Inside the forest near the entrance of the town of Agrona. Under the shelter of tall trees, 2 forces were currently in the midst of a fierce battle.

A troop led by one of the Captains of the Legion army, Captain Arendal against the stealthiest division of the town of Agrona.

"Healers, aid the injured! Mages bombard them with your elemental magic! And all the knights, tighten up your formation! Don't let any of them pass through and reach our mages and healers!" Captain Arendal screamed as he blocked a blade aiming at his neck using his white metallic shield. He swung his sword to assault the maid outfit wearing aggressor but his target immediately jumped out and changed her target. He clicked his tongue. "Sly."

As his former target disappeared from his sight 3 new ones replaced and attacked him using their swords. To counter the incoming attack, Captain Arandel spun his massive sword that instantly made the 3 marionettes jump out and disappeared from the thickness of the forest.

"These mercenary freaks won't commit to an all-out battle, their battle style revolves around withering down their enemies!" One of the knights shouted while fending off the incoming attackers.

Captain Arandel smiled. "As expected from an organization consisting of stealth-dependent assassins. Too bad for them, this troop specializes in the battle of attrition." He threw his shield and stabbed the ground with his sword. "We are a bad matchup for you, Marionette corps. Ice arena!"

In an instant, the entire place was enveloped in Ice revealing the 20 Marionettes hiding in the trees. Freezing some of them in their positions.

As Captain Arandel pulled his sword, his cold baritone laughter resonated throughout the area. "Aren't you a little bit fired up, little ones? Should we make things a little bit... colder?"

All at once, multiple Ice spikes emerged from the frozen ground and assaulted the Marionette corps trapped in the massive ice field.

Captain Arandel laughed as he watched the entire team of Marionette corps jump around throughout the field to dodge the relentless attack coming from the ice spikes emerging everywhere. Even his entire troop was cheering for him with smiles on their faces, fully confident of their apparent win.

However...

After a few seconds, his laughter turned into a groan of confusion. "Why are none of them dead yet?"

As he spoke his confusion, with great synchronization, the Marionettes jumped in the guarded down troops of knights and immediately infiltrated the very center of the formation.

"The mages and the healers!" The only words Captain Arandel could say as he stared at his dumbfounded troops.

What came next was a bloodbath, an entire formation of healers and mages was eliminated in one fell swoop leaving the stunned knights looking at the corpses in the ground with the culprits nowhere to find.

"Damn it! Don't let your guard down!" But the anger on his face was instantly replaced with horror as he turned his gaze towards his troops.

His entire troops were fighting each other while generating horrifying sounds of despair as they stabbed their own allies.

"What is happening?" Captain Arandel asked while staring at the scenery with his enlarged eyes. He tried to move but the realization occurred to him. "Eh? I can't move?" At the same time, his feet floated to the air, detaching him from his control on his ice field.

"That was a good fight if I must admit, as expected from the 4th most powerful Captain of Hive mind legion. With the combination of your commendable physical capabilities and magical prowess, you gave my Marionettes a hard time." The owner of the voice revealed himself and walked towards Captain Arandel. "However, it's not enough to stop them."

Captain Arandel unleashed a mocking laugh. "Leal... the coward Puppet master. Can't you fight head-on, that you have to always rely on your tricky tactics?"

Leal stood right in front of him. "I am afraid I can't do that. My primary fighting method is to gain a victory without the need for direct confrontation. I am an assassin after all."

"Master Leal, the entire troop has been eliminated." One of the Marionettes bowed her head at him.

Leal nodded. "Good, now, proceed to the other troops."

"I understand." All at once, the marionettes left.

Hatred instantly occurred on Captain Arandel's face. "I already had them!" He spat in front of Leal.

A puzzling smile expressed on Leal's face. "You do?" He chuckled. "Believe me, even without my help, your entire troop will be annihilated. The moment you lose your healers and mages that you heavily relied on, it was already your defeat. All I did was to speed it up." Leal shrugged. "You should be grateful to me, I just saved you from the shame of being killed by my Marionettes, Ice monarch, Arandel."

"You will regret that you decided to show your arrogant face to me, Leal!" All of the sudden, Ice particles started to emerge around Captain Arandel, revealing the invisible web attached all over his body. "These things can't stop me!"

However, Leal just stared at him with confidence on his face.

"Man, isn't it too messy in here?"

Instantaneously, the both of them stared in the direction where the voice came from. Leal looked at the owner of the voice and didn't even change his expression. On the other hand, Captain Arandel's face instantly filled with horror upon seeing who it was.

His enlarged eyes instantly trembled. "A me... a meru- it can't be!"

"Excuse the mess, I just decided to have a talk with this particular Captain for a while... Casimir."

"I don't mind," Casimir replied as he stared at Leal. "By the way, have you located the location of their Commander yet?"

Leal nodded. "Yes, we are now proceeding to clear the way for you."

A menacing smile emerged on Casimir's face. "That's great."

With great desperation on his face, Captain Arandel came up with only one thing to do. "Comman-"

However, his head instantly fell to the ground as a mystic thread sliced his neck off.

Leal clicked his tongue as he watched the Captain's head rolling to the ground. "As if I would let you."

On the other hand, Casimir just stared at the head in front of him while expressing no emotion in his red eyes. He raised his head and started to walk away from the scene. "I'll go this way for now then."

"I understand." Leal watched Casimir slowly disappear through the thickness of the forest. After a few seconds, he smiled while shaking his head. "He must be really eager to finally face Commander Einar. That man... I could feel him trembling in excitement."