Category: The Azure Longsword

Chapter 17: A Swordsman’s Dialogue

Richard Tennar looked very Frankish, with a large build, black hair, and a thick beard streaked with gray.

His way of carrying his sword was also very Frankish. Unlike Asker, who wore his sword on his hip, Eastern style, ready to be drawn at any moment, Richard Tennar held his unsheathed sword in his arms, loosely wrapped in cloth.

“A Weapon Master?” he asked, seeing Asker’s numerous weapons.

His voice was deep and resonant, as if emanating from his chest.

“A Swordmaster?” Asker countered.

Swordmaster was both a bloodline (similar to Weapon Master, but specialized in swords) and a profession—an honorific for swordsmen dedicated to honing their skills and passing down their swordsmanship styles.

“I haven’t seen you before,” Richard Tennar said.

“You can’t possibly have met everyone,” Asker replied.

“No,” Richard Tennar shook his head. “A skilled swordsman, once seen, is never forgotten.”

“I’m not strictly a swordsman,” Asker said.

“But your swordsmanship is strong,” Richard Tennar said. “I sense your style originates from the East.”

“How can you tell?”

“Intuition.” Richard Tennar released his arms, his sword falling point-first into the ground, the cloth unwrapping like ripples in the air. “A swordsman’s intuition.”

“Do you sense it? A sword has a soul.” He muttered, his beard twitching.

“When you grasp it, it becomes a part of you, an extension of your arm, a fragment of your soul.”

“When you draw your sword, it sings. When you swing your sword, it roars. When you sheathe your sword, it sighs.” He caressed the hilt of his sword, his gaze steady as stone, as if communing with it.

This old man is definitely half-mad… Asker thought helplessly.

In the world of “Steel and Fire,” those who surpassed level 20 and became demigods, whether players or NPCs, had to contend with a hidden attribute: SAN value.

Simply translating SAN value as “sanity,” as in Lovecraftian horror, wasn’t quite accurate. It should be “human sanity.”

The higher the level, the further they deviated from ordinary humans, not only physically, but also mentally, their minds eroded by the Laws they wielded.

After all, the key to becoming a demigod was the fusion of oneself with the Laws. The greater the fusion, the greater the power, and the greater the madness.

Levels 20-30, SAN value fluctuated between 100 and 50. Transcendents only had to deal with occasional hallucinations and whispers, their outward behavior mostly normal. This stage was called “mental abnormality.” Like Thira’s grandfather.

Levels 30-40, their normal SAN value dropped below 50. The hallucinations and whispers would evolve into physical harm and mental erosion, requiring Transcendents to actively resist and eliminate them.

Like this Sword Saint Richard Tennar.

In the eyes of others, it was like a demigod walking down the road, suddenly starting to fight against invisible monsters, or talking to himself, conversing with inaudible whispers. This stage was also known as the “half-mad” stage.

Level 40 was the maximum level. Players couldn’t reach it, and NPCs who did became completely insane.

After all, losing human rationality was basically equivalent to losing one’s soul, to spiritual death.

When this mechanic was first introduced, the player forums were filled with complaints. No one liked this “the higher the level, the greater the madness” setting – wasn’t that just asking for trouble? So, veteran players with high levels were now being restricted?

However, human nature is fickle.

Players who ascended to demigod status found that there were few enemies or supernatural creatures in the natural world that could challenge them. They could defeat almost everything with ease, which wasn’t fun at all.

After all, demigods were already above the mainstream level.

However, when they descended into madness, the monsters conjured by their minds were unexpectedly strong. Killing them could restore their SAN value and increase their fusion with the corresponding Law. In short, it was both challenging and rewarding.

It was like the endless mode in Plants vs. Zombies, immediately becoming popular among high-level players.

Back to the topic, this old man Richard Tennar, if Asker remembered correctly, should be around level 34 at this point in time, a typical “half-mad” stage.

At the current magic tide level cap of 10, a demigod’s battle against monsters was extremely dangerous. A slight misstep could lead to excessive force, loss of control, and death.

However, the old man was a physical demigod, his strength mainly coming from his physical body and combat experience, largely unaffected by the magic tide suppression. It was said that in his constant battles against hallucinations and whispers, he had even self-taught a set of sword techniques and written them into a long poem called “Zettel,” filled with nonsensical words and grammar like a madman’s ravings.

Different swordsmen, reading this “Zettel,” could actually learn different sword techniques from it, like a Western medieval swordsmanship version of the “Yi Jin Jing.”

“You know me,” Richard Tennar said.

Asker frowned, unsure whether he was real or fake, but the former seemed more likely.

After all, the current magic tide level cap was 10. The anomaly couldn’t replicate a real demigod, at most just a demigod shell, with a maximum strength of level 10. That was meaningless – it couldn’t defeat anyone or deceive anyone, so what was the point?

“Let us converse,” Richard Tennar drew his sword, “in the way of swordsmen.”

“Can’t we just talk normally?” Asker sighed.

“Words are weak and powerless; the clash of steel speaks volumes,” Richard Tennar declared.

Asker: …

There it was, the random poetry recitation, a characteristic of this Sword Saint.

Asker drew his knife with his right hand and his sword with his left, slowly assuming a dual-wielding stance.

“Let me see your basics first.” With that, Richard Tennar vanished.

Vanished? No, he was just too fast!

Asker swiftly slashed downwards with his right knife and thrust his left sword forward. Richard Tennar materialized before him, his sword swinging upwards to deflect Asker’s knife, then spinning to dodge his sword thrust, his own sword slashing towards Asker’s throat from a tricky angle.

Holy Roman – Richard Tennar Swordsmanship, Throat Cut.

The Holy Roman Throat Cut was similar to the Eastern Roman Tiger Cut, both using a sword to slash at the opponent’s throat. However, Tiger Cut emphasized speed and angle, while Throat Cut emphasized a clean, decisive, one-hit kill.

The Sword Saint’s Throat Cut was both fast and powerful. A normal person would have had their trachea severed and died instantly.

However, Asker pulled back his left wrist and parried the attack with the guard of his sword.

“Hmm?” Richard Tennar was surprised, because parrying with the guard of the sword was a characteristic of his own swordsmanship style.

The old Sword Saint jumped back, swinging his sword in mid-air, Moon Slash!

Asker’s right knife slashed upwards, parrying the Moon Slash with a reverse Half Moon Slash. His left sword was held horizontally in front of his chest, then thrust forward.

“Eastern Roman Soaring Eagle Sword,” Richard Tennar said as he jumped back, parrying Asker’s sword tip with the crossguard of his sword in mid-air, his body propelled backward by the force. Asker had already retracted his sword, then attacked again with his right knife and left sword from both sides.

“What swordsmanship is this?” Richard Tennar jumped back repeatedly, dodging all his attacks, and asked curiously.

“Dual Swords Assassination Technique,” Asker replied.

“The right knife heavy, the left sword agile, a dual-wielded attack, impossible to defend against,” Richard Tennar began reciting poetry again.

Asker, speechless, reached for his waist, his saber instantly replaced by a battle axe.

“The Weapon Master’s ‘Quick Hands’,” Richard Tennar observed. “Right hand axe, left hand sword, the Holstein dual-wielding style?”

“Barbarian Tactics,” Asker said, suddenly throwing the battle axe at him.

Richard Tennar swiftly twisted his wrist and deflected the flying axe with his sword.

In the brief moment the axe obscured his vision, Asker had already rushed behind him, Dragon Cut!

The sword wind approached silently from behind. The old Sword Saint, as if he had eyes in the back of his head, leaped forward to dodge, then felt a sharp pain in his lower back.

If it had been just the sword, Richard Tennar could have easily dodged the attack with his leap. However, Asker’s empty right hand now held a spear. With its longer reach, it had pierced his back.

Dragon Spear!

Chapter 16: The Sword Saint

After preparing the identification codes, the group continued forward.

There were generally two ways to clear an anomaly:

1. Find the source and eliminate it. The source could be a specific monster (like Alexander’s corpse in the last undead anomaly), or some out-of-control supernatural item, etc.

2. If the source couldn’t be found, then simply eliminate all the monsters within the anomaly, and the source would naturally be revealed.

Although the mechanism of the anomaly’s formation wasn’t clear yet, after all, this world originated from the “Steel and Fire” online game, and it was impossible for an online game to have “unsolvable dungeons” that forced players to grind endlessly and ruined their gaming experience. Naturally, this world wouldn’t have them either.

