The Legendary Method Actor

Chapter 225: Taunts and Consequences

Almost half of Arturo’s unit abandoned the siege on Squad 4. They burst from the tree line, abandoning their stealth for speed, sprinting toward the riverbank to catch the fleeing squad with the flag before they could escape back into the jungle.

They left the protective radius of Lucia’s sensory mages.

"Zaveed! You are leaving my range!"

Lucia shouted.

"Return to the perimeter!"

It was too late. Arturo was already closing in on the flag carrier, his eyes fixed on the heavy silk banner.

"Got you!"

Arturo yelled, raising his daggers.

He didn't notice the mud beneath his feet rippling.

Squad 3, Ray’s personal unit, had been lying prone in the river mud for some time waiting patiently.

As Arturo’s assassins ran past them, the mud exploded.

"Now!"

Ray’s voice roared from the ground.

Twenty soldiers rose from the earth like golems.

It was a point-blank ambush. Ray’s archers fired into the backs of the rogue unit at point-blank range. His spearmen thrust upward from the ground, catching the assassins completely off guard.

Chaos erupted. Arturo’s unit, caught in the open and surrounded, dissolved into panic.

Arturo spun around, parrying a spear thrust.

"Ambush! Retreat to the trees!"

He reached into his belt and smashed a Smoke Bomb at his feet.

POOF.

A thick cloud of grey alchemy smoke exploded, blinding Ray’s troops.

"You can't catch smoke!"

Arturo laughed, his voice shifting as he used his Rogue-Arts: Shadow Step to vanish into the haze.

Ray stood in the center of the cloud, looking like just another faceless grunt in grey leather. He didn't panic. He closed his eyes and activated Concurrent Partial Immersion; he used the Serene Cultivator’s ‘Aetheric Perception’ and the Gritty Detective’s ‘Observation’ skills.

Ray opened his eyes.

The world didn't just sharpen; it fundamentally changed structure.

The opaque wall of smoke ceased to be a barrier and became a fluid equation. Ray saw the microscopic turbulence in the air, the unnatural drag lines where a solid object was displacing the mist. He saw the vacuum created behind a moving limb, the swirl of grey particles reacting to the weight of a footfall on the soft mud. The chaos of the smoke resolved into a map of cause and effect.

Simultaneously, he peeled back the skin of the simulation. The grey gloom was overlaid with a vibrant, pulsing wireframe of energy. The smoke was cold and inert, dead data drifting in the wind. But hidden within that coldness was a burning knot of hostile intent. Ray saw the frantic circulation of mana in Arturo’s legs as he prepared to strike, a neon-red silhouette burning against the monochrome background.

The physical displacement of the air matched perfectly with the burning mana signature. The illusion of invisibility shattered. Arturo wasn't a ghost in the fog; he was a beacon.

Ray watched the red silhouette lunge silently to his left, the smoke swirling around the invisible blade.

"Found you."

Ray whispered.

He didn't block. He pivoted, driving a brutal right hook into the empty air.

CRACK.

His fist connected with a solid jaw.

Arturo gasped, his concentration shattered instantly. The invisibility flickered and failed, the rogue materializing out of thin air, stumbling back with blood already welling in his mouth.

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He looked up, his eyes widening in disbelief as he saw who had hit him.

"How?"

Arturo spat, wiping blood from his lip.

"How could a mere foot soldier find me?"

Ray didn't give him a second to breathe. He stepped in, grabbed Arturo by the collar, and slammed him into the mud with a judo throw.

THUD.

"Get off me, you glitch!"

Arturo screamed, thrashing wildly.

Before Arturo could recover, Ray straddled his chest, pinning his arms with his knees.

Ray raised his right hand. His Theorist Glove began with the crystal embedded in it, didn't just glow; it screamed as Ray flooded the spell matrix with heavy, Golden Aether.

He clamped his gloved hand directly over Arturo’s face, covering his eyes and nose.

Arturo stopped thrashing. He felt the heat. It wasn't the warm hum of a low-circle spell. It was the radiant, blistering pressure of a blast furnace.

"Incendio... Flux."

Ray cast the 1st-Circle spell: Burning Hands, usually, this spell was a fan of uncontrolled red fire. But with Ray’s control he compressed it.

ROAR.

A jet of concentrated, liquid-gold fire erupted from the glove’s palm. It didn't spread; it was a directed shape charge of incineration. The heat was so intense it instantly vaporized the moisture in the air, turning the smoke around them into steam. The golden flames licked around Arturo's head, stopping millimeters from his skin, a terrifying display of absolute control.

Arturo froze, his arrogance evaporating along with the moisture in the air. He stared into the golden fire, his pupils constricting.

"Game over."

Ray said, the golden reflection of the fire dancing in his eyes.

He clenched his fist.

