Chapter 411 (2/2)

The Ghosthound also seemed completely unconcerned while those three were fighting, which meant that his Control stat was either extremely high, perhaps even approaching 200, or that they were independent entities. Which had pros and cons associated with it, but the cons were that trying to fight the Ghosthound would clearly be like fighting multiple people at once.

Couple that with the fact that his true strength was still hidden… Drake could finally understand why Copernicus urged Sydney towards being peaceful, especially now.

Of course, Sydney wasn’t so foolish as to start a real war or something. But there were more and less aggressive ways to deal with Donnyton’s growing share of the armor market and in the folktales of the Zone. For now, Sydney had remained passive. This man was a large part of that reason.

Drake sighed, burying the budding antagonism inside himself. It was pointless, and he was a professional. But still, examining these powerful individuals was a once in a lifetime chance. He would make use of it.

In terms of Ptolemy and Clarissa, Drake basically just marked them down as immediate targets. It remained to be seen whether either of them possessed any techniques that could devastate an expert, but in terms of destructive mage power, East End had nothing close. Coppernicus specialized in curses, which was useful, but not as useful as striking a squad with lightning.

Thea was a bit mystifying to Drake, because sometimes she made him feel a thread of fear with her strikes, and other times she appeared extremely clumsy. It almost seemed as if she had recently experienced a growth spurt or something, and her body was a little off in terms of fighting. But if that improved…

And also, the bear was a freight train of power. Thea didn’t need to do much to pull her own weight with that thing here.

Lucifer was definitely powerful but unexciting. Drake had the same evaluation for Ace. But he couldn’t help but notice that neither of them was pushing themselves. There were further depths there, to plum, to figure them out. For now, Drake simply waited.

Alana was exactly what she was billed as: the leader of Donnyton’s First Squad. Whether it be in timing, fighting power, or Skill use, she was almost flawless, doing about double as much as any of the other frontline fighters. Although that was partially due to the fact that aside from Drake, the rest of them seemed to care little for defense, and instead focused on out attacking the enemy.

Which was fine against enemies at this level, but when they faced something stronger…

Finishing his bowl, he stood and offered the empty thing to Rose, who nodded and accepted it. Rose was also what Drake had expected, but what he hadn’t expected was that Rose and Dauntless would spend very little time together. They almost seemed relieved, to have this chance apart. Perhaps a chance worth exploiting? Or….

“Whatcha looking at?”

Drake pivoted, hand going to his sword, to find Annie standing there, smiling at him innocently. Of everyone, even between her and the Ghosthound, Annie was the one who truly made Drake feel the most fear.

Because ultimately, the Ghosthound was a young man with simple, direct motivations. He might have the most power, and the most versatility, but Drake was confident that he could avoid a conflict with the Ghosthound by staying behind certain dotted lines, and keeping his head down.

Meanwhile, when Drake met Annie’s eyes, he saw that she had picked apart what he was doing, and even now was slowly flaying away the top layer of his thoughts, so she could dig down into why. She was capricious, loyal, but without any scrap of hesitation when it came to making hard decisions.

This, in addition to the fact that she moved so quickly that he almost immediately lost track of her location, meant she was the opposite of what Clarissa was: a being designed to take out a powerful Classer.

“The other squad members,” Drake said stiffly. Honesty was best here. She could probably sense his genuine attitude, and perhaps that would throw her off a bit. “Everyone is… very strong.”

Laughing, Annie patted his back, her eyes still examining him closely. “Examine away, Mr. Drake. But try to keep it professional, or my boyfriend will kill you when we get out of this.”

Then she sashayed away, and Drake looked back to the ground, closing his eyes.