Chapter 173: Strategically, And Almost Immediately

With the rest of the Templar Code's Elite Team combat mages, Freya remained in the valley to start their investigation.

They first checked the crater where Owen's body was. Then they went over to check Dess's and Quinne's bodies. After an hour, the five of them recovered their bodies and placed them on an enchanted body bag to preserve them. They would bring their bodies back to the headquarters for further examination.

When they were done, all five of them entered a makeshift camp that had been erected before their arrival. They gathered around a small table to discuss their findings.

They did not assign one member to check the condition of the bodies to ensure that the findings would not be one-sided. It was better to have more eyes and brain check the scene not to miss any clues.

Freya, who now acted as the group leader, sat at the head of the table. Her eyes were still red from her earlier cry, but her expression had already turned cold.

"Let us start," she announced and turned her attention to Reuben.

"Reuben, I want to hear what you have to say first," she started.

Reuben, who had removed his headgear, was a man in his mid-twenties. He had buzz-cut light brown hair and dark brown eyes. His left ear had an ear piercing, and there was a small cross-shaped scar under his chin. He looked pretty average and was neither thin nor burly, but his eyes showed great intelligence.

"Yes, Lady Freya." Reuben replied with a short nod.

The others did not show any reaction when Freya handpicked Reuben. After all, his intelligent air was not for show, though, because he was considered the youngest strategist within the Templar Code's Elite Team.

"As I have said earlier, I curious about the crater where sir Owen's body was found." Reuben started. "While checking the crater and the position of his body, I noticed that he fell directly from above. However, the attack that caused his body to be in that state, was not consistent with the direction of his fall. To be more precise, the attack, which we all know was made by the Quilin's shockwave, hit his body starting from the left side, going to his right. This means that the Quilin's location when it attacked was a few meters to the left. Another proof of that was there were traces of the shockwave's attack at the edge of the crater's left side."

Before Reuben could continue with his explanation, the man in his early thirties who was seated beside him frowned. This man had short black hair and dark blue eyes. His right eye was covered with a gold eyepatch, and there were three long nasty scars down his right cheek originating from his eye.

"I also noticed something's amiss," he agreed. "We're talking about Owen here. If he received a direct attack from the Quilin above and fell on the ground, even if the Quilin went to the left before releasing its shockwave attack, Owen would have gotten up by then and avoid it."

Freya turned to this man.

The man's name was Evan, and he was the one who stopped Jason, the man who wanted to comfort Freya earlier. Although it appeared that he interrupted Reuben's explanation, Freya did not dismiss him and only listened.

Reuben looked at Evan and nodded, "I agree. I believe, when sir Owen fell, he might have already been dead. Or at least close to death."

"Reuben," the man sitting across from Reuben called out with a frown.

This man seemed to be the youngest, who looked only in his early twenties. He had short curly black hair and amber eyes. His facial features looked a little feminine, making him look very delicate yet good-looking. He was the one who wanted to comfort Freya earlier.

"It is fine Jason," Freya looked at the man with a smile. However, her smile did not reach her eyes. 

She turned her attention back at Reuben and said, "Continue."

Reuben only nodded. He did not mean to sound unsympathetic, but he was a soldier, and so does Freya. He knew her earlier show of weakness was the first and last time she would display in front of them.

Freya was not a delicate damsel.

Taking a deep breath, Reuben continued, "I also found the Quilin's attack pattern a little strange. If the Quilin successfully dealt an attack on sir Owen, and he fell on the ground, why did it have to fly away before releasing a follow-up attack?"

The man seated beside Jason grunted in agreement.

Freya looked at the man curiously.

The man's name was Max. He was the only one among the Templar Code's Elite Team who originated from the north. He was a burly man in his late twenties with long dreadlocks, dark brown hair, and reddish-brown eyes. His eyes were a distinct feature of those who lived in the northern part of the empire. His skin color was also darker, and the contours of his face were sharp, giving him a fierce look.

"Do you have anything to say, Max?" Freya asked.

The other three also turned to him.

Max rarely spoke, and when he did, he never said more than three words.

"Armor," Max replied.

Jason looked at him in confusion, "Huh?"

However, Freya's, Evan's, and Reuben's eyes widened in shock.

That was right.

Why did they miss this very basic detail?

"Right. All of their armors were crushed," Reuben murmured while he crossed his arms across his chest and started to ponder.

Jason turned to him and said with slight confusion, "Of course it was crushed. The Quilin's shockwave crushed it."

Max shook his head before grunting, "Impossible."

Evan too looked at Jason with a sigh, "You're new in the team, and you haven't tested our armors in real combat yet. Our armors can withstand magic attacks. Quinne is also with them, and with his magic, he would have cast a strengthening magic on their armors."

Jason frowned at once. He knew the armor issued by the Templar Code was top-notch. Now that Evan had reminded him of it as well as Quinne's ability, Jason started to have doubts.

Even if the Quilin's shockwave bypassed the armor's defenses, it should not have been crushed like that. Apart from this, with Quinne's ability, he definitely would not have watched in silence and let them receive the Quilin's attack head-on.

"In that case, why did Quinne not strengthen their armor before the Quilin attacked?"

"First dead," Max grunted again.

Hearing Max's remark, Reuben realized something and could not help but lookup. He lowered his arms and laughed derisively at himself before looking at Freya with a bitter smile.

"Lady Freya, I'm sorry. Please let me reassess what happened," he requested.

Freya looked at him and nodded her consent, "Don't worry. Most of us missed it."

She then looked at Max and added, "Thank you Max."

