"Want a smoke?"
Looking at Jiu Ming sitting on a broken stone platform, a young man carrying a large bag with a somewhat gloomy expression spoke up. He was also a Contractor, and his ability was quite vicious—similar to that baseball-throwing one Jiu Ming had encountered before, except this man's medium was a basketball.
"I don't like that stuff." Jiu Ming shook his head.
"Oh." The young man nodded, casually tossed away the cigarette pack in his hand, and stood up. "I'm heading to the rendezvous point."
Once these Contractors responsible for feints and guiding the observation spirits had finished their tasks, those still alive were to head to their respective rendezvous points according to orders. There were dolls stationed at those places. Since they had to maintain the observation spirits, the dolls could not be placed too far apart—and if they were too close... no, they would definitely be discovered. Before this battle ended, their task was to protect those key points!
The offensive was over. Naturally, it was time to begin the defense.
"A lot of stars have vanished."
Jiu Ming looked up at the sky, where stars occasionally fell. Although he was responsible for the main assault, those handling the feints were not without risk. If not for him, the rate at which stars were falling from the sky would probably have been like rain by now.
Instead of the current situation, where the falls never ceased but did not seem frequent.
He took out a map and looked it over. Jiu Ming vanished from where he stood. "Yo! Good morning, everyone! Want breakfast?"
"Open fire!!!"
After a brief burst of gunfire, quite a few ice sculptures were left behind once more, blocking the road so thoroughly that the reinforcements arriving afterward could only stare at the