Chapter 273 : As expected

    "Now, let''s move on to the next step," Alex said as he swept his gaze over the hundreds of still-awake bandits.

    "Who are you guys, and why did you attack us?" he asked, directing his question to no one in particular, but hoping someone would speak up.

    The bandits held in captivity had look of fear as they gazed at him and Amelia, but despite that, no one replied to his queries, prompting him to ask once again, but even then, no one answered. This made Alex thinking, ''Either they''re staying quiet out of loyalty, or they''re bound by a contract that prevents them from revealing anything.''

    Although the first possibility was plausible, Alex leaned more toward the second. Just like the previous captives of Night who had become his subordinates, these bandits might have signed a soul-binding contract that forbade them from disclosing any information. All that was needed was a soul contract able to bind several people at the same time.

    ''This is going to complicate things,'' Alex realized.

    His mind raced to find a way to bypass their inability to speak. The only solution he could think of was to use another contract himself. If he was fortunate, there might be a loophole in their original contract that he could exploit, allowing him to extract the answers he needed. The problem, however, was that he had no knowledge of the terms of the contract they had signed.

    After pondering for a few minutes, Alex decided to abandon this line of thinking.

    ''I''ll try my luck with this guy after he wakes up. Perhaps he didn''t sign a contract like the others,'' Alex thought as he gazed at the unconscious body of the level 4.

    ''Meanwhile...'' Alex glanced behind him at Maya, who stood among the group of nobles. "Come here," he called out.

    The young heiress, standing amidst the nobles, stepped forward. Unlike before, she no longer wore a mask.

    Alex didn''t want anyone to suspect that Maya or her family had any connection with his organization, so last night, he had instructed her to remove her mask. The group of nobles had been quite surprised when they realized who she was, but in the end, they accepted it when Maya explained that, like them, Alex was merely escorting her to her family.

    Alex wasn''t overly concerned about people linking his organization to the Drazen family. After all, if things went well, there might even be some sort of partnership with them in the future.

    After calling her over, Alex didn''t immediately speak to Maya. Instead, his gaze swept across the captured bandits until it landed on a particular woman.

    He nodded to himself and instructed Amelia to release the bandit.

    Amelia obeyed and let the woman go. With a bewildered expression, the bandit woman watched as the branches that had held her captive released their grip. She didn''t attempt to flee though, knowing that it would be futile. Instead, she just stared at Alex, waiting to understand why she had been set free.

    Pointing at Maya, Alex said, "You will fight this young woman here in hand-to-hand combat. If you manage to win, you can go free."

    Both the woman and Maya blinked in confusion before the young heiress exclaimed indignantly, "What the hell?!"

    Despite noticing her nervousness, Alex didn''t comment on it. Instead, he asked, "Does your ability allow you to control heat?"

    Daisy was caught off guard by the question but quickly nodded. "Yes, I can absorb and control the heat around me," she explained.

    "Oh, so that''s what you were doing earlier when I interrupted you? Absorbing heat?"

    Daisy nodded, her expression turning a bit gloomy. "Unfortunately, when you interrupted me, I lost a good portion of the heat I had managed to absorb," she confessed before waving her hands apologetically. "N-not that I''m blaming you."

    Alex chuckled and was about to say something when he heard a muffled groan of pain. Turning back, he saw the bandit woman stumbling backward, trying to create some distance between herself and Maya while clutching her bleeding, broken nose.

    Maya, however, didn''t let up. Like a relentless predator, she charged at the woman. After deftly dodging the bandit''s desperate kick, she spun on her heel and delivered a powerful roundhouse kick to the bandit''s side, sending her sprawling to the ground.

    Seeing this, Alex nodded in approval before turning back to Daisy. "Can you help me with a little experiment?" he inquired.

    Snapped back to attention, Daisy nodded, a curious expression spreading across her face.

    "Good," Alex said, nodding once more.

    Under his command and to Daisy''s amazement, a ball of smoke the size of a human head detached itself from his armor. Although it originated from his smoke armor, this new smoke seemed slightly different. It retained the same dominant purple color but lacked the subtle hints of green that usually swirled within it. This was because Alex had removed the explosive properties from this specific batch of smoke.

    "Try to direct the heat under your control into this," Alex instructed, sending the ball of smoke to hover in front of Daisy.

    She nodded, closing her eyes in concentration. Moments later, a faint shimmer appeared around her, and the temperature in their little corner began to rise. But this increase was brief. Under Daisy''s control, the heat seemed to coalesce and flow directly into the hovering ball of smoke.

    At that moment, Alex felt a shift. The smoke became noticeably denser, its form becoming more substantial. As more heat was funneled into it, the smoke slowly started to solidify, taking on a semi-solid, almost tangible shape.

    ''Hmm, interesting,'' Alex thought to himself, intrigued by the transformation.

    Just as he was about to ask Daisy to increase the heat further, he heard a heavy thud behind him.

    Glancing back, he saw that the bandit woman had collapsed to the ground, a pained expression etched on her face, indicating the intensity of the fight.

    ''As expected,'' Alex thought with a smile.