ I don’t have another A for ‘Assistant'. I hope you don’t mind that."

Idorund, who reached the goal before anyone, was the first to respond to Kanji through a communication device.

…Did our Airburst just say that??...

Ravyn then flinched in disbelief. Putter, who was running tag along with Ravyn, noticed her expression and found it ridiculous.

"Hahahaha… You guys won’t believe it. Her confused face is so funny, hahahaha… Ah!"

The green-haired trainee laughed hard about Ravyn's expression, hard enough that his wound opened up again.

######

In the dim room, one of the three target locations, Idorund looks around cautiously. There was a transmitter that looked like a pentagon box, flashing blue lights beside the computer monitor. On the computer screen, there is a picture of a girl in a white T-shirt with big eyes, a small nose, and a bob cut that suits her. The overall appearance is exactly the same as that of Leila, a former employee of Ly in AB’s database.

"Hello"

Idorund greeted Leila’s picture on the screen.

["Good job noticing that I’m watching you. I didn’t expect Airburst to come by himself this time. By the way, your outfit is cute."]

Leila’s voice came from the only computer screen in that room.

"Thank you."

Idorund replied calmly.

"Look at you. Try to act cool all this time. Has the only hero of Themeise given up on finding me?"

"Well, there are people who want to see you more than me. She even got chased, in search for you all over the place and lobbying people for help."

["What a conceited guy.. *ping* Oh my instant noodles are ready. It’s now a private moment for a young lady. Good luck strolling around, Airburst."]

The screen went black.

"Wait… I’m starting to get hungry too."

Idorund rubbed his stomach.

######

On Ravyn and Putter's side

"Take this. Tear it up and press it on the wound. When your cut starts to merge, you’ll start to feel itchy. Follow me after the ticklish sensation fades. "

Ravyn gave a rare dark blue herb called ‘Cludweld Aloe’ to Putter before heading alone towards the target.

"It’s okay, officer Putter. The remaining three of us will say that on your behalf with all our hearts!"

Kanji exaggerates his seriousness in roleplaying as he tries to catch his breath to keep up with Yu’s running speed.

"No, count me out."

Ravyn answered as she ran up the building.

"Come on, how can we leave Idorund the only one to say that cool line?"

Kanji tried to convince Ravyn.

"That's right~ that's right.~"

"How about.. if we reach the target’s location, we wait to open the door and say it together at the same time, shall we? Whoever is lucky will get to surprise our badass hacker."

The mischievous Kanji continued to negotiate even though he and Yu arrived at their destination early and checked that Leila wasn’t there. For the sake of her friends' effort, Ravyn agreed.

"I’ve arrived."

"We’ve arrived too. Alright, 3! 2! 1!"

Yu and Kanji tried their best to hold back their laughter and countdown as normally as possible. Ravyn let out a sigh before breaking into the target's room. All three speak simultaneously.

"ABA OPEN UP!"

And as planned, Ravyn meets a girl in her light outfit who sits in front of the computer savoring her instant noodles. She slowly turned around to look at the noise behind her before slurping up the rest of her noodles. As the lucky purple-haired girl of the day finally encountered Leila, she suddenly felt her face heat up and turned pinkish-red with awkwardness.

…I want to disappear from this place right now…