Chapter 34: Unstable Factors
"But before dealing with the Ant King, there are three unstable factors."
The good-guy mode of Old Smoke was clearly far more reliable than his rebel leader mode. It was he who had brought Dust and Mizusaki together, so he held relatively high authority within the team. As for whether the others would follow his arrangements, that depended entirely on whether his opinions were reasonable.
"Besides the four of us, there are several small to medium-sized adventure groups and many rogue cultivators here. They might go after those three unstable factors, but I don't intend to place my hopes on them."
Old Smoke glanced at the three people present.
"I don't need to say it; you all should know who the three unstable factors are. That's right, the Ant King's three direct guards: Youpi, Neferpitou, and Shaiapouf."
Old Smoke paused here.
"Youpi is the easiest to deal with among them. That guy only has brute strength, his intelligence is relatively simple. Next is Pouf. Although his abilities are troublesome, his body isn't that strong. The hardest to deal with is the Cat Girl, Neferpitou. The Cat Girl has high intelligence, a strong enough body, and her abilities are very troublesome."
As he spoke, Old Smoke seemed to be slipping back into rebel leader mode.
"Youpi is dead."
Su Xiao suddenly interrupted Old Smoke. Old Smoke's train of thought abruptly broke, and his expression twisted for a moment before returning to normal.
"Youpi is dead?"
"Can you explain specifically how it died?"
Mizusaki, Old Smoke, and Dust all looked at Su Xiao.
Su Xiao hesitated for a moment before deciding to reveal Youpi's true cause of death.
"I sniped it."
"Sniped?"
Mizusaki looked like she thought he was joking.
"You can verify this on the contact platform. Close combat was my former fighting method. I'm now a sniper + summoning class. Earlier, claiming to be a melee fighter was just a habit."
Su Xiao took out the Duke of Annihilation, and with Bubu Wang and Amu standing behind him, his statement became quite credible.
"This... there doesn't seem to be much reason to doubt."
The moment Mizusaki saw the Duke of Annihilation, she felt her hair stand on end. Coupled with Amu's robust physique and Bubu Wang's intermittent presence, she judged that both Amu and Bubu Wang were no ordinary beings.
"'Night of Decapitation' has actually switched to sniper + summoning. How surprising."
Although Mizusaki said this, she was even more puzzled inwardly, wondering what Su Xiao's main combat method actually was.
The reason Su Xiao did this was to mislead these three. Their guesses didn't matter; what mattered was that he had demonstrated a powerful sniping ability. In the subsequent battle with the Ant King, he could engage from long range.
There were three benefits to this: first, he didn't have to worry about being betrayed by these three, i.e., attacked from behind; second, he could observe the combat methods of the three; third, he could conserve stamina. Getting into close combat with the Ant King at the final moment was necessary because he needed to seize the Ant King's heart, and the closer the distance, the greater the advantage.
"This..."
Old Smoke's face showed difficulty. He had originally wanted to disguise himself as a long-range class, because Dust in the team was definitely long-range, his identity as a mage being beyond doubt.
But Su Xiao's act of taking out the Duke of Annihilation dashed Old Smoke's plans. He glanced at the +7 Light Gold long-range sniper pistol in his storage space and decided not to embarrass himself by taking it out, because the Duke of Annihilation was clearly a +10 or higher Gold heavy sniper rifle.
"Since Youpi is already dead, things become simpler afterward. Before dealing with the Ant King, we first need to eliminate the other two direct guards, namely the Cat Girl and the Fly Man."
The Fly Man Old Smoke referred to was Pouf, one of the three guards. In reality, this guy's characteristics were more like a butterfly.
"I'll take the Cat Girl."
Su Xiao didn't want to deal with Pouf. That guy could split, making it very difficult to completely eliminate him.
"Dust, you and Bai Ye have some prior acquaintance. How about the two of you go deal with the Cat Girl together?"
Old Smoke knew he couldn't command the others, so he could only use a tentative tone.
Dust glanced at Su Xiao and shook his head.
"This makes things a bit difficult. Although Bai Ye's reputation isn't great, in this situation, he probably won't stab us in the back. From initial contact, I can tell that Brother Bai Ye is different from those lunatics in the Mingmen Adventure Group."
Old Smoke suddenly mentioned Mingmen. It seemed Mingmen's reputation had grown considerably, being an adventure group composed of a large group of lunatics.
"He wants to go deal with the Cat Girl alone."
Dust had indeed grown a lot, actually guessing the reason Su Xiao had proactively offered to deal with the Cat Girl.
"This... Brother Bai Ye, are you sure?"
"No problem. Either I die, or she dies."
"How about this: Mizusaki, Dust, and I will go deal with Pouf. Pouf's intelligence and survival ability are both strong. The three of us ganging up on him gives us a better chance."
Old Smoke didn't refute Su Xiao's proposal to deal with the Cat Girl alone at all. The reason was simple: whether Su Xiao lived or died, Old Smoke didn't really care, or rather, he was indifferent. Su Xiao's offer to deal with the Cat Girl alone likely meant he had some confidence; no one would go to their death.
"Have the four of you finished discussing?"
Netero suddenly spoke. He had remained silent all along.
"No major issues, Chairman. If all goes smoothly, in about an hour, we can regroup to deal with the Ant King. Of course, while we're dealing with the three guards, the Ant King might appear. At that time, we'll have to trouble the Chairman to hold off the Ant King."
At this point, there was no need to hide anything. As long as they didn't say anything too sensitive, the Chairman wouldn't say anything.
Now, the Hunter Association's people had already fought their way into the courtyard beside the palace. This wasn't just an arrow on the string; the arrow had already been fired. Even if Netero found Su Xiao and the other three suspicious, he wouldn't expose them now. At least until the Ant King was killed, Netero wouldn't say anything, no matter how suspicious their actions were.
"Okay, then, let's begin."
Old Smoke clasped his hands together, his eyes tightly shut. A wave spread out from him as the center point.
"Pouf is on the first floor of the palace. We need to lure him out to deal with him. As for the Cat Girl, she's not in the palace, nor in the courtyard. I'm searching for her."
After about ten seconds, Old Smoke's eyes opened.
"The Cat Girl is actually four kilometers east of the palace. She seems to be chasing a few people. In this situation, it seems those people took something important, forcing the Cat Girl to pursue them."
Old Smoke looked at Su Xiao. The situation had changed; the Cat Girl wasn't in the palace.
"Maintaining some distance suits me better. I haven't invested resources in close combat for a long time."
Su Xiao headed east at a fast pace, but it was only the speed of an early Third Rank melee contractor. If you're going to play the part, you have to play it fully.
As for how to deal with the Cat Girl, Su Xiao naturally intended to engage her in close combat. The Duke of Annihilation's bullets were running low and needed to be saved for the Ant King.
Old Smoke's perception range was extremely large, conservatively estimated at four kilometers. But Su Xiao didn't believe Old Smoke would have the leisure to maintain wide-range perception while dealing with Pouf. Pouf was no pushover.
"Dangerous guy. Do you believe he's a sniper + summoning class?"
Old Smoke watched Su Xiao's retreating figure.
"Even if I don't believe it, what can I do? If you could pull out a +13 Gold heavy sniper rifle, you could also snipe the Ant King from long range. There's no denying that we do need that gun to severely wound the Ant King, so we have to accept it."
Mizusaki shrugged, indicating there was nothing she could do about it.
Dust remained silent throughout. He clearly remembered that when he first met Su Xiao in the Giant World, the other party had claimed to be a gunner using a Green quality pistol.
"A guy with a terrible personality."
Dust muttered before stepping forward and heading toward the palace.