A Drastic Shift in the Situation

The rigid traps themselves were not the deadliest part. The crossbow bolts fired by the three girls from the treetops always struck at just the right moment, disrupting the mercenaries' attempts to escape and repeatedly turning their struggles for survival into failures.

The mercenaries might not have noticed such sneak attacks, assuming they were simply part of the traps. But Ezekiel Sims, who had also taken cover in the trees, saw everything clearly.

Although the overwhelming trap formation had startled him at first, he came from a mercenary background and had faced life-or-death situations more times than he could count. Ezekiel Sims quickly grasped the state of the battlefield.

He also recognized the three girls launching sneak attacks from the treetops as the targets of this trip—the girls who would kill him in some future. As targets who had to be eliminated, they were the greatest disruption on the field.

Seeing how freely the girls moved through the canopy, how could Ezekiel Sims not understand where the path to survival on this battlefield lay? He swiftly adapted to the new terrain, chasing the girls through the treetops and branches in an attempt to kill them.

One major reason he had acted so decisively in person was that he had realized from the girls' movements that they had already gained spider abilities!

That left the mercenaries useful only for fire support; they could no longer serve as the main force. Firearms had little room to work against people with Spider-Sense, unless the gunfire was dense enough to form a barrage.

For Ezekiel Sims, the priority now was to completely deal with these troublesome girls while they were still inexperienced in using their abilities. This was probably his last chance. So even if it was one against three, he had to win!