Chapter 34 Revealing His Trump Card to Ban
Author: M_W Cancer
Grammar Checker: M_W Nomral
Ban's plan could indeed be called full proof. There were no easy loopholes to point towards him being the mastermind since he was with Claude and David the entire time when Hannah discovered Dandelion being kidnapped. He didn't even interrupt Claude when he was making a plan, afraid that it might become a clue to point in his direction later on. He was careful when executing all the parts of his plan, but unexpectedly it was actually through this action itself that pointed towards him.
So, hearing the truth from Leo, he didn't know whether he should laugh or cry after hearing that it was him who had unknowingly pointed himself.
Shaking his head in self-mockery, Ban turned towards Leo and asked, "If I didn't fight back after being chased by them at that time, would that mean that my plan could be successful?"
"Actually, they were not chasing you but were only looking for you. So, yes, your plan would have been successful." Leo said as he nodded his head to confirm Ban's assumption.
His plan was rather simple. Look for all the possible suspects, and if one of them fights back then they are surely part of those kidnappers.
In the very beginning, he had felt already that one person with them, either the soldier, mercenary, or the Mages themselves who were currently searching was a mole hiding within their group while giving information to the other kidnappers.
At that time when he knew that the others were searching around individually, he considered that the mole within their group would surely choose to search where their hideout was likely located as that would allow them to easily provide false information and hinder the search and rescue operation. It was the best time for them to return to their hideout, after all. While the others were searching around a different location, the mole could just go and run away with Dandelion in their hands.
However, his plan was proven to be successful. When they were looking for the possible suspects, specifically David, Hannah, and Ban, first. One of them fought back, which was also what he had expected.
To be honest, the chasing was part of his plan as it somewhat showed the criminal the result if they got found. Hence, giving them the misconception that they were being chased because their plan had failed.
If one was not guilty, or a part of the kidnappers that did the crime, at least in their current situation, then they would surely not fight back and would have instead just cooperated with the new plan.
Just like what David and Hannah did when they saw Claude, Leo, and Cassandra. But, since Ban took the bait and fought back instead, it immediately implies that the latter was part of the kidnappers.
However, if a situation had come up where the three Mages were not members of the kidnappers, then Leo would just gather them together to chase after all those soldiers in the south. Surely, one of those soldiers was a part of the kidnappers.
Furthermore, if he still couldn't find the kidnappers, then he would just let the Blacksmoke family handle this mess and he would simply give up. With the Blacksmoke Noble Household's capability, surely they can find out about Dandelion's whereabouts. Though he wasn't sure whether they'd find her still alive or in the same state as the present...
Fortunately though, not only did his plan become successful, since unexpectedly, not only did he catch a mole, but the mastermind behind the crime as well.
"What a pity..." Ban shook his head in disappointment.
Ban finally realized that his plan could have been successful if only he hadn't fought back with those people chasing after him... Looking...
He would have been able to taste Dandelion's body later if he had just cooperated instead of fighting back. If he was not stupid enough to fall for such a lousy trap, he might have her as his slave forever afterward.
Too bad for Ban, the what-ifs' didn't happen because he was a fool. He had fallen into Leo's simple trap, a trap which was what everyone would naturally do during such a situation like this; to look for all the possible suspects of a crime. He was just a suspect at first, but since he fought back, it had then immediately turned him into a part of the criminal.
Turning his head towards Dandelion, Ban pulled her face towards him and licked her checks for the last time. She could just tremble in disgust at his action since she wasn't able to do anything else since she was being chained upward.
"Too bad, I can't taste you anymore." Ban pulls down a lever which then throws Dandelion's body away from him, then he turns his head towards Leo and the others.
"You might have caught me red-handed, but that doesn't mean that you can indeed catch me," Ban said as he laughed maniacally.
Suddenly, Ban took out a circular bag and said to Leo, "I got this idea from you!"
*Puff!
Thick smoke instantly covered the entire room.
Everyone became vigilant within the smoke as they tried to defend themselves from any possible attack from Ban.
As soon as the smoke appeared, Leo didn't hesitate to pull Cassandra closer to him. But, before he could approach her, a knife was suddenly thrown towards his path.
