Chapter 102 – Hidden Madness – 9
“Ugh!”
“Keah!”
Moans of bandits erupted from everywhere.
“Don’t try to force it to move. It’s painful.”
The gazes of the kneeling thieves focused on me.
“Is it yours!”
“Yes.”
It’s hard to mistake him for someone else.
After he dared to admit that it was me, he turned to Lopus.
“Lopus.”
“…Uh, uh, why is that?”
“You are on our side. What are you looking at strangely?”
“I did… But I don’t even know your name. Why did you decide to be on their side?”
“My name is Decal.
Help the thieves strike. Then I’ll release you.”
“Okay. I’m an ally of Candidate Hero. I’ll help with anything.”
The story is over.
I looked around at the village chief and the frightened maidens and said,
“Go back home.
Lock the door and don’t come out.”
“Decal-nim! Please be safe.”
The village chief bowed his head and said.
“No big deal. Let’s go. Lopus.”
“Okay.”
“You bastard!”
“Ropus, you traitor bastard!”
“Make us like this and where are we going?”
“Damn it! I can’t move my body!”
Rofus and I passed the clamoring thieves and left the village.
When I go outside, I see a forest with thick bushes.
Except for Ava, the other three were already gathered.
“How is it?”
“I thought it would be okay if it was my brother…!”
Karen said in a bright voice.
“I can’t believe it when I see it.”
“Is this possible? There were 8 of them, but to overwhelm them all in such a short amount of time.”
Stia is a surprise,
Fierce curiosity burns in Diana’s eyes.
“What have you been doing?”
“Are you asking me already?
First of all, let’s get the job done right. Because there is no turning back now.”
“Who’s the guy next to you?”
“Collaborator.
Don’t be too wary Because you betrayed us It’s impossible to get along with the thieves again.”
“It’s as you say.
My name is Lopus. In exchange for helping you take down the bandits, your life is guaranteed.”
Everyone looked at Lopus with a confused face.
I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but she had been persecuting the villagers so excitedly until just now, and she suddenly turned around with a straight face.
It’s natural to think it’s strange.
However, no one inquired about it.
Things have already passed that stage.
All that remains is to solve the problem. Everyone must have been nervous about that alone.
“Decal! Are you okay?”
Ava, who was in charge of contact, came running late.
I had an agreement with Ava to signal if anything happened to me, so Ava hid separately.
But nothing happened.
Hypnosis is frighteningly effective. It was at this moment that the fact was proven again.
“Ropus. Tell me. How many people are there in the thieves?”
“There are more than ten people. I don’t remember all the faces either.”
Diana frowned.
“Can you really believe this guy?”
“You’ll find out soon.”
I calmly questioned Lopus while everyone was listening.
Where is the location of the base, how to get there, how many people are on guard in the middle, what is the armed status,
Where are the pitfalls, what types are there and how to deal with them.
I speak whatever comes to mind as if typing into a machine,
Lopus confided everything to us without even thinking about whether he could release the information or not.
Diana, who had been watching her suspiciously, gradually changed into an atmosphere of understanding as her amount of information increased.
“Not all of them are true, but there is some information that might help.
There’s no way he could have made up so many lies.”
“So, I’m not lying. I’m an ally of Candidate Hero. It’s all true.”
On the contrary, Lopus took offense at Diana, who doubted him.
“Shut up! I’ll judge that. I’m just grateful to listen to trash talk like you.”
“What is it? Which house girl are you? He looks like he has a dirty temper. Decal hyung-ssi is going to have a hard time too.”
“You, you! Do you want to die?”
Lopus was startled and raised his hand.
“Whoa, whoa. Calm down. Wouldn’t that be a breach of contract?”
“If it’s Diana, she’ll be more than enough.”
As I paid attention from the side, Lopus shrugged his shoulders.
“The information is real.”
“…Hmm.”
Stia, lost in her thoughts, opened her mouth.
“I didn’t see anyone approaching the forest entrance while Decal brought Lopus.
