Julius, scared of his wits, fell with his but on the ground.


    "Deserters are to be killed on the spot. Are you going against military orders?" Vera asked without a hint of remorse as she looked at Alvin.


    Unsurprisingly, Alvin was also quite scared. Nheless, he didn''t regret intervening. "I... I just think all this n is bullshit. That''s why I stopped you."


    Vera raised her Katar. She wasn''t very good at head-onbats, but she would carry the orders through. "Does that mean you are also a deserter?"


    us tried to calm them down. "Het, stop it! Xanzion will notice us!"


    It was then that Linfel spoke for Alvin. "Vera, I think there is more to it than what you know. Alvin seems to have understood something, too. Can you at least give him the chance to speak? How long do we have until the distractions start?"


    Vera looked around. Everyone seemed to be getting concerned. It wasn''t just Julius. No one there liked the idea of simply dying to get the n to work. "I see that none of you have what it takes to carry the mission. You better pull yourselves together.


    The distraction should start any minute now. We have the chance to change the flow of the war with our hands. How can you all be such cowards?"


    "That''s the problem," Alvin spoke in a low voice, still connected to Felia and standing between Vera and Julius. "Vera, look at us. Other than us and you, do you see anyone here that would simply charge into enemy forces to carry out such a n?"


    Vera narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"


    Linfel joined Alvin. "He is right. It doesn''t make sense. If someone was supposed to carry out such a suicide mission, it had to be a group of people prepared to die for it. It makes no sense to hide it from us just so we would find out minutes before the n had to be carried out. Just as Alvin said, this is a bullshit n.


    It is obvious some of us, if not all of us, would step back."


    "Wasn''t it you who spoke of this n with me?" Vera asked Linfel. Howe he considered the n to be bullshit now?


    "The n is good," Linfel continued. "The part of using the Reactive Magic Energy to explode the trucks with the Magic Fusion Fuel Rods would definitely cause a chain reaction and get rid of at least half of everything in this ce. That''s the part I spoke about. I''ve never talked about going for a suicide attack, have I?"


    "Don''t you all see?" Alvin carried along. "We are not the team charged to carry out this mission... We are supposed to be the distraction."


    Everyone was taken aback, including Vera. However, Vera wasn''t an idiot. She disconnected herself from her Familiar, Sando, and got down with the rest of the group before they caught anyone''s attention. "I see..."


    Alvin sighed in relief. "That''s the only thing that makes sense. Milia, Warthon and I are all students from the Magus Academies. We had never been to war before. Julius is even worse, being someone who never took part in a Field Exam. The higher-ups knew it from the very start.


    The moment Vera talked about the n, we would all try to flee, and Vera would be forced to carry the army''s rules."


    us and the others caught the whole meaning. "The idea from the very start was to have us be the distraction. Most likely, just like Vera thought, only a single group, a group that came prepared to die for the n, would carry it out. It''s just that this group isn''t us.


    We are all Level Two or higher, We would definitely give this army some trouble before we were killed, especially since we would be trying to flee. That was more than enough."


    "If that''s the case..." Linfel looked behind. "Julius, check the tunnel entrance."


    "Okay," Julius quickly went there beforeing back with a terrified expression. "It is closed! The entrance is closed!"


    "What?!" The others felt their blood running cold. "That''s our only path of retreat."


    "Exactly," Linfel continued. "We were supposed to be a distraction, so how could the army allow us to run back into the tunnels? So... the moment we passed through the exit, the pilot that stayed inside closed it. Now, we could only run on the surface, and it would catch even more attention."


    *Boom!*


    Suddenly, an explosion happened in another location not too far from Linfel''s group. Down below, the soldiers all began to run, trying to find the reason.


    "It''s Heffal! They are attacking!" One of the soldiers screamed. Soon, the information spread everywhere. Many soldiers rushed to the front, having received orders to engage the enemy.


    Right after, Linfel''s group noticed a few figures running away from the location of the explosion. It was hard to see due to the distance, but it was pretty obvious they were fleeing with everything they had. Another one of the distractions was set off.


    It didn''t take long for another two groups to appear in another two different locations, but all to the same side of that regiment. They were all located to the south, and each one of the Maguses and Familiars didn''t think to resist; they just fled without thinking about anything else.


    "This is not good! We are also on the path of the soldiers. They will check our hiding ce sooner orter!" Julius spoke, still fearing the worst.


    Linfel ignored Julius, though. Instead, his Magic Energy concentrated in front of him as he looked in apletely different direction. Even further in the distance, he noticed a few shadows rushing into the enemy ranks with identical Uniforms. he recognized that group. Not the people but the group itself.


    There was only one group with more than ten members that was gathered for this mission, and the shadows Linfel saw just matched the number. They easily blended in the midst of the soldiers that were running to the front and began to make their way to the trucks with Magic Fusion Fuel Rods.


    "The real attacking group is out," Linfelmented.


    The others looked at him. "How do you know?"


    "I can see them," Linfel exined. "I''m quite good at controlling magic Energy to increase my field of view."


    "Is there such a thing?" us couldn''t help but ask.


    "Have you noticed that Linfel is almost always quite good at everything?" Fgita added.


    "Ahem..." Linfel pretended he didn''t hear anything. "Leaving that aside, we should act soon. The soldiers from Xanzion areing in our direction, too."


    us and the others ignored Linfel''s ''special'' abilities and grew nervous. "What now?"


    "I will not just ignore it," Vera suddenly made a decision. "Since I''m a distraction, so be it. That will buy time for the real team to destroy those Fusion Fueld Rods. As for the rest of you, do whatever you want."


    "Just a moment." Yet Linfel blocked her path.


    "Move!" Vera spoke with a cold voice, ready to attack Linfel.


    "I will, but I have a better n for distraction. Will you hear me? Not only can the distraction be even bigger, but we might have a chance at survival."


    Sure enough, that caught Vera''s attention. She looked at themotion around and decided to give it a chance. "You have thirty seconds to exin and put it in motion."


    Linfel smiled. "Good!" Right after, he looked at Alvin, Milia, and the others. "Alright, take off your clothes."