After hearing the explosions accompanied by the shouts of their comrades, the mercenaries who had just woken up a few minutes ago went into high alert because it was clear that unknown enemies had come to attack them, and after equipping themselves with everything at hand, they gathered around their leader to hear his plan.
"Boss, what's happening? Who's attacking us?"
"Could it be the fighters from the Lionkins' Village? No, it doesn't seem like their fighting style. Maybe it's an adversary of our employer..."
"Boss, should we go check the situation?"
"Boss, what's the plan?"
Bombarded with questions to which he didn't have answers from all sides, the mercenary leader felt a vein in his head about to burst from the nervous state he was in. Not only had he lost over half of his men without knowing who was attacking them, but the remaining subordinates also seemed to have forgotten the meaning of order and hierarchy, as if they had never been on a mission before or faced a life-threatening situation.
"Bang!"
"Silence!" he roared after delivering a punch to one of the agitated subordinates in front of him. "Do you think I would've kept you in the dark if I knew who was attacking us? Why keep bombarding me with pointless questions? Dammit, except for Rob, there's not a single one capable of rational thinking among you..."
While their leader was quick to anger, the mercenaries had never seen him in such a state before. His gaze conveyed the message that he would personally kill the next person who dared to say anything. After they fell silent and moved a few meters away from him, they continued to wait for orders from their leader, further aggravating his frustration.
"Do I really have to tell each and every one of you what to do? Hurry up and get ready to defend the camp! Raise as many magical barriers as you can, quickly! Those with observation skills, start looking if anyone's approaching! The rest, take defensive positions and watch each other's backs! Considering that Rob's group was caught off guard, it wouldn't surprise me if there are Master Assassins among the attackers..."
As all those skilled in magic weren't part of the reconnaissance teams, the surviving group of mercenaries consisted of 5 individuals capable of creating magical barriers. Among them was a Level 42 Dark Mage who activated a spell in seconds, creating a barrier that concealed everything inside the camp and the others set up numerous defensive barriers or placed traps around the camp capable of seriously injuring any fighter below Level 40.
'It looks like things are going to get quite complicated...', Lucy thought as she gazed from the top of a tree 100 meters away from the camp. With the element of surprise already lost, there was no longer any point in rushing to attack the remaining mercenaries. So she calmly drank potions to replenish her mana and stamina, then allocated her earned points to attributes that were due for an increase.
'Hmm, considering that the camp is now in defensive mode and my attacks probably won't be able to break through their magical barriers, no matter how many explosive papers I use, I have two options. The first would be a war of attrition, launching occasional long-range attacks to keep them on their toes and drain their energy and resources. Thanks to the Ninja Shop, I could easily win this fight, as I can buy potions and food to last me several months, while they probably can't hold out for more than a week. And when they finally attempt to escape, I'll take advantage of their weakened state and eliminate them easily. However, if I follow this plan, there's a chance the mercenaries in the camp might call for reinforcements, rendering all my efforts pointless. Moreover, even though the Ninja Shop offers potions to keep me awake for days, it wouldn't be a pleasant experience. They've already made me lose a night! If I continue at this pace, my beautiful face might suffer irreparable damage! This is a risk I don't want to take. So the only solution is the second option: make them believe they have the advantage, prompting them to lower their guard and start counterattacking, giving me a chance to take them out. But can I face 19 people at once? Moreover, from the information I got from the prisoner I captured yesterday, some of them are quite competent fighters. Their leader is a Level 45 Berserker who had a career in arena battles before forming this mercenary group, remaining undefeated so far due to his extraordinary regenerative abilities. Yes, it will be truly challenging to defeat all 19 of them alone. Thankfully, I have five Rank D skills that I can create, and although it's not advisable to create skills for active use in battle since I don't have time to get accustomed to them, I believe I can come up with something to help me overcome the challenges posed by their numerical superiority...'
Having decided on her course of action, Lucy wasted no time and began instructing the system to create the five skills she needed to form her temporary army. Although it wouldn't be very efficient, as it would consist of substitutes unable to follow complex strategies, it would be sufficient to level the playing field in the battle's initial stages.
[Explosive Paper Substitute (D): This skill allows the creation of an identical substitute of the user, which can maintain its form for 10 minutes and can be programmed to follow simple instructions both at the moment of creation and after it has been created. If the substitute comes into contact with the target or receives instructions to do so, it will cause a powerful explosion with a radius of over 5 meters. Activating this skill to create a single substitute consumes 20 mana points and 20 explosive papers.]
[Lightning Substitute (D): This skill allows the creation of an identical substitute of the user, which can maintain its form for 10 minutes and can be programmed to follow simple instructions both at the moment of creation and after it has been created. If the substitute comes into contact with the target or receives instructions to do so, it will transform into an attack using the lightning element, affecting all those within a distance of less than 3 meters from it. Activating this skill to create a single substitute consumes 30 mana points.]
