Around the time when the battle had just begun, Emily caught up with the two of them. When Alicia said that she wouldn't allow her to leave the inn, Emily was disappointed, but then Adrian discreetly handed her an blue gem inscribed with a concealment array and whispered to her, "Use this and follow us after we leave."
In the early part of their journey, Emily had relied heavily on this type of gem until she ran out of materials to make them, so she was well aware of how they worked. By activating the array in the gem, she would be able to move with her presence fully concealed, but the effect only lasted for a few seconds. This was much different from a fixed concealment array which could work as long as there was energy to fuel it, but for a mobile tier 3 concealment array, this was the limit.
After Alicia left with her senior brother, Emily took the first chance she saw to escape from Alex and his secret guards using the gem. She felt sorry for him, but she had to be at the site of the incident.
She hadn't seen when Alicia first attacked her senior brother, but she did notice the explosion and managed to glimpse the moment when the two were captured in a isolation barrier. Considering this and the faint fluctuations that she sensed from hidden battles happening around the barrier, it was clear to Emily that this was a trap. Since it was probably a trap for her, Emily first thought was to breach the array and save them, but she wasn't confident in her chances at decoding a tier 4 array, especially not in this chaotic environment. Furthermore, when her heart was filled with the urge to rescue them, Emily remembered the look she got from Alicia.
Emily didn't know how Alicia spotted her, but seconds before the isolation barrier closed up, Alicia sent her intent in that one glance.
'Don't worry about us. Go save them.'
Emily thought that she would have blamed her for coming, but perhaps the changes to the situation forced her to compromise. It didn't look like the kidnappers knew she was here, so this was the perfect chance to rescue the hostages. She didn't like the idea of leaving them here to serve as decoys, but she had to believe that they would be okay.
'I can't waste this chance.'
While making sure that she wasn't discovered, Emily crept closer to the mansion where her family was held. She found them in a room on the second floor, by the window. She didn't feel much heartache when she saw them tied up because they didn't seem to be injured, but she grimaced when she looked at the two men who vigilantly watched them. With her strength, she wouldn't be able to swiftly subdue them by herself, so she had to lure at least one of them away.
The mansion itself didn't have any special defense, so with a quick look, Emily was able to find something to target. She warily checked her surroundings, and sneaked up to the least watched part of the mansion and pulled out her brush along with a vial of spirit beast blood. With her familiar tools in hand, she quickly drew an array on the building and activated it.
zzzZZZZ!!!!
It was made primarily of wood, but when the mansion vibrated at a high speed, it released a sharp and low sound. This vibration resonated with the glass inside the building, quickly bringing all such fragile objects to their limit. When all the glass shattered, including the window, the kidnappers first scanned their surroundings before they began to investigate the cause of this phenomenon.
Emily had been able to escape their detection by backing away right after the glass broke. Once she confirmed that their spiritual senses were withdrawn, she approached the building and checked the room that her family was in. She stood on a narrow ledge on the wall and glanced into the room through the broken window. It wasn't the best case scenario, but now there was only one kidnapper still in the room.
'I have to be quick.'
If she was given enough time then she could draw an array with the power necessary to solve most situations, but it was rare for such an advantage to be present in battle, so despite being an array master, Emily also learnt how to fight.
She still possessed numerous gems containing arrays, but their activation was very noticeable to spiritual sense and there was a delay before they started working so using them was not an optimal option. This was especially the case since she was working by herself and had to protect the hostages. Fortunately, she possessed an artifact that was certain to kill her enemy as long as she could get close enough.
As she tightened her grip on Dull Harmony, Emily examined the position of those in the room. Her family was bundled together on the right, opposite to the door, while a kidnapper was in front of them. He was facing the door so he had his back to them.
She took a deep breath then locked on the kidnapper with her eyes. He was tense and wary, but his focus was directed elsewhere so there was a gap that she could take advantage of. She imagined a rope wrapped around his body, and once he was fully captured by the rope, she pulled strongly.
The man found himself suddenly overwhelmed by a mental control that surpassed what any early Earth Realm cultivator could resist. He was dragged towards Emily without a chance to struggle, and had a blade run through his chest without time to fight back. He had been through many life-or-death situations so he had deployed a barrier before the sword reached him and wore spirit-rank armour, but once any of that made contact with the blade of Dull Harmony, it was split into the five elements and then devoured by the artifact. Emily knew about this ability because although she didn't have complete control over the weapon, she learnt of its features after superficially refining it.
Emily was no stranger to murder, so once the man was dead, she smoothly removed him from her sword and went over to her family. Considering how quiet they were, they seemed to be unconscious, but when she started removing the bondage on them, she found their eyes already open. All three of them hid complex emotions in the gaze they looked at her with, but she expected that, so she didn't give it much thought.
Once their blindfolds were gone, all three of them took a look around until their eyes stopped on the corpse by the window. She noticed fear leak from their gazes, but she ignored it. They appeared to be properly aware of the situation so they didn't make any noise as she released them, but even so, the way they simply got up when she was freeing them unnerved her.
'Something's wrong, but what?'
Unfortunately, there was no time for a deep analysis so she shook her head and went back to the window. While she was ensuring that the coast was clear, there was a commotion behind her.
"No! Don't do it!"
"Shut up!"
She didn't know what was happening, but she hastily turned around to tell them to be quiet, however, she froze for a moment due to what she saw. Her mother appeared to be holding her father's arm, but he shook her off and slapped her across the face. It was an experience she was familiar with, but this was the first time that she ever saw her father get violent with her mother so she couldn't process it instantly. That distraction cost her dearly.
Before she knew that he had it, her father threw something at her and it released a dark green gas when it hit the ground. Her first instinct was to cover her nose, but that did nothing to stop its powerful effects from reaching her.
"This is your own fault. You wouldn't help your family when they needed you, and you got us in trouble too. What an unfilial child."
As her vision darkened and her knees buckled, those were the last words uttered by her father whose eyes were filled with contempt.