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The Paper User: Exiled for a ‘Trash Skill,’ Awakens True Power and Rises with Two Unique Skills - Chapter 41

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Chapter: The Strategy

A few dozen minutes later, we regrouped with the Moonlight Brigade inside a building tucked away in a back alley.

I approached Corinne, who was issuing instructions to the remaining members.

“Corinne, has Lady Sylphiel regained consciousness yet?”

“…No, not yet,” she replied, frowning and shaking her head.

“The shards that pierced her body damaged her internal organs. I’ve been using healing magic, but…”

“I see…”

I looked over at the other members, many sitting on the ground, clearly disheartened.

With their leader Sylphiel injured, morale had taken a serious hit. Nearly ten members had already lost their lives.

The research team looked anxious as they huddled together.
And I couldn’t get the image of Daglud out of my mind—the way he had effortlessly cut one of our members in half.

Daglud wasn’t just leading an army of Metallic Dolls and enhanced skeleton soldiers; he also wielded a powerful weapon and seemed highly experienced in combat.
Even while being attacked, he showed no signs of panic.

“This is bad,” Kinako muttered, finishing a bottle of recovery potion.

“They’ll find this place soon. Daglud can control over five hundred skeleton soldiers.”

“Then… yeah, we probably should relocate soon,” I nodded.

“Problem is—where? Escaping upward’s probably out of the question. They likely know all those paths by now.”

I peered outside through a gap in the shattered door.

A few skeleton soldiers were patrolling the main road, just a few dozen meters away.

Daglud must’ve sent them to search for us.

“I guess… we’ve got no choice but to use that,” Almina muttered under her breath.

“Hm? That?”

“The Flameburst Bomb,” she said, showing me the magical ring she used for storing items.

“It’s a bomb that can take out a large group of enemies at once. I’ve never actually used it before, but… it might help reduce their numbers. The catch is—”

“What’s the catch?”

“We’ll need to lure the skeleton soldiers into a single area. We’ve only got one of these bombs.”

“Just one?!”

“Yeah. Making it cost over five large gold coins.”

“F-Five large gold coins?!”

“Yup. It’s packed with rare materials—over a kilo of Red Flame Grass Powder, among other things.”

Almina exhaled deeply.

“More importantly, we need to decide where to use it. Somewhere spacious enough to gather a large number of skeleton soldiers.”

“In that case, there’s a coliseum nearby,” I said, pointing south.

“It’s about a five-minute run from here.”

“Perfect. Now we just need a way to draw the skeleton soldiers there.”

“I’ll act as bait.”

“Eh? You, Yakumo?”

“Yeah. My skill set is best suited for that role—I can create a lot of paper barriers to help with escape.”

“Are you sure you’ve got enough mana for that?”

“I’ve still got about 40% left.”

“Even after creating that many paper constructs? That Extreme Mana Capacity skill of yours is insane.”

Almina let out an impressed whistle.

“Alright then—Kinako, come with me. Help me get the Flameburst Bomb set up in the arena. Piln, you—”

“Piln will go with Yakumo and help act as bait!”

Piln wrapped her arm around mine.

“It’d be suspicious if there was only one decoy. Better to have two, right?”

“…You know this is dangerous work, right?”

“That’s exactly why Piln should do it. I already drank Almina’s recovery potion and feel good as new!”

She gave a confident thumbs-up.

“In that case, I’ll help too,” Milfa said, raising her hand.

“Even an E-rank like me can manage being a decoy. Let me assist.”

“I’m in too.”

A young male member of the brigade stood up.

“If this plan works, we can protect Lady Sylphiel and the researchers.”

A few more members raised their hands in agreement.

“Alright, everyone joining the operation, gather up,” Almina said, beginning to lay out the plan.


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