To thoroughly test this S rank composition without drawing the attention of the city guards, Maddy knew she had to keep the engagent quiet, fast, and highly contained. A massive explosion would bring the whole district running, so she opted for a tactical assault that would pressure their specific roles simultaneously.
Using Serpentine Locomotion, Maddy moved. Instead of a straight charge, she slithered across the ground in a silent, erratic zigzag, her body staying low to minimize her profile.
"Lita, front! Ed, suppress!" Erwin barked, his military training taking over.
Ed, the marksman, reacted instantly. Realizing a standard musket blast would echo through the entire city, he loaded a specialized Subdued Round into his magic musket.
"Don’t worry, Captain, she’s not the only one who can play quiet," Ed muttered, his eyes narrowing as he tracked her strange, twisting movent.
"Silent Stinger!"
The weapon fired with nothing more than a soft thwip, sending a high velocity piercing projectile aid directly at Maddy’s incoming trajectory.
"Impressive," Maddy thought, her lips curling into a sharp smile beneath her hood. "They actually know how to fight in the dark. They adapt instantly without needing a lecture from their captain."
But she didn’t have ti to admire their teamwork for long. At the sa ti, Lita stepped forward to intercept.
"Don’t think you can just wander into our district and ss with us, you freak!" Lita yelled, her voice echoing off the brick walls. "I’ll rip that hood right off your face!"
Even though her mouth was completely unfiltered and loud enough to wake the neighbors, Lita’s magical execution was flawlessly controlled. She made sure her energy didn’t create a scene.
She channeled a subdued:
"Advance Water Elent: Torrential Bind!!!"
Causing the dampness in the alleyway’s air to condense into heavy, swirling rings of water around Maddy’s path to restrict her movent, keeping her Lightning Elent completely deactivated to avoid the bright, loud flashes.
Maddy’s Vibration Sensitivity and Acute Predator Awareness picked up both threats before they even manifested. With Extre Agility, she twisted her body mid stride, utilizing her Flexible Joints to duck beneath the water rings while simultaneously tilting her round shield to deflect Ed’s silent bullet. The projectile sparked harmlessly against her shield’s surface.
The heavy rings of water snapped shut exactly where Maddy had been a fraction of a second ago, splashing harmlessly against the brick walls as she slipped right through them. At the sa instant, Ed’s silent bullet deflected off her tilted shield, ricocheting into the shadows.
Ed lowered his musket slightly, his jaw dropping as he stared at the empty space where his shot should have landed.
"Are you kidding ?! I calculated her trajectory perfectly. She didn’t just dodge it—she predicted the exact angle of a silent round mid stride. What kind of reflexes is she hiding under that cloak?"
Lita looked even more furious, her face flushing red as her water binding dissolved into useless puddles on the ground.
"Hey! No fair! Nobody just slips through my Torrential Bind like they’re made of oil! She didn’t even use magic to break it—she just bent her body like a damn acrobat! Who the hell taught this freak how to move?"
The two S rank adventurers exchanged a quick, tense glance. The initial confidence they had entering the alleyway was rapidly fading, replaced by the chilling realization that their quiet, coordinated assault hadn’t even forced the hooded woman to slow down.
Having bypassed the front line crowd, Maddy focused on disabling their support. She couldn’t let Gela cast her higher tier enhancents.
From her defensive stance, Maddy transitioned into a:
"Wide Slice!"
Her massive blade cut through the air in a terrifying, low level arc, the sheer weight of the swing tearing up the wet stones. It wasn’t just a strike; it was a tactical cage ant to force their hand.
Erwin’s eyes widened as he realized the trajectory wasn’t aid at him, but directly at Lita’s exposed flank.
"Lita, drop!"
Erwin roared, planting his foot and throwing his entire weight forward to bridge the gap. He thrust his claymore out, channeling every ounce of his remaining focus.
"Aegis Sword!"
The golden wall of hard light erupted once more, just in ti to catch the heavy edge of Maddy’s greatsword. The tal on magic impact hissed violently, locking the two vanguards in a desperate stalemate.
"Damn it," Erwin grunted through grit teeth, his muscles straining against her overwhelming pressure. "She’s dictating the pace! Don’t just watch, find an opening!"
But Maddy was already three steps ahead. She wasn’t going to push through his shield again. This ti, Erwin wasn’t her target. Instead, she executed a sweeping arc aid to force him to raise his Aegis Sword once more, shielding Lita.
As he reacted, Maddy triggered a controlled release from her Explosive Glands directly into the ground—not to produce a deafening blast, but to channel the power through her Blast Shockwave trait.
"You’re a great shield, Captain," Maddy murmured, her voice carrying a sharp, dangerous edge. "But a shield only works if your feet stay on the ground."
The shockwave rippled outward, shuddering the stone floor and unbalancing Erwin just enough to shift the battlefield entirely on her terms. A muffled, heavy thud vibrated through the cobblestones. The localized shockwave didn’t create a bright flash, but the intense physical vibration disoriented Gela just as she chanted
"ADVANCE LIGHT ELENT: MAGIC BUFF!"
The distortion broke her concentration, causing the mana around her hands to fizzle out before the spell could land.
Gela gasped, stumbling backward as the residual vibration rattled her bones. Her eyes darted frantically around the dim alleyway, wide with sudden panic.
"My magic... it just dissolved!" she stamred, her voice rising in pitch as she clutched her staff tightly against her chest. "How did she do that? Is she canceling my mana? Erwin, she’s tracking my casting intervals! She knows exactly how long my incantations take!"
She took another frantic step back, her back pressing against the cold brick wall. The clinical precision of Maddy’s pressure was driving her paranoia through the roof.
"She’s not just testing us," Gela hissed, her knuckles turning white. "She already knows everything about our composition. It’s a setup! We’re being targeted by soone who knows our exact builds!"
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