The two mercenary groups maintained a safe distance as they advanced. Azure Longsword on the left, Free Wind on the right.

This time, however, the members of Free Wind weren’t constantly gripping their sword hilts, seemingly having relaxed after the previous rest.

Countless figures suddenly appeared on the shadowy street ahead. The mercenaries stopped and readied their weapons.

The figures that appeared were shambling, their clothes tattered, their skin decaying, their limbs thin, their faces pockmarked by maggots, and their hair matted like withered leaves.

“Are these… zombies?” Medea asked through the mental link.

Zombies, walking corpses, were also common monsters among the undead. They had no vital points, high HP, and had to be decapitated to be completely killed. They were a lower-tier variant of ghouls and also contained one of the ingredients for the Flesh I formula.

Of course, judging from the previous situation, the monsters in this anomaly didn’t yield supernatural power or drop transcendental materials upon being killed, only Philosopher’s Stone fragments. This indicated they were basically all fakes created by the anomaly, not real supernatural creatures.

They had even fought real ghouls before, so they naturally weren’t afraid of these weaker fakes. It was just that there were too many of them. The ones in front had already reached within ten meters of them, and more were continuously emerging from the end of the street.

It was a rather oppressive sight.

“Captain, they don’t seem to have any desire to attack,” one of Matthews’ confidants observed. “It’s like… like ordinary townspeople taking a walk on the street.”

“Since they don’t intend to attack, let’s not attack either,” Matthews said slowly, staring at the zombies strolling leisurely with their heads lowered. “The middle of the road is clear, let them pass.”

“What should we do?” Medea asked in the channel on Azure Longsword’s side.

“Two options,” Asker said. “First, we attack and initiate combat.”

“Second, we wait for them to reach the middle of the road, separating us from Free Wind, then they suddenly attack, and we’re forced into combat.”

The girls: …

Then, of course, choose the first option!

Matthews had just ordered his men to stay on guard but not to initiate an attack… when Mia and Peggy from Azure Longsword suddenly charged forward.

“What the fuck!” Matthews almost spat out blood. Aren’t you Azure Longsword all beautiful girls? Why are you so eager to fight?!

“Draw your swords!” He couldn’t stop the two girls who had already charged, so he hurriedly ordered his mercenaries to draw their weapons and prepare for battle.

The two girls crossed the short distance of ten meters almost instantly. As they charged into the horde of monsters, two zombie heads flew high in the air.

“Wanna compete?” Peggy quickly asked, flicking the grime off her dagger. “I can’t use that sword technique.”

“Let’s do it.” Mia said excitedly.

With the death of their companions, the zombie horde, like a disturbed beehive, quickly fell into chaos.

Some tried to surround the two girls, while others, like sharks smelling blood, rushed towards the two mercenary groups.

“Into the alley!” Asker commanded immediately.

So the girls immediately turned 90 degrees and retreated into the alley between two buildings.

Eleanor and Sidlipha, one on the left and one on the right, immediately blocked the alley entrance. The ferocious zombie horde, rushing forward, crashed against them like waves against reefs, instantly scattered.

Medea, Miel, and Thira, the three ranged attackers, climbed onto the trash bins by the wall and began to unleash their firepower on the monsters outside.

The freest ones were Peggy and Mia. With their super-high speed and agility, they darted in and out of the zombie horde, the monsters unable to even touch them.

Peggy’s short sword was extremely lethal, every swing sending a head flying.

Mia’s daggers were much less effective. After all, daggers were more suitable for stabbing, so it took her two slashes to take down a zombie.

“Wow, Peggy! You’re trying to show me up!” Mia roared, realizing what was happening.

“Just admit defeat,” Peggy taunted her, then suddenly jumped back, kicking off the ground. A huge flame swept past beneath her, turning four nearby zombies into human torches.

“Medea!” She roared, turning her head. If she hadn’t jumped in time, that flame would have engulfed her too.

“Oops, my bad,” Medea said with a smile, summoning more fireballs.

“Asker!” Peggy hurriedly ran back to Eleanor, who was still fighting, intending to complain to the captain behind her. “Medea is bullying me! Asker…”

Her eyes widened in surprise. Captain Asker wasn’t in the alley.

Medea scanned the surroundings, her face changing.

The captain was gone.

…

Asker, one hand on his sword, looked around at the surrounding fog.

The expected change had happened.

A common tactic for Mind and Dream type anomalies was to deliberately separate the player team, commonly known as “swapping.”

He had just blinked, and the surroundings had completely changed. He didn’t even know when he had been swapped.

Hmm, perhaps his replica had already appeared among the girls.

Fortunately, Asker had given them special training and guidance on both how to identify replicas and how to fight without his command.

Since he had been teleported here, he could only hope they could handle it on their own. After all, if he always protected them, the girls wouldn’t be able to grow quickly and become independent.

Asker walked forward, his steps steady, his hand on his sword. The fog was thick all around, obscuring everything.

The ground beneath his feet seemed endless, making him feel like he was walking in a desert.

Then, a figure appeared ahead.

Asker drew his sword, and almost simultaneously, the figure opposite him also drew a sword and turned around.

Seeing his face clearly, Asker was stunned:

Holy shit, it was the famous physical demigod from “Steel and Fire,” the Holy Roman Sword Saint, the renowned NPC nicknamed “Old Man.”

Richard Tennar!

Chapter 15: The Seal Method and the Idiot Method

Overjoyed, Matthews immediately gave the order.

“Find the dumbest guy in the group! Remember, the one with the worst memory, the kind who can’t even remember what they had for breakfast!”

His confidants quickly set out and soon brought back a mercenary with messy hair.

“It’s you, Gretel.” Matthews also recognized this guy. He was a decent fighter in Free Wind, but his intelligence seemed to be a bit lacking. Other mercenaries often complained about the difficulty of communicating with him.

“Hello, Captain,” Gretel said with a silly grin.

“I’ll give you some paper.” Matthews put his arm around his shoulder. “You write the secret code on the paper, the code on each piece must be the same. You decide what to write, but don’t tell anyone.”

“But Captain…” Gretel stammered.

“What?” Matthews asked.

“I can’t write,” Gretel said.

“Then draw!” Matthews said impatiently. “You can draw, right?”

“Yes,” Gretel said agreeably. “I like drawing big cats.”

“Then draw big cats!” Matthews waved his hand dismissively, urging him to leave quickly. Talking to this idiot made him feel like his own IQ was dropping.

So they quickly brought him paper and pens. Gretel picked up the pen with a grin and started scribbling on the paper.

His confidants surrounded him, their backs to him, preventing other curious mercenaries from coming over and seeing the code Gretel was drawing.

Gretel would sometimes space out, sometimes chew on the pen, sometimes giggle and scribble on the paper. The Free Wind mercenaries stood about ten paces away, looking at Gretel’s artistic endeavors with bewildered expressions, completely clueless as to what Captain Matthews was trying to do.

“Well, well, Captain Matthews.” Seeing this, Asker walked over and greeted him. “Have you come up with a solution?”

“Of course,” Matthews said with a smug and proud smile. “Just a little trick, just needs a bit of brainpower.”

The implication was: You actually wanted to charge me for such a simple thing? Are you kidding me! Small mercenary groups really are inexperienced and stingy.

“Oh.” Asker glanced towards Gretel. Several confidants immediately straightened up, blocking Asker’s view.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Matthews, afraid that he would suddenly rush over, quickly pulled him back. “Captain Asker, we can’t reveal our team’s secret code to you. Once you know it, this anomaly will also know it, won’t it?”

“You’ve thought it through quite well.” Asker smiled. “The method is actually quite simple, it’s just a bit of a waste of paper.”

“A waste of paper?” Matthews asked.

“Yes,” Asker said. “You know, the difficulty of this anomaly lies in the fact that ‘whatever is known by anyone is also known by it’.”

“In other words, once you open the slip of paper and verify the code, the anomaly will also know the code.”

“Next time, this code won’t work.”

“So, we have to prepare several different code schemes, in case the anomaly creates multiple replicas and tries to infiltrate us again.”

“That’s true.” Matthews muttered. “How many code schemes have you prepared?”

“Three, from Scheme 1 to Scheme 3,” Asker said. “Of course, I don’t know what each code is.”

So we have to prepare multiple sets of codes… Matthews thought to himself, his expression quickly turning blank.

