Leaping over the broken garden gates, Dia ran through the morning crowd — which wasn't all that many people — and flickered through them. Immediately after she rounded a corner, terrified screams made by a single person entered her ears, and Dia doubled down on her mana-walking. There, not too far away, was a young man frightened to the point of making ear-piercing shrieks and wails.
Dashing over to the young man, Dia raised her sword and activated Sword Sense. A heartbeat later, a sharp object appeared in her extended senses, and her sword flicked out to intercept the incoming spear. A horrifying strength slammed through her arm as she met the weapon, throwing her backwards in an uncontrollable spiral.
Spitting out some blood, Dia struggled back up. In that single exchange, she had failed to detect any form of mana or spiritual structures whatsoever. The most likely conclusion one could derive from the former was that the murderer wasn't a mana-user, but this was not conclusive by any means. The latter point pointed at the absence of a skill directly applied to the spear; that spear didn't have skills like Unerring Projectile or similar, never-miss skills.
How could an arching spear be thrown with such strength and accuracy? Either way, it was clear that the killer was a master at throwing spears, but Dia couldn't think of any notable people who could hurl spears.
Shaking her sore arm, she looked down at the frightened young man and exhaled slowly. Dia had managed to save his life by diverting the trajectory of the spear ever so slightly, but she was in no condition to pursue. Tracking down the murderer was Risti's expertise; by now, she should have an area for her and the city guards to search.
Her sudden movement jolted the fearful spectators to life, and under a storm of applause and thankful words, Dia ran back to their base of operations, ditching anyone who tried to follow them with sheer speed alone. She was naturally in a rush, since whatever clues that had been generated would rapidly go cold over the next minute or so.
Only a fool would stay at their current location.
Pushing the door open, Dia asked, "Where next?"
Risti looked up from the piece of paper in her hand. "There's…no 'where next' for this one. The spear came from beyond the city walls. The culprit ran the moment he threw the spear, without leaving anyone behind."
Dia frowned. "What now, then?"
"I'm…not sure. But from what I can tell, the culprit has a very complimentary set of skills. First, he seems to have a skill capable of increasing his strength by a great deal for a few seconds. Second, he should have a skill like Clairvoyance to survey the local area. Third, he should have a skill that can induce fear, and this skill works on any target in visual range." Risti tapped the table beneath her. "There's no way we can apprehend the thief, unless I can provide you with real-time updates on his location."
"The city guards should have some methods," Dia replied.
"Maybe. But this does at least account for why the murderer usually strikes in the daytime. In complex terrain like cities, looking for people from a top-down view at night is a very hard task," said Risti. "When we were attacked earlier, it was because we were very noticeable targets, as travellers in the desert. Without your defensive artefacts…"
"This might be trouble, then."
"Yes," Risti replied. "Very troublesome. The enemy is apparently capable of inducing fear from afar, and then finish off the scared target with incredibly accurate spears. My initial suspicions pointed at Zulan Patra, but I don't think he needs to scare anyone…"
"I have an idea," Dia replied. "Right now, it would seem that the murderer's entire modus operandi revolves around the use of some Clairvoyance-like skill. If we get the city to mandate the use of items like a parasol when going out, or a notice for people to stay inside shelter where possible, we might be able to nip his current plans in the bud."
Risti paused. "Yes. That's one of Clairvoyance's weaknesses. It's a sensible one, since it does allow for one to still maintain their privacy. Moons know how many times I've been unable to spot the princess due to her being in a building…ahem."
Dia made a silent resolve to never step out from underneath shelter where possible, before placing a smile on her face. "In that case, I'll go inform the city guard. You should continue to keep a lookout."
What the two of them didn't mention was the very salient possibility of someone being attacked while Dia was out and running about, but no one wanted to talk about it. Instead, Dia hurtled out of the house again and sprinted towards the guardhouse, hoping that she would get the message out before anyone else was attacked.
It didn't take long for her to reach the guardhouse, where the two twins were chatting away with the other guards.
"Your Excellency, is there something wrong?" Sophia asked.
"Bring me to your commanding officer," Dia replied, wiping off a bead of sweat. "I have a way to prevent those murders from happening; hurry!"
Without waiting for Sophia's reply, Olivia dashed into the guardhouse and began yelling out for the commander, whose name was apparently Lucia. The din she created was effective, and after a minute or two, Olivia had dragged her boss out.
"What's going on—Your Excellency!" The officer stiffened up. "Is there a new development on the case?"
"Yes," Dia replied. "We managed to intercept one of those spears and traced its origin. The origin of the thrown spear came from outside Nachtville's walls, and it is my friend's opinion that skills that allow one to have a top-down view of the world is being used to facilitate those murders."
"What? From outside those walls?"
"Yes."
Taking a deep breath, Dia continued to explain the other findings she had made, including how there was no residue mana or spiritual structures. Those findings weren't all that important, compared to their discovery, and before long, Dia moved on her proposed solution.
"No going out of shelter, eh?" Lucia rubbed her chin, before turning to one of her guards. "Lance, do you have any ideas?"
The guard named Lance rubbed his chin. "The issue is about being seen from high up, right? What if we get everyone to block out the sky with cloth or something? Create some sort of artificial shade? That way, business can continue as usual and people will be safe."
Lucia and Dia considered his words for a moment.
"I think that could work," said Dia. "That said, if life continues as normal, it's possible that the murderer might feel compelled to enter Nachtville or something. It's quite possible that the murderer intends to disrupt Nachtville's daily life or something, since there are virtually no connections between his victims."
"Well, that does at least account for why we couldn't find any traces of the murderer. For murders like this, virtually no one would have the strength of mind to actually track where the spear came from, since they fly so fast," said Lucia. "We didn't even know that they were coming from outside the city in the first place; our assumption was that the killer was operating within the walls."
"Can't blame you for that. Who can throw spears with such accuracy? What kind of skill even allows that to happen?" Dia rubbed her nose. If there was someone capable of actually doing such a thing, she would have heard of it. Even if that person was a vanilla, being able to throw spears with such accuracy needed decades of experience and superhuman strength.
"Maybe someone with an Unerring Projectile skill?" Lucia suggested.
"Can't be," Dia replied. "No traces of skill use were found on the spear."
"True."
Skills that affected items, like her own Fated Sword, would definitely leave residues of spiritual structures on those items. This could literally only mean that the thrower was a master at, well, throwing spears, which was something that had puzzled Dia.
"Either way," said Dia, "we should definitely do something about the sky, and quick. The faster we cover up the sky, the better."
"Yes. Of course." Lucia turned to the others. "You lot stay here. I'll turn out the other guards and get them to inform the rest of the city. We'll mobilise everyone and block out the sky until the culprit is captured."
"I'll provide support with my colleague," said Dia. "She's on standby, ready to inform me whenever anyone exhibits extreme terror, at which point I would make my way to the intended target and deflect the incoming spear."
"Please do that," said Lucia. "Alright, I'll turn out the guards now."
Bells rang moments after she vanished into the guardhouse, and a contingent of guards formed up in front of the building. Within a minute, Lucia had elucidated her orders, and the guards ran off into the city, bringing with them an official conscription notice for everyone they encountered to help out in covering up the sky.
The speed in which people covered up the sky when their lives were at stake was really astounding.