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 about Dandelion being kidnapped. He didn't even interrupt Claude when it was making a plan, afraid that it might become a clue to point towards his direction later on. He was cautious and carefully executing all the parts of his plan, but unexpectedly it was actually through this action itself that pointed towards him.

Ban didn't know whether he should laugh or cry after hearing that it was actually 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 can be successful?"

"Actually, they were not chasing you but looking for you. So, yes, your plan would have been really successful." Leo said as he nodded his head in a response to Ban's question.

Leo's plan was pretty simple to counter the mastermind's possible plans. Look for all the possible suspect, and if one of them fight back when they were being looked for then they are surely part of those kidnappers.

In the very beginning, Leo had felt already that one person with them, either the soldier, mercenary, or the Mages themselves, that were currently searching was a mole hiding within their group while giving information to the other kidnappers.

At that time, when Leo knew that the others were searching around individually, he immediately thought that the mole within their group would surely choose to search where their hideout was likely located to be. It was the best time for them to return to their hideout, after all. While the others were searching for a different location, they can just go and run away with Dandelion in their hands. Not only would they be able to run free but also successfully bring Dandelion with them, so their plan becomes really successful.

However, Leo's plan was the one that became successful. When they were looking for the possible suspects, specifically David, Hannah, and Ban, first. One of them had unexpectedly fought back, which was also what he had expected.

To be honest, the chasing was actually part of Leo's 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 for their situation, then they would surely not fight back 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 had fought back, it immediately implies that the latter was part of the kidnappers.

However, if such a situation where the three Mages were actually not a member of the kidnappers came up, 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. And if he still can't find them, then he will just let the Blacksmoke family handle this mess and he himself will simply give up. With the Blacksmoke Noble Household capability, surely they can find about Dandelion's whereabouts easily. Though he wasn't sure whether they'll find her still alive...

Fortunately though, not only did Leo's plan became successful, since unexpectedly, not only did he catch a mole, but actually the mastermind behind the crime itself.

"What a pity..." Ban shook his head in disappointment.

Ban finally realized that his plan could have been really successful if only he hadn't fought back with those people chasing after him... Actually, following. He could have been able to taste Dandelion's body later if he 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 after this moment.

Too bad for Ban, the what 'ifs' didn't happen because he was a fool. He had actually 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 suspect 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 as he licks her checks for the last time. She could just tremble in disgust at his action since she wasn't able to do anything else due to currently 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 turned 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 loudly.

Suddenly, Ban took out a circular bag as he said to Leo, "I got this idea from you!"

*Puff!

Thick smoke immediately covered the entire room. Everyone became vigilant within the smoke as they tried to defend themselves from any possible attack from Ban.

Leo immediately pulled 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 towards Cassandra. She tried to take out her dagger from one of her hidden pockets on her clothes, but she was one step too late as he was quick enough to appear in front of her before she could try to defend herself.

Ban immediately caught Cassandra's hand before injecting her with some kind of plant that immediately sent her to sleep. He then caught her body as he put her to his shoulder.

"Bye bye!" Ban then waved his hand towards Leo before running to away to escape from the place.

*Bang!

However, as soon as Ban moved forward to escape away from his current location, a wall suddenly appeared in front of him, successfully blocking his path of retreat. Before he could try to run the opposite way too, a handmade out of rock suddenly caught him.

"Argh! What the heck is this!" Ban exclaimed as he keeps on struggling to try to escape. But his efforts were useless since the grasp from the unknown thing was just too tight for him to pull his body away.

Cassandra's unconscious body was also quickly caught by another hand the moment her body fell from Ban's shoulder.

"If you have just run away from this place, then you could have kept your life. Sadly, you did the same mistake again, as you were once again a fool driven by his own lust. Hence, as a punishment, you will be staying here with your life, forever!" Leo said as he slowly approached the struggling Ban.

Leo's eyes were as cold as ice at this moment. What he had said was indeed the truth. He could have really just let Ban successfully escape from this place after the latter threw that smokescreen to block their eyesight. Unfortunately, since the latter had actually 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, obviously really enraged at Ban's action.

"What the heck is this!" Ban yelled out loudly, full of despair. He doesn't care about the enraged Leo at all. All of his focus was to escape from the unknown thing currently holding him down.

"Oh, you want to see what it is?" Leo flicks his finger as the Earth Elemental slowly showed how its face actually looked like to Ban.

"A... A Element..." Ban was immediately 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 immediately crashed 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 was about.

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 immediately unsummoned the Earth Elemental as he hurriedly ran towards the unconscious Cassandra.

Noticing that nothing was wrong with her, Leo can't help as he quietly breathed 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 immediately taken back as they looked at the face of Ban's head. It was of pure despair and disbelief. The latter's eyes too were seemingly staring widely at something really scary before finally being crushed to death.

Claude's curiosity towards Leo's trump card just intensified further as he saw again the same scene at the Blacksmoke canyon. Actually, a much worst scene as the body at this moment was turned to meat paste. He really wanted to know what Ban saw before dying.

"What happened to her?" Claude said as soon as he arrived at Leo's side.

"Ban injected some kind of sleeping drug to her." Leo explained, seemingly nonchalant. But his voice was obviously full of care and worry.

Claude just 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 its meat paste 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's body was obviously 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 as before.

Claude can't help to turn his head to Leo, full of curiosity within his eyes.