The vanguard squad was indeed members of the Rain Listeners' Elite Brigade, known as 'Storm', and the Nightingale Girl leading the way was one of the few individuals in the Rain Listeners that Fang Hong knew, the twin sister named Elisa.

She was crouching low as she moved through a dense thicket, the forest ahead at the mouth of the valley began to thin out, and gentle slopes were strewn with broken rocks, which under the moonlight, looked like grey-white monsters crawling amongst the grass.

Elisa frowned at the sight, as a vanguard, she didn't like this kind of terrain; open areas and differences in elevation. If enemies were on the ridge, their movements would be completely exposed.

She knew there had to be enemies in the direction of the valley mouth, just not how many. They might be hiding, since the brazen use of illumination bombs earlier couldn't be the work of the main force.

It could be a small squad placed by the Blood Oath Alliance, the enemy's purpose being to provide information to their main force. But where could they be?

Elisa felt a sense of unease instinctively, this was an intuition born from experience; she believed that the most likely place for enemies to set up an ambush was at the mouth of the valley, to delay their advance.

But as she cautiously raised her head to look around, all was silent in her vision. She wasn't a true scout or observer; in fact, it was only the Summoners System that had granted her such abilities.

But now the Summoners System had no response. Moonlight spilled into the valley, the visibility was not too bad, and the valley mouth ahead seemed devoid of anyone.

Could the enemy really have fled?

That would be too abnormal.

Torn between her own experience and the judgment of the Summoners System, Elisa furrowed her brow and came to a stop.

"Is something wrong?" Her sister noticed her older sibling's unusual behavior in that direction and also stopped, making hand signals to ask.

Elisa drew the pair of short swords named 'Dawn' from the sheaths strapped to her thighs and shook her head.

"Nothing's wrong, why have we stopped?"

The two dual-wielding swordsmen behind asked the same question in sign language.

Elisa found herself at a loss for words; according to regulations, she must immediately answer the other's question, but what should she say? Intuition? This was no joke; the lives of the twelve people in this squad, as well as the safety of the main Rain Listener Guild forces behind them, all hinged on her judgment.

But it was right then, that Anlan seemed to sense their opponent's unusual hesitation and decided not to wait any longer; they began their attack.

A low whistle sounded as two crossbow bolts flew through the woods.

The two dual-wielding swordsmen behind were almost completely caught off guard; one was hit in the back by a bolt, falling face-forward to the ground.

The other, by a hair's breadth at the critical moment, managed to sidestep wrong, narrowly missing the crossbow bolt aimed at him.

Then it seemed as if he finally realized what had happened, going on alert, and with a dive forward, he rolled into the bushes nearby.

"Intuitive Dodge!"

A kilometer away from the battlefield, Kaka, hidden atop the trees through the eyes of Clockwork Fairy, whispered in awe at the scene.

In the Summoners System's setup, if you can't perceive the incoming attack, the system naturally won't aid you in dodging.

But there are exceptions.

For instance, Intuitive Dodge, Danger Pre-Cognition Ability, these skills all exceptionally develop one's sixth sense, allowing a person to dodge attacks without any perception, although this consumes more Evasion Value.

Not to mention Anlan, even Kaka hadn't expected to find people at this Level with these two abilities, given that the prerequisites for these skills were quite high.

Kaka couldn't help but feel amazed in his heart; even if it was a brigade from a small guild, the members of the brigade were still brigade members; there's always something unexpected about them.

However, surprised as he was, he immediately issued a command through the communicator, "Target four confirmed dead, target three has ducked into the bushes at 16,2 direction, continue moving south, Snail, he's at your seven o'clock, you'll find it easier to locate him using the sound scanning mode."

Then he switched the Clockwork Fairy's perspective, bringing the other two into view: "Targets one and two are breaking north, wow, it's two girls, such beautiful coordination!"

But Elisa didn't hear this praise.

Perhaps even if she had heard, she would hardly be able to feel pleased; the sudden attack was completely unexpected, so much so that she hadn't even had a chance to feel defeat.

She wasn't clear on the condition of the two teammates who had been attacked behind her; only the training ingrained in her came into play at that moment. For some reason, the enemy hadn't attacked in unison. She managed to find temporary cover almost instantly, avoiding the first round of assault.

She looked in the direction where her sister was, but it was eerily quiet.

Elisa's heart couldn't help but twist.

But after a short pang of agony, she gradually calmed down—the enemy had managed to move behind them to mount their attack. This indicated that the enemy had long discovered their inverted-triangle formation and had intentionally let them pass.

This was an attempt to devour their entire squad, a voracious plan, one not any regular squad could conceive. Elisa realized in an instant that they might have encountered the Elite Brigade of the Blood Oath Alliance.

And the enemy might possess a very skilled observer; otherwise, she couldn't explain what happened before. Just then, a flash of light cut through the dark, and as she turned her head, she just managed to see the flare hit somewhere behind her.

After a burst of explosive light, Elisa had a faint guess of what had happened; the connection between her, her sister, and the rest of their team had been completely severed.

And this attack also confirmed her judgment.

A skilled observer—who could it be? The captain of Anlan? It's said to be a high-level Ranger.

...

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