Igwinte at night, Knight Road illuminated by dim orange-yellow Light.
Upstairs at 26, inside Anna's bedroom, Anna, startled awake by the intense gunshots, was now huddled on the bed in a panic, protected by two Hunters disguised as servants beside her.
In front of her, Eilina, wearing a maid's uniform, was setting up a rifle on the balcony, shooting at the enemies below. The melee was too chaotic, with both sides engaging in close combat. Eilina found it difficult to aim; as a "Lamp" marksman, she was struggling to be effective in this situation.
"Damn it... they're all tangled up, I can't aim at all..."
Facing this scene, Eilina complained angrily. However, it was fortunate that after those thugs inexplicably started attacking each other, the situation reversed. The thugs' formation was thrown into disarray, and the Hunters, who had lost their debuff, immediately counterattacked. After several companions were cut down, the thugs' morale collapsed, and they scattered like birds and beasts.
Standing on Knight Road, Grego, who had regained his freedom of movement, breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the few remaining thugs fleeing. He then turned his gaze to the generally injured Hunter team members beside him and asked,
"Are you alright...?"
"Hoo... hoo... We're fine, Captain. Their weapons are terrible, it's hard for them to cut through our protective gear... Everyone basically only has minor injuries... We were so disheveled before because our bodies inexplicably wouldn't listen..." A Hunter team member replied. Grego nodded after hearing this.
"I understand. Just now, my body suddenly couldn't move at all, like I was possessed by an evil Ghost. Thanks to these few who suddenly turned around and helped us, otherwise I might already be lying down..."
As he spoke, Grego looked towards the other side of the road, where a muscular thug holding a hammer was standing. It was he who had attacked his companion and saved him just now. Beside him were two other similar thugs.
At this moment, these three thugs were staring around, as if on guard against something. Seeing this, Grego wanted to say hello.
"Hey, brother over there, can you come over and talk..."
"Whoosh!"
Before Grego finished speaking, a sharp sound of breaking air echoed in the space. A swift Shadow from the darkness swept towards the few remaining thugs. The thug holding the hammer had his head instantly severed, and blood spurted from his neck.
"What..."
Seeing his "savior" die on the spot, Grego's eyes widened instantly. Immediately after, sounds of breaking air came one after another in the space. Something was flying rapidly from the darkness towards the remaining thugs and Hunters. One of them was flying towards Grego. Feeling the danger, Grego blocked in mid-air, deflecting the incoming object with a clang. Looking closely, it was a serrated bone blade without a handle!
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
With more sounds of breaking air, the serrated bone blades rushed into the Hunter team. Some reacted in time and deflected them, while others were directly cut open with large wounds, crying out and falling down. Then the bone blades circled in the air again, changing angles and attacking the Hunters anew. The Hunters had no choice but to draw their swords and meet the attack.
For a time, the crisp sound of clashing weapons echoed continuously in the night. Facing these bone blades that kept attacking from all directions like mosquitoes, Grego and the Hunters struggled to hold on.
Compared to an opponent holding a weapon, these bone blades that simply flew through the air without being held were very difficult to deal with. They had unrestricted attack angles and could only be blocked, not counterattacked.
And the speed of these flying bone blades was not slow, making it very difficult to block them. Even if one was blocked once, there would be a second and a third time. If they remained in a passive state of being beaten, they would eventually expose a flaw and be cut down. Now, Hunter team members were constantly being cut down and casualties were starting to exceed...
"Get inside!"
Facing the current absolute disadvantage, Grego issued an order to enter the building. Facing these bone blades was even more disadvantageous in the open area outside.
"Hmph... None of you will escape..."
Behind a fourth-floor window of a certain house, Geffrey, who was observing the situation below in secret, saw this scene and began to change his strategy, manipulating the bone blades to fully prevent the Hunters' retreat, even reducing the attack and focusing on defending the entrance, seemingly attempting to eliminate them all outside.
...
Meanwhile, on the rooftop of a certain building, Dorothy also began to feel a bit anxious as she watched the situation unfold.
'What the hell is this... Sword control? No... these things were controlled to fly after being attached by those Ghosts just now, it's using Ghosts to control objects! The guy hiding is not simple...'
Dorothy thought this. This level of Extraordinary ability was no longer something an Extraordinary at the Student Rank could achieve. The guy hiding in the dark controlling these things was probably an Extraordinary above the Student Rank, most likely a Black Rank!
