Chapter 658: Observing the Pests

It was time to conduct some pest control.

Kaiden disengaged from the Charger cluster mid-fight, pulling his girls out with a sharp gesture. Ash’s group swarmed the remaining kills like vultures on a carcass, and Kaiden let them have it.

He had a theory.

The stream delay hadn’t worked. Ashbound couldn’t be watching their broadcast because there was nothing to watch. Which meant Ash was getting their position from somewhere else.

’Let’s narrow it down.’

"We’re relocating," he told the girls. "Southeast. The ravine network past the treeline."

Luna’s mouth opened.

"Please save the questions for later. It’s important."

Luna’s mouth closed. She understood that Kaiden wouldn’t just tell her to ’shut up.’ He never did that, even when she might’ve been a teeny tiny bit getting on his nerves.

That’s why she listened.

They moved quickly and quietly, covering ground with the efficiency of a unit that had been fighting together long enough to read intentions from footsteps.

No stream. No communication artifacts active.

The ravine network was two kilometers south of their previous position. It wasn’t on any optimal farming route. It wasn’t flagged by the association. There was no strategic reason for anyone to come here unless they were specifically following Kaiden’s group.

They found a cluster of monsters nesting in the lower basin and engaged.

Kaiden counted silently in his head as they fought.

Thirty seconds.

One minute.

Two minutes.

Three minutes in, Alice’s voice cut through his mind. <Big brother. They’re coming.>

’There it is.’

Ashbound appeared at the ridge with Ash in front, weapon drawn, camera drones up. Same formation. Same angle of approach. Same confident stride of a man who somehow always knew where to find them.

The girls saw it too.

Nyx’s expression went flat. Luna’s went dark. Aria looked at Kaiden with quiet understanding.

Kaiden finished his kill and sheathed his weapon.

Theory confirmed.

...

They moved again, finding a sheltered alcove between two ridgelines where the wind broke against the rock.

Kaiden sat cross-legged at the center.

"Come here. All of you."

The girls gathered with no banter for once. They’d read his tone.

He kept his voice low, hushed enough that the words wouldn’t carry past the cavern.

"We’re being tracked."

Silence.

"The stream delay didn’t shake them. I moved us to a dead zone two kilometers off any farming route, with no broadcast. They found us in three minutes. It appears that every time we relocate, they know where to come. And if that isn’t enough... They do so only after we engage the monsters. Someone is watching us move and reporting our position to Ashbound in real time."

<I couldn’t sense anyone.> Alice’s voice was small, frustrated. <I tried... There was nothing.>

<I know. You’re the Light That Destroys, not a scout.> His tone carried no blame.

"Which means we’re dealing with a high-tier stalker, probably a veteran."

This was the mountain range where two competitions ran simultaneously: the veteran and rookie tracks that shared the same zone. Furthermore, the fifteen guilds present could still field members who were part of the guild but not part of the competition squad.

Which meant... "Ashbound could have stationed a veteran-level rogue, maybe a whole team, to keep eyes on us and feed that loser our intel."

The implications settled over the group.

Luna’s eyes were bright with the specific fury of a woman who had been told the game was rigged.

"I was thinking the same... But just let me get this straight. This fucking generational embarrassment can’t beat us in a fight, can’t outfarm us, can’t out-stream us, so he hired some max-level rogue to camp our position?! That’s what we’re dealing with?! This is the awakened combat equivalent of stream sniping with a GPS tracker, and nobody is going to do anything about it?!"

"The association hasn’t banned it," Nyx said.

"Luna." Kaiden’s voice was gentle, before the gamer girl rage could truly begin materializing. She was only just getting started.

Aria shifted closer to Kaiden. "It’s frustrating, but think about it. This is still very favorable for us."

Luna gritted her teeth. "Favorable?! He’s stealing our kills!"

"We came to the mountain range because of the association’s presence," Aria continued. "Without them, we couldn’t fight in the open at all. We’d be looking over our shoulders every second, worried about hostiles. Worried about ambushes. Worried about worse." She paused. "Having some kills stolen is annoying. Having the association guarantee our safety while we grind is priceless."

Luna opened her mouth.

Closed it.

Opened it again. "I still hate it."

"Nobody said you couldn’t. I just wanted us to appreciate how good we have it even now."

Bastet spoke up next, voicing her thoughts. "I see what they’re doing. The kills are only one thing. He also farms stream engagement off our backs while he’s at it. Awakened combat for the action. Rivalry with the Sinners for the drama. He steals our setups, takes our points, and profits from all of it without suffering a single consequence."

The accuracy of that assessment killed the conversation for a moment.

"As long as they don’t have a tragic accident," Nyx spoke up. Her expression was pleasant. Her tone was not. After all, their strategy meant one thing: when Kaiden and co started a new combat, Ash and co dropped what they were doing - which was having brutal battles against strong monsters - only to jump into the next one.

Calypso’s grin split wide. "Are you thinking the same?"

"Maybe~"

"Hey." Kaiden’s voice cut through. The girls looked at him. "Let’s not get hasty."

The murderous energy between the Space Valkyrie and the demoness cooled. Slightly.

"First, let’s test ourselves properly," Kaiden said. "We push extra hard for the rest of the day. I want to see how fast we can rotate zones. Hit a cluster, clear it, move before Ashbound arrives, hit the next one." He looked at each of them. "But remember. Safety is most important. If the pace is too much, speak up."

Five nods.

No hesitation from any of them.

...

The strategy was simple.

Hit fast. Clear fast. Move.

Don’t let Ashbound arrive before the cluster was dead.

The first engagement was a pack of Boulderjaws, squat quadrupeds with oversized craniums made of compressed calcium that they used as battering rams. They charged in staggered waves, which made them predictable once you saw the pattern. Kaiden entered with Wrath hot, the girls spread into their rotation, and they tore through the pack in under a few minutes. Points registered. Bodies dissolved. They were walking north before the last corpse hit the ground.

Alice tracked from above. <No sign of Ashbound yet... Their stream shows them still fighting.>

Ash was arrogant but not dumb.

He, too, put on a stream delay, though not as lengthy as Kaiden’s was. This meant Kaiden could not spy on Ashbound and get real-time information just by watching the streams.

The second cluster was a trio of Cragweavers, spider-like creatures the size of small cars that spun webs of minerite thread between the rock formations. The thread was sharp enough to cut through standard armor on contact, turning the entire area into a kill-box. Getting close fast required Bastet to basically ’burn it all’ by spending a large amount of her mana, which gave Calypso and Luna the opening to rush in while Aria picked off the smallest one from the air.

Messy but quick. They moved again.

<Ashbound found the ravine empty.> Alice sounded delighted. <The cuck is yelling at the tallest bitch with big tits.>