Nariel rose from her seat.
Then, anxiously, she called Isrin’s name.
“Ms. Isrin…?”
No matter how many times she called, only the leaves whispered back; Isrin was nowhere to be found.
At the sight of her sudden disappearance, Nariel placed a hand on the tree she had been leaning against only moments ago.
Perhaps nature might know.
“……”
But there was nothing to be gained.
Not only the tree, but even the grasses around her remained silent.
No, it was not silence.
‘Fear…?’
Nature was trembling.
‘Why on earth?’
Even Nariel had never experienced such a phenomenon before.
She quickly bent at the waist.
Scooping up a handful of soil, she closed her eyes.
Perhaps this time, something would come.
Strength entered the hand that held the earth.
The more force she applied, the more the dirt slipped between her fingers.
“Why!”
But this time, too, it was no use.
As though they had all promised to keep a secret, everyone kept their mouths shut.
It was silence.
An anxious, frightening silence.
And then, at that moment.
Nariel’s vision turned dark.
Someone had covered her eyes.
“!”
It happened so suddenly.
She tried to scream, but no voice came out.
She tried to resist, but the other party’s strength was far too great.
There was nothing she could do but surrender her body to it.
A moment later, she felt strangely off.
Her head spun, and it felt as though her entire body were being twisted.
It was as if space itself were warping.
“Urp…”
For an instant, she thought she might vomit.
Fortunately, the sensation did not last long.
The force binding her vanished, and her darkened vision brightened slightly.
“…Huh?”
There were seven people before her.
In their hands, they held torches.
“You are…”
Those standing before her were unmistakably adventurers.
They were the adventurers who had been with her before they split into groups earlier.
Could she have escaped the forest?
Nariel hurriedly looked around.
But no.
The place she stood was still inside the forest.
It was slightly different from where she had been just moments ago, but she had not escaped the woods.
If there was at least one fortunate thing, it was that she had met the adventurers.
Now she only had to find Isrin and the others and get out.
“Um… where is everyone el—”
Nariel’s mouth closed in the middle of speaking.
Something was strange.
The armor of the people before her was all stained red.
“Blood?”
Had they hunted monsters?
But there was no life in their eyes.
Each and every one of them wore a grotesque and frightening expression.
She could tell just by looking.
That blood did not belong to monsters.
The moment she realized that, Nariel began to retreat little by little.
With every step she took back, the adventurers in front of her took a step forward.
“Ah…”
But soon, she bumped into something behind her.
“Oh my, what an adorable young lady.”
A voice reached Nariel’s ear.
It was the sweetest, most beautiful voice she had ever heard.
Its tone was like soft silk, and it carried a mysterious charm, as if it were gently wrapping around her ears.
A seductive and honeyed voice.
Nariel turned around to find the owner of that voice.
“Ah…”
A truly beautiful woman stood before her.
Her appearance was, quite literally, beyond human.
Her pure white hair seemed to emit a faint glow, as if purity and elegance coexisted within it.
And her skin?
It looked even smoother and more glassily radiant than Nariel’s own, despite her being an elf.
The crimson eyes that met hers were deep and bewitching.
“Ahh…”
She was far too beautiful.
But Nariel shook her head.
If she let her mind go like this, she felt she would be captivated by the woman.
The more she felt that way, the harder Nariel pinched her own cheek, trying to come to her senses.
She knew the woman was beautiful.
But at the same time, she could tell that she was absolutely no ordinary being.
The horns growing from the woman’s head proved that fact.
“Mr. Shadow, you did well bringing her here. We’re terribly lucky today.”
What part of this was lucky, exactly?
The woman before her spoke in a voice filled with delight.
At the same time, Nariel realized something.
The moment the woman before her appeared, the adventurers who had been approaching her moments ago had stopped in place.
And she also realized that the presence of monsters was increasing among the trees around them.
“W-who are you?”
Nariel spoke to the being before her.
She understood instinctively.
That this being was the true ruler of this forest.
‘I can’t win.’
And that she could never defeat her.
She would lose her life before her hand could even reach the bow on her back.
Before that, she could not even move, suppressed by the overwhelming aura.
“W-who on earth are you?!”
Her voice trembled.
This was a being that should never exist in the world.
Long ago, when Nariel was still young.
The power she had felt from the World Tree when she gazed upon it from afar was now emanating from the woman before her.
What kind of existence was the World Tree?
Was it not the mother of all things, embracing the lives of the elves and nature itself while supporting the world?
Of course, this woman was not on the level of the World Tree.
Even so, the fact that she gave off a similar presence left Nariel with no choice but to be astonished.
