Chapter 116: Counter Attack!

A ferocious grin spread across Garrett’s face as he finally saw the three members of Abyss trapped within Ghost Cry Pass. The narrow canyon stretched ahead of them like a natural corridor, with towering rock walls on either side and only a single obvious route forward. To Garrett, there was no longer any possibility of escape. He raised his axe and shouted toward the figures below, his voice echoing violently between the cliffs.

"Reaper! Let’s see where you can run this time!"

Almost simultaneously, another group of melee fighters emerged from behind Abyss Squad, completely sealing off their retreat. What had initially appeared to be an empty section of the canyon suddenly came alive as figures stepped out from behind rocks and natural formations. More than a dozen Mages, Hunters, and Warlocks revealed themselves from elevated positions along both sides of the pass, their weapons already prepared and their eyes locked onto the three targets below. Bows were drawn to full tension, magical staffs began glowing with concentrated elemental energy, and spell formations rapidly took shape in the air.

The trap had finally closed.

Aiden immediately changed his expression, deliberately allowing shock and anger to appear across his face. He turned toward his companions as though he had only just realized the severity of their situation and shouted for them to form up and defend themselves.

"Form up! Defend!"

Silas reacted instantly. The massive warrior stepped forward and planted his tower shield firmly against the ground, placing his entire body between Aiden, Luna, and the approaching enemy forces. His enormous frame resembled an unbreakable wall, while earth-yellow energy began surging around his body as the effect of [Unyielding Battle Body] activated. The dense energy reinforced his physical defenses, transforming him into the perfect shield for the other two members of Abyss Squad.

The Dragon Sovereign Guild’s ranged forces immediately launched their first attack.

A storm of arrows descended from the elevated positions while fireballs, Ice Lances, and Arcane Missiles tore through the narrow canyon. The entire passage erupted into a chaotic barrage of spellfire, with explosions shaking the surrounding cliffs and flashes of elemental energy illuminating the battlefield. Projectiles slammed repeatedly into Silas’s tower shield and body, producing a continuous series of damage numbers above his head.

-67!

-89!

-55!

-102!

Silas’s HP began falling rapidly beneath the overwhelming bombardment, yet the warrior refused to retreat even a single step. His jaw tightened as another projectile struck his shield, and after realizing his health was dropping too quickly, he immediately swallowed an Advanced Healing Potion. Warm restorative energy spread through his body, replenishing a portion of the HP he had lost, but Silas continued to endure the relentless assault without moving from his position.

From the perspective of the Dragon Sovereign Guild’s assault squad, everything was proceeding exactly as planned. Their melee forces had sealed the rear, their ranged players controlled the elevated terrain, and Silas was being forced to absorb the overwhelming majority of their attacks. The three members of Abyss appeared to have been completely pinned down.

Garrett’s grin widened as he watched the situation unfold. Raising his axe, he shouted at his men to maintain the pressure and prevent Abyss from escaping.

"That’s it! Don’t let them escape!"

The assault squad surged forward.

However, the battle was about to change.

Amid the deafening explosions and continuous rain of projectiles, Aiden’s voice suddenly cut through the chaos.

"Now, Luna!"

Luna had already been waiting for that command.

The purple-haired mage raised her staff, and for a brief moment, the phantom of a gray-white die appeared behind her. The strange manifestation of fate flickered in the air before disappearing completely, leaving behind only a subtle distortion of energy.

[Frost Nova]!

A violent wave of frost erupted from Luna’s position and swept outward through the canyon. Within moments, the ground across nearly a hundred meters of the pass was covered in rapidly spreading ice. Thick frost crawled across the rocks and beneath the feet of the advancing warriors, drastically reducing their movement speed and making every step more difficult.

The effect was not limited to movement.

Several Mages who were preparing their next spells suddenly felt their Mana circulation become unstable. The energy they had gathered began fluctuating unpredictably, causing their spell formations to flicker and distort. Some of the formations nearly collapsed completely as the subtle influence of [Minor Misfortune] interfered with their control.

Garrett immediately recognized that something was wrong.

"Tricks!" he snarled before roaring at his forces to continue pushing forward. He activated [Warcry], causing a powerful aura to erupt from his body and partially counteract the slowing effect. With his weapon raised, he continued leading the charge, convinced that Abyss had simply activated another desperate defensive ability.

In his mind, the three enemies were still trapped.

And that was precisely what Aiden wanted him to believe.

While the attention of the entire Dragon Sovereign assault squad remained focused on Silas at the front and Luna’s battlefield control, Aiden quietly disappeared.

