Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?-Chapter 300 - 98: Close Quarters Combat

Several hours later.

The group formed a battle formation and advanced at full speed toward their designated destination.

"Speaking of which, I still don’t know why we have to take this bet," Mia said anxiously, "If we lose, that’s 1000 marks!"

"Shut up; with the Squad Leader here, how could we lose?" Peggy rebuked her.

"Mia," Medea said leisurely, "How about this, I’ll cover the 100 marks you put in."

"But if we end up winning, you obviously won’t get a share of the betting prize, how about that?"

"Hehe, with the Squad Leader here, how could we possibly lose?" Mia immediately started playing dumb.

Despite her worries, Mia knew Medea quite well after all this time—shrewd, sly, and sinister, definitely not someone who would impulsively engage in something unprofitable—that was more Sigrdrifa’s style. Since she proposed the bet herself, she must be confident of a sure win. Besides, each member of the squad had advanced 100 marks from their salaries, and Aske as the Squad Leader had put in an extra 100 marks, making up the 1000 marks betting pool, which shows the Squad Leader’s confidence in this gamble.

Even the Squad Leader has placed his wager; I, little Mia, definitely need to follow!

"Tsk, little tag-along," Medea’s voice echoed in her mind.

"Red-crowned crane!" Mia retorted.

The nickname Red-crowned crane, which was an ironic jab at "red hair," "sharp-tongued," and "haughtily beautiful." At the mention of this word, Medea’s voice immediately carried a murderous tone:

"Did Aske teach you that nickname?"

"No, no," Mia wanted to say yes, but then remembered that the other could read minds, so saying it or not made no difference; she chose to stay silent.

"So it was Miel who told you." Medea huffed coldly, indicating she had taken note of this grudge in her little mental notebook.

"Miel..." Mia suddenly caught her arm, tears welling up, I really didn’t mean to betray you!

Miel: ???

"Stop messing around!" Aske told the two girls, "Go scout now!"

So, Mia dashed out like the wind, acting as a scout and maneuvering around nearby. Miel activated her "Visual" ability, carefully scanning the distant surroundings.

Everyone slowed their pace, cautiously mindful of their surroundings. According to the information provided by Innsbruck, the target Transcendent squad might be nearby.

"Why haven’t we found them yet?" Sigrdrifa said impatiently after several minutes.

"Stay calm," Aske said.

"Stop arguing," Medea interjected, "I have a feeling that the enemies are nearby."

"You said the same thing last time and the time before that," Sigrdrifa complained, "I’d believe it if it were the Squad Leader’s premonition."

"Nonsense, I am the one with the ’Intuition’ sequence," Aske retorted.

Far ahead, Mia sprinted several hundred meters, then saw a small hill topped with a large tree before her.

If she could climb the tree, she should be able to conveniently overlook the surroundings.

Thus, she sprinted forward, and just as she was about to reach the top of the hill, she used an Ilanian Instant Step to speed into the shade under the tree, slipping into the Shadow Realm.

Just as she entered the Shadow Realm, she was shocked to see another person beside her—a young man wearing a hood and a mask, positioned next to her, but he was in the Main Plane.

The young man was also incredulously staring at her. He had originally been hiding in the Shadow Realm under the tree, and from afar, he saw this girl sprinting toward here, planning to suddenly appear and deliver a fatal ambush.

Unexpectedly, as he returned to the Main Plane, the girl had teleported into the Shadow Realm, and their positions perfectly misaligned with each passing moment.

Staring at each other across the gap of the Shadow Realm, both of them felt a thump in their hearts.

The other person is also a Shadow Ability User!

Their forms changed instantaneously; Mia teleported back to the Main Plane, only to find that the young man’s figure had vanished. Under the instinct of Shadow Ability, her gaze pierced through the gap between the Main Plane and the Shadow Realm, spotting the blurry silhouette of the young man inside the Shadow Realm.

They locked eyes once more... how did this guy teleport again!?

Silent and unmoving for a few seconds, both widened their eyes again: I’m waiting for you to come over, why aren’t you teleporting now?

Mia swiftly jumped back, while the other person teleported back to the Main Plane, his shadow under his feet coiling and surging like a spring, abruptly speeding up.

Shadow. Raid!

Then his head burst into a blossom of blood, and his body uncontrollably rushed to the side. The bullet from the sniper rifle penetrated his temple; as a Shadow Ability User who was not known for Physical Power, the man was instantly half-killed by Miel’s headshot.