Wait, everyone had to have a copy of the code, so preparing multiple sets of codes meant multiplying the amount of paper used.

Azure Longsword only had 9 people. Preparing two more sets of codes only meant using 18 more pieces of paper.

Their Free Wind had brought more than 40 people this time! How much more paper would that require?!

Matthews called over a confidant: “How much paper do we have?”

“44 sheets,” the confidant replied. “Just enough for one per person.”

“That won’t do.” Matthews explained the situation, leaving his confidant dumbfounded.

“…So, once the code is verified, it becomes invalid, and we have to prepare more sets of codes. First, use Scheme 1. After Scheme 1 is used and invalidated, use Scheme 2 next time, and so on.”

“But…” The confidant smiled wryly. “We don’t have that much paper.”

“No paper?” Matthews glared.

“We’re a mercenary group, not a group of professors!” The confidant argued. “What kind of mercenary group carries so much paper! These 44 sheets of writing paper are the toilet paper we use!”

“What about the other mercenaries?” Matthews said. “Don’t they bring their own toilet paper? Ask them to spare some.”

“Mercenaries aren’t so refined,” the confidant said. “They just find a bush, do their business, and then wipe themselves with some leaves.”

Matthews: …

Then he remembered Asker was still there, so he asked tentatively:

“Captain Asker…”

“We don’t have much paper either.” Asker said with a smile, finally revealing his intention. “If you need it, we can sell some to you.”

“Fuck!” The word “sell” was the last thing Matthews wanted to hear. He immediately put on a stern face and said, “It’s okay, we don’t need paper. Let’s think of other ways.”

Then he turned to his confidants and said with a smile:

“Do you have any ideas?”

The confidants looked at each other. Saying they had no ideas in front of another group’s captain would definitely lead to repercussions from Matthews later. So even if they couldn’t think of anything, they had to pretend they could!

So everyone started brainstorming.

“Fold each sheet of paper in half and cut it into two pieces, that can save half the paper.” One confidant tried to solve the problem by reducing paper size.

“I’ll go find Gretel!” Another confidant hurriedly ran over.

“Just ask him, don’t look at what he drew!” Matthews quickly reminded him.

But when they asked, they learned that Gretel had already finished drawing the secret code and had used up all the paper.

“Or, use something else instead of paper?” One confidant suddenly had an idea. “Like cloth strips?”

“You’re a genius!” Matthews exclaimed. “Go get some cloth.”

Compared to paper, cloth was much easier to find. Basically, no mercenary would wear armor directly against their skin; they would wear a layer of linen underwear inside.

So after stripping the underwear off a few mercenaries, a second and third stack of linen strips were urgently produced.

“Ah, I have to draw again?” Gretel was also a bit speechless.

“Draw different codes this time. Remember, the code on each strip must be the same, but the codes for different schemes must be different.” The confidant instructed.

“So complicated.” Gretel scratched his head and suddenly looked confused. “Hey, what did I draw for the first code?”

The confidants exchanged glances and breathed a sigh of relief. This Gretel really was an idiot, he actually forgot what he had just drawn. Then the anomaly probably wouldn’t be able to read his memory. Very good, very good.

Matthews watched as his confidants quickly wrote the number 1 on the back of each strip, representing the first scheme. Gretel had already begun drawing the second scheme, so he raised his head smugly, wanting to see the expression on Asker’s face.

“Huh, where is he?”

Asker had returned to the girls. Medea immediately came over and asked:

“How did it go?”

“They decided to figure it out themselves,” Asker said.

“Tsk,” Medea clicked her tongue. “Cheapskates.”

“But it seems their method has some problems,” Asker said doubtfully. “They didn’t close their eyes and stamp a seal, but had someone hand-draw the code.”

“Huh? Wouldn’t the code then enter the drawer’s memory?” Thira asked in surprise. “Wouldn’t that render it useless?”

“I’m not sure.” Asker shook his head. “Forget about them.”

Chapter 14: The Seal Method and the Idiot Method

“Asker.” Medea ran over to Asker, who was still examining the bodies, and bent down to call him.

“What’s up?” Asker asked calmly.

“It’s like this…” Medea briefly explained the girls’ reasoning.

In short, the girls wanted to devise a method to identify their companions, to prevent the anomaly from continuing to create replicas and infiltrating their team.

However, the awkward part was that any information that entered their memories would be read by the anomaly and perfectly replicated, rendering the method useless.

Asker: ???

Wait, we’re just running a Mind-type anomaly dungeon, is it really that complicated?

After thinking for a moment, Asker realized: Back when I wasn’t a professional player, running this kind of anomaly dungeon as a player was quite complicated.

As a groundbreaking, super-intelligent, full-immersion virtual reality game, “Steel and Fire” created many innovative gameplays in its so-called anomaly dungeons.

For example, Mind dungeons would use intelligent AI disguised as teammates to deceive the players in the squad.

In the early versions, the deception method was very simple and crude, just having a replica suddenly join the team, then speaking and acting in sync with the original character, making it difficult for players to distinguish between the real person and the AI.

Although the full-immersion game pod prohibited external programs like YY voice chat, it couldn’t stop players from logging off. So they just had to log off and ask to know for sure.

In later versions of the game, a more insidious game design appeared: swapping.

Using plot devices like fog or teleportation to forcefully separate the team, then creating a team of replicas to deceive the separated teammates.

Trained by server big data and advanced algorithms, the intelligence of these replica NPCs was far superior to that of ordinary NPCs. They could pass the Turing test, simulating millions of different speech personalities. Whether the original character’s personality was cold, straightforward, gentle, or foul-mouthed, they could simulate it with 99% accuracy.

Moreover, when players communicated online, regardless of the method, the server would record it. As long as it was information you directly saw or heard, the server, based on the corresponding algorithms, would determine that the replica’s AI also knew it, allowing these replicas to be perfectly disguised, making them almost impossible for ordinary people to identify.

How did players counter this? They still relied on cheesy methods, exchanging secret codes offline and then verifying them online. The server was powerless against this.

However, in this world, this method probably wouldn’t work – at least the obstacle of “not being able to log off” couldn’t be overcome.

There was a simple solution: have all the girls teleport back to Furnace Island, leaving only Asker to deal with the anomaly alone.

If he ran the dungeon solo, then no matter who the anomaly impersonated, it wouldn’t matter. He would just kill everything in his path and clear the stage.

However, this opportunistic method undoubtedly violated Asker’s intention of training the team. If they retreated to Furnace Island whenever they encountered a problem, how would they learn to think and grow?

Seeing Medea still deep in thought, Asker smiled and offered a suggestion:

“Here’s an idea. Have Sidlipha carve a seal, any pattern, as long as it’s not symmetrical.”

“Then, borrow some carbon paper from Nuo.”

“Carbon paper?” Medea asked, puzzled.

“Place each sheet of carbon paper under a page in a notebook,” Asker explained. “Then, close your eyes, rotate the seal randomly a few times, and press down firmly. Move it to the right, rotate again, and press down again.”

“Because you’re rotating the seal with your eyes closed, you won’t know the angle at which the two patterns are arranged on each page.”

“Finally, still with your eyes closed, tear off these pages, crumple them into balls, and give one to each member of the team.”

“Since no one knows the content on the paper, the anomaly naturally won’t know either.”

Medea suddenly realized: “Although we don’t know what’s on the paper, the pattern on each piece is the same!”

“So, when we encounter a replica, we just have to ask them to open the paper and compare whether the pattern on mine and theirs is the same. Then I’ll know if they are real or a replica!”

“As expected of the captain! Brilliant!” The more Medea thought about it, the more ingenious it seemed. She hugged Asker excitedly, her eyes sparkling.

Asker awkwardly extracted himself from her embrace, coughed, and said:

“In short, use your brains when encountering this kind of anomaly, understand?”

“Understood!” Medea immediately and excitedly explained the method through their mental communication channel, making the other girls exclaim in admiration.

This method cleverly exploited the mechanism of the mind-type anomaly, which “could only copy by reading memories,” isolating the secret code from their memories while allowing for easy identification.

“To further optimize it, we can close our eyes and stamp the seal, then take a picture with our phones and send it to the group chat.” Thira said. “When we meet, we just open our photo albums and compare the pictures.”

“But we don’t have our phones.” Nuo took out the carbon paper from her bag. “Let’s use Asker’s method for now.”