"Heh... It seems Igwinte has visitors recently..."
With a cold snort, Dorothy refocused her attention on the battlefield. Seeing the bone blades on the battlefield reduce their attack frequency and actively blockade, trying to trap the Hunters on the street, she couldn't help but be startled.
'They'd rather give up the intensity of the attack... to keep them on the street? Why? If the Hunters go inside, will these bone blades be less effective because the space is smaller? Or is there another reason? Could it be...'
Seeing this scene, Dorothy thought with some confusion. Then, a thought came to Dorothy's mind.
'Perhaps... I can try...'
While thinking, Dorothy began to seriously manipulate her Corpse Puppet.
Under the attack of the bone blades, Dorothy's thug Corpse Puppets below had been reduced to only one. It was a short, stocky, agile thug, seemingly a skilled thief or pickpocket in life. He was killed by a stray bullet during the previous melee. After Dorothy manipulated him, she found that his body was unusually flexible and easy to use.
Relying on excellent physical fitness, this thief thug became the only surviving Corpse Puppet on Dorothy's side on the field. The others were cut up by the bone blades and unusable. And now Dorothy needed him to complete some experiments.
Under Dorothy's manipulation, the thief Corpse Puppet dodged the pursuit of a bone blade. This bone blade had already cut up all of Dorothy's other thug Corpse Puppets. This thief Corpse Puppet was the last one, and the bone blade was determined to cut him up too. Under Dorothy's full control, the thief Corpse Puppet displayed movements even more agile than when he was alive, constantly dodging the bone blade's pursuit.
In one opportunity, the thief Corpse Puppet manipulated by Dorothy rushed into the already open door of 26. The bone blade that was originally following closely suddenly stopped at the door and did not follow the Corpse Puppet into the room.
Seeing this scene, Dorothy's eyes lit up. Then, as that bone blade was preparing to turn back and join the battle against the Hunters, Dorothy manipulated the thief Corpse Puppet to run out again.
That bone blade seemed to react and chased after the thief Corpse Puppet that had run out again. And Dorothy controlled the thief Corpse Puppet to run straight out of the range of the street lamp's light without looking back, running into a patch of dark bushes. This time, that bone blade stopped again and did not follow the thief Corpse Puppet into the darkness.
"Heh... As expected, that guy cannot let the manipulated objects leave his sight. He cannot share senses with the Ghosts he manipulates in real-time..."
Seeing this scene, Dorothy couldn't help but chuckle and murmur. Clearly, she had found the reason why the Ghost manipulator couldn't let the Hunters enter the building. It was because once they entered, the Hunters would be out of his sight, and he would not be able to control the bone blades to continue attacking them!
That Ghost manipulator controlling Ghosts was not like her controlling Corpse Puppets. She could share senses with the Corpse Puppets, thus achieving ultra-long-range manipulation, while he had to keep the Ghosts within his field of vision to control them in real-time!
During the day, Dorothy had seen Ghosts enter 26 to scout. At that time, the Ghosts seemed to have a certain degree of autonomy, often showing signs of confusion or fear, which is something that simple puppets should not have.
At that time, Dorothy believed that the Ghosts at this time were closer to familiars or servants, following orders to scout and then reporting the scouting results afterwards.
However, the Ghosts in battle at this time were more like remote-controlled weapons. The Ghosts had no autonomy and were controlled by the manipulator in real-time. The manipulator remotely controlled the Ghosts' actions from a distance at any time and place. This was more efficient than a familiar-like control, allowing him to adjust combat strategies and adapt to battlefield changes according to his will at any time, without having to shout commands to his Ghosts like in a Pokémon battle.
Dorothy also controlled her Corpse Puppets in this way. Those Corpse Puppets were not her servants or familiars, they were her puppets.
Both Dorothy and the opponent were controlling puppets remotely. The difference was that Dorothy, who could obtain the Corpse Puppets' vision, could control the Corpse Puppets' activities beyond her line of sight, with a wide range of remote control. The Ghost manipulator on the other side, however, could not obtain the Ghosts' senses, or humans could not process the Ghosts' senses, so this remote control could not exceed his field of vision.
"Can only manipulate Ghosts within my field of vision... This is getting interesting..."
Having clearly understood this characteristic of the opponent's Ghosts, Dorothy chuckled and said. After obtaining this important information, she had already begun to think about how to counter the opponent who was also hiding in the shadows and had not yet shown his face.