Because she had never before encountered a monster possessing such power.
Perhaps.
Perhaps the invasion of the Demon Realm, said to have occurred only in the distant past, was beginning again?
To the trembling Nariel, the woman before her spoke softly.
“My name is Celia. I am merely a servant who carries out the will of the Great One.”
“Celia…?”
Nariel racked her brain, but it was the first time she had heard the name Celia.
And the Great One?
Her thoughts lasted only a moment.
“I think it would be better to show you directly rather than explain with words.”
Clap—
Celia clapped her hands once.
Then goblins appeared from behind.
Each of the goblins emerged dragging collapsed adventurers with them.
Among them was Isrin, tied up.
“M-Ms. Isrin!”
Nariel called Isrin’s name and approached.
“Do not worry. She is merely asleep.”
Celia smiled brightly.
Just as she said, Isrin’s life did not seem to be in danger.
She only appeared to have fainted.
Celia approached Nariel one step at a time.
“A mage and an elf being friends—what deep friendship.”
Celia placed a hand on Nariel’s shoulder.
“This child possesses an abundance of mana.”
Nariel gave a slight nod.
It was as she said.
After all, Nariel knew Isrin better than anyone.
Isrin was a mage.
Not just an ordinary mage, but a mage who had reached the 3rd Circle.
At the age of twenty-two, she was a mage soon to set her sights on the 4th Circle.
It was truly overwhelming talent.
A person of such talent was now lying in the middle of a mere forest.
Even if they were alive for the moment, only that monster knew what their fate would be.
“What do you intend to do with us?”
Nariel was rather quick-witted.
Even now, the goblins were bringing over the unconscious adventurers one by one.
And laying them out around them.
There were also adventurers who had fled from the slime dungeon earlier.
Aside from herself, everyone was collapsed.
There was no way she could fail to understand such an obvious meaning.
“What do you want from me?”
At Nariel’s words, Celia smiled.
As if she had given the correct answer, her expression was delighted.
“I like that you’re quick to catch on. I rather adore people who are perceptive. My master, too, likes those who are quick-witted.”
Celia raised one finger.
“Surely you—ah, may I call you Ms. Nariel? Just as you said, Ms. Nariel, if you are to escape this mountain range, you must do so together with this child, correct?”
Nariel bit her lip.
It was what Isrin had said at the very end before she disappeared.
In other words, the other party had been observing everything.
Since when?
Perhaps from the very moment they first climbed the mountain range.
Thinking back, there had been more than one or two strange things.
‘Was the orc sparing us for this reason too…?’
As that thought occurred to her, chills ran down Nariel’s spine.
It meant they had been dancing in the palm of the other party’s hand from the very beginning.
This mountain range had already been encroached upon by that being.
Could the royal family of the Kingdom of Seil possibly know?
Several questions came to mind, but only for a moment.
When Nariel stayed still without answering, Celia drew her finger sideways.
Slash—
One of the adventurers collapsed on the ground had his neck severed, blood spraying out.
It happened in an instant.
“Ms. Nariel, do you wish for this child to die?”
As Celia said that, she raised her finger again.
At the sight, Nariel shook her head.
She was so flustered that no voice came out, so all she could do was shake her head with all her might.
When Nariel expressed herself as best she could, Celia smiled in satisfaction.
“Good. That’s exactly the right attitude. Ordinarily, I would show no such mercy, but I’ll make a special exception.”
Celia clapped her hands once more and said,
“There doesn’t seem to be anyone particularly useful. Leave only the women.”
At her command, the goblins raised their rusty blades.
Then they plunged those blades straight into the necks of the fallen male adventurers.
“……”
In the middle of the night, crimson blood spurted like flames.
The surging blood, intertwined with the grim darkness, descended beneath the moonlight.
Fear and despair could be felt.
Could this be a dream?
Yes, a truly awful dream.
It was a horrific scene, like a nightmare.
All the adventurers except the women were dead.
It was an absurd ending.
Celia looked over the scene once, then stroked Isrin.
“Do you wish to save your friend?”
Nariel nodded.
Even that nod was barely managed.
Who would want to let someone die?
“Good. Then I’ll get straight to the point. Serve me—and beyond me, serve the Great One.”
Celia whispered.
“If you keep that well, I will guarantee this child’s life. You will have to leave this place someday, won’t you?”
It was the whisper of a devil that could not be refused.
If she refused, Isrin’s life would be lost, and surely her own as well.
In the end, it was an offer she had no choice but to accept.
But that was not all.
Nariel looked at Isrin.
Though Isrin was unconscious, she looked at peace, without a single worry.
