Ch.203203. Dusky Night (3)

We ended our rest and gathered at the central point where everyone was assembled.

In the center, I saw elves with composed expressions including Friel, and several other elves who were subdued and rolling on the ground, filled with inexplicable hatred.

Rolling on the ground. For pointy-ears, this must be a disgraceful display they’d never want others to see. Despite being covered in dirt, they weren’t trembling from their usual cleanliness obsession, but rather convulsing even more violently.

‘Those pointy-ears probably wouldn’t regain their senses even if Sione slapped them.’

They seemed so thoroughly caught in the demon’s trick that even Sione’s slap—which had burst the inside of Diolia’s cheek—wouldn’t be enough to bring them back to their senses.

“Hmm…”

Diolia sighed as she looked down at the elf displaying such an unsightly appearance.

Then, nervously glancing around, she cleared her throat and cautiously asked.

“…Did I also display such disgraceful behavior like them?”

As she had mentioned earlier, she couldn’t remember much of what she had done while her mind was gone, as if in a drunken stupor.

Diolia seemed quite curious about just how disgraceful she had become during that blank period in her memory.

“Rest assured. You weren’t that deeply affected by the spell.”

“Really?”

“Yes, you merely crossed blades with Sione when she blocked your path as you tried to cut me down, engaging in a brief test of strength.”

“Tsk…”

Diolia, acting uncharacteristically, messed up her hair and began looking at me nervously again.

As I quietly watched her pressing her temples, reflecting on the weight of her dangerous mistake.

I suspected she might start saying strange things again about slicing open her stomach or atoning for her sins through suicide.

—Meow.

“Come over here for a moment?”

—Meow!

Swish!

—…!

I quickly snatched Orna and placed her in Diolia’s arms, offering some encouraging words. Diolia nodded, regaining her composure, and hugged Orna tightly.

I’d comfort the struggling ball of fluff later. If I let her play with Tania, her complaints would disappear.

I refocused on the current situation.

‘They’re in terrible shape.’

The subdued elves all displayed madness-like behavior.

Bloodshot eyes, showing hatred and struggling to the point of exhaustion despite being completely restrained, as if determined to harm their opponents somehow.

As night fell, the pride they had shown during the day as elite forest guardians had long vanished.

‘The mental strength of pointy-ears is sometimes superior even to dwarves.’

Dwarves possess remarkable mental fortitude, enough to swing their hammers for hours without error before a hot furnace. Even with their fire-resistant skin and bodies, they cannot be free from the pressure of intense heat. They possess exceptional mental strength to overcome such heat.

Elves too have their characteristic composure and mental strength derived from the detachment brought by their long lives. They shouldn’t be much inferior to dwarves in this regard.

The fact that they had gone completely mad like this didn’t add up. Even if a demon itself had appeared, not just some demonic minion’s trick, it should be difficult to drive them mad so quickly without any commotion. They were highly trained forest guardians, after all.

‘Something’s been bothering me since daylight.’

Both the elves who died at the hands of those insignificant Demonkin and these elves who had gone mad.

As I was thinking this, Airine, who had been quietly observing the surroundings and pondering something, asked Diolia, our knight who had regained her senses.

“Knight, do you remember anything before you were entranced by the spell?”

“Well…”

“Even fragments of unclear memories would be fine. I want to check if there are any overlapping memories with other comrades who have regained consciousness.”

“In that case—”

She began to rack her brain while stroking Orna.

The more deeply contemplative her expression became, the faster her right hand reflexively stroked Orna.

—…meow.

As Orna accepted Diolia’s petting with a blank expression, Diolia finally offered her answer to Airine.

“…While I was on watch, I think I made eye contact with something strange in the forest.”

“Something strange?”

“Yes, it had red eyes and was shedding bloody tears… its form was human yet not human…”

“Human yet not human?”

“…I’m sorry. I seem to have seen something terribly empty and unpleasant, but after making eye contact with those red eyes, my memory isn’t clear.”

Airine quietly nodded at Diolia’s words.

“Then from now on, let’s ask the others—”

At that moment.

“There’s no need for that.”

Friel Arielt slowly walked toward us, neatly cutting off Airine’s words.

