Chapter 2290: Who are the Hunters?

While Owen was engaged in an intense battle against the three Wall Commanders of the fortress, the person responsible for eliminating the fortress’s high-ranking officials was also making his move.

Alucard, who was positioned at an extremely high vantage point, carefully observed everything happening throughout the fortress.

After confirming that Felix and Felicia were able to hold their ground, he shifted his attention toward the other side of the fortress.

The moment the Mana Dome finally collapsed, Alucard immediately took up a proper position and prepared to snipe his targets.

His targets of choice were naturally the fortress’s high-ranking officers, preferably the Wall Commanders.

However, just as he was preparing to assassinate one of them from a distance, he realized that the Commanders had already abandoned their posts and moved toward the eastern side of the fortress.

Before he could even take a shot at the Northern Wall Commander, the NPC had already disappeared behind the structures along the eastern wall.

The same thing happened with the Southern Wall Commander, who likewise disappeared from Alucard’s line of sight when he shifted his aim toward that side of the fortress.

This forced Alucard to change targets once again and shifted his aim toward the Western Wall Commander.

However, this side of the fortress had also suddenly become chaotic following the collapse of the Mana Dome.

Instead of assisting the Grand Marshal in his battle against Felix, the Western Wall Commander had retreated into the fortress and joined the other Guard Commanders in their efforts to capture Shin and Diablo, who were currently wreaking havoc throughout their ranks.

The two were like a pair of foxes in a henhouse, slaughtering everyone they encountered before disappearing without a trace.

Given their incredible speed and powerful stealth abilities, no one seemed capable of stopping them from killing their targets and escaping like ghosts.

Even the Guard Commanders were unable to catch either of them.

The only people who could possibly track them down were the Western Wall Commander, who possessed a special ability that allowed him to see through stealth, and the Fortress Master’s personal guard, who specialized in pursuit and tracking.

Unfortunately, the latter couldn’t leave the Fortress Master’s side while Donato was still recuperating.

This left the Western Wall Commander with no choice but to personally make a move, abandoning his post and leading the Guard Commanders in pursuit of the two intruders.

However, the complicated terrain within the fortress, with its numerous buildings obstructing his vision, made it impossible for Alucard to maintain a clear firing line on the Commander-ranked NPCs.

Given the current situation, Alucard could only settle for targeting other NPCs with some degree of authority—mostly the Captain-ranked officers scattered throughout the fortress.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Each time Alucard squeezed the trigger of his sniper rifle, the bullet he fired either blew apart the head of his target or pierced straight through their chest, killing them instantly.

No one was able to survive his shots.

This terrified the commanding personnel throughout the fortress, who had quickly realized that they were the primary targets of the mysterious sniper.

The crimson rain of bullets created another source of terror for the NPCs, completely different from the chaos caused by the artillery bombardment coming from behind the rock formations along the eastern side of the fortress.

The artillery bombardment was slaughtering their soldiers, while the crimson "rain" was systematically taking the lives of the high-ranking officers who were supposed to command them.

Under the combined might of these attacks, the fortress was gradually becoming incapable of mounting any meaningful response.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Boom! Boom!

The commanding officers of the fortress desperately tried to find ways to hide from Alucard’s attacks. Some had even abandoned their command posts and attempted to blend in among the ordinary troops.

However, all of their efforts were futile in front of Alucard, who continued sniping them one after another.

They might have been able to conceal themselves after abandoning their command posts, but the chain of command still had to follow a certain structure.

And Alucard knew exactly how to exploit it.

Having a military background himself, he could easily identify which individuals held the highest authority by following the chain of command being passed down among the officers.

Moreover, these NPCs were fundamentally different from players.

Players could issue commands through their System’s communication functions without revealing their positions, but the NPCs had to relay their orders orally.

That made it much easier for Alucard to identify the commanding personnel.

In the end, none of them could truly escape his sight unless they managed to hide behind the surrounding structures.

Unfortunately, without the elevated positions of their command posts, they could no longer maintain a clear view of the battlefield.

This made it significantly harder for them to coordinate their forces and issue effective commands.

