Science/Magic

Bloed closed his eyes and focused on Oculus. With a thought, the eye in the sky turned into tens of dragonfly-like metallics insects.

Then, each insect flew in direction of one of the candidates, and one flew towards him and the girls. It was so Aya, Liu Ying, and Rana could hear the conversation as well.

To be honest, controlling thirty dragonflies at the same time was a bit hard. Having thirty different perspectives in his mind and coordinating them was not something a normal person would have been able to do.

And even with Bloed's [Enhanced Brain Capacity], it was hard enough that Bloed needed to focus completely to not make any mistakes.

Even so, he managed to send each dragonfly to its respective location.

To his surprise, some beastmen managed to detect something wrong with the insect when it approached them. One of them even destroyed the dragonfly as soon as it appeared!

Fortunately, the dragonflies were made with the same metallic sand technology like Tito and Leto, so it reformed itself instantly.

Bloed then coughed, transmitting his voice through the dragonflies.

"Hello, nice to meet you. My name is Bloed, one of the participants."

Gasps of surprise and expressions of fright appeared in some of the candidates, while others looked at the dragonflies with expressions of wariness and alert.

The next second, twelve more of his dragonflies were destroyed.

Bloed smiled wryly and reformed the dragonflies again. He then transmitted his voice once more.

"Please don't attack the dragonflies, okay? I don't have bad intentions."

Bloed's words were passed through the insects, reaching each candidate.

[Who are you?] Someone asked. Through the dragonfly, Bloed saw it was a lizarkin girl.

"As I said before, my name is Bloed, one of the participants. You can consider the insects talking to you as my familiars. I have sent a dragonfly to each candidate near the tower with the purpose of allowing communication between us. Each one of you can talk to the dragonfly and your voices will be heard by the other candidates."

A brief silence was transmitted through the dragonflies. For a few seconds, none of the candidates spoke up.

But before long, someone decided to speak.

[What do you want? And how can we know the insects are not dangerous and you are not planning to kill us?]

Bloed smiled.

[ Don't worry. Some of you already attacked the insect, and as you can see it doesn't have any attack power. Their only advantages are the fact they are very hard to kill. Plus, I can also use them to scout or do something like this.]

After these words, a new wave of attacks flew to the dragonflies, as if the candidates wanted to confirm Bloed's words.

Bloed smiled bitterly and shook his head. He then reformed the insects again.

"… Please stop attacking the insects, okay? It's troublesome."

[How interesting... What are them?] One of the candidates asked.

"... That is not important right now. Let's talk instead about the reason I contacted you."

[What do you want?] Another of the contestants asked.

"Obviously, I want to find a way to reach the tower. And I hope we can cooperate with a plan."

[And why should we help you?]

Bloed sighed. "I'm sure some of you already noticed, but there are five A-Ranks protecting the tower. I got a glimpse of their abilities, and to be honest, even if ten of us rush to the tower at the same time, perhaps not even one person will be able to succeed in the end.

"Each one of us can be considered as someone outstanding among the people of our level. So I'm sure you should be able to see that our best chance to reach the tower is by cooperating."

[… He is right.] One of the candidates agreed with me. [I also saw the abilities of the guards, and to be honest, they are a bit too strong.]

[What is your plan then?] Another candidate asked.

"Simple," Bloed said confidently. "All of us need to attack at the same time."

Bloed only received silence as an answer. None of the other candidates seemed to agree with Bloed's strategy.

[… It's too risky. Some of us will fail.]

"I know," Bloed said. "But it's the strategy with the greatest chance of success."

Through the dragonflies, Bloed could see that the candidates were hesitating about his words.

But suddenly, someone spoke up through the dragonflies.

[… I agree with you.] An upbeat voice of a girl said with a sigh. [I also think that is the best plan.]

Bloed was surprised. Looking behind him, he saw Rana winking to him with a smile.

The rabittkin girl was the one that had spoken!

And with someone agreeing, several people more showed their agreement.

[... I also think that is the best plant.]

[If we attack at the same time, most of us will manage to succeed."

[... It's risky, but worth the risk.]

Even Aya and Liu Ying spoke through the dragonflies to support Bloed's plan. And soon, he had the support of almost all the candidates.

Nevertheless–

[However, we can't trust you so easily.] One of the candidates, a cowkin young man, spoke up. [How do we know it's not a trap and you are not planning to use us as bait?]

But Bloed was already ready for that question.

"DOn't worry, I'll be as transparent as possible. Hear my plan first."

Bloed then ordered the dragonflies to fly to the ground and draw a basic map of the surroundings of the tower with their legs.

Then, he pointed out the locations of the five A-Ranks in the map.

"The A-Ranks are in these five locations. The one in the north is a bearkin that wields a spear, the one in the east is a tigerkin wielding twin swords, the one in the south is an otterkin with a staff, probably a mage, and the one in the west is a lionkin with a longsword. Besides them, there is a foxkin mage moving between the four locations.

"Currently, there are twenty-five candidates that need to reach the tower. We will divide ourselves into five groups of five people, and each group will choose an enemy to attack. Even if the A-Rank hunters are powerful, I think that five of us attacking together are enough to take care of one of them. But we need to attack together, or the other A-Ranks will come as reinforcements.

"We will attack tomorrow just before noon to give the contestants that have not arrived yet the opportunity to arrive. Although to be honest, I think we are most of the survivors. Then, what do you think about my plan?"

For a while, nobody answered.

But then, someone spoke up.

[I agree with your plan.]

Through the dragonflies, Bloed recognized Atai as the one that spoke up. He was the cougarkin Bloed fought before.

With Atai's approval, others started to jump in.

[I think it's a good plan too. Much better than rushing by myself at least. Count me in.]

[Count me in too.]

[… I think I will participate then.]

[That plan is good. I'm in as well.]

[There are still some details we need to discuss, but it's a good rough plan. We can plan the rest afterward.]

[I have a question.] Someone suddenly asked. [Who is going to be the leader?]

That question silenced the other voices.

Fortunately, Bloed replied quickly.

"No leader. There is no need to make things so complicated. We will just team up for our interest, so as long as everybody attacks when it's time, it's alright. I think that nobody will have a problem with that arrangement."

[… I like your proposal.] The person before said. [Count me in too.]

A few seconds later, the rest of the candidates gave their consent.

Bloed nodded satisfied. "Very well, let's discuss the details of the plan then."

...

P4TRE0N: patr-eon.com/aidnovels