The combined effects of [Shadow Cloak] and Invisibility Dust reduced his presence to almost nothing. Even the surrounding magical energy failed to reveal his position clearly as he slipped away from behind Silas, his body blending into the shadows like a figure dissolving into darkness.

Instead of following Silas and Luna’s retreat route, Aiden moved toward the right side of the canyon.

A pair of simple climbing hooks, which he had crafted after beginning to learn Engineering, appeared in his hands. He drove the hooks into the uneven rock surface and began climbing the nearly vertical wall. With 51 Agility, his physical movement was far beyond that of an ordinary player. He moved from one protruding section of stone to another with incredible speed, using small cracks and natural footholds to ascend more than ten meters in a matter of moments.

The Dragon Sovereign players positioned above him never realized that danger was approaching from below.

Two Mages were completely focused on channeling Blizzard. Nearby, a Hunter had drawn his bow and was carefully lining up an Aiming Shot toward Silas. Behind them stood a Paladin who was concentrating on supporting the melee forces below with [Blessing of Might]. Their attention remained entirely on the battlefield beneath them, and none of them considered the possibility that an enemy could climb directly toward their elevated position.

Aiden reached the narrow platform without making a sound.

The Paladin was the first to notice him.

His eyes widened as he turned around, but the realization came far too late.

[Heaven-Binding Roots · Shadow Mutation]!

Blackened roots erupted from the stone beneath the Paladin and Hunter, twisting around their legs with frightening speed. The unnatural roots tightened around their limbs and immediately restricted their movements, preventing either player from reacting properly.

Before the remaining enemies could understand what had happened, Aiden activated another ability.

[Scroll of Soul Tremor]!

An invisible wave swept across the elevated platform. The two Mages who had been channeling Blizzard immediately staggered as the attack assaulted their minds and disrupted their concentration. Their carefully constructed spell formations collapsed before they could release their spells, causing the elemental energy they had gathered to dissipate harmlessly into the air.

Aiden did not waste the opportunity.

He moved forward with terrifying efficiency, his blade flashing through the confined platform. The Paladin was struck first, the attack cutting through his exposed defenses before he could recover. The Hunter suffered the next blow as Aiden drove his blade directly into his chest. Without slowing down, Aiden twisted his body and delivered another sweeping strike toward the two Mages, whose minds were still recovering from the effects of Soul Tremor.

Four damage numbers appeared almost simultaneously.

-288!

-301!

-265!

-279!

Four players were killed before the others on the battlefield even understood what had happened.

The entire ranged position on the right side of Ghost Cry Pass fell silent.

At nearly the same moment, Luna stood on the opposite side of the battlefield and took a deep breath. Her expression became unusually focused as seven-colored light flashed through her purple eyes. Above her, the phantom of the scarlet [Great Luck] die appeared, radiating a strange and mysterious aura.

The power of fate surged through her body and into her staff.

Elemental energy began gathering at an astonishing rate.

[Enhanced Pyroblast]!

A tiny sphere of white-hot flame condensed above the tip of Luna’s staff. Despite being only about the size of a fist, the spell contained an almost unnatural density of destructive energy. The temperature surrounding it rose sharply, and the air itself seemed to distort around the miniature sphere of fire.

Luna did not aim it toward the enemy players.

Instead, she targeted a fractured section of rock that Aiden had deliberately marked earlier.

The spell shot forward.

BOOM!

The resulting explosion was fundamentally different from an ordinary attack. Instead of merely producing a burst of flames, the concentrated force struck directly into the weakened geological structure. A deep, thunderous roar echoed throughout Ghost Cry Pass as the fractured rock finally gave way.

Cracks spread rapidly across the elevated platform.

The three Mages and two Hunters standing upon it immediately lost their footing as the stone beneath them fractured and collapsed.

"What?! Watch out!"

"Get off!"

"Move!"

Their desperate shouts were quickly drowned out by the sound of falling rocks. The players tumbled from the collapsing platform alongside chunks of stone and dust. The height was insufficient to kill them outright, but the sudden fall left them battered and disoriented. More importantly, the carefully organized ranged formation they had established was completely destroyed.

While the Dragon Sovereign Guild struggled to understand what had happened on the elevated positions, Silas had already been enduring nearly half of his HP being depleted.

Yet the massive warrior continued standing.

Then Aiden’s voice came through the team channel.

"Withdraw."

Silas did not hesitate for even a second.

His tower shield suddenly slammed forward as he activated [Charge]. The impact struck directly against Garrett’s incoming axe, knocking the weapon aside and forcing the Guild leader to stagger from the unexpected collision.