“Why do you have carbon paper?” Eleanor asked curiously.

“I write down some important information twice,” Nuo replied. “Then I tear off one page and keep it separately, in case I lose my notebook.”

On the other side, Sidlipha took out a potato, skillfully cut it open with a knife, and then carved a few simple patterns on the cross-section.

“Wait a minute!” Eleanor was even more curious. “Why do you carry a potato with you?!”

“Emergency food,” Sidlipha replied. “In case I have nothing to eat, it can save my life.”

The things you carry around are so strange! Eleanor thought, amused.

After quickly finishing the carving, Sidlipha closed her eyes and pressed the potato firmly twice on the notebook where Nuo had already placed the carbon paper.

Then she tore off these printed pages, crumpled them into balls, and distributed one to each member of the team.

Matthews watched, confused. Since Medea had spoken through the mental communication channel, he hadn’t heard a word.

Seeing the girls of Azure Longsword distributing paper balls, he could only guess that they had come up with an effective identification method, and he began to rack his brains.

What was their method? What method?!

“That…” After much thought, Matthews finally decided to swallow his pride and ask their captain, Asker.

As soon as he opened his mouth, Medea stepped forward and sneered:

“Want to know our identification method? Name your price.”

Good thing I’m here, otherwise, with the captain’s casual attitude towards money, he might just tell them the secret.

“Damn it!” Matthews immediately lost interest. You want to charge me for such a simple trick?

He sullenly returned to his team, called over a few of his more astute confidants, and explained the situation.

“So, this anomaly can copy people we know and impersonate them to deceive and infiltrate us,” one of his confidants said. “In that case, we can agree on a secret code…”

“Once you know the secret code, the anomaly will also know it by reading your memory,” Matthews said irritably. “Then wouldn’t the anomaly’s replicas also know it?”

“But if we don’t know the secret code, how can we verify it?” Another confidant asked in surprise.

“That’s the key to the problem! The key!” Matthews said impatiently. “Those girls figured it out, and you can’t? Use your brains!”

The confidants were speechless. You couldn’t figure it out either, could you?

But Matthews was the leader, after all, and could act unreasonably and delegate responsibility. So everyone racked their brains for a long time. Suddenly, one of his confidants had a bright idea and asked for confirmation:

“Captain, you said that they made marks on the notebook just now, then tore off the pages, crumpled them into balls, and distributed them to everyone?”

“That’s right,” Matthews said. “But I didn’t see clearly what they wrote. And, if they clearly wrote down the secret code, the person writing it must have a memory of it, right? Then wouldn’t this anomaly still be able to read it?”

“I understand,” the confidant said confidently. “The key to this method is that the person writing must be an idiot.”

“An idiot?”

“Exactly, an idiot with a terrible memory.”

Matthews and the others suddenly felt enlightened:

“That’s right!”

“Find an idiot to write it, have him write the same secret code on all the papers, and then he forgets everything after writing it!”

“This way, the anomaly can’t read his memory!”

Chapter 13: Memory Replicas

“Captain Asker, care to explain?” Matthews asked coldly, his face grim.

“Explain what?” Asker didn’t look up, examining the other corpses.

Nuo’s, Peggy’s… all nine of them were here.

“He accused you of being an imposter,” Matthews said icily.

“Do you know why these corpses resemble members of our Azure Longsword, and not your Free Wind?” Asker asked, instead of answering.

“Why?” Matthews asked, after a pause.

“Because if they had impersonated members of Free Wind,” Medea sneered, “our Azure Longsword definitely wouldn’t have fallen for it.”

Matthews: …

So we’re easier to fool? Matthews was about to retort when he suddenly realized the problem.

All the others were already dead, yet this “Asker” on the ground was still barely alive, just long enough to accuse Azure Longsword of being imposters after they arrived. Wasn’t that a bit too convenient?

Moreover, if these people from Azure Longsword were really disguised by the supernatural force of this anomaly, then with the abilities it had displayed earlier, it could have easily distorted this space, preventing them from seeing these corpses on the ground.

Otherwise, wouldn’t it have exposed itself?

Thinking of this, Matthews broke out in a cold sweat. Good thing I didn’t fall for this trap. Otherwise, if we had fought Azure Longsword, judging from their strength when they killed the Templar Knight Von Kesim, it would have been a pyrrhic victory at best.

Damn, this anomaly is insidious! Trying to lure us into killing each other!

Matthews thought to himself, then forced a laugh, acting as if nothing had happened.

“Don’t worry, we Free Wind wouldn’t fall for such a clumsy trick. I was just joking.”

Behind him, the Free Wind mercenaries were all dumbfounded.

Captain! Could you please not make such sudden turns in your speech? We’ve already drawn our weapons, just waiting for your order to attack, and now you’re saying it was just a joke?!

The mercenaries looked at each other, then lowered their weapons, forcing smiles that were uglier than crying.

“Hehe.” Asker didn’t seem to mind, just walked around and returned to his “own” corpse, examining it carefully.

Medea came closer and clicked her tongue. “The tragically deceased captain, how rare. It’s not every day you see this.”

“Hey, really?” The girls also gathered around, eager to examine Asker’s corpse.

“What tragically deceased!” Asker shooed them away, exasperated. “Go, go, go, all of you, go find your own corpses.”

“Why do we need to identify our corpses?” Nuo asked curiously.

“Observe the differences between the corpses on the ground and yourselves.” Asker said calmly. “It will be easier to identify them if we encounter imposters trying to infiltrate our team again in the future.”

“I see.” So the girls went to examine their “corpses,” exchanging observations.

“The pattern on her axe handle is different from mine,” Sidlipha said, comparing the Axe of the North Wind from the corpse with her own weapon.

“Tsk, her breasts are smaller.” Medea poked the chest of her “corpse” on the ground.

“Look!” Mia suddenly discovered something and called everyone over. “Look at Miel’s corpse!”

She pulled open the jacket of “Miel’s” corpse, revealing the white tank top underneath.

Miel, squatting nearby, had also taken off her jacket. On the hem of her tank top was a small bear print.

One with a print, one without? What did this mean? The girls were confused.

“Miel,” Medea seemed to have realized something and asked, “before this, did you remember what kind of tank top you were wearing today?”

Miel hesitated for a moment and shook her head.

“I see.” Medea immediately concluded, “It’s about memory.”

“This anomaly reads our collective memories and then replicates our appearances, just like the Nightmare we encountered before.”

“When it comes to external details that even the person involved doesn’t remember clearly, the replication will be deliberately blurred. If I’m not mistaken, everyone check the labels on their clothes. The words printed on the labels of all the corpses’ clothes should be incorrect.”

The girls hurriedly checked the corpses’ clothing. As expected, whether it was on the inside of the collar or the waist, the text on the clothing labels was blurry – or simply not there.

Because no one would specifically remember the wording on their clothing labels.

“That is to say,” Thira immediately connected the dots, “in the future, to identify whether a teammate is real or fake, we just need to check whether there’s a label on their clothes and whether the words on it are displayed normally.”

“The premise is that no one here has a photographic memory and can remember the words on the label after just one glance.” Nuo added with a smile.

Ah, so they just need to look at the clothing labels? Matthews, standing nearby, listened to the whole conversation discreetly and was immediately impressed by the girls’ intelligence.

These girls’ minds were really sharp, unlike the men in their group, whose heads were full of muscles.

“Actually, it’s not just the labels,” Thira said. “Any detailed, hard-to-remember external features won’t exist in anyone’s memory, which means that this anomaly can’t read that information.”

“A very simple method is to write the numbers 1 to 9 on nine pieces of paper, then crumple them into balls, and randomly distribute one to each person to carry.”

“In other words, before unfolding the paper, no one knows what number is written on their own slip. Therefore, the anomaly wouldn’t be able to copy the number on the slip, it would just show a blur or blank space.”

“When unable to determine the other party’s identity, just ask them to show the slip of paper and see if there is a clear number on it.”

Great idea! Matthews immediately instructed the nearby mercenaries to quickly write a large batch of slips of paper with random numbers from 0 to 9 and distribute them to everyone, thus preventing imposters from infiltrating their ranks during this anomaly.

“Wait, that’s also based on the assumption that this anomaly has no intelligence, right?” Medea glanced at Matthews, who was eavesdropping, and sneered, raising an objection. “If this anomaly has self-awareness and intelligence, although it doesn’t know the number on each person’s slip, it knows that it must be one of the numbers from 1 to 9.”

