The Martial Unity

In addition to the Veritable Tiger, there were two other high-grade Martial Seniors that protected the Carnil drug trafficking ring. Rui quickly informed himself of their capabilities as well, before memorizing all other security details.

It turned out that Martial Artists protected each harvesting and gathering operation. Martial Apprentices were enough for gathering operations that only ventured to a brief depth into the Great Forest of Hypnonarak.

Martial Squires protected teams that ventured deeper to get stronger and more potent extracts, while Martial Seniors went for the deepest in order to get the most potent extracts for premium products. 

Rui smiled.

This was far from sufficient protection.

His biggest concern was Martial Seniors with powerful senses. It was harder to misdirect powerful senses and it could possibly end up screwing him later. Particularly, if any of them had grade-ten senses, then he definitely had to make sure they died early, otherwise they could become a great impediment.

'Thankfully, such Martial Artists are quite rare-' Rui froze as he went through the profile of the final Martial Senior.

[Senior Nereau] 

A stealth-oriented Martial Artist, according to the intelligence, was confirmed to possess extraordinary senses with the All-Seeing Eye technique and the Miasma Sense technique.

Both of these were grade-ten sensory techniques, according to the intelligence provided by the Beggar's Sect, he even knew one of those techniques.

'Dammit.' Rui groaned. 'I guess I can't expect it to be as easy as it was with the Martial Seniors of Shadow Isles.'

With grade-ten sensory techniques as powerful as that, she would be able to detect Death's Sympathy as it arrived and deflect it. Which meant that he couldn't just snipe them from a distance as effortlessly as he did in the Derschek Region.

The Kandrian Empire was of a different caliber in every regard, including Martial Seniors and the techniques they wielded. Rui noticed that the grade of techniques wielded by the Martial Seniors assigned to protect the Carnil Mafia's drug trafficking ring was higher than what he had seen elsewhere. They were remarkable techniques developed based on powerful principles and mechanisms and refined through great training resources.

'It's actually incredible that the Beggar's Sect got a hold of such great details about the techniques and fighting styles,' Rui was impressed with the Beggar's Sect's ability to gather information.

Thankfully, he would not make the blunder of trying to use Death's Sympathy with Senior Nereau around. Unfortunately, the Carnil mafia made large joint ventures where they grouped together a large number of Martial Artists and deployed them as a group to protect large numbers of extraction teams.

That meant that Rui could not avoid her all that much to target only the Martial Seniors who weren't accompanied by her. 

'It makes sense that they would send a Martial Senior with powerful senses, but it's rare to find Martial Seniors that have mastered one grade-ten sensory technique, let alone two. Then again, this is the Kandrian Empire.' Rui mused. 

The Great Forest of Hypnonarak was dangerous, for everybody, Rui could definitely understand the wisdom of wanting to have a powerful sensory Martial Artists who could warn them of any threats or dangers well ahead of time.

'Thankfully, I'm not a one-trick pony assassin like I was before meeting Master Reina.' Rui mastered powerful stealth techniques, and close-range assassin techniques, not to mention, several mental techniques that would certainly help in the context of the domain of the Great Forest of Hypnonarak.

'I can do this. It's just one final stage and then I'm done with my commission payment.' Rui narrowed his eyes, before memorizing all the data that the Beggar's Sect had gathered and processing all of it.

The intelligence was remarkably detailed and expansive, it contained everything Rui could possibly need to know in order to take them down.

After analyzing all the logistical, security, Martial, and strategic information available, there were several conclusions he drew.

'I definitely can't attack them outside of the Great Forest of Hypnonarak.' Rui mused. 

He was not strong enough to take on that many Martial Seniors at once, especially when they consisted of three high-grade Martial Seniors. He could rely on the Greater Phantomind Void technique, but it was too risky with Senior Nereau.

Thus, as long as she was around, he needed to attack them in the forest when their awareness was burdened by the forest. In such circumstances, the Great Phantomind Void was undoubtedly a killer.

Ideally, he would love to kill Senior Nereau right off the bat and then get back to easily sniping them off one by one, but that wasn't going to be easy. However, letting her live was probably going to make things even more difficult.

"Hmmm..." Rui considered the matter closely. 'If I kill her, it's unlikely she will be replaced by an equally capable sensor. These techniques are extremely difficult to master, and of those who do master them, an extremely tiny proportion choose to work in the Underworld. All I need to do is get rid of her, and then they're screwed.'

He didn't think they would be able to avoid his assassinations without an incredibly powerful sensory Martial Artist to protect them. He was just too powerful and had developed techniques that were too powerful.

'I'll make one attempt at getting rid of Senior Nereau first if that doesn't work out, then I'll just focus on killing the rest of the Martial Seniors despite her.' Rui concluded. 'It would be great if she dies first, but even if she doesn't she alone cannot stop me.'

Detecting his presence in the Great Forest of Hypnonarak while he was using his Greater Phantomind Void was a feat that not even two grade-ten sensory techniques could accomplish. Thankfully, with information on their battle formations and security protocols, he was sure that he could weasel a way through their defenses and get rid of her.

"Tell Fern I'm done and will get started soon," Rui informed the assistant assigned to help him. "It shouldn't take too long."