Ch.70D – 14 (1)

Having determined what to do next, our subsequent actions naturally accelerated.

After receiving information about several Apostle bases that Leon’s group had already scouted, Kitsune and I immediately prepared to depart.

Seeing our hasty preparations, Leon stopped us with a concerned expression.

“Master, you seem to have just returned from dangerous territory. Are you sure it’s alright to leave right away…?”

Instead of answering the Hero’s question directly, I turned to Kitsune to briefly inquire about her physical condition.

“Kitsune, does your body feel light on the surface?”

“Yes, it’s sufficient.”

“We’re not particularly tired, so don’t worry. Besides, we don’t plan to destroy everything in a single day.”

Leon’s group had identified twelve locations in total.

At the current rate, we could destroy all of them by taking down just one per day, but that wouldn’t be enough to draw the Apostles’ attention.

Right now, we didn’t even know how many enemy bases remained. However, it was highly likely that the twelve locations they’d found weren’t all of them.

‘To keep them focused on me instead of the Hero’s group, taking down just one per day won’t be enough.’

So I planned to destroy as many locations as possible on the first day.

They say first impressions are important, don’t they? Even if our destruction rate slowed afterward, they wouldn’t be able to take their eyes off us after what we’d do on the first day.

‘Six locations should be about right.’

Just as we were about to leave, a hesitant fairy quickly fluttered her wings and approached Kitsune.

“Kitsune! Take me with you this time!”

“Ah, Rene… that’s not something I can decide…”

The fairy called Rene was originally Kitsune’s partner fairy.

I had semi-forcibly taken Kitsune to the deep levels, causing them to separate abruptly, and they had only just reunited upon our return.

Now that we were leaving again so soon after meeting, she seemed determined to come along this time.

“Please, take me with you!”

“Well, Lilly needs to stay here for a while anyway. We could use someone to help identify the Apostles, so come along. Just make sure to hide in Kitsune’s arms during combat.”

When she approached me and bowed her head pleadingly, I granted her permission to join us.

I wouldn’t have allowed Rene to come if her presence would be a liability, but since Lilly was occupied with guarding Arges, there was room for her.

“Well, if no one else is coming along, shall we really depart now?”

“Yes, leave this place to me and come back safely. Don’t do anything reckless and get hurt.”

With Lilly’s farewell, our group—myself, Kitsune, and now Rene—set out from the forge to draw the Apostles’ attention.

* * *

One location discovered in Zone A.

Four locations discovered in Zone B.

Three locations discovered in Zone C.

Four locations discovered in Zone E.

‘They said they’d already dealt with all the locations in Zone D. And no underground zones have been confirmed yet.’

Even after Leon’s group had destroyed several locations, this many remained. And there was no telling how many more would be discovered.

Judging by the number of bases the Apostles had established, their infiltration of Gagap wasn’t a recent development.

At the very minimum, they’d been here for at least a year.

I couldn’t tell how long they’d been cooperating with the Dwarf King, but it was clear that the war we were facing had been in preparation for quite some time.

‘On the other hand, our preparations have barely lasted a month.’

If we were to judge by preparation time alone, the outcome would be obvious, but I had no intention of submitting quietly, nor did I consider our preparations inadequate.

If they had invested a long time, I too had mobilized all the knowledge at my disposal.

“Let’s start by destroying locations in Zone E and work our way up in reverse order.”

“Understood.”

“And before we raid any bases, let’s deal with our pursuers first.”

After leaving the forge and traveling for quite some time, I confirmed that there were no people wandering around us.

Since I had deliberately lured them in this direction from the beginning, I turned around as if I’d been waiting and attacked the person who had been following us.

“You, how did you detect my—!”

“If you can’t conceal your presence better than that, you’re bound to be discovered.”

The pursuer was startled and tried to draw a dagger from his clothes, but his reaction was too slow to counter my attack.

“Gaaah!”

