Ambush!

Before long, the four groups that had entered Flevance gathered in an open area on the outskirts of the city.

The four groups formed a circle around the clearing, while their four leaders made their way to its center.

"Well, look who it is! Baron Dalami himself! Looks like you're one of the ones who got abandoned, too!"

The speaker was a man about 1.7 meters tall with a prominent belly. His words dripped with oily smugness.

He had recognized the antique sword at Dalami's waist, and it was thanks to that sword that he'd identified Dalami beneath his protective suit.

"Hah! Fat pig, shut your filthy mouth."

Dalami looked at him with disgust. The fat pig—no, Baron Felsi—was instantly so angry his chest heaved. But a moment later, he sneered with a false smile.

"Tut, tut! Looks like things haven't been going too well for our Lord Dalami up the chain!

They've even given you a lousy job like this!"

The other two men watched with an air of detached amusement.

Dalami's face was pitch-black beneath his mask, but he merely said, "If you have something to say, say it. Otherwise, I'm going back to work."

Felsi sighed. "It's dangerous in this city right now. Our soldiers have been ambushed by the enemy, and they've gotten their hands on our advanced weapons—especially hand grenades, which are extremely dangerous explosives.

I don't believe any of you here could take a direct hit from a bomb and walk away unscathed.

If they got close and set off two or three grenades, would we still be alive?

The answer is... NO!"

Dalami's expression beneath his mask darkened. He might have been a skilled swordsman, and he might have been able to handle more than a dozen soldiers on his own without much trouble.

But could he withstand a bomb with his bare body?

Impossible.

Just then, another man spoke quietly.

"How about we carpet-bomb the place, inch by inch?"

The last man gave a derisive snort. "Do you think artillery shells grow on trees? Or is your country going to pay for all of them?"

He certainly didn't have any shells to spare.

And his superiors wouldn't approve that many just to let him waste them.

Felsi chuckled. "We could start fires on the outskirts and burn the whole city down. Part of it's already been reduced to ruins, anyway.

Once we set it ablaze, there won't be much food left in the city.

Without a source of food, they'll have no choice but to be surrounded and wiped out."

Dalami said flatly, "There are complicated sewers beneath this place. My men have already killed quite a few 'clever' people down there."

Felsi gave a vicious smile.

"Hey, what a coincidence! I happen to have a batch of poison gas bombs that need testing. We'll send them into the sewers. I guarantee not even a cockroach will survive.

Our four groups will start fires and advance from the four directions around the city. I'll send men to your units to fire the poison gas bombs and 'exterminate the rats.'

What do you think?"

"Sounds fine. Let's do it."

"Heh heh. Good."

"Mm. We'll go with your plan."

After leaving a cemetery on the outskirts of Flevance and paying their respects to her parents, Merlin brought Yol and the others to a nearby spot.

Six in the evening.

In a grove near the hospital ruins, Merlin and Yol stood beside a small mound of earth, each holding a shovel.

Lami knelt on the ground, her eyes red-rimmed. With her lips pressed together, she sobbed repeatedly.

"Dad, Mom, Brother Merlin and Sister Yol have laid you to rest!

Lami will make sure to live well. Don't worry about me in heaven. I have my brother and sister looking after me."

Yol knelt down and wrapped her arms around Lami from behind, gently stroking her head. Lami turned her face and managed a smile.

"Sister Yol, let's go."

Yol turned to look at Merlin, only to find him staring gravely at the distant sky.

A little bewildered, she asked, "Did something happen?"

Beneath the dimming sky, Merlin's pupils widened as he spotted patches of black smoke rising in the distance.

A thoughtful look crossed his eyes. It looked like there was a fire on the outskirts. Fire? A faint sense of unease stirred in Merlin's heart.

"Come with me. Let's take a look outside."

Sensing Merlin's unease, Yol stood with Lami. "Mm. Okay."

A short while later, on the rooftop of a building near the city's outskirts, Merlin gazed grimly at the raging flames surrounding the entire city.

"This is those guys' retaliation against us. They want to burn this place to the ground."

Yol covered her mouth, her expression just as grave. Then she pointed at a spot in the distance. "Look over there. Why is there yellow-green fog?"

Merlin's gaze sharpened as he looked over. He already had a few suspicions.

"I'll go check it out. Wait here."