His body heavily fell to the ground, and with the dim awareness he had left, he tried to Teleport back to the Shadow Realm, only to feel severe pain in his neck again.

Throat slit.

Mia’s Short Knife quickly swept across his throat, and her figure instantly disappeared, Teleporting to the Shadow Realm. The next second, the spot where she had been standing was engulfed by Flames, Thunder, and a stream of bullets.

"Enemy encounter at 11 o’clock," Miel warned aloud while shooting.

"Seize the high ground," Aske’s command was just as simple.

Everyone rushed toward the hill, and Aske spoke again:

"Tell Mia not to come out; have her stay in the Shadow Realm."

"Okay," Nora nodded and immediately sent a Mind Communication to Mia through the Subconscious Ocean.

"They haven’t come out," said a female sniper from the Transcendents’ squad on the other side of the hill, holding her rifle.

"Seize the high ground." A man wearing sunglasses, who seemed to be the team leader, made the same assessment as Aske.

Both sides charged towards the hill. Just as they reached the base of the hill, Medea’s expression suddenly changed, and she quickly communicated something to Aske over the channel.

Aske listened without expression and then issued orders swiftly:

"Peggy move at 2 o’clock direction, Medea provide positioning, everyone else follow me forward! Thira, Light Body Skill!"

Under the influence of air pressure, everyone immediately lightened, and their speed increased significantly.

Eleanor charged forward at the forefront, her Power Armor massive and menacing, drawing the attention of the opposing team first.

A huge fireball abruptly descended, exploding into a Bright Flame Stream on her Shield. Just as Eleanor was about to charge with her Shield raised, her helmet’s screen suddenly flashed with static, and her body stiffened with paralysis.

Damn! Hidden in those Flames was a bolt of Thunder!

The military Power Armor had an insulating current shielding coating inside. However, Thunder does not conduct through the conductor but is a swiftly moving discharge Magic Technique core, which meant that Eleanor’s armor remained mostly unharmed, but she herself was paralyzed by the electricity.

"Save Mia!" Aske’s order flashed through the Mind Communication Channel.

Another blast of Flames came, this time appearing small but turning into a vivid red color on the surface, hitting Eleanor’s position and immediately triggering a massive explosion!

"She escaped!" From the opposing team, the female sniper clearly saw, just as the flames exploded, a figure emerging from the shadows behind her and then disappearing on the spot along with the female Knight.

Apparently, the Enemy’s Shadow Ability User had taken the Knight into the Shadow Realm and then hid in the shadows at the side of a large tree.

The man in sunglasses unleashed a flame and rapidly tossed it toward the canopy above, instantly setting the entire large tree ablaze.

In the Shadow Realm, if the corresponding position in the Main Plane is exposed to intense light, then the Shadow Ability User will suffer severe Spiritual Body damage.

However, after a few seconds, no one Teleported out—the man in sunglasses could not have guessed that there existed a bug-level plane sanctuary like "Fire Island," so he could only guess instinctively that the Shadow Ability User had been killed by the light.

Without the protection of the Shadow Ability User, the female Knight would continuously suffer from the erosion of the Shadow in the Shadow Realm, and without being able to leave the Shadow Realm, she would ultimately succumb.

"Shift the firepower! Don’t stop the attack!" Confirming that these two were undoubtedly doomed, the man in sunglasses did not hesitate and again pulled out a massive orange-red Flame, the surface Flame Flow violently stirring.

That was "Bright Flame Stream," a major move of Flame III Ability, composed of super high-temperature Flames that could hardly be extinguished. Even direct spraying with a high-pressure water cannon would instantly vaporize it into steam.

"Air pressure technique for trajectory diversion, avoid getting hit, Sigrdrifa disrupt Thunder, full-scale Mind Control," Aske quickly ordered. "Where’s Peggy now?"

"Four hundred meters away!" Peggy quickly responded over the channel.

Flames and Thunder struck again, Thira first extended a hand toward the front, and the changing air pressure instantly whipped up a fierce wind, forcibly blowing the Flame Technique off its trajectory.

Then Sigrdrifa charged forward, her right hand flashing with electric arcs, and forcefully tore through that Thunderbolt.

"The enemy is Thunder II! About the same as me!" she reported quickly over the channel.

"Watch out for the sniper!" Aske suddenly warned.

Nora and Medea were just about to launch Mind Control when they hastily rolled aside at the warning. A series of bullets chased right by their feet, as the female sniper on the hillside kept firing her rifle wildly.

Miel’s retaliatory bullets struck right in front of her, igniting blue ripples in the void.

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