Element of surprise

Just before she made her move, Cate could feel her mind clearing. She removed all excess thoughts from her mind, focusing on this one, singular task she had. Letting out her breath, Cate waited for the man's foot to land. 

Splash!

Grabbing her target's ankles, she yanked the man, causing him to stumble while falling underwater. As he fell, she made sure to stay below him, using him as cover to protect herself from the enemy weapons. 

While the attack had been unexpected, Harriet's team were all highly skilled warriors. Their senses had been alert. Reacting quickly, they turned their guns toward where the assailant had emerged from. 

Seeing their own sprawled out on the pocket water, they realized they couldn't just start wantonly firing at their attacker. Just as they were contemplating what to do, three stones suddenly appeared in the air, striking at their weak points. 

Immediately, they reacted by blocking the stones and little rocks that they were being pelted. Thinking fast, they turned their gun muzzles to the forest, ready to unleash hate. Unfortunately, it was too late. 

Haiser had been hiding several meters away from where Cate was concealed. He knew that once she attacked, she would need fast back up, or she would be overwhelmed. He also couldn't be too close, or they would be detected. Right now, the element of surprise was their biggest advantage.

The moment she struck, Haiser sprang to his feet. Tossing his rock at a target, he quickly closed the distance between himself and his targets. With Carlos, Joel and Felix throwing their stones and rocks, he had some cover. He knew that given a few seconds, the team would figure things out and counter-attack. Haiser was not going to give them that chance. 

Appearing like a specter, Haiser shot forward from the direction of the forest. He immediately spear-tackled the target in the lead. With his momentum, Haiser managed to hoist the man and carry them towards the second target, Cate.

In a few short seconds, three people were down, but not out of the fight yet. 

However, Haiser was fully exposed, and after taking down two, he had left a lot of opening. Justin, who'd be right behind Cate, brandished his short sword, intending to decapitate the attacker viciously. 

With very fast movements and reaction, Haiser moved as though he had anticipated the attack. Like the expert he was, Haiser instantly side-stepped the attack. Leveraging on his momentum, Haiser swung his hand and chopped at Justin's attack hand, causing the blade to fall from the man's grasp. 

The moment Haiser had made his move, taking out the two in the lead, the melee fighter behind Justin had also reacted, instantly backtracking. The team had maintained a disciplined distance between each other, and the man sort to distance himself. When Haiser managed to disarm his opponent, the man was already quite far, out of range of Haiser's melee attacks. He also drew his energy pistol.

Just as he was about to start firing, two well placed stones came out of the forest, accurately striking at the man who had been so focused on aiming and shooting. One struck his face, the other, his torso, instantly incapacitating him for several seconds.

Poor fellow. Just as he was about to regain his focus, a slender man shot out of the forest, branding a brick he'd collected. Before the man could even register what had happened, sharp pain on his temple caused his body to shake, as though he'd been shocked. As his vision darkened, the man didn't know what had knocked him out. 

The slender man was none other than Joel, who all this time had been concealed, just throwing rocks at his enemy.

After dealing with the man, Joel did not stop, running as fast as he could into the river. Cate was still struggling with her target, and since she did not have the best position, she could easily drown. He had gone to lend a helping hand. 

Meanwhile, Haiser had managed to collect the short sword that had fallen. However, doing so had cost him critical seconds. Harriet and her front man were already up, their muzzles pointed at Haiser.

Haiser bobbed and weaved, denying his attackers a chance to lock on to him. As he did, he closed the short distance. Harriet had reacted pretty fast, distancing herself from Haiser. Her front man had not. He was still trying to aim at Haiser when the latter made it within striking distance. 

His weapon was heavy, causing his movements to be somewhat clumsy. With the speed of a cobra, Haiser's blade instantly struck, separating the man's head from the rest of the body. 

Seeing such a fast attack, Justin shuddered. It also dawned on him that he was within range of this monster. Unfortunately, that realization came too late. Haiser turned around and three the short sword. 

Moving through the air, the sword was deceptively fast. Moreover, given the short distance between the two, Justin could neither block, parry or dodge. All he could do was watch as the blade penetrated his eye, instantly killing him.

By now, Harriet had managed to distance herself from Haiser. She was also holding a long gun with smart bullets, which meant that the man couldn't bob and weave as he approached her. 

Furiously, she lifted her gun, ready to start spraying her attacker. Too bad her weapon needed time to lock onto the target. 

Beep!

Just as the weapon announced that it had locked onto the target, Carlos came jumping out of the forest, arms spread out. He instantly tackled her on the ground, pinning her weapon to the ground. 

As the team leader, Harriet had some skills and a lot of talent. Her reaction time was one of the best in Laventine corporation's various fighters. Thinking fast, she let go off her primary weapon and reached for her dagger, planning to eviscerate Carlos. However, she never got that chance. 

Boom!

The upper part of the cranium exploded, spraying blood, bone fragments, and brain matter all over Carlos. She didn't even hear the report of the rifle in Haiser's hand that had taken away her life.