Max grunted and gave a short nod in response.

"I'll start from the beginning. Focusing on sir Max's points, let's first go back to the locations of their bodies." Reuben started once again.

The four turned to him and listened in silence.

"If we follow their route while they chased after the Quilin, the first body we found stuck on the wall was Dess's. Then Quinne's and last, sir Owen. From these, we can guess that the first one to fall was Dess, followed by Quinne and then sir Owen."

Jason opened his mouth and was about to say something. However, seeing that the others did not want to interrupt Reuben, he closed his mouth and decided to listen first.

Besides, Reuben might point out what Jason wanted to say. If he had interrupted now, he would have disrupted Reuben's train of thought.

"Judging from the recorded skirmishes our team had with the Quilin, it never showed any signs of 'strategicial' pattern in dealing with them. It always flaunted its powerful area-of-effect attacks to scatter our people's advances."

Reuben paused to take a deep breath before adding with a mocking smile, "But the way sir Owen's team had been dealt with showed otherwise. Not to mention, after dealing with Dess, the attacker shifted to Quinne almost immediately.

Freya closed her eyes. She thought the same.

Strategically, it was best to take down the person who could boost the team's combat strength first. In this case, that would be Quinne. But another good strategy was to deal with the person who could provide long-range offense and big area-of-effect attacks. This move meant that dealing with Dess first was also good. Still, the attacker must possess great speed and a powerful attack for this to succeed. After all, Quinne and Owen would not watch in silence when Dess was under attack.

Talking about speed, though the Quilin was fast, it could not perform continuous attacks. They already know its attacks had a few seconds lag time. So how was it able to achieve such speed? Could the Quilin had a hidden ability? If it did, why only show it now?

"And..." Reuben hesitated for a second while lowering his gaze. After a short pause, he looked at Freya with a solemn expression. He continued, "If I consider my first doubts on the crater's origin, including Dess's and Quinnes's, we can judge from the depth of the craters that the force that hit them was enough to crush a human bones. Since they were wearing armors, it should have cushioned the impact. But recalling the state of their armors, and how our armors could deflect the Quilin's shockwave attack, then we can say, that the armor might have been destroyed before they fell."

Freya's eyes snapped open. She looked at Reuben in disbelief.

"There is no way the Quilin could destroy our armors. If it did, it should have done so years ago," she said.

Reuben nodded, "That's right. And as I said, the attacker dealt with sir Owen's team strategically, and almost immediately. Feats that the Quilin is not capable of."

Evan took a sharp breath and hissed, "Are you saying there is someone else?"

Reuben nodded his head hesitantly, "We can't rule out the possibility."

Max also grunted in agreement.

On the other hand, Jason looked at both of them in disbelief.

"How is that possible? The Commander dispatched more people to guard the ruins because recently there was a group of people who broke in. If what you said is true, how did that person got in?" He asked.

Reuben shook his head.

Silence followed as all of them started to ponder this information.

After a few minutes, Freya finally stood up and said, "Evan, you, Max and Jason will return to the headquarters to examine the bodies. Request to use magic energy tests and confirm if there are foreign energies in the bodies that did not belong to the Quilin and them. Reuben and I will stay and look for the Quilin."

All of them stood up and nodded in response.

"Alright," Evan replied with a short nod.

Freya looked at Reuben and said, "Let's go."

"Yes, Lady Freya," Reuben answered.

The two left the makeshift camp at once.

====================

Gage hid at a small hidden cave in the forest outside Noser while silently observing the outside surroundings.

He managed to lure the people who were about to discover the cottage earlier. Then he found a safe place to take the potion Nolan gave him before hiding in the cave.

Unlike Gage's initial worry, the potion did not taste bad. Although it did taste like graphite.

It had been a good two hours since Gage left the cottage and at least an hour since he shook off their pursuit and found the cave to hide. So far, he had not sensed anyone nearby.

Gage leaned back on the cave's wall and closed his eyes with a sigh.

'Now I only have to wait for Nolan to find me,' he thought.

His expression suddenly turned sour, remembering Nolan's lousy sense of direction.

"He said he can find me with the potion's help. I hope what he said is true. If not, I will end up hiding here for nothing," Gage murmured under his breath.

"You want me to beat you up, baldie?"

"Shit!" Gage exclaimed when he suddenly heard a deep male voice speak near the cave's opening.

Soon a fog-like shadow appeared, then dispersed, revealing Nolan standing at the cave's entrance.

Nolan was looking at Gage with a scowl.

"You—! Wait, how did you find me so soon?" Gage asked in concern. "It's only been an hour since I shake them off. They might still be nearby."

An hour was not enough to thoroughly shake off those people's pursuit. If they did not find his trace, they would retrace their tracks and search another route.

Nolan snorted as he entered the cave.

"Those bunch of weaklings? I killed them off," he said casually.

Gage froze from Nolan's casual attitude. He was also a mercenary, and sometimes killing someone could not be avoided. However, killing a monster and killing a human were different.

Gage could never have such a casual attitude after doing the deed.

'I better talk to Silas and tell him not to say anything to this man about how I thought of getting even with him before,' he thought.

"We won't head back though. Let's leave some traces away from the cottage to throw them off," Nolan continued.

Gage did not argue and nodded his head in agreement.

"Which way are we going to lead them?"

Nolan sneered and replied while heading out of the cave, "Let's leave a trail going to Meliora."

His answer gave Gage a foreboding feeling.

"You... You're not trying to sow discord are you?"

Nolan stopped and turned his head to look at him with a devious smile before answering dramatically, "What do you think?"