[Ice Substitute (D): This skill allows the creation of an identical substitute of the user, which can maintain its form for 10 minutes and can be programmed to follow simple instructions both at the moment of creation and after it has been created. If the substitute comes into contact with the target or receives instructions to do so, it will transform into an attack using the water element, generating hundreds of sharp ice pieces flying in all directions. Activating this skill to create a single substitute consumes 40 mana points.]
[Fire Substitute (D): This skill allows the creation of an identical substitute of the user, which can maintain its form for 10 minutes and can be programmed to follow simple instructions both at the moment of creation and after it has been created. If the substitute comes into contact with the target or receives instructions to do so, it will transform into an attack using the fire element, incinerating an area with a radius of 5 meters around it. Activating this skill to create a single substitute consumes 40 mana points.]
[Poison Gas Substitute (D): This skill allows the creation of an identical substitute of the user, which can maintain its form for 10 minutes and can be programmed to follow simple instructions both at the moment of creation and after it has been created. The substitute will behave like a gas, able to pass through narrow spaces or small objects and poison all those who breathe it. Activating this skill to create a single substitute consumes 60 mana points.]
'Yes, I believe it looks quite good. Unlike when I created the Black Vines Substitute skill, this time I focused on increasing the lifespan of the substitutes and enhancing their killing capabilities. Moreover, these substitutes can be controlled more effectively during battle, so they should be able to help me divert opponents' attention for a longer period of time...' Lucy thought after reviewing the five skills she had just created.
As Lucy didn't want to lose the advantage brought by the darkness, she decided to put her plan into action immediately. After purchasing three high-quality mana potions, each costing 500 points and having an almost instant effect, and a hundred explosive papers, she started creating four substitutes of each kind, except for those made of Dark Vines, as they wouldn't last long enough. After approximately one minute of using continuous creation skills for the substitutes and drinking the three potions, she had 20 identical copies of herself ready to join the battle and unleash chaos.
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'Hehe, maybe I went a bit overboard with those three potions considering my stomach doesn't feel great, but the result is as expected.'
"Let's go, girls! Let's go bring the trophy home!!"
.....................................
In the mercenaries' camp, tension had reached its peak. The 10 minutes they waited for the attackers to finally reveal themselves seemed as long as 10 hours.
"Boss, there's absolutely nothing in sight. Is it possible that the opponents were intimidated by our defense and retreated? How much longer do you think we should keep the magical barriers active?" one of the five mages asked their leader, who stood a few meters behind.
"Do you think I pay you to give me advice? Don't be lazy and keep those barriers up! I'm sure our adversaries are just waiting for an opportunity to attack us..." their leader yelled, annoyed that his subordinates didn't grasp the seriousness of the situation.
'Damn it. How did we end up going from hunters to the hunted? Everything was supposed to be a simple operation. We had the necessary information, we had enough people... Why did it come to this?' he thought, looking around at the forest still engulfed in darkness and hoping that he would find some clue that could make him realize who are the bastards who are going to attack them.
"Boss, it seems that three individuals are heading towards us from different directions! Judging by their agility and silent way of moving, all three could be assassins of a level higher than 30!" one of his subordinates, who possessed a passive skill granting him exceptional hearing, informed them, putting everyone on high alert.
"Just three? Very well. Let's see how capable they are now that they're not acting from the shadows."
..............................
Thanks to her ocular powers, Lucy could accurately identify where the magical traps the mercenaries had placed were located, and by sensing mana fluctuations, she could anticipate when the mercenaries were planning to launch a ranged attack. As a result, the instructions she sent to the three substitutes were highly effective, helping them get within 20 meters of the camp. Then, following the plan, she allowed two of the substitutes to be injured, ordering them to retreat, while she instructed the third one to try to capture the mercenaries' attention.
"Boss, we hit two opponents. They appear to be of the catkin species based on their ear shape... Look, now they want to retreat. What do you think we should do? Should we go after them?" the mercenary with the Dark Mage class, possessing a passive skill that allowed him to see much better at night than an ordinary human, asked his leader.
"Do you think it's that simple? Haven't you seen before how some people send their slaves forward to confuse the enemy? If they were humans or another type of demi-human, I might consider that possibility. But where have you ever seen catkin individuals who weren't someone's slaves? Most likely, the enemies have a team of catkin slaves under their command and have decided to send them ahead to trick us into lowering our guard..." the leader of the mercenaries replied, who had finally started to calm down after the appearance of the first opponents, realizing that the adversary would take advantage of any misstep he might make by succumbing to his emotions.
"You're right, boss. If we were facing amateurs, the old man Rob, who had so much experience, wouldn't have been defeated so easily. Who knows what tricks the opponents still have up their sleeves?"
.......................................
'Damn it, why didn't it work? What gave me away?' Lucy asked herself in her mind, seeing that the mercenaries didn't intend to pursue her substitutes. 'Should I retreat and come up with a different plan? No, I still believe I can save this situation if I sacrifice a few substitutes. From what I've observed, every time the mages who created a barrier around the camp send a magical attack, the barrier in front of them seems to weaken. I think it's worth trying to exploit this to infiltrate a poisonous gas substitute, disrupting their coordination and allowing me to attack them with full force...'