“Then it just needs to randomly copy one of them and have the replica carry the corresponding slip of paper. After all, no one can tell right from wrong.”

The girls fell silent. Judging from the performance of those imposters before, the intelligence of this anomaly wasn’t low.

“Then what about the labels?” Eleanor said. “Assuming the anomaly is already smart enough to create false information to deceive us, then why is there no information on the clothing labels of these corpses? It could just copy false information as well, we can’t possibly go to the clothing manufacturer for verification.”

“Could it be that it didn’t think of that before?” Nuo suddenly had an idea. “Originally, it didn’t think that we would look for flaws in the details. Now that we’ve mentioned it, it knows…”

Everyone: …

What! So this method doesn’t work?! Matthews, who was eavesdropping, was greatly disappointed.

“Captain, the slips of paper are all written.” A Free Wind mercenary came over and reported. “Would you like to explain the distribution and identification rules to everyone?”

“No need,” Matthews said profoundly. “I’ve thought about it carefully, this method still has flaws. I need to think about it some more.”

Free Wind mercenaries: ???

Chapter 12: The Möbius Strip

After a short rest, the group set off again.

Due to the unusual nature of this anomaly, Asker didn’t mention splitting up again and kept the team together.

Meanwhile, similar incidents were occurring with other mercenary groups.

These mysterious imposters sometimes impersonated members of separated mercenary groups, and sometimes pretended to be from other mercenary groups known to them, luring the deceived teams to specific locations.

Those who trusted these imposters subsequently disappeared.

Mysteriously vanished.

Of course, being in the midst of a supernatural anomaly, most mercenaries wouldn’t easily trust others.

Impersonating members of their own group was one thing, but if they were impersonating members of another mercenary group they knew, most would be cautious, perhaps only sending a scout to investigate.

Then the scout would disappear without a trace, alerting the mercenary group to the deception.

Whether they realized these imposters were fake or simply thought they had been tricked by a “friendly” group, after a few hours, these mercenary groups had raised their guard to the highest level, no longer trusting any human they encountered in the town.

It was under such circumstances that the Azure Longsword mercenary group encountered the Free Wind mercenary group, led by Captain Matthews, whom they had dealt with before.

“Well, isn’t this Captain Matthews?” Turning a corner, Asker immediately recognized the captain and said in surprise.

“You are…” Matthews remained impassive, signaling his men to be on guard, while quickly recalling who this uninvited guest was. “You’re Captain Asker from the…Pale Sword mercenary group, right?”

“It’s Azure Longsword,” Asker corrected him. “Captain Matthews, something’s not right about this anomaly. Have you discovered anything?”

“Discovered anything? Not yet,” Matthews said, feigning ignorance. “We haven’t encountered any monsters so far, luckily.”

Oh. Asker understood that he didn’t want to reveal the clue about the Philosopher’s Stones on the monster corpses, and was also trying to conceal the imposter incident. He smiled, shook his head, and turned to leave with his team.

“Captain Asker, you said something is not right about this anomaly. What exactly do you mean?” Matthews called out, seeing them about to leave.

The Free Wind warriors inwardly cringed. Not revealing any useful information, but trying to extract information from the other side, our captain is truly cunning.

“Ah, we haven’t encountered any monsters along the way either, just like you, so we find it a bit strange,” Asker said with a smile.

I don’t believe you! Matthews roared inwardly.

They had killed six or seven humanoid monsters along the way. How could they not have discovered that although these monsters weren’t strong attackers, they were incredibly tough and hard to kill? Coupled with the previous imposter incident, they couldn’t take this anomaly lightly.

This Captain Asker of Azure Longsword, was he actually trying to deceive them and say that this anomaly was simple? Shameless, truly shameless, he had to condemn him in his heart.

“I see,” Matthews said, forcing a smile. “Indeed, according to the scouts under the Duke of Carinthia, the residents in the town seem to have turned into monsters. How come we haven’t encountered a single one after entering? It is indeed strange.”

“However, after all, we signed a mercenary contract with Duke Carinthia,” Asker said. “So we have to find the root cause of this anomaly to completely resolve it.”

“Indeed,” Matthews agreed. “In that case, we won’t disturb you any further.”

“We’ll go right,” Asker said.

“We’ll go left,” Matthews said.

So the two mercenary groups parted ways again. Neither mentioned cooperation.

After walking for about ten minutes, the two mercenary groups met again.

Matthews et al.: ???

Azure Longsword: ???

“There’s something wrong with this place,” Asker stated calmly. “First, we’ve been walking straight ahead. Second, this intersection is exactly where we met before, at least judging from the surroundings.”

“Same here,” Matthews said. “We didn’t turn, kept walking straight, and ended up back here.”

Faced with this strange, looping situation, the two mercenary groups were a bit dumbfounded, casting wary glances at each other.

“I have a theory,” Asker said. “This anomaly is deliberately forcing our two mercenary groups together, perhaps to provoke a fight between us.”

“Indeed,” Matthews agreed. “We won’t fall for it, of course.”

Won’t fall for it, then why are you still gripping your sword hilt so tightly? The girls looked at Matthews’ wary demeanor and were speechless.

“Then we’ll turn right this time,” Asker said.

“We’ll go the opposite way,” Matthews replied.

So the two mercenary groups turned their backs on each other and walked away. Asker took a bullet from his pouch and dropped it on the ground.

Ten minutes later, the two mercenary groups met again.

Everyone: …

“The last time we separated, I dropped a bullet on the ground,” Asker said slowly.

“Did any of you see a bullet on the ground?” Matthews asked his men.

The Free Wind mercenaries looked down, all saying they hadn’t seen any bullet.

“That is to say, although the environment is exactly the same, we haven’t actually returned to our original location,” Asker said.

“What does that mean?” Matthews asked cautiously.

“It means we’re not walking in a closed circle, but some force is merging the paths of our two mercenary groups.”

“Like a Möbius strip?” Nuo said thoughtfully, lost in her own world. “We walk on the front, they walk on the back, but we end up meeting because the warped space connected our paths.”

“I don’t understand what a Möbius strip is,” Matthews frowned, “But since there’s some supernatural force at play, even if we separate again, we’ll just repeat the same thing.”

“In that case, let’s travel together for now,” Asker said calmly.

Matthews nodded.

So the two mercenary groups joined forces, choosing a random direction and continuing forward.

Azure Longsword walked on the left side of the road, Free Wind on the right, maintaining a distance of about 10 meters, their mutual wariness evident.

After another ten minutes, they saw several bodies lying haphazardly in the middle of the road ahead.

One of them, covered in blood, seemed to still be alive. Hearing footsteps approaching, he struggled to prop himself up in the pool of blood.

Seeing the faces of the newcomers clearly, the man’s eyes widened in disbelief, and he pointed at Asker, shouting:

“You! You’re a fake! Impersonating me… You!”

Before he could finish, Asker drew his sword and cleanly pierced the man’s heart.

The mercenaries behind them stared at the corpse in horror.

The young man, now lying dead in a pool of blood, killed by Asker, looked exactly like Asker.

Chapter 11: What Did the Imposter Say?

The group rushed to the scene and saw “Mia” just as she was run through by Peggy and her Undead Phantom Sword clone, dying tragically on the spot.

“Damn it!” Mia stamped her foot in frustration. “Why is the copycat impersonating me so weak?!”

“Another one?” Peggy glanced at them coldly, then sent another phantom to attack.

“Bring it on!” Mia immediately drew her weapons and charged.

“Don’t attack yet!” Asker shouted. “Peggy, look closely, we’re the real ones!”

“How can you prove it?” Peggy asked coldly, clearly not trusting this Asker in front of her.

“Hmm.” Asker pondered. “How about we spar a bit? Perhaps you’ll recognize my style and know it’s me.”

His tone was gentle and natural, yet Peggy couldn’t help but shiver—his words sounded like, “Feel the pain!” and “Remember the fear I instilled in you!”

Only our captain, this great demon king, can frame a one-sided beatdown as ‘sparring,’ ‘practice,’ and ‘helping you improve,’ with such shameless nonchalance!

Could this Asker be the real one?

Peggy hesitated. Then she heard Thira shout:

“Celestial Ninefold Strike! The fakes can’t use Transcendental Sword Techniques! If you can use the Celestial Ninefold Strike to defeat them, we’ll believe you’re the real one!”