To make matters worse, the continuous artillery bombardment further reduced the number of safe locations where they could hide.

Without proper leadership to organize their troops, the fortress’s forces gradually began to crumble, causing the chaos within the fortress to intensify even further.

After a while, Alucard had eliminated most of the commanding officers, leaving the fortress’s chain of command on the verge of complete collapse.

Once he felt that he had done enough, Alucard stood up from his position and looked toward the fortress in the distance.

"That should be enough," he mumbled as he rested his sniper rifle over his shoulder. "Time to move."

Immediately afterward, he hopped down from the rock formation and summoned his crimson wings before flying straight toward the fortress.

He was planning to join Shin and Diablo according to the next stage of their operation.

Swoosh!

...

By the time the remaining Commander-ranked NPCs within the fortress realized what had happened, it was already too late.

To make matters worse, they had also fallen into an equally dangerous situation.

Shin and Diablo had finally stopped running through the fortress and decided to face them directly.

At this moment, all seven remaining Commander-ranked NPCs within the fortress had gathered in the central plaza, where they had eventually cornered their targets.

The two intruders stood at the opposite end of the plaza, facing the group of Commanders gathered in the center.

Among the seven, the Western Wall Commander, Patrol Guard Commander, and Inner Region Commander were the strongest.

Yet, despite their confidence in their abilities, all three currently wore grave expressions as they stared at the two figures before them.

From their perspective, the two enemies standing before them were no longer merely powerful people.

They were monsters in human form.

Even the Western Wall Commander, who was renowned for his ability to see through stealth and disguises, was still unable to properly lock onto Diablo’s presence.

The Elven Thief seemed to have become one with the surrounding shadows, constantly slipping in and out of existence.

However, the person who made the Western Wall Commander the most wary was Shin, who was casually sitting atop the building directly across from them.

The Western Wall Commander could immediately tell that he would not be a match for this person alone.

Even if all seven of them joined forces, he wasn’t confident that they would be able to stop the anomaly standing before them.

"Even Grand Marshal Ivar wouldn’t be a match for this monster," he muttered, finally realizing that they had fallen into a trap.

They had thought they were chasing a pair of troublesome rats that only focused on hunting weaker targets while constantly avoiding their pursuit.

Who would have thought that the so-called rats had been leading them by the nose all along?

They had been deliberately luring all the fortress’s remaining Commanders into one place.

And now, they were trapped.

...

Shin looked at the seven Commander-ranked NPCs before him, before glancing at the party channel.

"Oh! Owen is already engaging the three other Commanders." He raised his brows slightly after reading the report before turning his attention back toward the Commanders in front of him. "These should be the remaining ones within the fortress."

"I don’t see the other two guys who are always with the Fortress Master, though," Diablo remarked, already identifying the main targets.

"They should be a little stronger than these guys, but still weaker than that Grand Marshal fighting outside," he added, recalling what he had observed earlier.

"We can’t do anything about it. Their priority should be guarding the Fortress Master right now." Shin shrugged before pausing for a moment.

"Those two could be a good match for Samael later while we’re dealing with the ’final boss," he smiled, planning to leave those two for their little ’trainee’.

"Will the kid be able to handle them?" Diablo asked.

"One of them should be a good match for him. But facing both would put him under considerable pressure," Shin chuckled. "It shouldn’t be too much of a problem, though, especially if the elites from Deicide keep an eye on him."

He then turned toward Diablo. "Should we go together, or do you want to give it a try on your own?"

Diablo paused for a moment and looked toward the group of Commanders before them.

He was confident that he could handle three or four of them alone.

However, fighting more than that would likely put him under considerable pressure, especially since he could sense that the Western Wall Commander possessed a means of marking him despite his stealth.

Swoosh!

Diablo was still deciding whether to accept the challenge when another figure suddenly descended from the sky and landed beside them.

"Let the two of us play with them a little, Vice Commander," Alucard said as he joined the other two.

Shin looked at him for a moment before nodding. "Alright. Then these guys are yours."

This time, he planned to sit back and enjoy the show.

......