Lucy halted the retreat of the initial three substitutes she had sent and sent them back toward the camp along with five more, aiming to provoke the opponents into increasing the intensity of their magical attacks.
Controlling the substitutes from a distance like a master puppeteer who can lend grace even to a doll made of straw and wood, Lucy managed to bring two of them within just 5 meters of the mercenaries' camp. These substitutes were one composed of explosive papers and the other of poisonous gas.
'Now is the ideal moment. Let's see how good your prideful defense really is...' Lucy thought as she ordered the explosive paper substitute to head directly for the barrier surrounding the camp. Fortunately for Lucy, this substitute was too tempting a target for the frustrated mages who couldn't seem to hit anything and, as soon as she noticed the mage closest to it preparing a magical attack to destroy the enemy in front of him, Lucy triggered the explosion of the substitute. This created large cracks wide enough for the second substitute, composed of gas, to easily slip through.
"Haha, it worked on the first try! Let's go, girls, let's go bring death to these bastards!" Lucy exclaimed loudly, unable to contain her enthusiasm. She then led the other 12 substitutes toward the camp, now defenseless after the poisonous gas substitute targeted all the mages, causing them to lose focus as soon as they breathed in the toxic air. While the gas wasn't lethal to those above level 10, it could induce a cough that was hard to control.
Since Lucy didn't have the same level of control over the substitutes as when she observed from the sidelines, she sent one substitute toward each opponent, instructing them to transform into their characteristic attacks as soon as they had the chance to get within 2 meters of an opponent.
'They almost look like an army of zombies!' Lucy thought as she watched her substitutes advance toward the terrified mercenaries at top speed, ignoring the arrows and ranged attacks that the mercenaries directed at them.
"Boom!!"
"Slash!"
Taking advantage of the chaos her substitutes had created, Lucy used the skills Steps of Light and Bending of Light to slip through the disorganized mercenaries who didn't know which way to turn and the moment she noticed a wounded or distracted mercenary, she swiftly decapitated them using her kunai infused with wind magic.
"Damn it! What kind of lunatics are we dealing with? I've never seen anyone use such a strategy! How on earth did they convince their slaves to fight with such determination?" the leader of the mercenaries asked, retreating behind a tree to recover after being hit by a lightning attack when he thrust his giant sword into one of the attackers.
"Boss, I think we've been deceived. I don't believe we're facing a group of suicidal slaves. Have you noticed that all those attacking us look the same? It's more likely that we're up against an army of golems controlled by a wizard... Ouch!" One of his subordinates, who had the Assassin class, said as he removed the ice spikes that had pierced his right shoulder and left leg after he attacked one of the enemies from behind.
"Golems? So realistic? It's impossible!" the mercenary leader exclaimed, looking at his subordinate as if he didn't know what he was talking about.
"But boss, haven't you seen that..."
"Slash!"
Unfortunately, the assassin who had managed to remove the ice spike from his leg couldn't finish his thought, as Lucy appeared next to him and ended his life without him realizing what had happened.
"It seems it's just the two of us now! Let's see how you'd like to end this: are you going to surrender and answer my questions, or will you continue to fight and force me to beat you to the brink of death?" Lucy told the mercenary leader, who had hit his head against the trunk of the tree at the moment when Lucy appeared out of nowhere.
"You fucking whore! You're to blame for all of this!" he shouted and immediately attacked Lucy with his massive sword.
"It looks like you've chosen the hard way!" Lucy said as she easily dodged his attacks.
Although the mercenary leader was a skilled and powerful fighter, the combination of exceptional agility, her karate knowledge, and her ocular abilities made Lucy impossible to touch, his sword cutting trees and splitting the ground without any result.
Realizing that he had no chance of hitting Lucy with his sword, the mercenary leader decided to use his skills that allowed him to destroy everything around him. Immediately, he struck the ground with his foot, creating a shockwave that caused everything within a 20-meter radius to be thrown 5 meters into the air, including his unsuspecting opponent who was taken by surprise. As soon as he saw the opponent being thrown backward to the ground, he swiftly advanced and cut off his legs from the knees down.
"Haha!! That's what you deserve, whore! Let's see how you'll escape me now! I'll make sure your life becomes hell from today onward!" he laughed, watching the catgirl at his feet start to crawl away from him.
"Slash!"
"Unfortunately for you, that future is not possible!" Lucy told the mercenary leader, who had fallen to the ground with his legs cut off.
"Aaaahh!! How, how is this possible? I'm sure I hit you! Ahhh!!" he began to scream in pain.
Well, Lucy wasn't planning on explaining her ocular abilities that allowed her to anticipate his attack and implant a realistic illusion in his mind where she would be the one defeated.
"Slash!"
"Slash!"
"Aaahhh!!"
"It seems you don't understand the situation! I'm the only one who gets to ask questions here!" Lucy told to the mercenary leader after cutting off both of his hands from the elbow.
"Let's begin now..."Lucy said and immediately delivered a powerful punch to the mercenary leader's face to capture his attention.
"Where are they?"