Second World
chapter-804

The four looked around, they couldn't see their missing comrades.

"Back to back!" Kruger ordered. The four of them turned in four different directions and stuck their backs together. This arrangement gave them no blind spot.

Missing one person could be considered a misfortune. Missing a second one, they could chalk it up as they brought idiots with them. Missing four, however, it's not something natural. Something or someone was stalking them.

Kruger was full of disbelief. How could veterans like them be victims of stalking? Normally, it was them who stalked others. His eyes darted around the darkness, trying to spot something unusual. He truly missed those night vision goggles that he usually brought during a night operation.

They were all silent as they watched their surroundings. They were veterans. They didn't need Kruger to explain why the alert. They knew something was wrong. All of them readied their weapons.

A few minutes passed. Nothing happened. They looked at where the fighting still raged on. They couldn't stay like this indefinitely. Their force could have been routed while they waited. At that time, the guild army would sweep through the camp looking for enemy strays, then they would be found. It would be harder to complete their mission then.

"Time to hat up. We do a single-file line. Lenny, you are at the back. Watch our back! Everyone has one hand on the person in front of you," Kruger gave his instruction.

They then resumed again, walking in a row, with the person behind having one hand on the shoulder of the person in front. This way, they would know immediately if one person went off course. Lenny's eyes were on their back, relying only on his grip on the person in front of him to guide him where to go.

When they passed by a sizable tent, the third person in the row suddenly felt Lenny let go of his shoulder. He looked back. Lenny was not there.

"Hold!" He called.

"What is it, Ash?" Kruger asked, annoyed that they had to stop again.

"Lenny's gone…," Ash informed.

"Gone? How can he be gone? Isn't he holding onto you?" Kruger asked.

"He suddenly let go," Ash said. He ran back and looked around. Didn't see anyone.

Kruger looked at the tent beside them. "When you felt him letting go. Did he stand right beside this tent's door?" He asked Ash.

The three looked at each other. After brief eye contact, they took positions facing the tent's door. Kruger took point. He was an assassin. He had his dagger at the ready. The two behind him were gunners, they readied their guns to support Kruger.

Kruger gave them a countdown sign from three. Once he retracted his last finger, they all charged into the tent. Kruger faced forward while the other two checked their left and right, covering all angles.

Lenny was on the floor. His HP was zero. The three were alarmed. There was indeed an enemy. Or enemies? Even though Lenny was only level 32, it should not be that easy to finish him in such a short time. Lenny was a veteran soldier, after all. Not to mention this was done without causing a sound. This was not the past world where one lethal hit could silence someone in a heartbeat. In this world, unless your damage value was truly high and had powerful skills, then only was it possible for a one-hit kill.

They looked around. There was no one. The tent was not that large. There was also no big furniture to hide behind.

"Look!" Ash pointed to the side of the tent. There was a cut. Large enough for one person to slip through.

"The bastard is outside! Let's catch him!" Kruger uttered and turned back to the tent's door. As he flapped the cloth door open, he saw a round object in the air right in front of him.

"Grenade!!" He yelled, just as the grenade exploded.

The three of them received damage. But that was not the troublesome part. All three of them lost vision. They were afflicted with Blind and Dizzy statuses. The grenade that hit them was a variant of the Throw Grenade skill that was modified using a seed. Instead of a normal grenade, the skill produced a flashbang.

"Bollocks!! Back! Back!" Kruger uttered. He tried moving back, but because he was also afflicted with Dizzy, he was not sure if he moved back in a straight line.

He heard screams, as well as the sounds of gunshots and struggles. It didn't last long.

When his vision finally returned. He saw Ash was already lying on the ground. His last comrade was standing beside their mystery attacker, who had a dagger on his comrade's throat and a handgun pointed at his comrade's head. He saw a flare from the handgun's muzzle, but no gunshot sound. That silent shot took out his last comrade's HP which was already low.