“One person should be enough for gathering information.”

After lightly slashing and incapacitating one pursuer, I immediately turned around.

Behind me, about four other pursuers who had somehow caught up were swinging poisoned daggers at me.

Every one of their attacks was aimed at vital points like my neck or heart.

Slash—

“Too slow.”

But with a belated swing of my sword, the heads of three pursuers went flying.

One pursuer with quick reflexes activated his skill to evade my attack. He tried to target my back again, but I easily countered that as well.

“Kuhek.”

“Shadow Step moves you behind your opponent when used, right? It’s a good skill. But you should know that if your opponent is aware of it, you can actually be the one at a disadvantage.”

I didn’t turn around to counter; I simply thrust my sword into the position where I knew he would appear, piercing his heart.

“Well… not that you’ll have any use for that knowledge now.”

“Well done, Lady Frey.”

By the time I had dealt with all the pursuers, Kitsune approached, holding someone who appeared to be an associate of the pursuers.

“Kitsune, you must have had a hard time catching the one who tried to escape.”

“Not at all. He wasn’t particularly swift.”

Rene’s expression looked somewhat complicated as she watched our exchange. It was like the gaze of a parent looking at a child who had grown up during their absence.

“I’ll go interrogate that guy for a bit. You two catch up on whatever you haven’t had a chance to discuss.”

Sensing that the two needed time, I dragged the incapacitated pursuer toward an alley.

“Well, you seem to have gathered our information well… but even if you torture me… you won’t get any information out of me.”

The pursuer seemed to think I was going to torture him, so he spoke confidently.

However, the fear in his eyes suggested he didn’t actually believe he could withstand torture.

“You seem to be thinking about the Evil God’s contract, but why would I torture you? You’re going to tell me everything directly anyway.”

“What…?”

The pursuer didn’t seem to understand what I was saying, but since I wasn’t particularly seeking his understanding, I got straight to the point.

“Tell me the locations of the bases you know about. Any additional information would be even better.”

“Yes, that is…”

To put it simply, it was a waste of time.

The base locations he mentioned were all ones that had already been identified, and he didn’t have any additional information.

In other words, I gained absolutely nothing.

“Well, now that the cleanup is done and you two seem to have talked enough, let’s start moving in earnest.”

“Yes, thanks to you, we were able to talk sufficiently.”

It seemed they had managed to catch up on their long-overdue conversation, which was satisfying enough for me.

“Thank you for your consideration.”

“It’s nothing. Actually, when I think about it, I’ve been moving quickly and making Kitsune move along with me.”

And now it was time to get busy again.

* * *

Crash.

The firmly closed door was torn off in one go and flew into the wall ahead.

“Who’s there!”

They seemed prepared for raids, probably because Leon and his group had already attacked several times, but it didn’t help much.

All the Apostles inside were finished before they could even swing their weapons once.

“Everyone, kneel.”

With just one word, one carelessly uttered phrase from Frey, all the Apostles were disarmed.

Slash—

The Apostles tried to regain their senses, but it was impossible. What could they do when their heads were already separated from their bodies?

“Hee… heek…!”

In a room that had contained about six Apostles just moments ago, only the highest-ranking Apostle remained alive after just one minute.

“I wonder what you all were so diligently doing here.”

With the terrified Apostle who had lost his will to fight behind me, I approached an altar placed to one side.

On the altar lay a blood-colored jewel. It was small, but I had seen it before.

“This was also implanted in the Ogre… what are you trying to do?”

“They were also at the other places we raided.”

I recalled the operation plan I had read before departing for the Dwarf Kingdom. The plan contained various details, including information about the Dwarf King and the Evil God’s descent plan.

However, this Bloodstone wasn’t mentioned there.

‘When we caught the Ogre, I thought it was just the Necromancer gathering power separately… but is there something more to it?’

I tried to extract more information from the Apostle, but even he was just collecting them without knowing why.