Negotiation

"Lemuenia, skewer these bastards."

As his words fell, Roy swung the blade in his hand, brimming with Sarkaz style, and cut down the Sarkaz charging at him.

Nearly two hours had passed since this encounter began. During that time, more than half the mercenaries had been lost, and their opponents had once held an absolute advantage. However, that advantage was overturned once Theresa's guards and Babel Tower's combat personnel joined the fight. Now, not only were the guards fighting the soldiers under Theresis, but Babel Tower combatants like Roy were scattered all across the battlefield.

"Roy, this is command. We're relaying the battlefield situation."

At that moment, the voice sounded through Roy's earpiece.

Roy remembered the owner of that voice. She was a Sarkaz. From their previous conversations, Roy had learned some information about her. She had served Babel Tower for several years, and because her Originium Arts were particularly effective at enhancing communication systems, she had always been responsible for maintaining Babel Tower's communications core.

"The enemies in your current area have been cleared. According to intelligence from the Sarkaz Mercenary Corps, two mercenaries have gone missing in the area east of you. If you have the time, go take a look."

"Understood."

Without any hesitation, Roy turned and headed north the moment Lemuenia returned.

At the same time, somewhere east of Roy's position.

W emerged from the bushes, clutching detonators taken from her opponents. Without hesitation or the slightest pause, she walked straight toward the halted, unusual group of mercenaries.

W stopped when she was about five meters away. At that moment, several enemies had their weapons trained on her. If she took even one more step forward, the weapons in their hands would kill her. W understood that clearly, so she stopped at the very limit of their range.

"One person spotted. W, huh? You're on the list."

The instant the Sarkaz finished speaking, W hurled every detonator in her hands.

The Originium detonators traced graceful arcs into the group of Sarkaz, and then roaring flames completely swallowed the area!

Seeing this, the Sarkaz showed no anger whatsoever. Instead, a trace of appreciation appeared on his face.

"Throwing Originium grenades with such a wide blast radius barehanded. That's a recklessly eye-opening method."

As he spoke, the appreciation on the Sarkaz's face grew more pronounced. He liked talent, and clearly, W had now been marked as one.

As for the Sarkaz killed by W's detonators... they only had themselves to blame for being too weak. He did not mind someone eliminating such people. After all, only then could he bring in more talent, and only then could his unit maintain the strongest combat effectiveness at all times.

"How did you do that? Those guys were swallowed by flames in an instant, yet you're fine?"

"Uh, practice makes perfect, I guess."

Seeing the look on his face, W could only answer like that.

"The General will like you very much." The Sarkaz paused slightly, then continued as if he had just thought of something. "Give up resisting. Tell us everything Babel Tower assigned you to do, and you'll shine elsewhere."

"Why should I trust you?" W said as she looked at him. Without pausing after those words, she continued, "Why should I believe you?"

"A very clever order of priorities... As for the reason... mercenaries are tools of war. If we're going to compete with each other, naturally we should keep useful tools in our own hands."

Hearing his words, W narrowed her eyes. She was sizing these people up, and she had roughly figured out who they were.

Mercenaries could not possibly possess this level of organization. Their identities were therefore obvious: they were soldiers of the "usurper" currently occupying Kazdel's core city. That was also why they had held such an overwhelming advantage when fighting these mercenaries.

"No, you mean convenient disposable tools, don't you?"

"Think whatever you like."

The Sarkaz warrior replied to W's faintly mocking words. As his voice fell, he continued.

"And the one hiding seventeen meters away at four o'clock, the mercenary skilled in detection Arts, you should think it over too."

"Put your knife down first. You have no chance of winning. Of course, you can try if you want."

Hearing the Sarkaz warrior's words, the hidden Ines paused for a moment.

His words might have been a deceptive tactic, but he had pinpointed her position exactly. That reduced the likelihood to almost nothing.

That could only prove one thing: he had indeed detected her location.

Ines knew that once an assassin was exposed, her mission had already failed. So she sheathed her blade and stood. Her ghostlike figure swiftly arrived beside W, where she stopped.

"Hmph... What do you want, then?"

"Hmm... the intelligence matches. W, Ines... nearly eighty percent of your squad has been lost. The remaining stragglers are like this person here—beneath notice."

The Sarkaz warrior pointed at the ground beneath his feet. The area was littered with fragments of bone and fat, and flies and other insects were already buzzing around them.

"Under your feet..."

As the Sarkaz warrior heard Ines's words, he seemed to suddenly recall something. He continued.

"Ah, right."

"These scraps used to be a whole person."

"..."

Ines fell silent.

"Do you understand now? What you're facing isn't mercenaries, killers, or assassins."

"How about this? Including your leader, there are three of you. Any two of you can join forces and kill the third... Bring the head of any one of them back here. All losses and responsibility will be placed on that person, and we'll accept the survivors."

At this point, as though he wanted to explain himself so the two would not misunderstand his words, the Sarkaz warrior continued.

"Don't misunderstand. This isn't my idea, but we need to give the fallen soldiers an explanation too."