Four Split Personalities

As for those heretics wielding bizarre powers that worried Cleo the most, they transformed into other feet of the crab, constantly harassing the Lord’s Allied Forces like a mass of tentacles. Their aggressiveness was much stronger than that of the three regular army legions, as they not only possessed the foundational strength of at least middle-rank professionals but also wielded the unpredictable "Whisper." If it hadn’t been for the mass of "choirs" that Motan had prepared in advance, producing a strategically significant value of interference, the warriors acting as the wings of the Violet Falcon Array would have likely been slaughtered by more than half without any preparation.

Regardless, the onslaught of these people was eventually curtailed. The heretics, already mentally distressed, were initially plagued by severe headaches due to excessive "throat-busting" and hoarse voices. Their usually accompanying power of "Whisper" couldn’t stabilize and exert force amid irritation and confusion. Not only that, many annoyed by the singing to the point of frustration subconsciously fostered the thought, "It sounds so bad! I wish I were dead!" and were literally "whispered" onto the streets by their own doing.

"Close call... wasn’t it?"

After continuing to watch for a few more minutes and determining that the victory of the Lord’s Allied Forces was assured, Cleo removed his cape and threw it onto a wooden chair inside the house, then peeled off the bladed gauntlet and leisurely untied his crow mask from behind his head while murmuring apprehensively, "With this, that damn Cordova... no, that damn Anthony Dabus actually helped me by not leaking information actively... wait a second! What is that! What in the world is that!?"

His hands froze mid-air as he stared in horror at an incidental sweep across the edge of the battlefield from the main perspective of Raven Three, "When did that burly man who appears to be a... magic puppet... or an engineering puppet, rush over!?"

...

At the same time, Game Time AM11:27

[Quinn should be dead by now.]

Jiawen, sheathing her weapon and sprinting intently across the battlefield, quickly estimated the time, then turned her head back and called out to the more than a hundred members of the Assassin group following her, "Pick up the pace. Even if they’ve transferred some of their strong ones to the southern side, our plan is likely exposed since Quinn’s death. Move faster, continue using Whisper to confuse the enemy’s perception around us!"

"Yes."

The group responded in unison, with several high-ranking whispered just murmuring something, heads bowed, around the periphery. Under the near-silent barrage of "Whisper," the increasingly numerous warriors of the Lord’s Allied Forces seemed to ignore them as if they were invisible, seeing this group filled with a creepy aura but behaving in a reasonable and appropriate manner as allies.

This is the power of high-level Whisper Cultists and the source of Jiawen’s confidence in this assassination plan.

However, there are many methods to disrupt the wide-range interference effect of "Whisper," such as those with strong spiritual power who are constantly vigilant, people like Cleo who observe from a distance through crows as an intermediary, people like Cordova who are inexplicably immune, and any professional of higher rank than advanced stage.

Although the truth sounds a bit odd when the last condition is added, it is what it is. Among the first four types, including Cordova as an exception, all are highly likely to be unaffected. The condition of being an "advanced-rank professional" does not mean that all such professionals are immune, but rather that those below advanced rank and not fitting in any of the first four categories are unlikely to notice on their own. Only those above advanced rank might have a chance to break free from Whisper interference through their own strength.

And how likely is it for a common advanced-stage strong person to break free from "Whisper"?

The difficulty is akin to us realizing we are dreaming while dreaming, and using rational thinking and willpower to consciously awaken ourselves and return to reality.

It might sound quite straightforward, but when we think about it carefully and compare the total number of dreams we’ve had to the specific instances where we’ve realized we’re dreaming and woken up, the ratio is indeed staggering.

Thus, under principle, this group of assassins led by Jiawen might even not be discovered until the assassination succeeds, and the success rate of their action is alarmingly high. If Dundis and the Hussein Family coordinated, the chance of success could practically be a certainty.

Nevertheless, Jiawen did not take it lightly; therefore, from the beginning, she prepared as though "Dundis and Hussein Family don’t cooperate, and the emperor’s most vigilant close guards decipher Whisper" were a premise for planning. She prepared more than one plan, assigning over three contingency measures and corresponding tasks to each individual, to make everything as foolproof as possible.

However...

"One minute later, move north."

Double Leaf clapped her hands forcefully, vigilantly surveyed her surroundings, and commanded without turning her head to the few Rangers and circling Griffon Knights standing behind her, "Before that, take one last headcount of the current area."

"Yes, Lady!"

...

Half a minute later,

"About four hundred and sixty people, Lady."

"About four hundred and fifty people, Lady."

"Over four Hundred people, Lady."

Three rangers, who were best at sighting and math, were the earliest to reach the conclusion and loudly reported it.

"About four hundred and fifty, that’s right..."

Double Leaf, who was controlling several Eyes of the Mage, felt relieved after the answer was confirmed. She waved her small hand tiredly, "Okay, everyone get ready... Wait a moment!"

The highly alert young girl was suddenly startled, then quickly opened her friends tab, and in her chat records with ’Tan Mo’, she found a string of numbers— ’Seventeen, 270’

It was sent by herself, showing the time sent was four minutes ago, probably when she had just reached the area.

[The seventeenth count of numbers, around two hundred seventy, four minutes ago...]

[The eighteenth count of numbers, around four hundred fifty, half a minute ago...]

[In about two hundred seconds, besides these temporary hands, nearly two hundred more people appeared nearby?!]

"Damn it! Everyone, prepare for battle!"

Double Leaf angrily yelled, quickly sent her current location to Motan with three exclamation marks in her friends tab, then shuddered, and half a second later, she suddenly noticed a swordsman with a Marshall insignia on his shoulder armor, along with many other unfamiliar faces.

"What..."

Rubert, standing behind her, hadn’t yet reacted when an ice and a fire dragon head erupted from the ground, dragging long tails of flame and ice trails towards the ’allied forces’ not far away, instantly eliciting a cry of shock.

Seven or eight unsuspecting assassins were flung twenty meters away in a series of explosions, and those two ice and fire dragon heads that merged and exploded at close range completely incapacitated them, including two high-level Whisper Cultists whose strength surely surpassed Double Leaf and were impervious to noise disturbance.

This wasn’t over yet!

"Don’t freaking freeze! They came sneaking in to assassinate old Cleo, watch my spell trajectory! Everyone nearby who doesn’t have an insignia, can’t confirm their identities, or whispers suspiciously looking like wrongdoers, those who are plain ugly, chop them all down!"

Using her scream to snap those affected by the Whisper distraction back to reality, the young girl wickedly grinned and raised both her small hands. Above her head in mid-air, she condensed a vibrant blue energy sphere, forty centimeters in diameter, that was growing larger continuously!

"Spirit Bomb!"

Chapter five hundred fifty-one: The End