Rank Four War Pathway, Hunter

The moment they saw the man, Freya and Euphemia both froze, instantly putting up their guard. This guy felt incredibly similar to Jerome—he had the same red hair, walked with rigid precision, and carried a strong military vibe.

But the problem was, there couldn't possibly be two General Jeromes, could there?

Freya and Euphemia slowed their pace, but since they were walking toward each other, the distance between them closed rapidly until they were about to pass each other. However, before they could even breathe a sigh of relief, a flash of cold steel cut through the air. The red-haired man suddenly drew a scimitar from his waist and slashed it in their direction.

The Invisibility Cloak that had protected them for so long was sliced open, leaving a small tear. To make matters worse, Freya, who was closer to the man, had her right arm nicked, drawing a trickle of blood.

“We've been spotted!? How?” Euphemia's eyes widened in sheer horror. At the same time, however, Freya clearly saw a look of surprise on the man's face as well, as if he hadn't expected someone to actually be standing there.

After a brief moment of mutual shock, Freya reacted instantly. Thick green vines erupted from the ground, lunging to bind the red-haired man's feet.

She had used this trick to deal with countless Devil Pathway extraordinaries before, and it was almost always a guaranteed snare. But the man before her was entirely different. His reaction was incredibly fast—or more accurately, it was as if he had precognition. The moment the vines sprouted, he leaped backward to put some distance between them.

While in mid-air, the red-haired man held his blade in one hand and drew a pistol from his waist with the other, aiming in their direction and decisively pulling the trigger.

Accompanied by a muzzle flash, a brass bullet hurtled toward them. It all happened in the blink of an eye. Though Freya saw it coming, she was currently channeling her Plant Acceleration extraordinary ability and couldn't react in time.

As for Euphemia, she was still paralyzed by the shock of the sudden attack.

However, just as the bullet got within a meter of them, an earring on Euphemia's right ear suddenly emitted a soft white light. A thin barrier of light materialized in front of her, deflecting the bullet with a crisp ting.

The white barrier only rippled slightly, seemingly completely unaffected.

Only then did Euphemia snap out of it. Rummaging frantically through her satchel, she cried, “We have to run! We can't fight him here!”

Although she didn't know how this man had detected them, that didn't matter right now. The crucial point was that the Rank Five General Jerome was nearby. If a fight broke out here, the General would arrive to reinforce him in no time, and they would both be finished.

“Buy me some time!” Euphemia said. “Just a moment!”

Freya didn't need to be told. She closed her eyes and raised her right hand, a soft white energy gathering at her fingertips.

This was the Rank Four ability Freya had obtained, called "life energy manipulation." Since it was associated with "life," many might expect this energy to be green. But in reality, it was white, or rather, colorless.

Now, guided by Freya's will, this life energy erupted as a beam of light, crossing a distance of thirty meters in the blink of an eye. This was currently her strongest offensive technique—she was unleashing her ultimate move right off the bat!

Accompanied by the roaring blast, a trench at least a meter wide was plowed into the street's pavement, sending gravel and chunks of earth flying everywhere. By any standard, this move was far more devastating than the red-haired man's gunshot. And this was the result of an instant, uncharged cast; had she taken the time to charge it, the power would have been even greater.

But... no matter how powerful an attack was, it was useless if it didn't hit.

Just like before, the moment Freya raised her hand to attack, the red-haired man dodged in advance as if he had foreseen it. Moving to a safe spot, he raised his gun to aim, and... his spirituality began to condense.

Freya had already entered her Heart Perception state. In her "god's-eye view," the red-haired man had originally appeared as a black-haired ordinary worker. But the moment he channeled his spirituality, it was like a sealed durian being cracked open—the "scent" inside instantly leaked out.

It was a highly pungent odor of iron and blood. Just smelling it made Freya furrow her brows. She now seemed to understand why, in her previous simulation, she had been kicked out of the Church of the Earth when she went there using her "War Freya" save slot.

Aside from this pungent scent, Freya also immediately sensed his strength. “This guy is Rank Four!” she said. “Rank Four War Pathway!”

Another gunshot rang out, but unlike before, this bullet glowed with a crimson hue. The moment it hit the barrier in front of Euphemia, it exploded like an artillery shell!

A massive shockwave rippled outward, instantly blasting a semicircular crater with a radius of over two meters into the ground. It was a semicircle because the barrier in front of Euphemia had blocked the impact perfectly, showing no signs of faltering.

Right at that moment, Euphemia finally found what she was looking for in her satchel—a blue gemstone the size of a thumb. “Hold on to me!” she yelled as she channeled her spirituality into the gem.

In the next second, the two vanished into thin air without warning. The red-haired man kept his gun raised, staring at the empty ground as his expression grew increasingly grim.

As for Freya, she felt as though she had been stuffed into a washing machine. After a dizzying spin, she opened her eyes to find herself lying on the floor of Euphemia's rented apartment.

Euphemia slowly pushed herself up beside her, looking equally dazed. It took a while before she spoke. “Thank goodness I changed the destination of the forced teleportation to this apartment a few days ago. Otherwise, we would have been in real danger.”

Before this, the destination for her forced teleportation had been her own house—which was right next door to General Jerome. If they had teleported there, they wouldn't have been escaping; they would have been delivering themselves on a silver platter.

