Freedom Jumper-Chapter 151: Stealth Operation

While the defense team spread out into the darkness of the night, Niko set off with an assault team – trotting through the small puddles with their eyes squinted. The Rainfall was harsh, and came with a set of disadvantages and advantages.

Elijah, on the other hand, was leading his group quickly through the dense forest. Passing by open dirt fields with rocks and boulders, several ponds and a creek, and even a small entrance that only leads to a dead end.

"Lith! I see lights in the distance, can you check it out?" Elijah asked whilst bringing his team to a large and thick bush that they cut open and hid inside.

Lith was not a physically trained fellow, and wore thick glasses to help with his flaw of extremely blurry vision. When using his ocular eyes and zooming in on distances, his vision quickly and gradually became enhanced to the point of seeing the grains of matter within every cell of a tree. This was only if he expended a lot of mana. Currently, his vision was crystal clear, seeing in between the small gaps that lay between the leaves of the trees.

"I think there are seven, and they seem to be guarding nothing... As a distraction. I don't think it's worth it to send them out of the game." Lith pointed out a crucial detail that could have cost them effort they didn't need to expend. Another point of having a firework was to take yourself out of the game if you felt you were in danger. Or by simply surrendering.

While this was simply a game, it was the final one that would reveal all of the skills one must have. Decision making, combat prowess, strategy, patience, and most importantly, communication.

This chapt𝒆r is updated by frёewebηovel.cѳm.

"Oliver, you have a returning knife right?" Elijah asked – breaking the silence of a decision that was soon to be made.

"Yes. Are you saying we should–"

"No. Only as a distraction. Right now their sights are spread out, so if we create a loud sound, they will turn their heads. Our only goal should be to find a flag right now."

The suggestion Elijah made was decent, but confused everyone as to why he didn't want to just use a rock. Reason being that a rock wouldn't draw their attention more than a knife that was thrown into the trunk of a tree.

Within a minute, the plan was set in motion. Oliver deviated from the group while closing in on the rune lamps the seven enemies were holding, and threw his knife as hard as he could into a tree – easily visible to the lightbringer's.

Confused chatter quickly transitioned into people lurking within the darkness. All the while, Elijah and the rest of his team went around the left side of the slope of the hill while his enemies went to the right.

Another pink enemy was found within the darkness slowly moving without any light.

Elijah had decided it was a perfect time to dwindle their numbers. Just as he set off into motion, Elijah watched as Oliver instantly wrapped his legs around a contestant's neck without him even seeing anyone coming. During this scene, Elijah watched from a close distance at the terrible horror that it would be to fight Oliver. Also, something was oddly suspicious about him. Whenever he was near, Elijah got this feeling of uneasiness in his soul, as if something was trying to push or pull him towards Oliver.

One downside to taking an enemy out of the running – which is what Oliver had done once activating his firework, was giving away their position.

"H-hey! I see people! Green!" Shouts began to arise as the flash of pink light above the trees was just barely able to illuminate the green colors on their white uniforms.

"Dammit... Spread out and take as many out as you can. We must be close to the flag." Elijah went to the left, into a dense grouping of large trees that also gave him sight of bright orange flags closeby, indicating the boundary of the game. Lith had followed him through the darkness as he had trusted him, however, someone had seen him, and shot forward with speed as soon as a cracking stick gave him away.

SHING!

Elijah had grabbed a large knife with a wind rune from the inside of his jacket. However, when he activated the knife, it shattered into pieces leaving him wide open.

Something Elijah would have never expected to happen, had just happened. There has only been a small amount of times where Elijah had actually used a runic blade, and now, he had cracked under the pressure by releasing the mana into his hand instead of the blade.

The sword from the black haired boy whizzed by his face, causing Lith who was directly behind him to step back in shock. Next, a fist was caught within the palm of Elijah by pure luck, and resulted in the boy being shoved to the ground and submerged with water.

"CAHCAHCAHCAHCA" The sounds of screaming inside a pool of water told Elijah all he needed to know. The man had given up from fear of drowning...

"Where is your flag?!" Lith asked hurriedly before the firework went off.

Unfortunately, a dark clothed man had picked up the body within a matter of seconds, leaving no room for the boy to betray his team.

...

On the other side of the battlefield was Niko and his team of 9 people charging through the forest. With his own powers severely nerfed, Niko had decided to rely on the strategy he had yet to show Elijah.

The singled-out method.

Anytime a person was found, even within a group. At least three members of said assault team would charge into battle making as little noise as possible. All it took to knock someone out of the race was a heavy hit to the head or even the chest or stomach. As long as they dealt them enough pain – causing them to activate their firework.

Once one target was out, the rest would follow continuously, lifting the pressure of battle.

Over and over again, Niko concentrated on every position of where he thought the fireworks were going off at. The reason for this is because it would give him a rough idea of where all the battles were taking place, which would lead them to the flag.

Niko had thought about this many times over. As long as they could get their hands on the flag, it would be easy to make their way back with scouts in front and behind.

...

"Quick. Let's keep moving." Elijah signaled to Lith directly behind him.

Sounds were heard coming from the near distance – screaming, voices of surrender, and sounds of the earth and air being manipulated.

Likely, the stealth operation Elijah had planned out so thoroughly would not be able to live anymore. Or, at least not as a large group.

Being that Elijah had the perfect accomplice to anything that had to do with stealing, he was rather confident in his abilities to take anyone by surprise. Close-range was where he would suffer if he were to ever be surprised again.

He had just hoped that Ivanka was not already out due to the green fireworks going off nearby. Instead, the non elemental and power teammates that had expressed their interest in the chaos.