Silas immediately used the recoil to pivot his body.

He reached for Luna, who was still recovering from the enormous Mana expenditure required to cast Enhanced Pyroblast, and pulled her along as he began retreating toward the left side of the canyon.

That direction had originally appeared to be a dead end.

Now, however, it was covered in falling rubble and thick clouds of dust.

Garrett recovered from the impact almost immediately.

"Want to run?!"

He roared as he led the remaining warriors in pursuit.

The Dragon Sovereign forces surged forward, believing that Abyss had finally exhausted its tricks. Their attention was completely fixed on Silas and Luna as they chased deeper into the canyon.

They failed to notice the danger beneath their feet.

The moment the front line crossed the position where Silas had previously been standing and entered the area covered by Frost Nova, a sharp metallic snap suddenly echoed across the ground.

Several thin wires sprang upward.

They had been carefully concealed beneath the layer of frost.

It was a simple tripwire trap, the kind that would normally be considered too crude to cause serious damage to high-level players. However, Aiden had never intended for the trap itself to kill anyone. The wires had been coated with alchemical acid and paralytic toxins, turning the seemingly insignificant mechanism into a perfect tool for disrupting a pursuing formation.

The warriors charging at the front suddenly stumbled.

Their legs weakened almost instantly as the paralytic toxins began taking effect. Several players collapsed directly onto the ground, while those behind them were unable to stop in time and crashed into their fallen comrades.

The organized pursuit formation immediately descended into chaos.

Garrett cursed as he hacked through the wires and forced his way toward the base of the left rock wall. By the time he finally reached the area where Silas and Luna had disappeared, however, the opportunity had already been lost.

Silas had used several protruding rocks as footholds and safely descended the cliff. Once he reached the ground, he immediately accelerated into a sprint, dragging Luna along as they disappeared toward the deeper regions of Stone Forest Canyon.

He never looked back.

Above them, Aiden had already finished clearing the right-side ranged position. He pulled out his grappling hook and fired it toward the opposite rock wall. The hook embedded itself into the stone, allowing him to swing across the gap with practiced precision.

By the time the Dragon Sovereign players finally noticed his movement, Aiden had already landed on the other side and vanished into the deepening twilight and maze-like terrain surrounding the canyon.

Garrett could only stare after him.

The thirty-man ambush squad had been completely dismantled.

The melee fighters at the front had been occupied and delayed by Silas, whose defensive abilities had allowed him to absorb an enormous amount of punishment without allowing the enemy to reach Aiden and Luna. The rear formation had been thrown into chaos by Luna’s destruction of the elevated platform and the resulting collapse of the ranged positions. The right-side control and ranged players had been silently eliminated by Aiden before they even realized they were under attack, while Luna’s attacks had disrupted the remaining formation and prevented the Dragon Sovereign forces from maintaining their coordinated assault.

Most importantly, the three targets they had carefully prepared to ambush had escaped without suffering a single fatal injury.

The ambush had failed.

No, even calling it an ambush felt almost insulting to the word.

The Dragon Sovereign Guild had effectively delivered one of its strongest assault squads directly into Abyss’s hands and allowed the three members to dismantle the formation piece by piece.

Garrett stood motionless amid the wreckage of what had been intended to become a decisive battle. His chest rose and fell heavily as anger and humiliation churned within him. Around him, several of his remaining subordinates struggled to recover from the various attacks and traps, while the corpses of the fallen players on the right rock wall slowly dissolved into pale particles of light.

His hands tightened around his axe.

Then his rage finally erupted.

"Reaper!"

His roar echoed throughout Ghost Cry Pass, bouncing from one towering rock wall to another.

But there was no response.

Aiden was already gone.

The carefully planned ambush had transformed into a crushing defeat, and the reason was not a lack of numbers or equipment. The Dragon Sovereign Guild had possessed both in abundance. Their failure had come from something far more fundamental: every important component of their strategy had been anticipated and exploited before they even realized they had fallen into someone else’s trap.

Silas had served as the immovable shield, absorbing the enemy’s attention and punishment. Luna had manipulated the battlefield through her control abilities and overwhelming destructive magic. Aiden, meanwhile, had moved through the battlefield like a hidden blade, striking at the precise moments when the enemy was least capable of responding.

By the time Garrett understood what was happening, the battle had already been decided.

Far beyond Ghost Cry Pass, Abyss Squad was disappearing deeper into the darkness of Stone Forest Canyon. Their figures gradually vanished into the maze of rocks and shadows, leaving behind only the wreckage of the Dragon Sovereign Guild’s failed operation.