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!”
Leave a Reply