As more days went on, finally, the time for their plan to be executed came.

The average level of the Spriggan strike teams had skyrocketed. Every goal they imposed on themselves was reached.

And now, with Reidar absent, disappeared into the deeper concrete jungle to push his own proficiencies to their limits and further increase his levels, it was time to test their new strength.

The target was the War Hounds' hunting parties. These guys did the same as the Spriggans did. Aaron leveled up different groups of people, and then they did the same with others. Things were as hard as they were complicated.

The easy part was that because of the level gap, leveling up was fast and somewhat painless.

The hard part was killing the monsters. In a normal situation, all of this would have been impossible, but Aaron made that easy too. He almost killed the monsters and let the others reap the benefit.

That was how and why it looked like high-level people were sprouting like mushrooms.

…

…

…

Fog curled around the skeletal remains of a collapsed overpass, creating a labyrinth of shadows perfect for someone who knew how to become one.

Lena crouched on a steel beam twenty feet above the street and remained still. At Level 285, her presence was almost nonexistent to those of lower levels, even more so if the power disparity was great.

She didn't just hide; she erased herself from perception thanks to skills she found at the vendor. The woman actually had to search quite a few of them, but she got many intriguing things.

"They're late," Jake said while hiding among the rubble across the street. The boy had taken to the shadows like he was born to them. It was no doubt thanks to his trait and a bunch of skills he was augmenting.

"Patience," Lena said. "They're arrogant, and arrogance makes people slow. They likely don't think we are going to do this and feel safe enough from the monsters that they are going at a slow pace."

She looked down at the street. Her team was waiting. The twenty fighters under her care, all pushed past Level 140, were now lying in ambush behind debris piles and inside hollowed-out storefronts.

They were tense. The enemy ahead matched their level, and worse—they were human.

Monsters were unpredictable, true, but humans were a nightmare. They could plan, deceive, and pivot to the complete opposite strategy, making all preparations worthless.

It was ironic that the world was filled with monsters, yet the real monsters were still human.

Of course, Reidar and the others also made some investigations, and what they found out was that Aaron and the others had preferred quantity over quality, meaning there were very few people who had surpassed certain thresholds of power.

That had been a mistake. Aaron clearly had many things to do, but Judas should have leveled more people and created more hunting groups using the same tactic.

The result of their apathy was that their enemy had been able to catch up to them.

The sound of voices broke the silence. A convoy appeared—twenty to thirty riders on horse-sized wolves, each around Level 130. They moved at a steady pace, casual, almost lazy. Not the pace of people expecting an ambush or monsters creeping up on them.

<These idiots have a death wish, or they are underestimating how far we are willing to go.>

This was most likely because the War Hounds didn't expect the Spriggans to attack, or at least not this soon. Plus, they would rather not garner attention.

Silas and Aaron were almost done with their preparations, so if the Spriggans attacked, the War Hounds had the order to keep them at bay—they were not going to attack unless Aaron ordered it, and he would likely do that after thorough preparation.

This was what Judas said, at least. Regardless, the group rounded the corner.

Lena checked the levels floating above the War Hounds' heads. Those at the front seemed also to be the strongest.

—[Heinrich Gruber—Level 132]—

—[Lukas Novak—Level 138]—

—[Elena Popa—Level 129]—

They were strong. They were stronger than they had any right to be. The Church's influence was undeniable. But compared to her? Compared to what she had become in the last days? They were children.

The lead survivor, Lukas, rolled over the trigger line of the trap Lena set.

"Fools," Lena said.

Without a shout or a signal, she simply dropped down.

Lena fell like a stone, landing on top of one of the wolf riders. The man barely had time to widen his eyes before Lena's dagger punched through the armor and into his neck.

She ripped the blade free and vaulted backward as the wolf disappeared as soon as its summoner died.

"Ambush!" a man screamed. "Defensive formation! Circle the—"

His order died in his throat as the others lunged from the shadows in a similar way to Lena. Lukas's armor crunched like tin foil.

The street erupted in violence. War Hounds shouted orders and drew weapons. Wolves snarled and snapped at the air. Spells ignited in the hands of mages as they scrambled to form defensive positions.

As the mages unleashed their volleys of ice and fire, the War Hounds' hastily erected barriers shattered into fragments. In response, the Spriggan warriors charged.

Lena sidestepped a swinging axe and slit the attacker's hamstring and throat without even having to turn around.

A War Hound mage tried to lock onto her, preparing a skill, but Lena threw a knife without looking and killed him on the spot. She was so fast that no one was able to read her name tag and her level.

"Don't let them regroup!" Lena said. "Jake, take out their rear guard. I want this over in two minutes; there are many guys we need to kill!"

"On it!"

The boy appeared behind a cluster of War Hounds. Two fell instantly, while a third turned, terrified, only to be kicked through a brick wall by a strength that shouldn't belong to an eleven-year-old.

"Remember, guys," Lena said. "The Church is calling their people here in Creamont, so the more we kill, the less we will have to deal with later!"

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