819 Counter Offence Discussion

"No matter what I try to come up with, the probability of Jin and the others getting seen is just too high." Lynn shared as she chewed on the thick fat yet succulent drumstick.

"It's not your fault, that Pandas aren't exactly known for being stealthy and sticking out." Kraft comforted Lynn as he used his lips to tear the fried chicken skin off the meat and kept it on his plate.

"Since we all seem to be in agreement, why are you all not just letting me or the other foxes come with you guys for the counter offence? I mean we did a great job in the previous ambush, right?"

"That is exactly why! You guys already had the chance to have some fun in the Demon Metropolis. Don't be selfish! Let me go boom boom once in a while! Besides your job wasn't much of a heist, more like you came in guns blazing. You in particular, though I loved the explosions, you caused. A solid 7.5/10, lacked a bit in the colour department… OIIII!!! Who took the last piece?!" Peppers pouted as she noticed there were no more wings on the table.

"You!" Everyone answered in unison. Their eyes practically drew an arrow towards Peppers' hand holding the last eaten piece of chicken wing. They all enjoyed the bliss from the unforgettable taste of Lynn's Barbequed chicken wings, yet after a few pieces, Peppers had fried some to change the flavours up a little. She blushed for a while, not having noticed that during the talk about the videos with Kraft's explosion, she had seemingly eaten it without realising it was the last one.

"Peppers, remember, no Boom Boom this time around! We are trying to limit our presence as well as the damage done to the environment. Else people would come looking for Jin, and even the System can do so much against them." Lynn took the opportunity to stress that point while giving one of her wings as bribery.

"Ehhhh But I can't call myself a competent mage if I don't let things explode." Peppers motivation visibly deflated but not her mouth. "Besides, it would be boring..."

"Shouldn't a competent mage be able to adapt to any kind of circumstance?" Milk questioned her as she held on to a chicken wing she had previously kept hidden in her pile of leftover bones to avoid Peppers from stealing it.

"Outrageous! I had dibs on ALL the wings!" Peppers claimed (she did not) and was about to cast a spell to get it, but Milk snapped up the whole piece of meat right into her mouth. She gleed with the tip of the wing inside her mouth and Peppers whined with dread, forced to admit defeat.

"See. If you were competent enough with your other magic, you could have taken this already." Milk teased her slowly with her mouth partially chewing the chicken wing.

"Back to topic, in other words, no monsters are coming to aid us?" Qiu Yue clarified as she tore a piece of breast meat and dipped it with salted egg sauce.

"Even with cosmetic inscriptions, chances are too high that something might go wrong and could reveal their true form, so we should avoid using them. Instead, we will be using the Dark Sludge Crystals installed onto a fake Portal Device structure to cover our real System portal. Meanwhile, we got the System's approval to Lynn's proposal to use the bellators in case we are seen by others." Jin said as he poured the mushroom sauce over his barbequed chicken.

"You mean by the private contractors?" Qiu Yue asked, and Lynn nodded her head.

"With Jin's status as a Demon Exorcist Branch Manager, even if it's technically an upcoming one, there is no problem with him having his own bodyguards. If those contractors were to ask us we could avoid any further suspicion that way." Lynn pointed upwards where the System had listed pages with the responsibilities and right of a Demon Exorcist Branch Manager.

"The System has also acquired a security business licence and listed the Bellators as bodyguards… excluding Original Bellator Kraft." The System stated, and everyone could hear Kraft complaining about this injustice despite having his mouth full of meat. Yet he was obviously not bothered by it since he knew how the System acted. They were also all aware that if he wanted to participate, there was not really anything or anyone of them could do against him.

"But will the private contractors actually believe you? I guess the only saving grace will be to have Jin show off his Demon Exorcist badge." Qiu Yue shrugged at such a feeble defence, but it was better than nothing.

"Nah. By then, the soldiers would already have met with the private contractors since they are attacking them at head-on. If the horde starts to move towards the border wall, the chances of the private contractors staying in the forest should be low, especially since they were previous state agents. They probably have to stay to help out with the defences." Jin deduced.

"Heh, you are underestimating them. It is precisely because they are former state agents, that they will be more likely to search for the cause of this and stop it at its roots. With you all as the only humans around, you will undoubtedly get treated as suspects for this case." Kraft gave his opinion as an ex-spy.

"What if they see us fighting against the Monster Horde?" Jin tried to counter, and Kraft shook his head.

"If you were to chance upon some strange people fighting a Monster Horde in the middle of an attack, would your first thought be, that those are allies? No, the normal case is that you guys lost control over the monsters and they are about to overpower you as a way to get back against their masters. You will have to find someone incredibly naive if they talk to you instead. Out there in such a situation, it's shoot first, talk later!"

"That is why we are only letting Bellators and Jin fight for this round. As much as I'd like to help out, I feel that I might become a burden even though it would definitely be a good fighting experience." Lynn sighed, and Qiu Yue whined like Peppers.

"Ehhhhhh! Doesn't that mean I'll have to stay behind with you, Lynn?" Qiu Yue tried to confirm Lynn's counter attack proposal.

"Yeah, but we have loads of monsters to fight alongside our minions once they enter the portal." Lynn answered.

"Then, I guess I will be in my System Rider form while fighting," Jin said, but Lynn was in a dilemma.

"Do you think that's a good idea? I mean it will protect your identity, but I doubt Demon Exorcists have such flashy outfits."

"Actually they do. Well maybe not as flashy as mine, but I learnt from Su Zhen that higher ranked exorcists do have full defence armour inscription as part of their repertoire. To be honest, I actually only gave them those dual inscription charms thinking it would be cool to look like they control and possess their demons until they told me about it. I had no idea, so I went pretending that it was always part of the plan. Hahaha!"

"Ah, then that means they will believe you further if you claim to be the Branch Manager since only higher-ranked exorcists have such armour." Qiu Yue nodded her head to agree with that idea.

"Actually, I do not think Branch Managers have that…it is an administrative post, not a combat one. Though I doubt anyone will question it if I claim it was a perk or gift from Grandma Yuan or something. Hahaha…Just need to tell her to collaborate with the lie in case anyone does ask."

"Alright, that settles it. Sorry, I am leaving first. Have some errands to do first. Please rest up well and prepare for tomorrow's big day." Zeru excused as he thanked Lynn for the food and left with the aid of the System portal.

Kraft was a bit intrigued as to what kind of plans Zeru would have. He should know about most if not all of the stuff going on, yet nothing came to mind. Then again, seeing as no one seemed to be bothered about it, he shrugged to himself and savoured the best food he had kept for last.

The chicken skin.