The opponent still doesn’t know what happened. Surprise is valid. If the information the man gave is correct, it’s conclusive.”
“Because there is a side road that we use among ourselves.
If you go that way, there are no annoying traps, and you can hit the vigilant in the back, so killing two birds with one stone.”
Everyone is looking at the shameless Lopus as if it were absurd.
Was the hypnosis too strong…
It may not have been necessary to go up to “If necessary, devote oneself to protect the hero candidate”.
“If necessary” Is also the part that relies on individual judgment.
In this case, it is effective against bandits.
Lopus became a complete ally, as if he had forgotten what he was doing earlier.
There is no borderline towards us.
It was only then that Diana might have noticed her hypnotic existence.
But it doesn’t matter as long as you’re guessing.
There is little evidence that I manipulated it into this.
It would be possible to believe that Lopus was a shallow human being.
“Rofus. Last question.
How many of you bandits are in bad shape?
I’m talking about a human who has absorbed the “Red Soul Stone”.”
“…A red soul stone?”
Ropus hesitated for the first time.
As if I had never heard of the Red Soul Stone.
“I don’t know about that.
If there was a strange one, there was. We don’t get friendly with each other, so we leave it alone without asking why.”
“How many were there?”
“Two of them. I thought I was going to throw them out because they kept acting like incompetent guys, but when they fought, they fought amazingly well.
Even when he raped women, he seemed tireless. I liked the boss so much that I decided to keep him by his side.”
“Since when did they get weird, do you have any insights?”
“Well. As I said, we’re only close with close friends. We don’t get close to those.
I don’t even ask where you come from. What do you want from the thieves?”
“…”
Two people
Will hypnosis work for humans who have absorbed the red soul stone?
There was a good chance it wouldn’t work. Only those two guys had no choice but to do something through combat.
I have dug up all the information I can dig up.
I looked around everyone.
There was no one who looked like he wanted to go back.
“Let’s go to the side road.”
I said calmly.
“Lopus. Take the lead.”
“Okay.”
With Rofus at the fore, we entered the side road he mentioned.
I took out the lantern I prepared and handed it to Ava, and I held one.
“Stia. You said that a person who absorbed the red soul stone could not be stopped by any means, right?”
“I think I’ll forget the pain.”
Do you feel like a drug addict?
“Actually, that’s not all, but… I’m sure it’s a much stronger state.”
It’s going to be a little more difficult than that.
Considering that even a drunken criminal who has forgotten his pain needs to be shot many times to subdue him at once,
The burden on our prosecutors may be a bit heavy.
“It’s okay to think complicatedly during battle, so let’s keep it simple.
When the “Monster” That absorbed the red soul stone appears, Ava, Stia, and Karen buy time.”
“Like when we fought together in the Black Forest before?”
“Yeah. Just like when I caught the Hobgoblin.”
“Leave it to me. I will protect you.”
Karen is trustworthy.
Is it because we fought together a few times?
Come to think of it, she seems to have been fighting with her ever since he met her.
It was a party that started with hypnosis…
It wasn’t the time to think like this. I was alert and focused.
Don’t panic no matter what happens.
“I’ll be there soon.”
Said Lopus.
Ava lowered the lantern she was holding.
“Should I turn off the light?”
“No. It’s okay. Let’s go like this. If this is the road the thieves use, it’s more suspicious to turn off the lights.”
“It’s just as Dekal hyung said.”
I got Lopus’ consent, and my argument was strengthened.
We were able to easily enter the thieves’ stronghold.
The base was an abandoned building surrounded by simple wooden fences.
It was a luxury place for thieves to live in hiding, as if it was a villa for a wealthy man who used to live here.
“From now on, let’s turn off the lights and approach.”
“Huh.”
I put the lantern in my personal locker.
“Come on, the patrol team will be here in a little while.”
Lopus lowered his body and spoke confidently.
“…”
Now, all that was left was to check with his own eyes whether the information Rofus had solved was correct.
I’m not particularly suspicious, but the process of everyone checking together is important.