“Alright.” Asker chuckled, sword and shield in hand, and charged towards the fake “Asker” who was fighting Sidlipha.

“It’s you…” the fake “Asker” said with a wry smile.

“What, afraid now?” Asker’s sword vibrated as he unleashed Sharp Break of the Celestial Ninefold Strike, thrusting towards the fake’s head.

“It’s tragic being your copy.” The fake “Asker” sighed. “Knowing you can’t win, but still having to come and die.”

He jumped back repeatedly, trying to dodge the sword, but Asker, as if anticipating this, activated Flash Step, and with Sharp Break of the Celestial Ninefold Strike, instantly pinned his copy to the ground.

Releasing his sword, Asker took the spear from his back and attacked the fake “Eleanor” behind him.

“Eleanor” tried to block with her shield, but Asker’s spear vibrated and swiftly angled downwards towards her unprotected feet.

“Eleanor” quickly moved her shield downwards. Suddenly, blood splattered from her forehead – Miel, seizing the opportunity when she exposed her head, fired a bullet.

She was knocked back involuntarily. Asker took the chance to use Iron Cutter, sending the fake’s shield flying, then followed up with a powerful Cloud Piercer, impaling “Eleanor,” armor and all, against the wall.

He then drew the axe from his waist with his right hand and threw it at the remaining “Medea,” while firing three shots with his left hand, blocking all her escape routes.

“Medea” was hit by the flying axe without any suspense and died on the spot.

“That’s taken care of,” Asker said, turning to assess the condition of Team A.

Sidlipha was the most seriously injured, seemingly having been beaten up by the fakes, her Meteorite Armor pierced in multiple places by a spear. Fortunately, all the vital points were avoided. She had probably used the frost effect of the Axe of the North Wind to slow the enemy’s attacks.

Thira and Nuo were also in a sorry state, both with burn marks from flames. Medea couldn’t help but sigh – My flames didn’t even touch your fakes, how did you get burned by my fake?

Peggy and Miel were in the best condition. The latter had been providing ranged fire support from the rear and wasn’t injured.

Peggy was the undisputed MVP of this battle. With her high-speed movement and Undead Phantom Sword, she had entangled most of the enemies, preventing them from finishing off Sidlipha, and holding on until Team B arrived.

“Shameful, comrades,” Asker sighed. “Do you know how your fakes fought against us?”

Medea explained the situation to the girls of Team A, leaving Thira both amazed and ashamed.

Having Peggy carry her at high speed, and then using the AoE abilities of “Storm” and “Meteor” to control the entire battlefield, why didn’t I think of that?

Thira stared at her minor wounds and sighed softly.

Nuo healed Sidlipha, then began to heal the other members. Meanwhile, Mia had already collected the Philosopher’s Stones left behind by the disappearing corpses and, picking up Asker’s weapons, handed them back to the captain ingratiatingly.

“By the way,” Medea asked curiously, “how did you realize they were fakes?”

The girls of Team A looked at each other, then turned their gazes to Peggy and Nuo.

“Well,” Nuo’s pure face flushed slightly, and she pointed to Peggy. “Peggy was the first to discover that Asker was fake.”

“No, no, no.” Peggy looked away awkwardly. “Nuo noticed it first. I only realized something was wrong after she reminded me.”

Medea’s eyes rolled, reading something interesting from their minds, a sly smile appearing on her face.

“So, who discovered it first?” Sidlipha asked, confused.

“Anyway, since they’ve been dealt with, let’s not worry about it anymore!” Nuo hurriedly waved her hand.

“Why?” Sidlipha was even more confused.

“No reason!” Nuo said, a bit sharply.

This usually gentle person, when angry, was particularly intimidating, so Sidlipha quickly shut up and hid behind Eleanor.

“Asker, do you want to know?” Medea asked Asker quietly through their mental connection.

“No,” Asker said.

“Don’t refuse so quickly.” Medea said playfully. “I can give you three hints: confession, argument, wings.”

Asker: …

He roughly understood “confession” and “argument,” but what the hell was “wings”? Fake Asker, what did you say?! That shameless bastard, daring to act like a scumbag with my face! I should have made your death even more painful!

“So, that fake impersonating me tried to sow discord between Nuo and Peggy, prematurely escalating the conflict within the team, and ended up overdoing it and exposing himself, right?” Asker warned Medea. “Don’t you go causing any trouble either.”

“Of course not,” Medea said.

It seems your plan is proceeding smoothly, Medusa suddenly said from within.

“What plan? They started arguing on their own.” Medea sneered slightly.

You almost had me convinced, Medusa said sarcastically.

“You know, Medusa,” Medea said nonchalantly, “our current enemy isn’t each other, it’s Asker himself.”

“As long as he doesn’t give up on his stubborn idea of going back, we have to make stopping him our ultimate goal. After all, once he leaves this world…”

“There will be no victors, everyone loses.” Medusa sighed. “But these foolish women don’t seem to realize this.”

“So I’ll make them realize it.” Medea said slowly. “I can’t be the only one selflessly bearing Asker’s blame and anger.”

“You’re becoming less and less like yourself, Medea.” Medusa said. “With your previous personality, you would never allow the man you’ve set your sights on to be touched by anyone else, not even a little bit.”

“No. I’ve never been more true to myself than I am now.” Medea sneered. “By any means necessary, at any cost, even if it means sacrificing everything I have…”

“…I will keep him in this world.”

Chapter 10: Control and Counter-Control

“Peggy,” who had her leg broken earlier, quickly recovered thanks to her abnormal Flesh ability. She was currently fighting Mia when she heard “Thira’s” scream. She immediately rushed over at full speed, scooped up “Thira” onto her back, and dodged the flames with a series of rolls and scrambles.

Mia, having lost her opponent, quickly scanned the battlefield and saw “Nuo” sneak around to the back, place her hand on the fallen “Sidlipha,” and activate Healing Touch.

She instantly used Flash Step, her dagger thrusting towards “Nuo’s” back. The latter dodged clumsily, but a battle axe quickly appeared in front of Mia – “Sidlipha” was back on her feet.

“Mia, you go after her, I’ll deal with this one!” Eleanor, intercepting “Sidlipha” who was about to attack Mia, said quickly.

Just as she finished speaking, an air bullet shot towards her, almost hitting her head.

Mia activated Flash Step and charged towards “Nuo,” but her body suddenly tilted sideways as the gravity shifted. She quickly regained her balance and saw “Nuo,” who she had been chasing, already behind “Sidlipha.”

Asker continued his suppressive fire, targeting “Peggy” and “Thira.” However, with “Thira” casting Levitate, “Peggy” moved at an incredible speed, her unpredictable changes in direction allowing her to dodge all the bullets.

Without the threat of gunfire, “Thira” on “Peggy’s” back could cast spells freely. Several air bullets shot towards Eleanor, who was fighting “Sidlipha,” forcing her to constantly interrupt her attacks and dodge, and she was quickly suppressed by “Sidlipha’s” wild attacks.

Another gravity manipulation pulled Mia, who was chasing “Nuo,” to the ground.

Medea’s flames approached. “Peggy” abruptly stopped and changed direction, easily dodging the spell. “Thira” on her back snapped her fingers, and Medea was suddenly pulled to the ground by the altered gravity, struggling to get up.

“No!” She could only rush to Asker’s side and say urgently, “Thira’s spellcasting is disrupting us too much, we have to find a way to restrain her!”

“Indeed.” Asker said, firing continuously, forcing “Miel,” who was trying to leave her cover in the distance, back into hiding.

“My psychic abilities are useless, they won’t make eye contact with me,” Medea said quickly.

“Think of something else,” Asker said.

You bastard! Medea thought, exasperated. Are you really not going to command this battle?

Seeing Asker unmoved, still playing the role of a gunman, Medea could only stop her futile attempts at attacking and, biting her nails, stared at the ongoing battle, her mind racing.

From the current situation, Eleanor and “Sidlipha” were evenly matched, Mia should have an absolute advantage against “Nuo,” and Asker, as a gunman, his skills naturally went without saying, suppressing “Miel” while still having the energy to continue firing at “Peggy.”

The problem was “Peggy” carrying “Thira” and moving at high speed. This combination was too strong, dodging almost all of her and Asker’s attacks. Therefore, the uninterrupted “Thira” could freely cast spells, using air bullets and gravity to interfere with Eleanor and Mia’s battles, putting them in an extremely difficult situation, unable to finish off their opponents.

