"Cannon fire..." The thought flashed through Fang Senyan's mind, but before it could fully form, another shell shrieked past, exploding less than two meters away. Fang Senyan rolled, scrambled back to his feet, preparing to use his medicine in that critical moment, when a thought suddenly struck him: "The enemy's attacks are so precise—what is he relying on? Perception? Impossible! Even a Awakened one couldn't achieve this level of piercing detection over me. Could it be...?"

With this realization, Fang Senyan roared out, "Hey! I'm going to use the Silver Team's rank to suppress the enemy!! Immediately!"

As Fang Senyan shouted, the Nightmare Mark on his chest flashed brightly, the silver light instantly dissolving into countless motes. Simultaneously, the Nightmare Mark on the opponent's chest dimmed, looking as if a thin mist had settled upon a stainless steel emblem. A Contractor gripping a long spear immediately cursed in fury, "Damn it, the opponent actually suppressed our team ability! The detection accuracy, which could have been narrowed to within three meters, has now been forced out to ten meters!"

Another Contractor jumped down from the adjacent self-propelled gun! His body hit the ground heavily, revealing that one of his arms and one of his legs were made of metal, intricately and complexly manufactured. Fire blazed in his eyes as he shouted, "What’s going on, Kapot? I had the target locked just now, but the precision suddenly extended to thirteen meters! I loaded armor-piercing rounds! How am I supposed to get a lock at thirteen meters! That guy is a freak; even with precision locked within three meters, it might not be enough to kill him!"

Kapot instantly shot back, "Wanxi, you idiot! Haven't you realized the team ability is suppressed?! That bastard managed to reset our radar capability to its initial state! Damn it, this guy's team seems formidable; I think we've picked a fight with someone tough this time!"

Wanxi, accustomed to Kapot's foul language, immediately retorted, "Is that so! Transform for me!"

As he spoke, the turret of the self-propelled gun Wanxi had summoned began to rotate slowly, folding and reassembling until it bizarrely transformed into a multiple rocket launcher! He hopped onto it, sneering grimly, "So what? Thirteen meters is thirteen meters. It’ll just cost me a few tens of thousands of Universal Points in extra ammunition! Gamon, for this spoils split, I want priority!"

A burly man with his arms crossed over his chest, seemingly unimpressed by the current situation, said coolly, "I have no problem with that, but you'll have to ask Pacino and Old A."

Wanxi grunted, but said no more, instead slamming down the firing stud viciously. Instantly, over a dozen fire dragons spewed wildly from the multiple rocket launcher. Thick smoke enveloped the entire area in an instant, like rolling clouds, and the spot where Fang Senyan had been standing became a sea of flames, spreading fiercely!

That terrifying barrage of rockets covered an area spanning several hundred square meters. Even though there were no initial combustibles there, the solid fuel in the rockets was reputed to burn for thirty minutes even on an icy ocean surface.

The smoke erupting from the rocket tubes instantly blanketed the scene. It was a scorching heat imbued with a scent of char, like the gunpowder smoke on a battlefield—sharp, pungent, and hazy. Although it had no connection to human bodily fluids, it invariably brought to mind the smell of blood.

However, as the smoke billowed upwards, a strange sensation transmitted through the air. If one looked closely, they might notice the swirling of the smoke was somehow unsettlingly irregular. But at that moment, everyone's attention was fixed on the targeted area. Fang Senyan had put too much pressure on them, so for a moment, no one noticed this subtle anomaly!

The smoke suddenly surged, and a faint red glint of a blade flashed through it, as if refracted many times in the air, slicing toward Wanxi's throat with indescribable, sinister speed. The trajectory of the strike made it impossible to gauge its origin, even creating the bizarre illusion that "even if one leaned back, one would quietly meet the blade."

In just a brief instant, Wanxi let out a sharp cry and sprang up, but several streaks of blood immediately splattered from his body. The blood didn't flow profusely, merely leaving faint crimson trails in the air as afterimages.

Immediately following that, an intensely sharp, blood-red short blade sliced across Wanxi's skin, easily cutting into his abdominal muscles with what felt like unstoppable force. Furthermore, the blood-red short blade violently dragged, pulling out Wanxi's internal organs, causing a massive gush of blood to spray out, which was then scattered further by the high-speed passage of the blade.