Uncharacteristically talkative earlier, Airine now pressed her lips shut and faced Friel in silence.

“I’ve already asked them all. Everyone had similar experiences to your knights.”

Having helped subdue the rampaging elves, Friel, looking somewhat disheveled, crossed her arms and began to sharpen her blue-green pupils.

“Everyone said they saw red eyes shedding bloody tears and then their memories became incomplete. Some said they saw a giant beast, others thought they saw the corpse of a dead comrade moving… The appearance of the culprit they saw afterward seems to vary from person to person.”

The key element was the red pupils shedding bloody tears.

A monster whose gaze must be avoided.

And coincidentally, I seemed to know the identity of this monster.

“Airine, while you were away, we had a few more casualties here.”

“…?”

“All of them had gone into the forest to strengthen the perimeter security.”

“…”

“You mustn’t enter the forest where absolutely no light reaches. Do you see those three elves over there?”

Each had large, human-like bite marks deeply embedded in their arm and leg guards. One of them, who must have confronted something briefly, had their shoulder pauldron literally torn apart.

“They were three of the most skilled in Arielt, but look at their condition. Even if they used elemental power to illuminate their surroundings, they would be easily ambushed if moving in small numbers. The good news is…”

Friel’s index finger pointed to the center of this place—to the small light source floating in the sky, created by numerous spirits. The small sun brightly illuminated the surroundings, so despite the deep night, this area was bathed in the warmth of a cozy flame rather than the gentle moonlight.

“If we clearly illuminate all around us like this and stay together, it seems the owner of those red eyes cannot easily reveal itself. Tonight, we should keep watch from within the light’s reach… and move again after the sun rises. What do you think?”

The first to agree with Friel’s words was not Airine but Sione.

“…The concentration of Magia spread throughout the forest has thickened.”

“My lady, what do you mean by thickened?”

“What seemed like residual energy settled at the bottom during the day has become sticky and dense in places where light doesn’t reach. I think it’s best to spend the night here as Friel suggested.”

“Indeed—”

Following Sione and Friel’s words, the other elves who had been listening to our conversation also agreed. We hurriedly began preparations to get through the night.

“Take turns watching the outside from within the light’s range and check if enemies are approaching.”

“If you see anything resembling red eyes in the distance, immediately turn your head to avoid eye contact, return inside, and take a brief rest after disarming.”

“The demon hasn’t come near where light reaches yet, but if you do end up making eye contact with the red eyes, as long as you maintain your sanity, disarm completely and entrust your safety to a nearby comrade.”

From basic guidelines to more detailed instructions, the manual conceived by Airine, who had been quietly listening to Friel’s explanation, spread widely among us, and we began to set up our perimeter defense.

The important thing was not only the red-eyed monster that seemed unable to approach this area, but also the light source that was beginning to emit an even brighter light. We needed to be wary of beasts or monsters attracted by that light, and possibly even cultist fanatics who might attempt a night raid.

To counter them, I readied my weapons properly again and began to carefully observe the forest.

The forest was quiet. However, that quietness couldn’t help but feel rather strange.

‘…Seems like we’ve gotten entangled with a troublesome one.’

It felt as if only we remained as living beings entangled in this place.

The clear sounds of insects that had been audible before, the occasional howling of beasts or hooting of owls that had sometimes made the forest lively—

Besides the sounds of our unit members guarding this position, nothing else could be heard.

As I visually confirmed what lay beyond once more with a vigilant posture.

I pulled Sione, who was yawning with her eyes closed beside me, into my arms.

“Ouch… Ray…?”

“Close your eyes.”

She seemed to be in pain from her solar plexus and nose colliding, but what did it matter?

Given the situation.

“Orna. Make everyone around here close their eyes with wind right now.”

—Meow…?

“That’s an order.”

There was no time to explain calmly.

I issued a command to the spirit, invoking the compulsory power granted to a spirit contractor.

So I quickly pushed Sione behind me and drew my bowstring.

The monster slightly turned its head toward me.

Red eyes and bloody tears. Why do ominous signs always unfailingly become disasters? They were monsters I recognized.

“Tania, come out.”

Twang—!

I shot an arrow and hurriedly summoned the spirit that would counter them.