Chapter 156: Mana and Secrets
Rosa moved swiftly through the black fog with her eyes narrowed in concentration. She had spoken with her brother a few minutes ago about how they were going to handle this assassination, and her brother told her that it would be best to just go ahead and kill all three boys. Their only target was Jason, but it would be strange if they came back with only Henry and Darren since they were instructed to look after all three of them. It would be best if they just killed all of them and then told the others that the boys ran off and were killed by the monsters in the Gate. Jason was strong, but he wasn’t experienced and they could convince the other agent that their story was true if they said that Jason was overwhelmed.
This wouldn’t be the first time new awakeners were killed in a Gate, and it wouldn’t be the last time either.
Rosa’s gaze was focused on Jason as she decided it would be best to take care of him first. Darren and Henry were only a few meters away from Jason, but they were all looking around blindly and trying to figure out what was going on. Before they could figure anything out, they’d already be dead.
Jason was standing still and his head was lowered as his senses spread across the area. Jason couldn’t see or hear anything, so he decided that the next best course of action was to spread his mana around him and try to feel for anything. The fog was capable of blocking all the senses of any superhuman, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be bypassed.
The fog was a construct created from pure mana, and if it were bombarded by a mana source that was sufficiently stronger than it, then its cloaking ability would dim for a short period of time! And it was in that short period of time that Jason was able to sense the phantom figure shooting towards his direction from the west! Jason immediately called on a skill!
[Exo-skeletal Armor] has been activated!
CLANG!
A silver armor formed over Jason’s body at the same time that a blade struck out for Jason’s neck, and Jason’s face split into a mad grin as he felt the blade spark against the armor’s defenses! Jason reared his head back, and Rosa’s eyes widened when she felt the area’s temperature rising to unbearable levels!
[Emberstorm] has been activated!
PHWOOM!
A blast of fire shot in the direction where Jason could sense Rosa! Jason made sure to keep the fire steady so that it didn’t go close to either Henry or Darren since they were right beside him, and he could feel the area around him clearing up slightly as the fog grew weaker under the power of his flames!
Rosa was lying flat on the ground with wide eyes as she watched the fire surge above her! She had fallen down the moment she felt the heat from the flames and she couldn’t believe how close she had come to dying at that moment! Where did this come from!? Rosa knew that Jason only had an ocular ability, so where did the flames and armor come from!?
’Did he also lie about his Gift!?’
Rosa rolled to the side once the flames died down and she stalked around Jason curiously while holding her knife close to her. The silver armor on Jason’s body stood out like a star in the middle of the dark fog and she quickly began looking for any gaps for her to slide her knife into. The comm in her ear beeped and Ricardo’s voice filtered through.
[Is it done?]
"No, there’s a problem. He lied about his Gift."
[What? What is it then?]
"I... I don’t know exactly. He used two already. No, he used three."
Rosa suddenly remembered that she had seen both the armor as well as a fire-based skill along with his eyes. That was three, not two. Just how many gifts did this boy have?
On the other side of the fog, Ricardo furrowed his brow curiously at his sister’s words. Ricardo had opted to stay behind and make sure none of the other groups stumbled upon them while they were carrying out their mission, and he trusted his sister enough to handle things without him, but what she was saying now was absurd. Jason used three Gifts? Did they even make sense in her head?
[Are you sure you’re not hallucinating? Maybe he put you under some sort of illusion with his ocular ability.]
"Ricardo, I’m serious. I would know if this was an illusion. I think we should retreat. This isn’t going to plan."
[We can’t just back out now. If you can’t finish things, then withdraw. I’ll handle it myself!]
Rosa bit the inside of her cheek tensely as she gripped her knife tighter! The blade was a special S-Rank artifact that she had spent millions to acquire. It had a special [Bleed] status that forced anyone cut by it to bleed nonstop until they died from their wound. This meant that she only needed to get one clean slash in for Jason to go down.
’I need a gap in the armor. Those joints don’t look solid. Should I use—’
Vroom!
The sound of something flying past her echoed from behind Rosa and she turned to see that it was one of those stupid drones moving around senselessly. Darren still couldn’t see anything, so he was trying to use the drones to see clearly. Unfortunately for him, the fog had also blocked the drone camera and he still couldn’t pick out anything!
Rosa frowned as the drone moved around mindlessly and she decided she would first handle Darren to stop him from distracting her! She quickly dashed towards him, but just before she could reach him, she felt a pulse of mana surge through the region and wash over her! Rosa turned to the side in shock as a flash of silver entered her peripheral and she immediately put up a defense as a silver sword slammed into her blade!
CLANG!
Rosa was pushed back by the blow and she rolled away from Jason while glancing at him in shock! Jason was still looking around aimlessly so she knew that he wouldn’t have possibly seen her!
’So how the hell did he attack me!?’
Rosa’s mind went back to the pulse of mana that she had felt before Jason’s movement and she was able to immediately realize what was going on. Jason was using mana pulses to guess where she was! It was difficult to know the position of things in this fog using mana pulses, but Jason only had three things to focus on. Darren, Henry, and himself. Jason knew she would definitely attack one of them, so there was no need to spread his senses too far.
Rosa narrowed her eyes as she saw Henry standing a few meters away from her, and she decided to test her thesis by dashing toward Henry quickly! Her sword flew for Henry’s neck, but before she could strike, Jason had already headed for Henry and grabbed him out of the way before swinging his sword towards Rosa!
Clang!
Another metallic sound echoed through the fog as Rosa expertly deflected Jason’s swing and she took steps back immediately! She had been right! Jason was using mana to track her movement!
——
Common Dragonsteel Sword
Rank: A
Durability: 75%
Boosts: +10% Strength
——
Jason was standing opposite Rosa while holding Henry and making sure he didn’t fall over, and Jason hummed when he felt something soft under his hand. He squeezed his palm gently and his brow rose in surprise.
’Are those boobs?’