“Isrin…”
Isrin was a talented mage.
Not merely talented, but overwhelmingly so—at twenty-two, she was already looking toward the 4th Circle.
In truth, if Isrin had wanted, she could have entered the service of a noble instead of working as an adventurer and received fine treatment.
Perhaps she might even have become a royal court mage attached to a nation’s palace.
But Isrin had refused all such honors.
And she had continued working as an adventurer.
There was no grand meaning behind it.
Isrin had simply continued adventuring in order to look after her.
When Nariel first came out into the human world, everything had been bewildering.
It was so different from the life of the elves that it had been difficult. Painful.
The one who took care of her then had been Isrin.
The reason Isrin had ended up like this now was Nariel’s fault.
Would it not be too cruel for such overwhelming talent to die before it could even bloom?
Thinking that, Nariel had only one choice.
“All right. I’ll do as you say. Then what should I do?”
At Nariel’s acceptance, Celia gestured with her hand.
When Celia gestured, something flew through the air.
“A banshee…?”
Just as Nariel said, it was a banshee.
The banshee flew over and approached Isrin.
It was obvious what was about to happen.
“Th-this is different from what you promised!”
Banshees, by nature, controlled the minds of others.
Of course, it was useless against higher-ranking beings, but Isrin was currently unconscious.
She was far too defenseless against a banshee.
“This is mercy. Look at them.”
Celia suddenly pointed to one side.
There stood the seven adventurers she had seen earlier.
She had thought something about them seemed strange, and it turned out they had already been under the banshee’s control.
As Nariel looked at the adventurers, one change soon appeared.
“Huh? Where is this…?”
One of the seven adventurers had made a sound.
Life returned to his eyes.
“I was definitely following the paladin…?”
Slash—
Leaving only those words behind, he was beheaded by Celia.
“Did you see?”
Unconcerned, Celia looked at Isrin.
“Just because one’s mind is controlled by a banshee does not mean their entire personality dies. If I give the order, I can release her at any time.”
Celia pointed at Isrin.
“In a way, this may be mercy for Miss Nariel’s friend. Ah, I won’t force you. This mercy applies only to Miss Nariel’s friend, after all.”
Nariel nodded at Celia’s words.
She was right.
This was a place where blood sprayed and people died as if it were nothing.
Anyone who kept seeing such sights would have their mind worn away.
For Isrin’s sake, it would be better to do that instead.
“P-please… do it.”
Once Nariel agreed, the banshee began entering Isrin’s head.
A moment later, Isrin’s eyes opened.
But she knew.
The girl before her now was not Isrin.
She was only a monster wearing Isrin’s mask.
But she would not let her live like that forever.
‘I’ll save you someday…!’
Nariel made her own resolve.
Then she looked at Celia.
For now, she had to lower her head.
“In that case, Miss Nariel, follow this shadow. Mr. Shadow, guide Miss Nariel to Area 3.”
The shadow behind Celia changed direction and began to walk.
“Go on without worrying about your friend.”
Only then did Nariel follow the shadow.
Even if she stayed here, nothing would change.
Soon after Nariel’s figure had completely disappeared, Celia opened her mouth.
“Now, Mr. Goblin Lord.”
At her words, the Goblin Lord who had been nearby revealed himself.
“I shall give you this child. She is a mage with a remarkable future.”
Celia handed Isrin over to the Goblin Lord.
Isrin was currently in a state of having her mind controlled by the banshee.
No matter what was done to her, she would not remember it.
Whether that would become despair for her or hope, no one knew.
Perhaps even she herself would never know.
“Do as you please with the remaining wenches. They should be better than nothing.”
At present, the number of goblins in the dungeon had increased enormously.
In that sense, she gave all the living adventurers to the Goblin Lord.
“With this, the plan can move one step further.”
Celia smiled in satisfaction.
In the distance, goblins were bringing in bones.
They were the remains of the adventurers who had been taken by the slimes.
Once all the bones were gathered, they would be reborn as skeletons by the Arch Lich.
The corpses that still had flesh on them were also scheduled to become food for the monsters.
The adventurers were useful down to the very last piece.
And that was not all.
She had unexpectedly obtained an elf as well.
The elf would have many things to do from now on.
“At last, we can develop Area 3.”
Area 1 had the Death Knight as its mid-boss.
Area 2 had the Goblin Lord as its mid-boss.
Compared to them, Area 3 was a space with only plants, so it had been far too shabby.
She had always been worried about that point, and just then, an elf had appeared.
“May everything be according to Master’s will—”
Celia murmured and moved on.