Cyan picked up one of the bombs and looked at its attributes.
"We need to know the enemy's ambush location."
Asuka yawned and said, "That means we have to wait until Bani meets Phantom again before we can act, right?"
"That's right. Even if these bombs don't kill many enemies, they can still greatly reduce the enemy's strength."
With a 30% cripple rate, once the bombs went off, the enemy's forces would likely be reduced by more than half.
"I'll leave this to you two. I can't be of much help."
Asuka knew her own position very well. Things like monitoring the traitor weren't something she could do. Since Cyan and Nishi knew about the enemy's plans, one of them must be good at tracking.
"Alright. If there's any new information, Nishi will tell you. Don't let Orlov know about this…" Cyan suddenly stopped mid-sentence. She abruptly stood up, drew her blade, smashed open the window, and leapt outside.
The blue-clothed ninja who had been hiding outside trying to eavesdrop was discovered the moment he arrived. Seeing Cyan charging toward him, a flash of shock appeared in his eyes. Without any hesitation, he threw down a smoke bomb.
"Bang!"
When the smoke cleared, the blue-clothed ninja's figure had disappeared.
"What happened?!"
"What's going on?!"
The patrolling soldiers nearby quickly ran over. Seeing Cyan standing there with the demon blade in hand, they didn't dare approach and cautiously asked, "My lord, what happened?"
"An enemy. Probably here to gather information."
Cyan glanced at the two soldiers whose eyes carried a hint of fear, then turned and returned to the room, closing the window she had smashed open.
"Who was that?"
Asuka had vaguely seen a figure wearing blue ninja clothing, but the smoke bomb had blocked everything before she could get a clear look.
"An enemy."
Cyan sheathed the demon blade and sat on the bed with a dark expression. Such a good opportunity, yet she hadn't been able to see the other party.
Was my movement too slow?
If she used Ripple energy to increase her speed, she might have been able to slash him before he escaped. Even if she couldn't kill him, she could have at least prevented him from leaving completely unharmed…
Having the enemy escape right under her nose was something Cyan could not accept. Even landing one hit on him wouldn't have left her this frustrated.
"An enemy… Is he a survivor or…?"
Asuka thought there was a high chance the person was a survivor. His clothing clearly wasn't that of a swordsman, and it was different from all the enemies they had encountered so far. It was more like a survivor.
"A survivor. When I killed Scorn, he attacked me to steal my equipment. He has a skill that allows him to see other people's equipment and attributes." Cyan briefly explained what she knew about the blue-clothed ninja, then added after a short pause, "He has a clone skill and a Bodyguard Fire skill that summons three flames lasting about 10 seconds. During that time, he's immune to physical and energy damage and deals continuous damage to enemies within a certain range."
Since they had decided to cooperate, Cyan naturally wouldn't hide the information she knew about the blue-clothed ninja's skills. She told Asuka everything.
She didn't want Asuka to suffer because she didn't understand the enemy's skills if she was ever targeted by the blue-clothed ninja.
Even if the probability was extremely low, the blue-clothed ninja had a skill that let him see other people's equipment and attributes. There was still a chance he might set his sights on Asuka.
"That bastard. Isn't he afraid his kill count will get too high and the survival space will throw him into a high-difficulty world to die?"
Asuka hadn't expected to encounter someone who robbed equipment in this survival game. She suddenly thought of something and analyzed, "He probably threatened you to hand over your equipment first. You only refused, so he decided to kill you. It's very likely he used this method to steal equipment from other survivors. Thinking about it that way, his kill count probably isn't that high yet, but it's definitely not low either."
"That's possible."
Cyan nodded in agreement and said, "With his invincibility skill and clone skill, even people stronger than him would find him troublesome. He might even be able to kill them."
"There's a high chance Orlov is cooperating with him. I'm not sure if he heard our conversation. Be careful, Langley."
Cyan reminded Asuka. Her suspicion that Orlov and the blue-clothed ninja were cooperating was still just a guess.
"Mm, I understand."
Asuka nodded seriously. She had thought this survival quest would be easy, but she had been too naive. The conflict between survivors was far more threatening than anything the story characters could bring.
"There's one more thing. How do we detonate the bombs after planting them?" Cyan pointed at the bombs.
"I have this."
Asuka took out a fuse she had bought in the survival space using Survival Points.
"After we plant the bombs at the enemy's ambush location, who's going to light the fuse?" Nishi raised a more important question — and a very difficult one.
"…"
The air suddenly froze as everyone fell into silence.
"Um… I have a skill that can summon a ghost to help. I can ask her to do it…" Asama Ai timidly raised her small hand and spoke softly.
"Damn it, I was discovered… That guy definitely has a passive skill that increases perception!"
The blue-clothed ninja clenched his fist, so angry he wanted to curse. He had actually been forced to use a smoke bomb!
If he had known Cyan's perception was that terrifying, he wouldn't have gotten so close.
"Did you hear what they said?"
