Chapter 247. The Ghost Strategist 4.

With arcs of lightning trailing ahead of their figures, the mutated draconic snakes swatted their large bodies towards the Vendetta Guild members, the Night Guild members, and the other chaotic beasts.

Screams erupted across the place as the chaotic beasts and the warriors were drowned in the lightning arcs of the snakes and fell down into charred corpses.

Expressions of pain, shock, and fear could be seen on the faces of the charred corpses.

The Vendetta Guild members, especially the team leader, regretted not listening to the lady who had suggested they should retreat earlier. The look of obvious regret on his dead face was evident.

The snakes sneered. These fuckers thought they could steal the energy cores and get away with it.

Then, the large snakes looked at each other, turned to look at the floating energy cores in the air, and turned to look at each other.

No words needed to be said. Each of them wanted to advance to beginner Rank 3. This was not the time to act like members of the same species. It was time to compete for the energy cores and, if possible, kill each other till only one of them remained to claim the energy cores.

If all of them died fighting for the energy cores, then so be it. This was the law of the jungle.

Aiden observed this from the tree he was seated on.

He absorbed the blood essence of the charred corpses of the warriors and the dead chaotic beasts.

The legendary Rank 3 mutated draconic snakes clashed into each other.

Lightning balls erupted from mouths and clashed.

Tails whipped across, carrying lightning blades streaking across them. The tails clashed and generated shockwaves which spread in several directions.

Lightning snaked and streaked across snake bodies as the bodies collided, separated, and collided again within the span of a few seconds.

The area was devastated by the attacks. Trees, skyscrapers, and the ground were destroyed and scorched. This catastrophe stretched for several kilometers.

The snakes had turned into azure streaks of light clashing and separating across the air.

Aiden watched them calmly.

Some of them started falling to the ground.

Their charred corpses could be seen scattered across the place.

Anytime one of them died, Aiden would absorb their blood essence.

Very soon, only one of them remained alive.

However, it had wounds covering its body.

Lightning streaked weakly across its figure as it shot towards the energy cores floating in the sky with its large mouth open, eager to swallow them.

Aiden controlled some of the poison-melded microscopic crimson threads in the area to shoot towards a particular part of its body with lots of injuries.

The threads grazed through the wounds and disappeared.

The poison entered the body of the snake.

The effects had not yet kicked in.

Its mouth was a few millimeters away from claiming the energy cores.

Then, its eyes turned bloodshot. Its skin turned greenish.

The lightning streaking across its figure disappeared.

Then it fell to the ground with a loud bang, which caused cracks to spread across the floor.

It lashed its body around for a few moments. Its body stopped moving.

It was dead.

Aiden absorbed its blood essence.

Similar scenes could be seen happening across the five zones of the ruined city.

At some places, warriors were killing each other over the energy core veins. Then, chaotic beasts would appear and kill the warriors. After that, the chaotic beasts would turn on one another, competing for the energy cores floating in the air.

At some places, too, the legendary Rank 3 mutated draconic serpents would appear. They would kill anything in the vicinity, whether beast or warrior, in a fit of anger, thinking they were responsible for stealing the energy cores. After that, they would turn on one another in competition for the floating energy cores.

At some places, too, warriors and chaotic beasts died due to the wind lightning storms. At other locations, some fell as a result of Aiden’s crimson thread poison traps.

It was complete mayhem.

Killing and dying was occurring everywhere across the five zones of the ruined city.

Somewhere, warriors cried on their last breaths as realization started dawning on them.

"Someone has set a trap for us!"

"Whoever is behind the leakage set a trap for us!"

"They wanted to use us as bait for the chaotic beasts and cause battles to happen between us and the creatures."

"Not only that, they set some sort of unusable poison traps across the place. Look at the dead chaotic beasts and warriors, they have greenish skins and bloodshot eyes. Poisons did this."

"This person wanted to use us and the creatures to clear the ruined city of threats and claim the energy core vein for themselves, whoever it is. This is why they leaked the news. Whoever this person is, he or she is some sort of ghost strategist."

"Indeed... this ghost strategist is most likely hiding in the area, but we can’t even notice them."

"But to pull something like this off, one must have high environmental and situational awareness. What sort of monster can see everything happening in the ruined city?"

"The person must have arrived earlier and mapped out the area with extreme precision. Who at all could be so terrifying? This Ghost Strategist is on another level."

"Bastard wanted to get all of us killed... aruhgggggh!"

Many came to this conclusion too late—at the time of their deaths.

However, a few were able to make some calls back to their higher-ups before they died.

Aiden didn’t care.

