Chapter 82

Late at night.

Members of the various underworld guild alliances had gathered to conduct their final checks.

The remaining guilds—excluding the Black Fang Wolves, who had already withdrawn—verified each other’s equipment, manpower, and the number of mages before organizing into groups by guild.

“Then let’s move out.”

The march began at the command of an executive from one of the guilds.

Only those tasked with guarding the barred carriages, which had been positioned as close as possible, remained behind. The vast majority of the force entered the forest, dragging their enslaved Elves along.

A barrier of mist usually surrounded the Elven village, but it was said that the mist would not manifest if one of their own kind was present. While any other race approaching would be expelled from the forest by the barrier, they moved toward the village by exploiting the fact that the mist would clear for an Elf.

“With this many people, those Elves won’t stand a chance.”

“I heard there are Spirits in the village, too. This is going to be a lucrative job.”

“Their only attacks are arrows at best; they don’t even use Spirit Magic.”

Two low-level grunts chatted idly as they advanced.

“Stay sharp, you two. Keep an eye out for monsters, not just Elves.”

“We get it.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

The leader at the front of the line sighed, but the two continued their chatter.

A misplaced confidence that they could never be discovered emboldened them—until the sudden howl of a wolf pierced the air.

Every member of the underworld guild came to a halt.

It was common knowledge that the Great Forest was home to many monsters, so the sound of any animal required immediate caution.

“Guaaaah!”

As they stood on high alert, a scream erupted from one of the teams.

“Everyone, back-to-back! Defensive formation! It’s a monster attack!!”

“Dammit! Not at a time like this!!”

“Maybe there’s so many of us we actually drew them in!?”

“Just stay alert! The opponent is likely a beast-type!!”

The teams huddled together in tight circles, watching the shadows, but silence soon reclaimed the forest. The fear of not knowing where the next strike would come from began to envelop the alliance.

To make matters worse, they were burdened by the Elven slaves.

Protecting Elves who couldn’t move or fight made maneuvering nearly impossible. Even if they abandoned them, there was no guarantee the monsters would target the Elves instead, and if the mist barrier reactivated, the danger would only escalate.

Suddenly, the area grew bright.

Looking toward the light, they saw fireballs incinerating another team. Since the fireballs had landed in the center of the group, the charred corpses were all sprawled facedown.

“U-Uwaaaaaah!!”

Finally, one of the members broke and fled in terror.

“Don’t run! You’re only making it more dangerous!!”

“I’m not staying here to be burned alive!”

“Just get back here!”

Ignoring the orders, the man vanished into the dark forest, followed shortly by a piercing scream. The Elves they had brought with them were now completely paralyzed, trembling with fear.

“…Full retreat!! Abandon the Elves and run!! But don’t split up! Stay in a group and move, you hear me!?”

“Understood!!”

“…Ah!”

One of the Elves reached out as they began to flee, but they ignored her and ran.

The light from the flames vanished, plunging them into darkness, but they sprinted on regardless.

“Master! The operation is a failure, we need backup! …Master!”

He tried to contact the Guild Master via the magic item in his ear, but there was no connection. He tried the executives who were supposed to be at the guild, but he couldn’t reach them either.

“What’s going on?! This was just a simple job to bag some Elves and Spirits! How did it turn into this?!”

He shouted instinctively, but no one answered. The only thing he understood was that his life was in immediate peril. For now, he focused entirely on sprinting toward the edge of the forest.

“Watch your front!!”

Sensing danger for a split second, he shouted a warning to those around him, but many were unable to react in time and were struck by arrows.

“Gah!”

“Urgh!”

The arrows likely belonged to the Elves. However, they had no time to verify the truth.

“Can you still run?!”

“I can!”

“I’m still good!”

He didn’t look back, running while placing his trust in those words alone. By parrying or dodging the arrows, they somehow managed to make it back to the vicinity of the carriages.

“We made it out…”

“Yeah… we did.”

“I never want to come here again…”

Gasping for breath, they were almost there. He expected the other teams to be gathered at the spot, but something felt wrong.

It was far too quiet.

Staying alert, they peered through the shadows of the brush and saw a young girl there. She looked bored, sitting on one of the carriages with her legs dangling and swinging back and forth. She was yawning and rubbing her eyes.

“…Is that someone’s kid?”

“Don’t be stupid. No one would bring a child to a place like this.”

Even though they were whispering, the girl somehow noticed them.

“Oh! More have arrived!”

“…Who are you?! There’s no way a child would be out here in the Great Forest!!”

“? Indeed, there are no human children here. I am who I am; I have no need to give my name to the likes of you.”

“Then why are you here?!”

“Answering that is simple. I came here to kill you.”

A chill ran down their spines. She looked like a little girl, but she was dangerous!

“Everyone, ru—!”

“Too slow.”

The girl clenched her fist and killed the underworld guild members with a single blow.

“Hmm. It seems I still can’t catch up to Ryu.”

The girl looked at her fist with a hint of disappointment before tossing the bodies into the carriage. Inside, it wasn’t Elves piled up, but the members of the various underworld guild teams.