Chapter 11: The Hyena Squad’s Deception

The night was thick and heavy as Elara moved swiftly, maintaining her “Shadow Step” technique.

Her form was as ethereal as a ghost’s, with only the hem of her cloak occasionally fluttering in the wind.

Based on the intel she and Serene had cross-referenced earlier that day, three crucial points of suspicion emerged.

First, the timeline presented discrepancies.

After Elara and Hilvyn encountered the Hyena Squad, they spent about two hours practicing and returning to the guild. The Hyena Squad, however, had arrived at the guild for aid approximately fifty minutes before Elara’s duo.

At that time, their injured member was barely clinging to life and died upon reaching the guild. This implied that the journey from where the two teams met to the guild took roughly one hour and ten minutes for the Hyena Squad.

Yet, Elara distinctly remembered that she and Hilvyn had leisurely walked that very path in less than an hour.

Second, the changes in their team composition were unsettling.

The Hyena Squad had a consistent history of recruiting front-liners, and without exception, their previous teammates had all met unfortunate ends during commissions.

Including today’s incident, four front-liners had now perished. In the previous three instances, the other three squad members had sustained injuries of varying degrees.

This time, however, the remaining three were completely unscathed.

Third, and most perplexing to Elara, was an observation made in the lounge.

“I want to know the location of the Hyena Squad’s mission today.”

Serene unrolled a map, marking the mission site and pointing it out to Elara. With a team suffering fatalities, the guild had already flagged this mission for priority investigation.

Elara studied the map, noting that the approximate mission location, her and Hilvyn’s position, and the North Gate of Windwhisper City formed a perfect triangle.

Under normal circumstances, their paths should never have crossed, yet somehow, the two teams had encountered each other.

The thought of them getting lost immediately surfaced, only to be dismissed. They were, after all, an experienced team; getting lost was virtually impossible.

Could the battle have been so fierce and evenly matched that the battlefield shifted, dragging them along a direct line between her, Hilvyn, and the North Gate? This was the very reason for her investigation tonight.

She intended to uncover the truth behind this third point of suspicion with a single inquiry.

As for why she chose to go at night, it was simply because the guild would also be investigating tomorrow. There was no telling what other incidents might arise, and avoiding contact was the wisest course of action.

Moreover…

Elara caught the faint, ethereal scent of wind chimes in the air and quickened her pace. The Windwhisper Forest possessed a unique ability to repair anomalies within itself.

It was possible that within a single night and day, all traces of a battle could vanish. Upon reaching her destination, Elara merely circled the area once, confirming her initial answer.

There had been no battlefield shift. The fighting had occurred precisely at the mission location marked on the map, utterly unchanged. This meant they had wandered aimlessly with their injured comrade, squandering the optimal window for rescue.

An answer began to surface in her mind:

‘Adventurers typically purchase insurance. If they die unexpectedly during a commission, as long as it’s deemed a normal death, a substantial insurance payout can be claimed.’

‘The distribution of the insurance money is usually such that the majority goes to the deceased’s family. If there’s no family, it’s fully divided among the squad members.’

‘Furthermore, the guild also provides compensation to the squad members based on the mission’s difficulty.’

A sudden cold gust of wind sent a shiver down Elara’s spine. ‘Should I just return?’ Elara quickly dismissed the idea.

She had come prepared; she needed to record some potentially useful evidence. Yet, this presented a new dilemma. Mere battle traces held no meaning; they couldn’t serve as decisive proof.

Moonlight bathed the clearing, rendering everything a stark, pale white. The cloudless night of Windwhisper City allowed for travel by moonlight.

At the boundary of the tree shadows, the grass was stained with an almost imperceptible, dim red.

Elara crouched down to examine it. It was dried blood. The blood trailed along, following an ankle print…

Elara recalled the encounter from several hours prior, and the pieces suddenly clicked into place. She swiftly found the blood trail and followed it in one direction.

Elara pulled out a jade, square-conical stone—a “photographic crystal” she had rented from the Gold Road Trading Post. The tip of the cone served as the camera’s lens, while the base displayed the images.