In other words, the key was how to stop “Thira’s” interference, which meant how to restrict “Peggy’s” high-speed movement… High-speed movement?

“Mia!” Medea quickly ordered Mia through the mental communication channel. “Nuo is just a decoy! Come back quickly and intercept Peggy!”

Mia, having repeatedly tried and failed to kill “Nuo” with Flash Step, only to be disrupted by “Thira’s” gravity manipulation, was already furious. Hearing Medea’s order, she immediately abandoned “Nuo,” who was still fleeing in panic, and rushed towards “Peggy” and “Thira.”

“Asker,” Medea said, staring at “Peggy.” “Thira will definitely try to interfere with Mia. To coordinate with her spellcasting, Peggy’s movement might briefly pause. Fire then to suppress them, can you?”

“Of course,” Asker said with a smile. “I’ll follow your command.”

Ah, I can’t take it anymore! Medea hurriedly covered her nose, feeling a warmth spreading through her, threatening to spill over.

The usually domineering captain suddenly becoming so docile and obedient, this stark contrast in personality made her…

…unable to resist.

Fortunately, she still remembered that they were in the middle of an intense battle. She covered her face and instructed Mia:

“Mia, your goal isn’t to kill Peggy, but to restrict her movement with close combat, while luring Thira to cast spells!”

“Don’t get hit by her spells! Self-preservation is key, while trying to keep them occupied!”

“Okay!” Mia responded, then paused, confused. Wait, shouldn’t the Captain be giving orders? Why is it Medea now?

She quickly activated Flash Step, dodging “Thira’s” gravity manipulation again, and charged low to the ground. “Peggy” hurriedly accelerated, trying to widen the distance between them.

Asker continued firing, forcing “Peggy” to constantly change direction as she ran. “Thira” on “Peggy’s” back was also constantly casting spells, trying to interfere with Mia’s pursuit.

However, every time “Thira” was about to cast a spell, Asker’s firing rate would suddenly increase, forcing “Peggy” to make more drastic changes in direction, causing “Thira’s” spells to miss repeatedly.

Mia, freed from the interference, closed the distance with a Flash Step, her dagger stabbing fiercely towards the nearby “Thira.”

“Peggy” abruptly stopped and changed direction. At that moment, Asker’s Desert Eagle roared. Seizing the opportunity of her sudden stop, the bullet instantly blew her head apart.

Then a few more bullets shattered her chest and abdomen.

“Thira,” caught off guard, tumbled from the headless corpse. Mia quickly charged forward and finished off the fake.

“I told you to use gravity manipulation! I told you to use air bullets!” Still fuming, she repeatedly stabbed her dagger into “Thira’s” bloodied body. “I told you to make me fall!”

Even Asker was taken aback. What a grudge! This little girl was really vengeful.

Mia stood up angrily and saw the bodies of “Thira” and “Peggy” gradually swelling and melting, quickly evaporating, leaving only two piles of rubble.

They were fragments of Philosopher’s Stones.

So the little girl’s anger turned to joy, and she collected the stones with a smile.

Without Thira’s spell interference, they quickly helped Eleanor eliminate the two fakes impersonating “Sidlipha” and “Nuo.”

Although they knew they were fakes, when Mia stabbed her dagger into “Nuo,” Eleanor still awkwardly looked away.

Finally, they caught “Miel” at the alley entrance and hacked her to death, ending the battle.

“Medea, use your psychic abilities to locate Team A,” Asker said calmly.

You weren’t willing to give orders just now, but now that the battle is over, you’re casually commanding me again? Medea complained inwardly, but said, “My psychic range is limited, I don’t think I can reach that far… Wait a minute.”

She suddenly sensed something amiss, as her spirituality extended beyond its usual limit, still reaching further.

“You noticed it too, right?” Asker said. “The anomaly in this town is probably related to Mind, Dream, or similar Sequence abilities.”

The girls, recalling the previous fakes, shuddered.

This anomaly was a bit tricky.

“Gather the loot, let’s go,” Asker said.

Soon, Medea located the five girls about 600 meters to the northeast – judging from the color of their mental bodies, they seemed to be experiencing intense emotions.

Clearly, they were in battle.

Chapter 9: Team Infighting

“However, the real Peggy would have trusted my words without hesitation,” Asker said.

“You!” Peggy was embarrassed and annoyed, her lips pursed, unable to speak for a moment.

“Still pretending?” Asker looked at the five girls and commented, “Your disguises are generally good, but there are still some flaws in the details.”

“Peggy and Thira aren’t that close. It’s unlikely for Peggy to speak up for her, let alone question my judgment.”

“Speaking of which, from the very beginning, you were trying to lead us in that direction. Even after I vetoed it, you still stubbornly insisted… I don’t recall my authority within the team being so low that half the members would oppose me.”

“That’s not the case,” Nuo explained, trying to defend themselves. “Asker, we really thought that figure was very suspicious…”

“If so, why didn’t you go investigate?” Asker’s tone was slightly mocking. “Too scared to go without the captain?”

The five girls didn’t speak, their eyes filled with the grievance of being wrongly accused.

“Of course, the most obvious flaw is the Axe of the North Wind at Sidlipha’s waist.” Asker chuckled. “All the runes on the axe handle are carved incorrectly… That’s not your fault, because the true runes themselves contain Transcendental power. To perfectly replicate them would be equivalent to creating another Axe of the North Wind, which would be too costly for you, wouldn’t it?”

The five girls’ expressions finally turned blank, the light in their eyes disappearing, as if they had become soulless puppets.

“Did you all remember that?” Asker said to the four girls of Team B behind him. “On the battlefield, details determine success or failure. Sometimes, even the most insignificant details can contain the most important information.”

Eleanor and the others were speechless… Who would be so bored as to memorize the patterns on someone else’s weapon?!

“I can’t believe you actually noticed that.” Medea said incredulously. “When I first met them, I casually used mind reading and didn’t find anything unusual.”

“Mind reading isn’t foolproof.” Asker said calmly. “Your mind-reading ability can only read surface thoughts in a short time. And when facing high-ranking Mind or Dream Sequence abilities, the surface thoughts you see are likely illusions, carefully crafted for your benefit.”

“These puppets are probably created by a similar ability.”

“Not just creations,” ‘Thira’ suddenly looked up, a strange smile on her blank face. “Besides that troublesome axe, their qualities and abilities are identical to the originals.”

“Why don’t you try it? Interesting human?”

“That’s tempting,” Asker said with a smile. “Let’s treat it as real combat practice. No need to hold back.”

The girls of Team B looked at their eerie “teammates.” They had initially been shocked and nervous, but hearing Asker’s words, they couldn’t help but want to laugh.

In their usual sparring sessions, even if they all teamed up against Asker, they would still be beaten up. What made these fakes so confident in claiming to be “identical”?

Wouldn’t they still be utterly defeated by the captain?

“Then I’ll leave it to the three of you,” Asker nodded and stepped back.

“Eh? You’re not participating this time, Asker?” Mia asked, surprised.

“I said before, I’m only responsible for ranged DPS this time.” Asker seemed surprised. “This is a valuable training opportunity for you!”

“After all, you usually have to hold back during sparring, but this time you can unleash your full power, can’t you?”

The three girls were inwardly in tears. You could single-handedly crush the opponents, why make us fight?!

You really wouldn’t let go of any opportunity to train us!

The five puppet girls on the opposite side launched their attack first.

“Sidlipha” charged at the front, expressionlessly swinging her twin axes, unleashing a Whirlwind Slash straight at the three girls.

Eleanor, however, was very familiar with this move, having sparred with Sidlipha countless times. She calmly took half a step back, giving herself enough time to avoid the Whirlwind Slash, then, judging the rhythm of “Sidlipha’s” axes, thrust her spear forward like a dragon.

Azure Dragon Rapid Assault!

The spear pierced through the gap between the axes, “Sidlipha” was hit, her body lifted into the air, then slammed heavily to the ground. Her face contorted in pain as she bounced up, spitting out blood.

The next second, Eleanor’s Cloud Piercer thrust forward, a three-hit combo. The adamantine spear tore through the fake meteorite armor, piercing “Sidlipha’s” body.

Finally, a waist-level Iron Cutter sent her body flying like a cannonball towards the enemies opposite.

