Chapter 207

“Horrific.”

Leon muttered, his face grim.

In front of him lay a corpse.

The corpse of a villager, brutally murdered.

“Ugh…”

Annette looked as if she was about to cry.

She bit her lip, barely holding back her tears.

Now wasn’t the time to grieve.

Not while the cruel murderers were still on this island.

“…There are no survivors so far.”

Camian said, frowning.

They had passed through several villages on their way here.

But none of them had any survivors.

Only gruesome corpses.

“They came prepared.”

Leon said bitterly.

It didn’t make sense unless it was a planned move.

Both the ambush at the lodgings and the attacks on the villages must have been part of a pre-meditated, cruel plan.

“It’s safe to assume the other villages are in the same situation.”

Annette blinked heavily at Leon’s assertion.

“But… what if there are survivors…?”

“No, Leon is right.”

Camian agreed with Leon.

“Ugh…”

Annette closed her mouth with a gloomy expression.

“So? What are you going to do?”

Lucia, who had been standing behind them with her arms crossed, asked.

And the fact that she was here meant…

“What else can we do? Find those black bastards and slaughter them all.”

Slain said with a twisted smile.

There was only one reason why he had joined Camian, whom he didn’t particularly get along with or was close to.

To enjoy another massacre, that was all.

Lucia was dragged along because of Slain.

“How are you going to find them? We can’t even track them properly because of this damn weather. And how are we going to slaughter them all? There are only five of us.”

Lucia scoffed and chided him.

She had been through many troublesome situations in the past because of Slain, who would jump at any opportunity to shed blood.

She had wanted to stay put this time, but she was annoyed because she had been forced to come along because of Slain.

“It’s certainly impossible for the five of us to search this entire island.”

Leon continued.

“We need to narrow down the area.”

So far, they had been searching with the villages as their target.

But now that they were certain that the villages were hopeless, they needed to set a new target.

“That’s the hard part. It’s obvious where they might have appeared, but do you think they’re still there?”

Lucia said bluntly.

Judging from their actions so far, they were clearly moving to kill the humans on the island.

So it wasn’t difficult to guess that the lodgings and villages in the north had also been attacked.

But.

It didn’t mean that they were still in those places.

It was practically certain that they had already finished their attacks and moved elsewhere.

“That’s unlikely.”

Leon nodded.

“Right, so we need to find another place. How are we going to narrow down the area? It’s obvious that we need to narrow it down to either the north or the south.”

Lucia made a broad geographical division.

It was the basics of searching.

Narrowing down the area from large to small.

“Hmph, there are those amazing upperclassmen in the north, including the great womanizer from the mock battle. Let’s leave that side to them and continue searching the south.”

Slain scoffed and gave his opinion.

The great womanizer he was referring to was, of course, Max Celtrine.

It seemed like he still had a lot of pent-up frustration from their encounter at the mock battle and the tavern.

“Ah, of course, if they’re still alive, that is. Hehe.”

Slain sneered.

At that moment.

“Don’t say such mean things.”

Annette said with a serious expression.

Her face serious.

It was a rare sight.

Even Slain, who would usually ignore anyone else’s serious expression, seemed a little flustered.

Lucia was also blinking her wide eyes in surprise.

“Don’t.”

Annette said again.

“Hmm… well… alright.”

Slain finally backed down, scratching the back of his head.

(TLN: lol i liked this part ngl)

It was a truly rare sight for him to yield to anyone other than Lucia.

The atmosphere became strange for a moment due to the two rare scenes in a row.

Camian broke the strange atmosphere.

“No, it’s not the south.”

He looked certain.

Lucia tilted her head.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m saying they’re not in the south.”

“Huh, you’re so sure? Then what? The north?”

“It’s not the north either.”

“…Are you kidding me?”

Lucia frowned, dumbfounded.

The others reacted similarly.

Except for Annette, who was wholeheartedly devoted to Camian, “I believe in you, Camian.”

“I thought about it. They must have split their forces and carried out their plans in the south and north.”

“I predicted that too, so what?”

“Doesn’t that mean there’s a gathering point where they’ll meet again? And that location would be somewhere that’s not biased towards the north or the south. Probably somewhere in the center of the island.”

Camian’s sharp deduction.

“Ah.”

Lucia’s eyes changed.

Leon and Slain’s expressions also changed.

“What do you guys think?”

There was no need to ask.

Their course was set.

* * *

Ill-fated encounters.

They were ill-fated because they strangely continued.

If it had ended with just one encounter, they would have forgotten about it.

That was exactly the case with Gulshan, the Shadow.

– Wow, I see that bastard here again? Did he put honey on me or something?

Gulshan’s voice transmission, assimilated into the darkness, was directed at someone.

– What does it matter? It’s just a coincidence.

Natasha, the dark elf, replied through voice transmission as well.

– Coincidence? Coincidence is good. I like coincidences. Especially coincidences that work out well for me.

Even through voice transmission, it was clear.

That Gulshan was excited.

The feeling of finding delicious prey.

Natasha frowned.

– Don’t be reckless. Our mission today has nothing to do with that human.

– Nothing to do with him? I wonder about that. He has the heart, you know.

– That’s for later. I said it has nothing to do with the mission.

– Hehe, I don’t think so.

His characteristically creepy laughter was transmitted.

