Two massive groups were standing in the middle of the street, facing each other.

The first group had twenty people. They were the mission’s original target. The rest of the team seemed to remain in the mall or simply go around.

The second group had the same number, but their vigor was no less than that of the first group. Both groups wore similar attire.

"Do you have it?" A bald, muscular man from the second group asked.

The boss of the first group, a red-haired man with a big scar on his right eye, grabbed a large bag from his subordinate and showed it to the other group. "Here you go."

The bald man carefully grabbed the bag and handed it to his subordinate to check. The subordinate saw a few guns and bundles of cash.

"It’s good, boss." The subordinate then brought over a case. "Here you go."

Scarface opened the case that contained five flasks filled with purple liquid.

While they were conducting the transaction, Auric and his team continued to monitor the situation.

"What are they doing? Can you get a clear look at what they’re trading?" Vera asked.

"I’m not entirely sure." Christopher was looking down from the rooftop. "It looks like our target is buying something from the other group. I don’t know what’s inside. Our target had already sealed the case by the time I got into position."

"Maxwell!" Vera frowned.

"Let me check." Maxwell looked around. "I don’t think we can defeat all of them. There are a total of forty people, not to mention more people might be hiding elsewhere, including in the mall. It’s better to let this trade happen and eliminate our original target.

"We’ll try to acquire whatever they’re buying and report it to the police and let them see what should be done next."

There were simply too many people, so he didn’t want to endanger the entire group. After all, they had just arrived in this city and hadn’t set up any traps.

Even if they had set up traps, they might not be able to defeat them.

It was logical to let the trade pass and eliminate their original target.

Ellia seemed to reach the same conclusion. "All people, stand by your positions. Don’t try to peek. Just let them pass. Remember, your survival is a priority."

They didn’t raise an objection. Some people even completely hid behind a pillar or an object and waited.

The only ones who remained to observe the enemy were Maxwell and Christopher.

The transaction continued for a few minutes before they reached an agreement.

"All right. Pleasure to do business with you." The bald man nodded before turning around. But before he left, he suddenly raised his head as if noticing something was wrong.

"..." Scarface frowned, wondering what was going on. If the other party claimed they had tricked him, he would get angry.

However, the bald man strangely looked around. His gaze stopped at a tall building in the distance. He squinted his eyes before noticing a slight glint at the top of the building.

"!!!" The bald man hurriedly warned, "Sniper!"

Another glint appeared, but the bald man managed to move his body slightly, causing the light to miss his body and instead hit his right arm, severing his entire right arm.

"We’re compromised!" Maxwell shouted, getting ready to leave.

Scarface and his subordinates were startled. Seeing the other group scattering to avoid the sniper, Scarface looked around and said, "There! Another one on the rooftop! White building!"

"Tsk!" Christopher clicked his tongue.

Vera and Ellia immediately turned grim. They hadn’t done anything special. The bald man suddenly stopped earlier as though he were acting on instinct. He wasn’t supposed to notice, but for some reason, he sensed something was wrong.

The moment he realized they had been compromised, Maxwell fired a bullet, taking the bald man’s arm.

Only Maxwell and Christopher had been discovered. The rest of the team was still hidden.

They had two options. The first was to remain silent and let the two lead them away from the area.

In this case, there was a high chance that these two would be captured and die.

The second option was to fight to the bitter end for the entire group’s survival.

Ellia wanted to pick the second option, considering the ones who had been found out were the people from their side. At the same time, it would create a bad image of herself. She didn’t want Auric to think that she would abandon him at any time.

Hence, Ellia picked the harder option.

"Vera, only Maxwell and Christopher have been found out. They must be wary of us now, but we still have a chance. The moment a portion of them is diverted, we will launch an ambush against our original target before making a run for it. I don’t care what grudge you have against me, but if we don’t do this, more people will die."

Vera clicked her tongue. "There is no other option."

Maxwell grabbed his rifle and jumped off the building onto the nearest rooftop that wasn’t too low. "Got it. Christopher and I will try to lure some of them out. If only thirty percent of the enemies are coming toward us, we should be able to escape. We’ll pick the rendezvous point later."

At the same time, Scarface shouted while waving his hand. "Search the entire city. There’s no way only two of them have infiltrated the city!"

The moment his subordinates started moving, Ellia and Vera jumped out of their hiding spot, closing the distance between them and Scarface in a single leap.

"!!!" Scarface was startled. Several of his subordinates managed to react in time, but they were a step too late.

"Tsk!" Scarface raised both arms, turning them into iron.

Ellia swung her blade from above. Seeing the enormous energy coming from her, Scarface chose to concentrate his power into one arm instead of blocking Ellia’s blade.

Clank!

His right arm got knocked down, but the blade didn’t manage to cut it. Still, the blade continued moving down until it hit his shoulder, but not too deep.

At the same time, Vera struck from his other side, cutting his left arm.

Ellia then kicked Scarface in the stomach to create distance from him.

His subordinates reacted too late to stop them from harming their boss, but they were not too late to attack the two. Ellia and Vera couldn’t escape after unleashing their attacks.

