Ch.104Forest Fire and Trap

# 104. Forest Fire and Trap

Trap.

Usually, it refers to a physically installed snare, but what I worked on was a bit more complex.

‘Those Hyeomseong bastards have such a strong superiority complex and chosen people mentality that they rarely get scratched, but once they do, they completely fall apart.’

The Hyeomseong guys got thoroughly beaten by us and ran away, then barely survived a massive forest fire and fled again. But what if that wasn’t a randomly discovered escape route but a trap someone had prepared?

What if we added all kinds of mockery and hateful comments that they would normally just get angry about and easily ignore?

And as the finishing touch, what if we placed a “blood-stained broken arrow” as a decorative element, blatantly suggesting a dead ending?

The expected reaction would be one of two:

Either they’d despair, thinking “It’s all over now.”

Or they’d charge mindlessly, thinking “How dare these inferior creatures!”

If they saw those signs and gave up, sitting down in despair, that would be fine too. Since the fire was still spreading, they’d have to flee to survive anyway.

‘Still, personally, I’d prefer if they chose the latter.’

That way, they’d bunch up nicely on this not-so-wide path.

Making them easy targets.

“Soyu noona. I’ll say it again, you don’t have to do this. Subin’s firepower is enough.”

“How many times do I have to tell you? No. I want to do this too.”

“You don’t need to push yourself.”

“It’s fine. I can’t overcome it by just avoiding it. Don’t try to stop me unless you’re telling me not to do it at all. This time will be different from before. Trust me.”

“…Alright.”

Originally, I planned to give Soyu noona, who had psychological aftereffects, only a supporting role and make Subin work a bit harder, but Soyu noona actively insisted on being used as an attack unit, so I included her.

‘While I was gone, the other guild members must have comforted her a lot. The incident with Yehyun noona might have been shocking in many ways, and Soyu noona probably wanted to overcome it quickly.’

I just felt sorry and grateful.

Anyway, the final stage of the trap I worked on was to recreate the overwhelming bombardment that Subin and Soyu noona had reportedly performed on floor 3-1 against enemies charging straight at us.

“The key is to maintain a distance that makes them think they can reach us if they charge hard enough. If we’re too close to them, we could get hurt too, or be consumed by the flames. We need to keep retreating from the fire while taking them down.”

Conversely, if we kept too much distance, the power and accuracy would decrease, and the path we were blocking gradually widened, which was problematic.

We always had to remember that we were only six people. A small number can only face a larger force on a single narrow path. At least, that’s how it worked in my head.

“Since Soyu noona said she’d participate, let’s go with Plan B, the two-battery rotation strategy. Team 1 here. Team 2 at the next point I scouted earlier.”

“So we fire alternately, then retreat to the next point and recharge?”

“Bingo. I’ll leave the timing to you, Subin. As for signals, we probably don’t need any. We can see everything clearly.”

“Confirmed. Team 2. Let’s move.”

As we watched Subin, Seyeon, and Yehyun noona heading to the second position, we steeled our resolve.

**

“Nothing has changed, Commander! We need to gather our strength and escape right now!”

“That’s right! If we stay here, we’ll be caught by that cursed forest fire! Look! It’s getting hotter by the minute!”

“Make a decision!”

They couldn’t retreat, couldn’t hold their position, and couldn’t take a detour. Ahead, the villain responsible for this cursed forest fire was surely lurking somewhere.

It was too late to send scouts to assess the situation, as the cursed forest fire was approaching too quickly.

A decision?

In reality, there was only one choice.

“Place those with light injuries at the front, those with heavy injuries at the back.”

“Commander, you mean…”

“We break through with all our might.”

“Commander!”

“Remember! The first priority is to break through and return to Albrant! To pierce through those villains blocking our path ahead! Understood?”

Everyone present avoided mentioning meat shields and those who would be left behind. Such words were… too wretched to be uttered by the noble Alb.

Yes.

Even in moments like these, Albs should not use unsightly and explicit words.

That was the kind of race they were.

“Our numbers are far superior, so we’ll charge through quickly enough that they won’t dare target us.”

The commander kept muttering this as if it were the right answer.

Until the expressions of the Albs positioned at the front and rear darkened.

**

“Oppa, unnie. They’re coming.”

*Gulp*

At Yuri’s words—she had the best eyesight—Soyu noona slowly began charging her Damnatio Memoriae. Soon after, I too could see some mass moving at tremendous speed.

“They’re split into two groups!”

