novel bin Chapter 1175: Silent Shots
Chapter 1175: Silent Shots
Chapter 1175: Silent Shots
Mira ran without rest, without stopping. The sounds of the fight helped hide her as she did, but she still had to pay attention since a dog inside the Law Gat was unusual.
With her senses now severely enhanced, she could smell the gunpowder, the metal, and the unique scent of piss at every corner.
However, a new scent caught her attention. She came across it many times when she trained with Amber or when she sparred with the Chimaeric Demons. It clearly was human sweat, and it came from a nearby building.
She changed shape once more, turning into a bird. Feathers grew where fur had been. She then flew up to the window from where the scent came, staying close to the building to avoid being
seen.
The room was empty. Chairs were scattered around a table, which suggested recent
occupation. However, she wasn't sure the barrier masters had been there, and even if they had, they must have moved, given the attack.
The problem was that the barrier masters weren't the only ones around. The places were full of humans; it was just that they didn't stay around for long, as focused as they were to reach the walls. This still created a problem.
There were too many scents to follow. Luckily, what Mira needed was to find some scents coming from the building, because only the barrier masters and some important people among the blackguards would stay out of the wall fight. Whoever was in the middle of the city might have been them.
There was no trace of the barrier masters there.
Mira continued her search, alternating between forms. As a dog, she tracked scents and followed the trail leading to buildings.
As a bird, she checked each location her nose pointed her to. Building after building revealed nothing. At least not until that point.
The scents led her deeper into the Law Gate. She approached another structure, this one heavily guarded at ground level.
The heavy guard's presence was a good sign, though. While most blackguards were busy defending the walls, only high-value targets would warrant a dedicated security detail in the city center. The barrier masters were crucial to maintaining the Law Gate's defenses.
And unlike regular patrol units that moved around, these guards held fixed positions. They were clearly protecting something, or someone, important inside.
Rising to its upper floors, Mira spotted movement through a window. Inside, six figures in distinctive Blackguards' barrier master uniforms stood unmoving.
They were in a circle with closed eyes. Their expressions were full of intense focus.
A grin mentally spread across Mira's face. She was a bird. After all, she didn't have lips.
multiple times.
"Threat neutralized," Emily said.
Amber nodded. Emily really was lethal with a sniper rifle. Whenever she had one in her hands, she stopped being the sweet girl everyone knew.
Amber led her group through the streets, moving from cover to cover. They passed the bodies of Emily's victims-clean kills, each one.
"I can't believe our sweet Emily did this," Amber said. "Sometimes I forget she's the same girl who bakes cookies for everyone."
There were no signs of struggle or resistance-each target had been killed with a single
precise headshot before they could react, draw weapons, or trigger their communication
devices to alert others.
They moved the bodies into an alley, hidden by trash cans and tarps. Then the Chimaeric Demons spread out in a protective formation around Amber.
More blackguards appeared in Emily's scope. She slowed down time again. Three more shots, three more bodies. The streets leading to the barrier masters were cleared.
"Four more at your two o'clock," June said through the radio. He circled above as a small bird, spotting incoming patrols.
Emily shifted her aim. Time crawled to a near stop. The four blackguards moved in slow motion; their movements telegraphed like actors in a play. Her bullets found their marks.
Amber's group encountered another cluster of bodies. The fallen blackguards showed no signs of trauma-Emily's shots left a single wound on the targets' heads. However, to the onlookers, they seemed to have stopped living between one second and the next.
Luckily, Emily wasn't so bad as to leave witnesses.
"Two hundred meters to target," one of the Chimaeric Demons said. The red-faced building
was now in front of them. Still distant. However, the place was large enough for anyone
seeing it from
afar.
Amber saw Mira among the flashes, perched on top of a building nearby.
Emily's voice came through the radio again. "Route is clear. I count twelve guards at the
entrance. Want me to handle them?"
"No," Amber said. "Save your energy for now. I'll warp everyone in. With Mira, we are five. We should be able to kill most of them in a matter of minutes after our warp."
That was the idea, at least. The problem with barrier masters was that if Amber gave them enough time, they could create an absolute defense to which they could do nothing. Luckily for them, to make such a barrier wasn't that simple, and it still required some time. Not much, but if Amber and the others played it well, they might prevent them from channeling mana altogether.
But the barrier masters weren't going to be defenseless. Like every other blackguard, they were going to be highly trained and skilled, and they might be even able to make smaller barriers. Not as absolute as those protecting the walls, but still durable. Acting within minutes was imperative if they wanted to accomplish their goal.