It also possessed a video recording function, though its one flaw was its inability to capture sound. A momentary infusion of magic would take a photo, while continuous infusion would record a video.

Photos could be printed onto paper, but videos required transfer to specialized recording stones. The closer the blood drops were, the slower the person had moved; the sparser they were, the faster.

After following the blood trail for a while, the continuous line of blood gathered into a small puddle behind a tree, then abruptly veered off in another direction.

Elara did not understand, but she continued to follow.

Within a few steps, the surrounding scenery reminded her of the exact spot where she and Hilvyn had practiced their fusion magic earlier that day.

‘So they were observing Hilvyn and me from behind that tree?’ The small puddle of blood behind the tree indeed indicated that the three members of the Hyena Squad had paused there briefly.

Their earlier claim that Elara and Hilvyn had blocked them for a few seconds, causing them to miss the optimal rescue time, now seemed utterly ridiculous. But why would they be secretly watching?

Perhaps Hilvyn’s powerful fusion magic had drawn them in. ‘But what was their motive for orchestrating our encounter?’ Elara pondered silently, yet she couldn’t quite grasp the truth.

She was no Sherlock Holmes; her brain’s processing power had its limits. Elara stretched, ‘I just want to go back, look at the lovely Hilvyn, and fall into a beautiful sleep.’

Since she had already reached this location, she decided not to pursue the trail further. As she was about to return to the city, she suddenly remembered she hadn’t photographed the battle site.

“Ah, every little bit counts, I suppose.”

If one was going to put on a show, they might as well go all out, especially since she had already come this far. With this thought, she prepared to retrace her steps to the battleground.

Still some distance away, a sudden surge of magical energy emanated from ahead. A jolt ran through her, instantly banishing all traces of sleepiness.

Elara sharpened her senses, activating her “Shadow Concealment” magic, and rapidly drew closer. Once within range, her “Spatial Perception” detected three individuals: two men and one woman.

It was the Hyena Squad.

“Lina, your acting was superb today.”

“Captain, weren’t you just as amazing?”

The sound of their conversation carried clearly, completely unmasked. Elara remained hidden at a discreet distance, where she could both see and hear.

These individuals seemed to be interacting with thin air. Elara observed for a while, realizing that the three were using magic or manual means to damage the surrounding environment.

“All thanks to that Black Rose and her idiotic teammate, hehe.”

“It served as perfect false evidence for us. Who told us to run into them while dragging that dead man around?”

“If those two fools hadn’t given us a push, the insurance payout might not have been signed off so quickly.”

“Hahahaha!” Both laughed unrestrainedly.

They had previously orchestrated three insurance claims, going to great lengths to obtain them legitimately. Wounds inflicted by monsters on their teammates served as ideal evidence, which the medical examiners would confirm.

“Hey, Victor.” Lina called out, “You should smile too. The insurance money from this ‘money bag’ isn’t small today.”

“I just want to get the money quickly to buy a better magic staff.”

“You’re so boring…”

A cheerful atmosphere filled the air between the three as they chatted idly. Elara heard every word, her eyes glinting with a cold fury, her fists clenched tightly.

She longed to unleash “Dark Arrow” and kill all three of them. But she couldn’t.

The photographic crystal had a rental record, and the city guards had witnessed her departure. If the bodies were left unhandled, the medical examiners could determine the magical properties of the wounds.

If the bodies were disposed of, and they simply vanished, numerous suspicions would inevitably point back to her. Furthermore, the Hyena Squad might even have contingency plans in place. She couldn’t take that gamble.

Elara gritted her teeth in frustration, raising her photographic crystal. She recorded the moment Victor cast his magic, the light illuminating the faces of all three.

“Alright, let’s go.” Pete withdrew his hand. “Once the guild’s investigators arrive tomorrow and see how ‘fierce’ the battle was here, the compensation should be issued.”

Pete gestured for the other two to complete their final touches, then turned and vanished into the night. After a moment, Elara emerged from the center of the ravaged “battleground.”

She put away her photographic crystal and walked back with steady steps.