“Sidlipha’s” body flew through the air towards Thira and Nuo. Suddenly, she slowed down drastically – “Thira” reached out her right hand towards “Sidlipha,” her fingers twisting, and the altered gravity immediately intercepted her, then accelerated her back towards Asker and the others.

Everyone hurriedly dodged sideways. Mia had just jumped to the right when, before she could land, a figure appeared before her.

It was “Peggy”! Her dagger thrust forward, aiming at Mia, who couldn’t dodge in mid-air. The latter hurriedly crossed her daggers, parrying the attack, but was pushed further back by the force.

Before Mia could stabilize herself in mid-air, “Peggy” pursued relentlessly, her explosive speed increasing, her dagger thrusting towards Mia’s body.

A gunshot rang out.

Asker’s support arrived just in time. The bullet from his Desert Eagle struck “Peggy’s” right knee just as she was about to hit Mia.

“Peggy’s” right leg instantly broke in two, only a bit of skin and flesh remaining connected. However, the flesh at the wound wriggled, quickly covering and connecting the broken bones.

Miel on the opposite side had already raised her rifle. The moment Asker moved his pistol away, she aimed at his head through her scope.

A gunshot boomed. Asker, in a split second, tilted his head, dodging the sniper rifle bullet aimed at his forehead.

He quickly turned back, his left hand holding the Aphrodite rapid-fire pistol, his right hand holding the Desert Eagle, firing at Miel with both guns.

Miel on the opposite side hurriedly rolled to dodge. The stream of bullets chased her as she rolled. She continued rolling and finally tumbled behind cover in the alley.

“Heh.” Asker chuckled, his Desert Eagle still aimed at the cover, suppressing Miel. He shifted his Aphrodite towards Thira, who was casting a spell, and with a few bursts of fire, forced her to stop gathering her “stone projectile” and roll to dodge the bullets.

Her spellcasting interrupted, Medea had already condensed a high-temperature flame and hurled it towards the other side.

Thira still wanted to activate her ability, using a highly compressed layer of air to block the flames, but the moment she paused, Asker’s bullets arrived, forcing her to interrupt her spellcasting and dodge.

So she could only scream: “Peggy!”

Chapter 8: Reencountering “Team A”

“Why is the Azure Dragon Rapid Assault structured in the order of Dragon Spear, Triple Cloud Piercer, and Iron Cutter?” Eleanor asked.

“Because forming a combo requires minimizing the openings between moves.” Asker explained calmly. “Dragon Spear is a grappling technique, lifting and throwing the enemy. Some experienced enemies can adjust their posture in mid-air after being thrown and easily counter your follow-up attack.”

“Therefore, by modifying the Dragon Spear, smashing downwards instead of throwing outwards, and only pulling the spear tip out at the last moment, you prevent the enemy from recovering and reacting after being thrown.”

“Bouncing off the ground after the impact is precisely when the enemy has completely lost their sense of direction and balance. Seize this opportunity and use multiple Cloud Piercers to inflict maximum damage.”

“Generally speaking, Triple Cloud Piercer is safe. If you increase it to four or five, there’s a possibility of being counterattacked.”

“As for the final Iron Cutter, it’s a finishing displacement technique to prevent the enemy from counterattacking, sending them flying.”

“Oh, oh, oh.” Eleanor memorized it seriously, thinking to herself that she still had so much to learn.

It was a pity she couldn’t figure out “The Song of Roland.” She might as well learn something else during this anomaly to change her mood.

The two left the small town and regrouped with the others, who were waiting boredly. Then they continued to sweep through the town.

“There’s the smell of blood in the air.” Medea sniffed. “Say, what did you two do here?”

“Killed a monster,” Asker said.

The four walked forward for half a minute and came to the monster’s corpse. The body was torn apart, already half-rotten and shrunken, revealing scattered green crystals inside.

“Philosopher’s Stones.” Asker picked up a fragment and probed it with his spirituality. “Fragments of Philosopher’s Stones.”

“The reason these monsters appeared is because they were infected by fragments of Philosopher’s Stones?” Medea immediately guessed. “Could it be that someone deliberately poisoned the town, causing this anomaly?”

“Unlikely. You know, such a small fragment…” Asker weighed it and smiled. “…is worth around two hundred marks. The cost of poisoning would be too high.”

“Maybe the culprit is a billionaire?” Mia said casually, then realizing something, her eyes lit up. “Doesn’t that mean we can collect these fragments and sell them?!”

“Hmm.” Asker stood up and looked into the distance. “It seems the biggest danger in this anomaly still comes from other mercenary groups…”

However, Mia completely ignored his musings, activated Ilania Flash Step, and quickly picked up all the fragments on the ground.

The group continued forward cautiously and soon saw the girls of Team A resting not far away.

“Asker!” Seeing Team B approaching, Nuo exclaimed in pleasant surprise.

“How did you fare?” Asker asked.

“Okay,” Thira said from the side. “We killed three monsters and found fragments of Philosopher’s Stones inside them.”

She opened her palm, revealing a pile of loose green stone granules. Asker picked them up, examined them, and handed them to Medea:

“Keep these safe.”

Huh? Weren’t spoils usually kept by Nuo? Medea paused, then felt a strong sense of pleasant surprise.

Asker was finally starting to trust her! Right, with her psychic abilities, she was the most trustworthy person in the team!

She happily put the things away and squinted at Nuo. The gentle girl didn’t seem to have any other thoughts, just smiled at Asker, which made Medea feel subtly annoyed.

“Looks like you didn’t get hurt even without the captain around?” Medea walked forward, blocking Nuo’s view of Asker.

“It was okay. Although without the captain’s command, everyone felt a bit uncomfortable.” Nuo said with a smile. “Fortunately, the enemies this time were just mindless monsters.”

“By the way,” Thira added, “When we were killing those monsters, we saw a figure flash by across the street corner, but unfortunately, he got away.”

“A figure?” Asker looked at Miel. If there were enemies in the distance, this sniper would definitely have seen them.

“About 1.7 meters tall, medium build, wearing a robe and hood, looked like a spellcaster.” Miel described in detail. “He had been standing across from us, watching us since we encountered the monsters.”

“Did you try shooting?” Asker asked.

Miel shook her head. “By the time we killed the monster, he had already turned and disappeared.”

“Disappeared? How did he disappear?” Asker asked.

“In a flash.” Miel said. “Maybe his speed was too fast, I didn’t see clearly how he disappeared, just in that direction.”

She raised her rifle and pointed towards the center of the town.

“Should we go explore in that direction, Asker?” Nuo asked.

“That guy might be related to this anomaly.” Thira said thoughtfully. “I have a strong intuition.”

“Hmm.” Asker pondered for a long time and said, “It’s indeed worth investigating. But we’re currently fighting in separate teams. How about this: you, Team A, explore in that direction, while we, Team B, continue sweeping the area nearby and collect the Philosopher’s Stones from these monsters.”

“Eh? Captain, aren’t you coming with us?” Sidlipha asked in surprise.

“If we go together, then dividing into teams would be meaningless, right?” Asker replied.

“But, since a mysterious figure appeared, it suggests that this anomaly might not be accidental.” Thira questioned. “If there really is a mastermind behind the scenes, isn’t fighting separately making us more vulnerable to being defeated one by one?”

“Not necessarily.” Asker said meaningfully. “If we regroup into one team, there might be even greater risks.”

He suddenly swung his sword, a cold light slashing down. Thira quickly rolled backward, narrowly dodging Asker’s horizontal slash.

“Asker! What are you doing!” Thira scrambled up, shouting in shock.

The other girls were also stunned, raising their weapons one after another, unsure who to help.

“Not bad, you actually dodged my attack?” Asker said with a smile. “The real Miss Thira couldn’t do that.”

“What are you talking about?” Thira looked annoyed. “Are you suspecting that I’m a fake?!”

“Asker!” Peggy, who had been resting nearby, also stood up nervously and said hesitantly, “Could you be mistaken? Thira has been with us the whole time, there shouldn’t be any possibility of her being replaced!”

“Your acting skills are also quite good.” Asker held his sword in his right hand and took the shield with his left.

Eleanor quickly moved sideways with her shield, guarding his back. Mia and Medea also moved closer to Eleanor – Team B almost instantly formed an attack formation, their spearhead pointed directly at the five potentially fake Team A girls ahead.