Yol was about to speak, but Merlin had already turned and vaulted down from the ten-meter-high roof.

He landed lightly and quickly disappeared into the streets.

As he ran, Merlin glanced at the string of hand grenades tied around his waist and the dagger strapped to his right leg.

You could say he was brave because of his skill.

Over the past three days, he'd been constantly dealing with the soldiers in the city. The Synchronization Value of both pieces of equipment had risen by 1% each day.

It was only 1%, but it had made Merlin much more adept at using both pieces of equipment.

And as he spent more time using the equipment—not to mention the Calamity Fruit, even the lynx—Merlin felt as if his body was quietly undergoing a transformation.

His muscles had grown more supple, his stamina was constantly improving, and his senses and reflexes were getting sharper.

He vaguely felt that he was becoming more and more accustomed to the environment of the night.

Is this what synchronization is? It's making my habits more and more like those of a nocturnal animal like the lynx.

He didn't know whether it was good or bad. First, he had no choice, and second, the benefits outweighed the drawbacks.

Before long, Merlin passed through the surrounding cluster of burning buildings and reached an unoccupied ruin that was half engulfed in flames. He dropped low and watched a force of roughly two hundred soldiers in the clearing a hundred meters away.

His gaze swept over them in silence. Before long, he spotted a figure in the crowd who clearly stood out from the rest.

Unlike the surrounding soldiers, he carried no rifle or backpack. He wore only an antique slender sword at his waist.

The soldiers around him also kept their distance, as if they were forming a protective ring around him.

Something was off.

Merlin instinctively sensed that he was probably the leader of the soldiers.

He listened carefully. His keen hearing picked up the conversation from across the clearing.

"It's great having so many people. Since noon, none of those infected have dared attack us. Lord Dalami really came up with a brilliant plan."

"Tell me about it. Our poison gas bombs went off in the sewers. I heard the other three groups have already caught quite a few infected!"

"This should put an end to them once and for all. Why can't those sewer rats just lie down and die?"

"Haha! Once this mission's done, we can go home. We'll get a pretty nice reward this time. I'm definitely going out to have some fun!"

"I'm in! Count me in."

At a distance of a hundred meters, a grenade should be able to reach them in an arc.

In this life, Merlin's body was much stronger than it had been in his previous one. He'd started learning combat techniques from his father when he was six.

Although he'd only been taught for three years, Merlin hadn't slacked off during the five years since.

His physical fitness was far beyond that of an average adult. With his current equipment, he was confident he could easily take down more than a dozen ordinary adults by himself.

He felt the hard grenades in the backpack against his chest.

Over the past three days, he'd collected a total of eighty-seven grenades, and traded ammunition with other survivors for another twenty-five.

Eighty of them were stored in the cave where he was staying.

He had fifteen in his backpack, seven hanging at his waist, and Yol was carrying ten.

He took a slow breath. His pupils widened as he pulled four grenades from his backpack and set them down in front of him.

Then he gripped one grenade in each hand and held the rings of the other two between his teeth.

He yanked hard with both hands. Click!

Merlin suddenly rose halfway from the ruins, dropping to one knee. He leaned back slightly and swung both arms. The two grenades traced arcs through the air and landed in the distant crowd.

Clatter! The grenades hit the ground.

Boom! Boom!!

Two bursts of flames suddenly bloomed.

Merlin watched as piercing screams rang out from the crowd. Without hesitation, he quickly bent down, grabbed the other two grenades, and threw them the same way.

Just then, a barrage of gunfire erupted from elsewhere. Streaks of fire shot toward him.

But Merlin had already thrown himself into a roll to the side as soon as he'd let the grenades fly.

At that moment, two more powerful explosions rang out, joined by several other blasts.

The first explosions had set off the others.

Merlin quickly fled the ruins.

He ran toward another spot.

By then, the smoke had cleared, and Dalami was climbing to his feet at the edge of the blast zone, his face and clothes covered in dust. A persistent ringing filled his ears.

The instant the grenades hit the ground, every hair on his body had stood on end. He'd thrown himself backward, then grabbed a soldier who'd been knocked down and pulled the man on top of him to shield himself.

Now, the soldier on top of him lay dead, his chest a bloody mess.

A deep chill surged from his tailbone straight to the crown of his head, like an electric shock.