Pausing, she added, “For the Rank Four War Pathway, besides the 【General】, the other two advancements are 【Warrior】 and 【Hunter】. That guy is highly likely a 【Hunter】.”

“So General Jerome isn't acting alone,” Freya said. “He actually has an accomplice!”

On second thought, this wasn't surprising. A general who had served in the military for a long time would bound to have subordinates who were fiercely loyal to him. No matter what the general did—even committing treason—these subordinates would follow him.

Given his Rank Four strength, Freya suspected the red-haired man was very likely General Jerome's adjutant.

The current situation was undoubtedly as bad as it could get. Not only were there multiple enemies, but they had also been discovered!

“Let's go,” Freya said. “We need to head to the Special Service right now.”

Originally, she had planned to play it safe, waiting for the Mobile Squad to arrive, for the Special Service and the Church of the Earth to be ready, or even for her to complete her ritual and advance to Rank Five before they all joined forces to take down General Jerome. But now, their plans were completely derailed.

Freya and Euphemia decisively left the apartment. On the way, Freya couldn't help but wonder: hadn't the Mobile Squad killed General Jerome once in a previous simulation? Why hadn't this adjutant shown up during that joint operation?

Was it possible they had discovered him but kept it from her? Just like how the Mobile Squad had deliberately hidden General Jerome's identity to suppress the matter? After all, he was a general of their own kingdom; it was only natural to keep such a scandal under wraps.

But the joint operation back then hadn't just involved the Mobile Squad—several Special Service squads had participated as well. Theoretically, if the adjutant had actually appeared, some word of it would have leaked.

Furthermore, the hunt back then had lasted for an entire day. It was impossible for the adjutant not to know. Could Freya interpret this as the adjutant intentionally choosing not to show up in the previous simulation?

While she was deep in thought, she and Euphemia arrived at the nearest police station. The moment they stepped through the door, Euphemia declared resolutely, “I am a registered extraordinary. I need to report a major extraordinary incident!”

“Ah... what?” The guard on duty at the door was visibly taken aback. His gaze swept over Euphemia and Freya, lingering on Freya for a brief moment before he suddenly snapped out of it. “Hold on a moment!”

With that, he rushed upstairs. Soon, accompanied by a flurry of footsteps, five official extraordinaries came down. Since this wasn't the police station near Freya's house, the team that came down wasn't Nolan's squad, but another squad Freya had never seen before.

The captain of this squad was a very serious-looking woman wearing glasses. She frowned slightly as she looked at the two of them. “Someone from the Church of the Earth, and the little girl from the Holmes family?”

Euphemia stepped forward, took out her grandfather's letter along with the occult array sketch she had just copied, and explained, “Here's what's going on...”

Euphemia's explanation was brief and easy to understand, but beneath her simple words lay an incredibly mind-boggling amount of information.

Among the five official extraordinaries, someone couldn't help but gasp:

“What? The mastermind behind Obsidian is a Rank Five!?”

“And he's a general of the Kingdom of Tarapaca!?”

“An occult array that can instantly burn down the entire city of Auxerre!? Are you serious?”

“Holy crap, you've got to be kidding me.”

As for the female captain with glasses, she frowned the entire time as she examined the two pieces of evidence Euphemia had handed over. Admittedly, the case Euphemia described was simply too absurd and outrageous!

If it weren't for these two pieces of decisive evidence, she would never have believed it.

Before this, the endless stream of troublemaking Devil Pathway extraordinaries had indeed given the Special Service quite a headache. But at the end of the day, the Obsidian case was merely troublesome.

It was like a serial killer who hadn't been caught yet. Dangerous? Yes, extremely. But that was it.

But now, the situation was completely different. In Euphemia's telling, this serial killer had transformed into a super-terrorist holding a "nuclear bomb." He had gone from killing a few people here and there to wanting to blow up the entire city!

The captain with glasses turned to one of her team members and said, “Go use the radio immediately. Call for Mobile Squad reinforcement in my name! There is not a moment to lose!”

Then, she looked at the other members. “The rest of you, head to the other Special Service branches immediately and gather all squads here!”

After issuing the orders, the captain turned back to Freya and Euphemia, her expression solemn. “So, after gathering all this intelligence and preparing to leave, you two were accidentally discovered by a Rank Four War Pathway user who is suspected to be the General's adjutant?”

Freya looked down at her forearm. This was where she had been slashed by the adjutant's scimitar. Of course, she had already healed herself, and the wound had long since closed. She nodded. “Yes.”

“Sigh.” The captain couldn't help but sigh. She didn't even know how to evaluate the situation. The two young girls in front of her had uncovered such a massive conspiracy all on their own—it was undoubtedly an incredible achievement.

But being discovered at the very last moment meant nobody knew what the General would do now that his plans were exposed. This instantly turned the situation tense, making it feel like both a blessing and a curse.

If nothing else, before the Mobile Squad arrived, if a Rank Five and a Rank Four of the War Pathway went on a rampage, no one in Auxerre's current extraordinary forces would be able to stop them.

Euphemia spoke up, “Look on the bright side. If the General is smart, he'll know the Mobile Squad is arriving soon, and this is his last chance to flee. Maybe he'll just run away?”

Having such a terrorist hiding within the kingdom sounded terrifying, but at least Auxerre would be safe for now, wouldn't it?

However, Freya said with absolute certainty, “No. That guy will definitely not run away.”

......