BOOM.

The contained plasma detonated. A blinding pillar of golden fire engulfed Arturo’s upper body, incinerating the mud, the grass, and the air itself in a ten-foot radius.

Arturo didn't even have time to scream. The simulation’s safety protocols triggered instantly, recognizing a lethal event that exceeded the standard damage cap.

Arturo’s body didn't burn to ash; it shattered. One moment, he was a terrified rogue staring into the sun; the next, he dissolved into a cloud of crimson voxels and data streams. The golden fire swirled through the empty space where his head had been, leaving only a scorch mark on the earth that glowed with lingering Aetheric heat.

[SKILLED APPLICATION DETECTED]

[EVENT: STRATEGIC DECEPTION & COUNTER-AMBUSH]

[PERFORMANCE EVALUATION: INSPIRED]

[ANALYSIS: Host demonstrated absolute mastery over battlefield psychology. By establishing a pattern of 'False Flags' to desensitize the enemy, the Host successfully triggered a 'Greed Response,' baiting an enemy commander into abandoning an advantaged position. The subsequent counter-ambush utilized environmental camouflage to reverse the predator-prey dynamic against a stealth-specialized unit. The final elimination demonstrated the capability to overwhelm superior class-tier defenses through Aetheric density. Largest mastery gain.]

[Deception: +20% (CAPSTONE already reached, adding half of mastery gain to the next archetype skill 'Etiquette & Protocol'), Aetheric Perception: +15%, Observation Skills: +10%]

Ray stood up, shaking the excess heat from his glove. The red particles of his enemy faded into the wind.

“COMMANDER ARTURO ZAVEED ELIMINATED!”

The announcement boomed throughout the simulated world.

In the tree line, Lucia Lascaris froze. She watched as the remainder of Arturo’s troops that were with her dissolved into nothingness. She saw the ‘prey’ squad that they were toying earlier, linking up with a fresh, aggressive force who had just taken out Arturo Zaveed and his troops in a matter of minutes.

She analyzed the situation.

Draven is gone. Zaveed is gone. I have no visual on Croft. If I stay, I’m next.

Panic cold and sharp pierced her chest.

"All units!"

Lucia screamed.

"Full retreat! Fall back to the main force! Do not engage!"

She didn't wait. She turned and fled into the jungle, abandoning the river delta entirely.

Down by the river, Ray stood over where Arturo had vanished. Lying in the mud was a Green Flag.

Ray picked it up.

"Second one."

Ray murmured.

He turned to the battered survivors of Squad 4.

"Drink your potions, patch your wounds. We aren't done."

Ray ordered.

He tapped his ear-cuff.

"Squad 4 secured. The enemy has retreated. All units converge on the third rendezvous point. We are building a snowball."

Back in the far Southeast area, Eliza Vance was on her knees.

Her shield wall was a spiderweb of cracks. Luke Herrington’s Heavy Cavalry and the other commander Regius Dinn, a Tier-2 Prefect from the College of Statecraft with his majority range troops were pounding her relentlessly.

"The Shield is about to collapse!"

Eliza’s lieutenant shouted.

"We can't hold another volley!"

Then, the sky boomed.

"COMMANDER ARTURO ZAVEED ELIMINATED."

The battlefield went silent.

Luke Herrington pulled his horse up. His face paled.

Two Commanders.

Luke thought.

He’s eliminated two commanders in a short time. And he’s moving fast.

He looked at Eliza’s shield. It was almost broken. But if he stayed to finish her...

If I stay here pinning Eliza, Croft will flank me. Or worse, he’ll wipe out the rest of the alliance while I’m distracted. I’m gaining nothing but a stalemate.

Luke made a ruthless calculation. He turned to Regius Dinn, who was leading his archer unit.

"Change of plans. Dinn, you hold her here. Keep her pinned."

Luke barked.

Regius' eyes widened.

"Wait, alone? My troops are mainly range units and can't hold a siege without your cavalry in the front! If she breaks out..."

"Just don't let her leave!" I’m reinforcing the center! If we don't stop Croft, we all lose!"

Luke shouted, already wheeling his horse around.

"Luke! Wait!"

Regius screamed.

But the Heavy Cavalry was already thundering away, abandoning the siege to save themselves.

Inside the shield, Eliza watched the dust settle. The pressure on her barrier dropped significantly.

She stood up, dusting off her robes. She looked through the Shield at Regius Dinn, who was now staring at her with undisguised terror.

"He left you."

Eliza said, her voice amplified, dripping with mockery.

She tapped her staff on the ground. The cracks in her shield began to heal as the pressure lifted.

"Your cavalry is gone, my taunt worked."

Eliza smiled, her eyes predatory.

She raised her staff, pointing it directly at the trembling archer commander.

"And now... you are mine."