*Whoosh!
In front of Leo, Ban suddenly appeared at Cassandra's side, "But, before that, I'm taking her with me!" He said as lick his lips disgustingly.
Ban charged immediately toward Cassandra.
Cassandra tried to take out her dagger from one of her hidden pockets on her clothes in response, but she was one step too late as Ban was quick enough to appear in front of her before she could try to do anything to defend herself.
Ban caught Cassandra's hand before injecting her with some kind of plant that instantly sent her to sleep. He then caught her body as he put her on his shoulder.
"Bye-bye!" Ban waved his hand towards Leo before running away to escape from the place.
*Bang!
However, as soon as Ban moved forward to escape away from his current location, a wall unexpectedly appeared in front, blocking his path of retreat. And before he could try to run in the opposite direction, a hand made out of rock caught him.
"Argh! What the heck is this!" Ban exclaimed as he kept on struggling to try to escape. But his efforts were all useless since the grasp from the unknown entity was just too tight for him to pull his body away.
Because Ban was struggling hard, he had no choice but to let go of Cassandra's body.
"Catch her," Leo commanded.
Receiving the command from Leo, Cassandra's unconscious body was quickly caught by another hand.
"If you have just run away from this place, then you could have kept your life. Sadly, you made the same mistake again, being a fool driven by your own lust. Hence, as a punishment, you will be staying here with your life, forever!" Leo declared as he slowly approached the struggling Ban.
Leo's eyes were as cold as ice at this moment. What he had said was the truth. He could have just let Ban successfully escape from this place after the latter threw that smokescreen to block their eyesight. After all, he wasn't personally involved in this mess. Unfortunately, since the latter had dared to try to take away Cassandra from him, then the latter would be staying in this place forever.
"You actually had the guts to dare take away what belongs to me?!!" Leo exclaimed, evidently enraged at Ban's action.
"What the heck is this!" Ban yelled out loudly, despair filled his voice. He doesn't care about the enraged Leo at all. All of his focus was to escape from the unknown entity currently holding him down.
"Oh, you want to see what it is?" Leo flicked his finger as the Earth Elemental slowly showed what its face looked like to Ban.
"A... An Element..." Ban was terrified as soon as he saw the Magical Entity. He wanted to yell out something, but he was sadly not able to finish his words as his body was crushed to death by the Earth Elemental's sudden strengthening of its grasp on his body.
Leo can't afford to just allow Ban to yell out what his trump card is.
After all, Claude and David were still nearby. Although the two were still staying in one place to defend their own lives, it was still obviously possible for them to tell what had killed Ban the moment the latter yelled out the name Elemental.
After crashing Ban's body, Leo unsummoned the Earth Elemental and hurriedly ran towards the unconscious Cassandra.
Noticing that nothing was wrong with her, Leo couldn't help but quietly breathe a sigh of relief. He carried her to his back as he waited until the smoke finally dispersed.
Claude and David immediately saw Leo with Cassandra on his back the moment the smoke dispersed. They also saw Ban... Specifically, only Ban's head as his whole body was crushed into meat paste.
The two of them were directly taken aback as they looked at the face of Ban's head. It was of pure despair and disbelief. The latter's eyes were staring widely at something truly scary before finally being crushed to death.
Claude's curiosity toward Leo's trump card just intensified further as he saw once more the same scene at the Blacksmoke Canyon. Actually, the scene in front of him was much worse compared to those bodies that were turned to meatpaste. He really wants to know what Ban saw before dying.
"What happened to her?" Claude asked as soon as he arrived at Leo's side.
"Ban injected some kind of sleeping drug into her," Leo explained nonchalantly. But his voice was full of care and worry.
Claude only nodded his head in reply as he approached Ban's head. He then quietly closed Ban's eyes as he turned around to look at the latter's meatpaste body.
Just by simply staring at such a scene, Claude could already deduce that Ban was crushed to death by something really powerful. The latter shows signs of being grabbed by something really strong at first before being crushed to death later on. The unknown being then vanished out of thin air, as there were no traces of its escape around the area, the same thing that had happened before.
Claude can't help to turn his head to Leo, full of curiosity in his eyes.