He knew that the organizations were not stupid. Eventually, they would find out through investigative methods that he was the one behind the leakage, especially when he returned to Sauna City University with the energy cores. Also, the news about him collaborating with York City University’s team on a mission was not a secret.

Just one of these two pieces of information was enough for someone to figure out that he was the one behind the leakage, considering his past tactical methods.

Aiden had never cared about being discovered.

Initially, the only reason why he made the source of the leakage anonymous was to prevent anyone from being too careful to venture into the ruined city. Had people known he was behind the leakage, they would have taken extra precautions because Aiden had a track record of manipulating situations to his advantage. Only a few people would have fallen for the traps he set.

Currently, 90 percent of the chaotic beasts or warriors sent from the organizations across Waldhar State were dead.

Corpses of beasts and warriors were scattered across the ruined city. Blood and spilled innards were everywhere. Trees and several geographical areas were destroyed.

Aiden had absorbed their blood essence—from beginner Rank 3 chaotic beasts to expert Rank 3 warriors and legendary Rank 3 chaotic beasts.

"As expected. Just breaking into intermediate Rank 3 will take an extremely long time. My power is still at the level of a beginner Rank 3 warrior even after absorbing the blood essence of countless Rank 3 beasts and warriors. Breakthroughs at higher levels will take longer. I need to enter more pocket worlds. Plus, I need to take on more missions and explore ruined regions and wild territories to grow stronger.

I should also venture to places like this where lots of warriors gather to hunt for resources. I can kill a lot of people there and absorb their blood essence," Aiden noted with calm, clinical precision.

His gaze kept scanning across the ruined city.

"Investigations from HQ reveal that Aiden Vhorn, the Crimson Reaper, is the most likely suspect behind the leakage of the energy core vein! Orders are to find him, get the information on the location of the energy core vein out of him, and kill him after that. Since this place is a ruined city, his death will just be blamed on the environment. Not even his political backing can save him!"

"Aiden Vhorn is the Ghost Strategist who lured us here to trap us against the chaotic beasts and use us to clear the place so that he can have access to the energy core vein without putting himself in danger?"

"Yes, according to intel, he took on a mission with some professors of York City University, who are presumed dead... considering Aiden Vhorn’s past methods of using traps and schemes to sabotage enemies, he’s considered the suspect."

"Shit...The Lodgekeeper? if it’s him, doesn’t it mean we are dead?"

"Just focus on finding him. If we can get him to talk, we will know the location of the energy core vein."

"I’m afraid Aiden Vhorn is too terrifying to kill. It’s not that easy to find him. How about we retreat?"

"The rewards for locating him and killing him are very high."

"Hehe, don’t worry. Even if we die here, that bastard won’t get off freely. If he is able to leave here alive, legendary Rank 3 and expert Rank 3 assassins from all the powers who lost people here will be sent after him. The news about him being the cause of the chaos here has spread throughout the state. He won’t get off freely. They cannot openly target him because of Excellency Armstrong Lee backing him. But assassination bounties are already on his back."

"You are right... quick, let’s try and find him..."

The news spread across the ruined city.

Currently, everyone was looking for Aiden Vhorn, the Ghost Strategist.

Aiden was calm on the tree.

"As expected of powerful organizations. They were able to link the mission I took with the York City University professors to my past methods and infer that I’m behind the leakage. However, they are wrong about one thing. I only wanted blood essence. What’s with this assumption that I leaked the information to lure them here to clear the area and claim the energy vein for myself? Well, whatever..."

Aiden shrugged as he controlled some of the microscopic crimson threads to kill more chaotic beasts and warriors looking for him.

Very soon, all the chaotic beasts and warriors in the ruined city were dead.

Aiden absorbed the blood essence of anyone he killed.

His range of vision, smell, and hearing increased, and he felt more powerful than before.

"About time I leave before more powerful people are sent here. Now that the secret that I’m behind the leak is out, more effective strike teams can be sent here to deal with me. I need to leave. It doesn’t hurt to be too careful."

Aiden’s microscopic crimson threads returned the energy cores he used to set traps back to him. He kept them in his storage bracelet.

The crimson threads turned into blobs of blood and returned into him. His hammer also turned into blobs of blood and returned into him.

With his legendary Rank 3 invisibility bracelet on, he flew out of the city.

Meanwhile... the whole Hessington State of the Iron Empire was terrified, shocked, and puzzled about Aiden Vhorn’s manipulative feat in the ruined city.

Because of the nature of his methods this time... he had earned himself the name, The Ghost Strategist. A name he would not only carry across Endra, but eventually into the sea of stars.