Then, without hesitation, he robbed the hideout and struck it.
You can go back comfortably.
However…
An unexpected thing happened to me too.
I was sitting there until my legs were numb, but no one came.
“Huh? That’s strange…”
“…”
Then Stia pointed her knife at Puss with a fierce look.
“What are you doing?”
“Oh no! There’s no way I’ll be away at this hour.
Then it means that you violated the boss’s order, but if you get caught, you’ll be beaten to death right away.”
“…”
“Stia. Put down the knife.”
I said quietly.
“I can’t keep talking here. I have to check for myself.”
If this is the case, you will have no choice but to check it yourself.
“Karen. Come with me.”
“Huh!”
“You guys wait here. We’ll check the patrol team’s movements and come back.”
“…Okay.”
Stia drew her sword.
Diana was glaring at Lopus to pierce the back of his head.
“Decal. If this guy tries to do anything suspicious, I’ll kill him.”
“Magic is too noisy, so leave it to Stiana Ava in that case.”
I hid in a tent with Karen and came out on the thieves’ patrol route.
Walk all the way around the outskirts of the hideout along the road.
“I’m sorry…”
Karen shrugged her shoulders in horror.
I, too, gasped in surprise.
There was something that shouldn’t be on the patrol route.
Dead body.
The shredded corpse of a thief lay in the middle of a forest road.
It is not strange that the thief died.
It’s like we’re here to kill the thieves.
But it would be strange if someone killed it before we did.
What happened?
I barely suppressed the rising feeling of nausea.
“Let’s go closer and take a look.”
“…Huh.”
It’s nice to have someone by your side.
I sincerely thought so.
I took Karen’s hand. Karen squeezed my hand too.
I don’t care if anyone teases me that I’m a coward. Her body trembled uncontrollably, and so did Karen.
“…”
I calmly took a deep breath and approached the corpse.
Severe.
Just really bad
No matter who did this, I think I can never deal with a bastard who did this.
Even if the opponent is a criminal who deserves to die.
I heard that the patrol is a team of two.
I looked around.
We didn’t say a word to each other, in case the person who made the corpse would notice.
There was another body nearby.
Brutally murdered
If the thief lying on the road doesn’t know how to face it and feels like he’s been attacked, this guy is lying face down with his back…
It seems that he died trying to escape.
I don’t know if the culprit is a person… No mercy.
Even those who turned their backs to escape were torn to shreds.
“…”
Karen’s breathing becomes rough.
I took Karen’s hand and walked away from the litter of her body.
“After…”
We continued to breathe deeply without speaking to each other.
“What was it?”
“I don’t know. … I don’t think it’s human.”
“Okay…”
I don’t know if it’s a bear.
There’s no way people could have done that.
But when I first saw it, I had a strong conviction that a person did it.
Because the body looked like it had been abused.
“Let’s go back to where everyone is.”
“Huh.”
I went back with Karen.
“…Both of them.
What happened? I don’t like your complexion.”
Stia asked anxiously if she could see it even in the dark.
“The patrol team is dead. After being killed by something.”
Stia opened her eyes fiercely.
“How was the condition of the corpse…?”
“It was bad. It was so terribly mashed that it’s hard to say.”
“The runaway of the soul stones has begun.”
“…”
I thought I had led the party well so far.
Actively use hypnosis to minimize risks and increase benefits.
I moved with that thought, and so far it has been effective.
But when a real crisis hits, I have nothing.
I don’t have the courage or the guts to get through this moment.
“Lopus. Did you see the patrol team before you left?”
Lopus nodded his head.
“Before we left here, we exchanged trivial things.
… I was alive until then.”
“Then…”
What’s going on inside?
When I got to that point, I heard a desperate scream.
I was completely rigid.
I couldn’t tell you to run away or not to run away.
Everyone was terrified.
One exception.
“…Let’s go.”
Stia held the sword and spoke softly.
We followed Stia, who took her step off first, and sneaked into the thieves’ hideout.