Natasha thought.

Again? Seriously, again?

It was truly annoying.

Not wanting to waste her energy on a pointless argument, Natasha closed her mouth for now.

That was exactly 15 minutes ago.

A lot had changed since then.

The human named Max, who had seemed to be at a disadvantage, had completely turned the tables.

It was a level of acting and discord-sowing that even Natasha, who had experienced countless battles over the years, found impressive.

He had completely shaken the enemy’s mental state and taken control of the flow of the battle.

It wasn’t just cunning tactics.

He also possessed considerable skill.

It meant he wasn’t just a brainless schemer.

And there were also the reinforcements he called upon at every critical moment.

‘Was he that kind of person?’

She couldn’t judge him based on their brief encounter in the desert.

Today was the first time she had properly seen him in action.

And from that first encounter, Natasha felt the need to revise her previous thoughts about Max.

‘Did he have his heart set on it from the beginning? No, he didn’t seem that perceptive.’

As Natasha was lost in thought.

Gulshan’s voice transmission pierced her ears again.

– Hehehe, interesting. Very interesting. He’s more capable than I thought. I thought he was just a pretty boy who hid behind his talented women and relied on their protection, but I guess there was a reason he screwed me over twice.

Gulshan was raising his evaluation of his ill-fated encounter.

Just then.

“Hey, top student, can you cover my back?”

Max, with his pretty face, asked his talented girlfriend(?) for help.

– …

Even through voice transmission, Natasha could tell.

That Gulshan was quite embarrassed.

– Ahem. Well, anyway, it’s over.

Boom! Crash! Boom!

The sound of the shield being relentlessly pounded.

Everyone here knew that the shield wouldn’t last long.

– Then it’s time for some fun…

– Leave it be.

Natasha sent a firm voice transmission.

There was no need to unnecessarily stir up trouble unrelated to the mission.

The ‘door’ must have already opened.

There would be enough blood.

So they just had to wait for the uninvited guest to disappear and then make their move.

– I don’t want to.

Of course, there was no way Gulshan would listen to her.

He was born that way.

– I said leave it be.

– I don’t want to.

– Sigh, seriously.

Crack.

A vein popped on Natasha’s forehead.

He was acting like a child.

No, at least a child could be taught, but that guy was hopeless because he wouldn’t listen to reason.

His self-centered personality sometimes came in handy, but not now.

Because she had seen it clearly earlier.

That the human named Max was a very cunning person.

It was best to avoid catching his attention.

– You thoughtless idiot. Stop acting stupid and just shut up…

She was ignored before she could even finish speaking.

He wasn’t the type to listen anyway.

He wasn’t usually this reckless during missions, but it seemed like he had become fixated on his prey.

Natasha shook her head, sensing Gulshan’s energy moving.

It couldn’t be helped now.

If that guy had stayed put, it would have been a different story, but since he was walking right into their trap, there was only one thing to do.

Kill them all.

Natasha’s figure also moved.

* * *

Thud!

One last blow.

“Gah…”

Thud!

Glick’s body collapsed.

His eyes quickly lost their light.

And so, the leader of the enemy became a cold corpse.

I bent down and searched his body.

Soon, I felt a small metal object in my hand.

It was the other half of the key to the secret archive.

With this, I had completely avoided the bad ending.

Because I had completely removed the bad ending trigger of ‘the leader of the dark mages opening the secret archive’.

The key had no other value to me.

I had entered the secret archive a few times out of curiosity in the past, but there was nothing worth taking.

Because dark magic itself was a forbidden art, I couldn’t even secretly take out the dark magic books and use them.

After that, I didn’t even bother going up to the hidden temple on the mountainside.

After finishing all the battles at the foot of the mountain, I immediately started cleaning up.

This time, there had been a change in the flow, so I had come up to the hidden temple after a long time.

‘Well, there’s no need to go inside, right?’

Just as I was about to turn around.

Suddenly, an incredibly ominous feeling struck me.

Before I could even think about the reason, my body reacted first.

Perhaps it was my senses, honed from countless life-or-death situations, reacting instinctively.

The moment I threw myself forward, almost falling.

Whoosh!

A chilling sound, as if the air was being torn apart, came from behind me.

“Huh? How did you dodge that?”

I quickly turned around, regaining my balance.

A skinny man with piercings and tattoos all over his body.

It was Gulshan, the Shadow.

My eyes widened in shock.

‘That guy appeared here?’

It couldn’t be.

I had no memory of that.

My mind raced in confusion.

“Max!”

“T-Team Leader!”

Elaine and Allen called out to me, trying to approach me.

But at that moment.

“Stop right there.”

A tanned woman with a deep hood suddenly appeared, blocking their way.

I immediately recognized her as Natasha, the dark elf.

‘What the hell is going on?!’

Two Red Rain executives suddenly appearing?

This wasn’t a joke.

This was a real crisis.

A life-or-death crisis.

Damn it, what should I do?

My mind raced.

My heart pounded.

“Did you figure it out?”

Gulshan tilted his head, still wondering how I had dodged his attack.

At that moment.

An answer came to mind.

First, I had to buy some time.

Buy time and find a way out.

As soon as I made that decision, my honed acting skills kicked in.

“Hahaha, to think you’d notice that I noticed.”

I let out a hearty laugh, feigning confidence.