Kruger didn't have time to think. He activated Combat Clone, used Phase Strike, and then Unblockable Stab consecutively. The mystery attacker slid to the side, skillfully dodging the phantom dagger from the Unblockable Stab.

Kruger had also stabbed forward when his phantom dagger attacked. But instead of scoring a hit, he felt his arm getting grabbed. His arm was twisted. He lost balance at the same time he saw a dagger plunging into his neck. The dagger did rapid stabs with uncanny speed. At the same time that his neck was stabbed, his attacker's handgun was aimed at his face. He saw flashes. Six rapid flashes right in front of his eyes.

But even as he saw the flashes, he didn't hear any gunshot sounds. Little did he know that it was due to the ability of his attacker's handgun. It was a super-rare-grade weapon with a passive ability called Silencer. All the shots produced by this handgun would cause no sound.

His HP zeroed. All the shots to the head and the stabs to the neck were critical hits. They were more than enough to take out his HP. his combat clone vanished before it even had the chance to do anything.

Before Kruger lost all his motor function due to his HP hitting zero, he had a good look at their mystery attacker. It was a middle-aged man with narrow eyes. He had a mustache and a thin beard. His hair and facial hair were greys. It took him a beat but just before his vision turned dark, a realization hit him. He recognized this person. He never met this person in real life but he had seen his photos.

The one who killed him was a battlefield legend. Someone that was given the codename Serpent Boss.

*

John had instructed the Dogs of War to stay behind inside the camp. He knew that although the guild army was enough to crush the enemy players, some expert players might be able to break through and come to them. That's why he needed expert players of his own to prevent that from happening.

Dogs of War spread out his members to stalk and hunt down these experts in the chaos. They traveled in groups. Only Serpent Boss traveled alone. All the members of Dogs of War knew of his style. He was a lone wolf on the battlefield. Even so, he was more than enough to take care of a team of experts despite being alone.

Outside the camp that was still engulfed with battle, White Death and the others watched the situation through the 3D map on White Death's guild mobile platform. It didn't look good.

"Should we send summon our guild army?" The Real Man asked.

"You are welcome to do it if you are willing," White Death said. "We have lost a large number in the previous battle. If we lose more, we won't have enough to defend our headquarters. We will be in trouble if someone attacks our headquarters after this war is over, and from the look of it, it is about to end, one way or another."

White Death mentioned the possible attack when this war was over, not during this current time. This was because when all guilds with headquarters joined the war summon quest, they had been notified that their guilds would go under protected status. In this way, guilds that didn't join the war quest would not be able to take advantage to attack the headquarters during the war. This was the world system's method to ensure that the war quest got priority over the players' scuffles for territory.

However, the three founding guilds of the now-dissolved coalition had placed a way to circumvent this protection status.

"Is it time to do it?" Manager Steelhand asked.

"Yes, our people said the imperial guards had vacated their headquarters. It should be the right time to proceed," White Death said.

"What are you two talking about?" The Real Man asked. He was clueless about what the two were talking about.

The two ignored him. Manager Steelhand said, "Too bad the Wicked Witches had joined the other side. Otherwise, we will have more people. I'm disappointed with that Queen Magenta."

"Who are you being disappointed with?" A woman's voice was heard. They turned and saw a group of women approaching.

"Aren't your guild over there fighting with Everlasting Heavenly Legends?" Manager Steelhand asked.

"Against my will. I hear you want to activate the sleeper agents? Let's do it," Queen Magenta said.

"Won't that give you a problem with your guild?" Manager Steelhand asked.

"Will they listen to you?" White Death asked a different question.

"The sleeper agents are my loyalists," Queen Magenta answered White Death's question. "As for my guild, as long as we are successful, I can argue about my action. But since I'm taking the most risk, I demand the guild hostage token be mine. If my guild loses this war but I secured the guild hostage token, I can show our members that I have been right all along. I might even replace that soft Nova as the main leader of Wicked Witches."

White Death nodded. "All right. Let's us activate our sleeper agents."