Before anyone else could react, Wanxi had been stabbed three times!!!

And these were three stabs delivered by Ronnie’s monstrous, sanguine weapon!

It was only then that Ronnie’s grim silhouette began to slowly materialize from the smoke. He wore a cloak behind him that appeared semi-transparent, its surface rippling like water, as if ready to dissolve and vanish into the air at any moment. Yet, a closer look revealed that this garment was entirely an illusion!

This was the permanent invisibility ability Ronnie had gained after successfully completing his trial: The Dark Templar's Mantle! A permanent invisibility effect that refracts sightlines!

Wanxi let out a screech of agonizing pain. These three strikes had pierced deep into his body, carving out several long gashes that went completely through. Wanxi even used an Elixir of Honor, but the Sanguine Weapon was inherently potent equipment designed for combat between Contractors. Wanxi discovered with terror that his health regeneration simply wouldn't kick in! His only hope now rested on timely rescue from his teammates nearby.

But just then, Ronnie abruptly flickered in front of Wanxi, splitting into two, then two into four, and in a continuous succession of flashes, instantly generated eleven clones that surrounded Wanxi from all directions, simultaneously etching eleven wounds onto Wanxi from various angles!

By this point, assistance from his comrades arrived just in time. After landing their blows, the eleven clones immediately dispersed in different directions. But everyone’s focus had snapped back, and furious roars erupted. The eleven clones were extremely fragile; almost within seconds, they were all eliminated. However, the expressions of the surrounding Contractors became even more grim. Because all eleven clones turned out to be phantoms!!! The main body had vanished into the air again at some unknown moment.

Ronnie's permanent invisibility effect was like adding wings to a tiger for him, but for his enemies, it was a nightmare—a terrifying assassin with staggering lethality who could deliver a fatal knife thrust from behind at any moment! This sense of looming threat, like a thorn in one's back, was arguably more vicious and fatal when he was unseen than when he was visible!

Everyone present knew that Ronnie's clones didn't possess high attack power; his ultimate, game-changing ability was Shadow Stride Clone, which was deadly enough to instantly overturn a situation, capable of trading lives even from a desperate position! And Ronnie had not even used that move yet!

Watching Wanxi clutch his throat, writhing frantically on the ground, someone instinctively tried to rush to his aid. However, such an action was almost futile, as the wounds inflicted on Wanxi's body were too numerous, each one bubbling blood. More critically, the debilitating negative effect that reduced healing efficiency remained stubbornly active.

Despite having been treated with potent medicine, Wanxi’s chest finally rose and fell like a broken bellows before slowly settling. At last, he exhaled his final breath, dying inside the cockpit of his summoned construct. Immediately afterward, this powerful self-propelled gun vehicle rapidly rusted, dried out, collapsed, and dissipated into dust and smoke, leaving behind only a trace in the world. Witnessing this event, almost everyone present simultaneously felt a strange, shared sense of sorrow for their own mortality.

Ronnie’s current killing power far exceeded what they had anticipated. Not to mention the permanent invisibility ability, which seemed tailor-made for an assassin, the monstrous bleeding effect generated by Ronnie's current attacks was information they simply hadn't gathered.

Wanxi was never someone known for high vitality or defense, compounded by Ronnie's familiarity with him, and the sheer power of that Sanguine Short Blade—three stabs had nearly taken half his life.

When coupled with the wounds inflicted by the eleven clones across his body, even though each clone’s attack only inherited 20% of the main body's power, the resulting massive bleeding effect continued to compound relentlessly. As a result, he had literally bled to death on the spot!

At this moment, everyone began to form a tight circle, back-to-back, a defensive posture deemed the most secure against an invisible enemy. In the distance, the flames covering the area bombarded by rockets still burned fiercely, but the focus of the group had long since shifted to every rustle and movement in their immediate surroundings.

Especially for those with strong offense but weak defense, like Pacino and Old A, they believed it would be difficult to withstand a reckless rush from Ronnie. Therefore, despite sensing the risk, they could only prioritize defense for the time being.

Faced with this situation, Ronnie, without waiting for Fang Senyan's signal, quietly slipped away into hiding. His combat specialty was assassination, not frontal assault. Clearly, waiting patiently for the right moment after retreating was a much better option than forcing an aggressive advance!