However, a blood tornado soon swept the left side, startling them. In addition, several spears formed and rained down on them.

"Gah!"

Several people were impaled by the spears. This was a chance. Since the right side had been opened by Milinda, both Ellia and Vera immediately ran in that direction, trying to slip past them.

"You are not going anywhere!" The bald man hurled a massive fireball from the other side of the battlefield. It overwhelmed Eric’s blood tornado and fell upon Ellia and Vera.

Fortunately, huge walls emerged from the ground. They were made of roots and vines.

The fireball exploded, but it failed to break through the wall. Arina nodded to Ruka and said, "Follow me. We should get ready to protect our rear."

Ruka nodded. They didn’t have the time to argue anymore. The situation would turn for the worse if they continued to bicker with each other.

"Auric, Tommi. You two will go with us." Ellia ordered. "We’ll definitely need your strength. Find a spot where you can bombard the enemy to create a distance between us. We will need it to get away from them. You two can regroup separately if necessary."

"You don’t need to worry about Christopher and Maxwell. They may not look that way, but they’re skillful enough to escape from this kind of situation." Vera snorted.

"We can hear you, you know?" Maxwell kept running from one rooftop to another, while Christopher was moving closer and closer to Maxwell.

Scarface shouted to his subordinates after pulling himself out of the wall. "Get the bigger group! There are plenty of beautiful women in that group. Capture them, and we will show them what they have done to deserve it!"

Several people shot their elemental attacks.

Ruka and Arina tried to block them, but their walls were crushed due to their sheer numbers. After all, there were plenty of people who had evolved their avatars as well.

Their firepower was simply too high.

"Kh." Arina and Ruka gritted their teeth. They saw some elemental attacks break through and were about to hit them.

"Shield!" Milinda stomped on the ground. A massive road barrier appeared on the ground, blocking some of the attacks. At the same time, Ellia and Vera had returned and cut down the remaining attacks.

Since some of them were closer to Vera, they reached and struck her. Some of them also took out their guns and fired at her.

"Tsk!" Vera clicked her tongue. She raised a wind barrier to block the bullets from the side before swinging her sword. She cut down the first person in one clean strike and sliced the second person’s arm, but there were simply too many of them.

The third guy punched her in the stomach and blew her away.

"Gah!" Vera spat out some acid before her body flew to Ellia.

"!!!" Ellia widened her eyes, but she wasn’t in a position to react. In the end, Vera crashed onto her as their bodies were flung into the wall on the side of the road.

Bam!

"Kh." Ellia gritted her teeth. "Get up!"

Several people launched their elemental attacks at them right away.

"Don’t hit their faces. Hahahaha!" Scarface laughed while clutching his severed arm. The bald man also led his team to join the hunt.

Christopher and Maxwell had lured out some of them, but there were still 9 people with juvenile-form avatars and 20 people with baby-form avatars.

They managed to kill five of them and injured several of them, but the number of the enemy was still too high. In addition, people began to come out of the mall. At this rate, they would be surrounded and captured.

"I’ve managed to regroup with Tommi," Auric reported.

Ellia’s expression turned solemn.

"We need to get away." Vera glanced to the side, wondering what they could use to escape.

Ellia said, "We haven’t escaped yet. We need your bombardment now!"

Auric and Tommi stood atop a building together. Since they hadn’t escaped, they could predict their general locations. The problem was their exact positions. If they launched a careless bombardment, they would risk injuring their teammates.

Tommi said, "We need a clear vision. We have to find another spot."

He reached the same conclusion as Auric, but the way Auric handled the situation was different from Tommi’s. Auric simply unleashed his energy and said, "Ellia, I don’t have a clear view on you."

"You will have one!" Ellia smiled as if they knew each other’s plan. She muttered, "I need your wind barrier to protect us."

Vera was startled. It made her sick to listen to her rival’s instructions, but Ellia simply didn’t wait for her decision.

She simply gathered her energy into her sword before swinging it.

Severed Sword.

"Watch out!" Scarface warned his subordinates.

"!!!" Two of his subordinates were too slow. Their bodies were suddenly sliced into pieces.

"Block it!" The others released their own power to neutralize Ellia’s attack.

However, the eight sword strikes vanished into thin air.

"!!!" Scarface was startled, trying to figure out where the sword strikes were. The next thing he realized, he saw the sword strikes were already in front of the building behind Ellia and Vera. And these sword strikes flew toward the building instead of toward the enemy.

Bam!

The sword strikes cut the building into pieces, crushing it completely and causing the second and third floors to crumble.

Vera panicked and hurriedly erected the wind barrier so that they wouldn’t be buried under the rubble.

"Are they idiots? They don’t want to get defiled, so they kill themselves?" One of them laughed.

Scarface suddenly widened his eyes, realizing what they were planning. "Not good! Move away!"

Auric was already smiling, knowing that the path would be cleared. He immediately launched his attack the moment he caught sight of the enemy.

Rain of Thunder.