Orlov stood with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall with his head lowered, lost in thought.
"No. I was discovered the moment I got close. I had already hidden my presence, but he still found me! Sooner or later, I'll kill him!" The blue-clothed ninja angrily clenched his fists, killing intent flashing in his eyes.
"Looks like you wasted your time. At least you haven't exposed your disguised identity. No matter what they talked about, they won't be able to make a move against us in front of the story characters." Orlov shrugged. He wasn't particularly interested in what Cyan and the others had discussed.
"In the Round Table Knights game, the Knight Festival gets disrupted because of a traitor. That's the plot of Stage 4. The boss of Stage 4 is Phantom. If you defeat him in the game, he escapes. His skills are perfect for me."
"What do you mean?"
Orlov looked at the blue-clothed ninja with a half-understanding expression.
"These two buff cards, plus two chances to draw from the Blood Card." The blue-clothed ninja took out two cards. One had a pattern of a small figure with both fists raised and head tilted back roaring. The other showed a ferocious velociraptor.
[High Morale]
[Type: Buff Card]
[Function: Increases movement speed and attack speed by 50%, attack power by 20%. Lasts 30 seconds. Uses: 2/3.]
[Remark: A card crafted using various precious materials.]
[Velociraptor]
[Type: Buff Card]
[Function: Increases movement speed by 100%. Lasts 10 seconds. Uses: 3/3.]
[Remark: A card crafted using velociraptor bones.]
"What I need is a skill book you might obtain. If you let Phantom escape, the Velociraptor buff card is yours. Give me back the High Morale buff card. You only get one chance to draw from the Blood Card."
"Deal!"
Orlov looked at the two cards with burning eyes and said in shock, "There was a witch in Survival Town who posted a quest. I didn't expect it was you who completed it."
"Got lucky."
The blue-clothed ninja tilted his head slightly and placed the two cards on the table. These two cards would be enough to make up for Orlov's shortcomings in a short amount of time.
"Don't forget what you promised me, Orlov."
In the Round Table Knights world, there was a chance to obtain the Phantom Step skill book from the card Phantom dropped after being killed. This skill would greatly improve the blue-clothed ninja's strength. Otherwise, he wouldn't have given Orlov these two precious buff cards to use.
"Of course. I'll do my best to kill Phantom!"
Orlov nodded. His hands were even trembling as he picked up the cards. As a survivor who specialized in Strength with Constitution as a secondary focus, these two cards could turn him into someone without any weaknesses in a short time — extremely high movement speed and an incredibly powerful grabbing skill!
These two cards were practically tailor-made for him!
The cards sold in the equipment area of Survival Town were mostly useless. The only ones who could craft cards were the witches in Survival Town who controlled mysterious magic.
The witches' magic could draw out the dormant power within materials to create buff cards that temporarily increased abilities, as well as debuff cards that lowered enemy attributes. The most expensive were attribute cards that increased stats. The materials required for those were extremely outrageous, and no one had managed to gather them all yet.
Cyan mechanically swung her short sword. The short sword glowing with a strange light cut into a jug of milk, turning it into four cups of milk placed in glasses.
[A Cup of Milk]
[Type: Recovery Item]
[Function: Restores 15 HP and Mental Power.]
[Remark: Fresh milk.]
"Take it…"
Cyan glanced at Asuka, who was standing by the table with sparkling eyes as she looked at the recovery items.
"The success rate isn't that low after all~!"
Asuka happily tried to pat Cyan's shoulder, but hit empty air.
"…"
Cyan dodged Asuka's hand and said, "It's not something I can control."
"It's getting late. I'm going to rest."
Seeing Cyan dodge her hand, the slight awkwardness Asuka felt was washed away by the joy in her heart.
What does it feel like to have your recovery items doubled?! It's like going on a shopping spree in a mall… and it's all free!
The feeling of getting something for nothing is wonderful~!
"Mm. If there's any new developments, Nishi will come notify you."
After Asuka and Asama Ai left, Cyan looked at the black widow spider hiding under the blanket. She lifted the blanket and saw the cream smeared on it. Facing the black widow spider's timid gaze, she pointed at the cake on the table and said, "Are you still going to eat? If not, I'll throw it away."
"Eat!"
At the mention of food, the black widow spider perked up. She jumped onto Cyan, using her as a stepping stone to reach the table.
"Master, the cream on this…"
Nishi pointed at the cream on the blanket. They still had to sleep under it tonight.
"Flip it over?"
Cyan grabbed the blanket and flipped it over.
"…"
The next day, early morning.
Cyan slowly opened her eyes and felt something on her chest. She lifted the blanket and saw the black widow spider curled up asleep on her chest.
"Mm?"
The black widow spider felt the blanket being removed and reached out to grab something. Her hand touched Cyan's clothes. She pulled it, and with a kick of her spider legs, wrapped the clothes around herself.
Cyan's thin clothes were twisted into a strange shape by the black widow spider's mischievous actions.