“How many?”

“About 8 to 2! The 2 seem to be lagging behind, looks like they’re being abandoned!”

“Okay.”

The Hyeomseong chose to charge. Both their abandonment of stragglers and their charging speed… it felt like a final charge.

But here’s the thing.

If it had been just Subin, it might have been dangerous, but Soyu noona joined the battle?

“Oppa.”

“Three.”

“It’s time.”

“Two.”

Yuri stopped observing and stood beside Soyu noona.

“One. Fire.”

“Damnatio memoriae.”

*Zzzzzzzz*

The moment Damnatio Memoriae extended from Soyu noona’s palm and struck the Hyeomseong’s front line, Yuri hoisted Soyu noona onto her back.

“To point 3!”

“Unnie! Hold tight!”

“Kyaaaah!”

Without even checking the results, we ran at full speed past point 2 to point 3.

“Arrived!”

“Soyu noona, take a short rest. Yuri, observe the front and report.”

“Okie!”

“Uwup…!”

While Soyu noona, who had just dismounted from Yuri’s shoulders, was dry heaving, the still-energetic Yuri—who had run while carrying noona—darted forward at my order.

“Noona. Are you okay?”

“Huff, huff. If I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have eaten anything.”

“You’d have been even weaker if you hadn’t eaten.”

“I’m just saying.”

“You seem fine.”

“…Not completely, but better than before. Maybe it’s because we fled without properly seeing the results.”

I handed Soyu noona a water bottle. While she drank the water with relish, Yuri returned.

“Looks like point 2 is about to fire too!”

“How’s the momentum of the Hyeomseong?”

“They don’t seem dead yet?”

“Confirmed. Noona. Let’s get ready. Yuri, please continue observing from here.”

“Got it.”

“Okie!”

Soon, just as we had passed Team 2, Team 2 passed us. Subin was dangling from Seyeon’s shoulders, and Yehyun noona was following behind Seyeon, gritting her teeth.

Anyway, the physical prowess of the maknae duo was impressive.

“Oh! They’ve clearly decreased in number!”

“We still need to repeat this until the force of their charge dies. Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Three.”

Two. One. Fire.

Once again, Damnatio Memoriae was fired, and we immediately retreated to point 5.

After Subin completed the third bombardment at point 6 and we arrived at point 7 to prepare for the fourth bombardment, that’s when:

– Stop-!

– We-request-!!

– Dia-logue-!!!

“Oppa. What are we going to do?”

“They’re requesting dialogue?”

It was psychologically much harder to attack someone who showed no intention to resist. Usually, this would be the flow where they give up futile resistance and surrender, but…

Well.

The opponent was the infamous Hyeomseong from the game, so…

“Charge.”

“Really?”

Soyu noona asked, swallowing hard. I decisively cut off her hesitation.

“What dialogue? They should be begging for unconditional surrender at this point. Charge.”

“…Yes. Charging.”

They make people angry? They betray?

Then make it completely impossible.

“Fire.”

– Dia-logue-

– Aaaaargh-!!!

– We-will-curse-you-aaaaargh!!!

“If you torment and even kill other races for pathetic reasons, you should be prepared to die yourself. Yuri. Sorry, but could you go to point 8 and bring Team 2?”

“Okie!”

Soyu noona might find this side of me unfamiliar.

But I said this at the departure ceremony:

I’m going to try to be a bit more shameless.

That wasn’t just about the guilt I felt toward guild members. Whether those Albs were mere game characters or living, breathing beings like me…

I’m going to be a bit more shameless about the guilt of hurting or killing them.

Why?

Because we are the top priority.

I’ll bear all the responsibility.

Because I gave the orders.

[Though the enemies were terrified, you completely annihilated a larger force with a small number through a meticulous plan. By defeating the expeditionary force before Albrant’s reinforcements arrived, Ayord secured time for peace and reorganization. The Albrant reinforcement troops, who witnessed the devastation too late, decided to retreat due to severe losses and take time to regroup. This might take a very long time.]

[Evaluation in progress.]

And so, we successfully cleared the third quest of the anti-Alb linked quest on floor 3-2 with the “Forest Fire and Trap” strategy I improvised on the spot.

‘As for the evaluation… I don’t know.’

For now, I just patted Soyu noona’s shoulder, who had worked hard instead of the guild leader who had only talked big.

Believing that doing at least this much might lighten the burden noona felt.

Even if just for a moment.

Soyu noona’s hands didn’t tremble.