Ronin crouched a full kilometer outside the starting zone, patient and still. He didn't need eyes on the bait. The tracking card he'd planted on the guy would ping the second anything interesting happened.
The wait was short. The bait's job was simple—reach the contact point, burn [Beginner], and snap right back. Ronin felt the return hit his card book and started counting. At the same time the bait swapped cards, pulling [Magnetic] instead.
The guy's hands shook. He'd been close enough to Lev's crew to feel the difference. The man who'd grabbed him treated people like people. The Troupe treated them like cargo. Once they had a name, they tossed you aside without a second thought. He knew they'd remember him now. His future was probably already claimed unless he could beat them or just get the hell out of the game.
Leave and Pass cards were both out of reach. So he'd been surviving day to day, heart in his throat. Being bait was dangerous, but the guy who caught him had left a Pass as payment. Finish this right and he could finally leave Greed Island behind.
Killing intent rolled in from the horizon like a storm front. The bait actually relaxed a little. He wasn't scared the Troupe wouldn't chase—he was terrified they wouldn't. That would mean he'd failed.
A [Communication] card buzzed in his ear like a phone call.
"The Pass is with the port guard. Hit the port, say the code 'Narudo,' and he'll hand it over. Move fast."
"Got it." The bait's heart slammed against his ribs. He swapped [Magnetic] for [Again] and locked the destination to the port.
The light carrying Lev and the other two touched down. In that exact second the bait launched upward in a fresh streak of light, rocketing toward the port.
The three Spiders hit the ground and instantly dropped into combat stances. The second the bait vanished, all three felt the same cold prickle—like something monstrous had them in its sights. They scanned the empty grassland but saw nothing.
Ronin had already locked onto them with his aura and switched to the Far Eye Technique, watching through the crystal ball. Lev's face came up first. If Ronin's guess was right, the guy was the reason the Troupe had stormed into Greed Island in the first place—courtesy of that Amaterasu burn. But the bandages hid everything. Lev always wrapped up tight until a fight started. Even if the black flames had cooked him, there was no way to tell from the outside.
Feitan and Phinks looked untouched. No other auras nearby. No weird movements on the crystal ball. That settled it. The only Troupe members inside Greed Island right now were these three.
Perfect. Their names still hadn't shown up in his card book—that was the distance test. One kilometer. Past that range and even special vision wouldn't log them. It kept the Spiders from using the contact rule to track that he'd entered the game or slapping an [Accompany] card on him. Downside was Ronin couldn't just jump straight to them either.
Didn't matter. The bait had already given him the exact coordinates from the first [Magnetic] hit. From there it would be easy to find someone who'd crossed paths with the trio.
"Looks like a trap," Feitan muttered, umbrella clenched tight. "But we can't see who set it. No clue what they're trying to lure us into."
"I've got a bad feeling," Phinks said, voicing what they were all thinking.
Lev nodded. The same uneasy knot sat in his gut.
Keep chasing? The question hung there for a second. Then Feitan pulled [Accompany] and activated it again. He wanted to see exactly how far that little ant thought it could run.
The light faded around the three of them at the port. All three looked pissed. They knew exactly what the port meant—leaving the game. And you could pick any real-world exit point. Tracking someone through that mess was damn near impossible. They cursed under their breath and each burned [Again] to jump back to Masadora.
Two days later Ronin held a fresh card—[List]. It showed how many people carried a specific item and the total copies in the game. The holder count for [Angel's Breath] was still zero. Even if Lev's crew was camped at the spell card shop, they hadn't collected the full set yet.